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Huang ShanAllbirds, an American environmentally friendly concept shoe brand, has also come to China. According to "Hanfu Daily", last week, the brand's first store in China opened in Shanghai Industrial Taikoo Hui. At the same time, the Allbirds Tmall flagship store also entered the trial operation stage, and the brand's official Chinese website was officially launched. Spending a lot of money to invest in offline stores, forming a 25-person Shanghai team, and planning to cover omni-channel retail, this casual shoe retail company that focuses on the sustainable development of the supply chain seems to be playing a big game in China.
Currently, consumers can already buy Allbirds shoes on Tmall Mall. Allbirds' classic wool series and eucalyptus fiber series are both on sale, and the shoes sold include running shoes and casual flat shoes. The product prices range from 899 to 1,099 yuan, which is slightly higher than the US official website price after converting the exchange rate.
When facing the Chinese market, international brands often cross the river by feeling the stones. Before spending large sums of money to expand into the Chinese market, they usually choose to enter one or two large e-commerce companies to test the water temperature. However, Allbirds signed a contract with Hong Kong's Swire Group as soon as it arrived, and planned to settle in Swire's properties in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Chengdu before the end of this year.
Allbirds was founded in San Francisco, USA in 2016. It is a startup company that designs environmentally friendly casual shoes. The company was co-founded by Tim Brown from New Zealand and Joey Zwillinger, a biotechnology engineer and renewable materials expert. The company's first pair of wool running shoes were made from New Zealand's premium merino wool.
In March 2018, Allbirds began selling running shoes and casual flats made of eucalyptus fiber; in August of the same year, the company launched a series of flip-flops, which are made of bioplastic foam. Made from sucrose. In 2018, Allbirds completed Series C financing with US$50 million, and its current market value is US$1.4 billion.
Image source: Allbirds
Allbirds aims to create a brand that is as eco-friendly as possible, designing and selling "the most comfortable shoes in the world". Within two years of the company's establishment, it sold more than one million pairs of shoes. Allbirds' success and the favor it has received from the capital market are closely related to its "direct retail" business model. At first, Allbirds only did online retail, with some experimental pop-up stores to test the market and promote the brand. It wasn't until 2018 that the first store was opened in San Francisco.
Currently, Allbirds has four stores in the United States, mainly located in New York and San Francisco. However, at the end of 2018, the company announced its rapid store expansion plan and expected to open 9 retail stores in Seattle, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles and Washington in 2019. In addition to the Chinese market, the brand's other overseas market is London, UK.
Taking China as the second overseas market for external expansion shows that the Allbirds founding team has confidence in the Chinese people’s purchasing power for sustainable products. Europe is usually the market that environmentally friendly brands will consider early on, because users in this region are more receptive to environmental protection and sustainable concepts. Therefore, Allbirds’ priority to enter China can also be seen as an unconventional strategic move by the brand. game.
Although China has a huge consumer market, many consumers are still very price-sensitive and are not necessarily willing to spend a lot of money to buy a pair of conceptual shoes, such as environmental protection and sustainability. At the same time, Chinese people are more concerned about the style and style of shoes, but most sustainable concept shoes are relatively simple in design, which may also cause some obstacles to consumption.
However, "Hanfu Daily" quoted the analysis of Wang Dan, an analyst at the Economist think tank, saying, "The number of urban middle-class people who travel to the United States and Europe or are educated there is growing. These People have a stronger awareness of environmental protection,” and some people may become the main force in spending money to consume environmentally friendly shoes.
Joey Zwillinger has very high confidence in the purchasing power of Chinese consumers. In an interview with Bloomberg in February this year, he revealed, "We have seen the long-standing backlog of consumer demand from Chinese consumers." Many customers use Chinese credit cards to buy Allbirds shoes, and tourists from China to the United States flock to Allbirds stores to make purchases. .
Allbirds has brand recognition among specific consumer groups in China. Joey Zwillinger told Hanfu Daily that the reason why they chose Shanghai to open their first store was because during market research, the team found that their potential consumer groups in Shanghai were very similar to their consumers in New York - Millennials The "Generation Z" represented by the first generation and those born after 1995; this group of people is the largest and best consumer group of Allbirds.
Including several other target cities, the Chinese cities selected by Allbirds are all first-tier cities with many luxury shopping malls; these retail centers are in good locations and are enough to attract well-educated urban middle-class consumers.
Image source: Jason Henry
However, it is difficult to say whether this group of people can truly reflect the purchasing power of Chinese consumers on sustainable products. A recent research report by OC&C Strategy Consulting Company pointed out that China’s post-95s generation, like their peers in Europe and the United States, have high requirements for brands and are willing to spend time investigating these brands. However, they are also less willing to buy renewable and recyclable products than older people.
In addition, Allbirds’ pricing may also deter potential consumers. Yip is a fan of Allbirds. He bought Allbirds sports running shoes when he was studying in the United States and admired the feel and comfort of the brand's shoes. Yip, who worked as a researcher at a university in Beijing after returning to China, belongs to the consumer groups targeted by Allbirds: intellectuals studying abroad, the middle class and the "millennial generation". But Yip said, "According to the current domestic income situation, buying a pair of casual shoes costing 900 yuan is really expensive," Yip told Jiemian Fashion, although she is concerned about environmental protectionThe concept is still highly respected.
Allbirds adheres to their direct sales model in China. According to Joey Zwillinger and Tim Brown quoted by Hanfu Daily, “According to the traditional approach, we would have gone with a (regional) partner or joint venture, but we wanted to let our own team, with our ability to listen and learn, Follow your own story (to do the Chinese market).”
Zwillinger said that in the future, Allbirds’ Chinese retail official website and Tmall flagship store will be a good place for them to tell their brand stories. “We will not lose our relationship with them. The one-to-one direct relationship with consumers...(online shopping) will be a great, branded, incubated experience.”
And Tim Brown believes that they will realize the importance of e-commerce in the short term. Business technology is more advanced than other markets, “so we can transfer these experiences to our other markets.”
Before Allbirds, another American shoe brand that emphasized corporate social responsibility, Toms Shoes (hereinafter referred to as :TOMS) entered the Chinese market in 2014. TOMS was founded in California in 2006. Founder Blake Mycoskie launched the campaign of "selling a pair of shoes and giving a pair of shoes to poor children" and has continued this business model consistently. Similar to Allbirds, TOMS had just received a large amount of financing before entering China. At that time, private equity fund Bain Capital valued TOMS at US$625 million and acquired 50% of the company's shares for US$313 million, bringing the brand into a stage of rapid development.
Picture source: Getty Images
The difference from Allbirds is that after officially entering China in mid-2014, in addition to opening direct-operated stores one after another, the brand also granted brand franchise rights to local partners in China. At the same time, both parties Joint ownership of the store. Within half a year, TOMS settled in Beijing, ShanghaiThere are more than 20 boutique boutiques and department stores in Hainan, Guangzhou and Chengdu.
As early as 2013, TOMS had settled in Tmall Mall in advance to accurately locate the consumer groups in first- and second-tier cities that the brand wanted to win. By 2017, TOMS's sales in China's e-commerce channels had increased by 50%, and Tmall was also considered by TOMS to be an excellent platform for brand promotion and social media marketing.
However, looking at the overall retail market, this socially responsible company, which is famous for selling Argentinian fishermen’s shoes, is still much slower than many brands to enter the Chinese market. Before officially entering the Chinese market, TOMS had quietly donated shoes in China for five years. After undergoing a series of market research, founder Blake Mycoskie found that Chinese consumers did not understand the corporate philosophy of “buy one, donate one”. Therefore, “only by understanding China’s local culture and social trends can we decide what we should do.” How to operate and promote China business?”
In addition to the difficulties encountered in promoting the brand’s social corporate responsibility concept in China, the bigger problem TOMS encounters in China is the large number of counterfeit “fisherman’s shoes” in China. The company was already everywhere before entering the Chinese market. The strategy adopted by TOMS at that time was to develop a more diversified shoe product line.
But this trick does not seem to be effective so far. The only brand memory consumers have of TOMS is the classic shoe "fisherman's shoes", as if this company was born for this shoe. Currently, TOMS is in deep financial crisis and is likely to be unable to repay the first debt of more than $300 million due from Bain Capital five years ago. Analysts believe that the retail industry as a whole has been affected by the economic downturn, and the sales of other TOMS products are worrying, and the only star product - fisherman's shoes - cannot ensure that the company does not lose money.
In any case, if the casual footwear category based on social welfare wants to carve out a niche in the new market, it is crucial to find the context of the times and understand and adapt to the values of today's younger generation. Allbirds emphasizes the environmental protection issue of recycling natural raw materials, and clearly informs consumers that they can wear "the most comfortable shoes in the world", while TOMS tells consumers that if you buy a pair of shoes, I will send a pair of shoes to children in poor areas. , which is a kind of altruism.
If you want to get consumers to spend money, you must first convince them to agree to help others. Buying shoes is for others, not for yourself. This altruistic spirit requires long-term social welfare actions to cultivate a generation of people. Consumption outlook and values. Of course, the most important thing is to look at the product.