With the development of the times, the consumption concept and consumer demand of the elderly are also changing, and more and more elderly people are no longer satisfied with the existing footwear products in the market, so some "elderly shoes" designed for the elderly group came into being, and quickly grabbed the market.
Fit the market demand is large
In 2018, the number of elderly people over 60 years old in China approached 300 million, while Nanyang, as a city with a population of 10 million, is currently close to 2 million people over 60 years old.
Our city, like other cities, has entered the ranks of aging cities. Nearly 2 million elderly people have spawned a huge consumer group, and the huge market demand has also made the elderly shoe industry an outlet industry.
On the morning of November 25, in the Cultural Road Foot Force Health Store, the elderly Cui Xiulin was buying shoes for himself and his wife, "When I was young, I just bought good-looking ones, now I am more than 60 years old, my feet can't stand a little loss, and I don't want uncomfortable shoes to look good." The store manager told reporters that he began to operate shoes for the elderly in 2009, first opened a store in Wuhan, returned to Nanyang in 2013, and opened more than a dozen stores in the central urban area and counties such as Huaichuan and Tanghe. He calculated the account for the reporter: If every city with a million people has about 200,000 elderly people over 60 years old, even if only 1% or 20,000 elderly people buy elderly shoes, taking the middle price of more than 200 yuan of elderly shoes as an example, then there will be more than 4 million yuan of market income every year.
Industry insiders believe that the development of shoes for the elderly closely follows the market. In the past, the traditional footwear industry was occupied by leather shoes, sneakers and casual shoes, while the elderly shoes did not have an influential brand, and now, comfortable and fashionable, safe and healthy professional shoes for the elderly, well fit the market, meet people's needs, so the rapid development.
Brands are growing fast
In recent years, with the rapid development of the shoe industry for the elderly, some supermarkets and commercial streets have sprung up in some brand stores specializing in shoes for the elderly.
Jingjie, Foot Strength, Zhuo Ling, Jian Zu Le, Nine Defense Walk... There are no less than ten kinds of shoes for the elderly in the Nanyang market, and the design of these brands is lightweight, comfortable, non-slip, breathable, shock absorption, and strives to make the elderly wear comfortable and safe, and the price ranges from 59 to 599 yuan.
In addition to good offline sales, the sales of online shoes for the elderly are also booming. The reporter searched for the keyword "shoes for the elderly" on the Taobao platform, and 16681 pieces of relevant information popped up in an instant. In the Tmall store "Foot Strength Flagship Store", a pair of non-slip warm wool boots priced at 349 yuan, the number of orders in a single month in November reached 14,000, except for a small number of elderly people who buy themselves, the rest are almost all purchased by young people for the elderly at home.
"In the past, if you wanted to buy a pair of shoes that fit your feet, you had to go to at least 3 shopping malls, but now you can just look for one." Han Yumin, a 76-year-old man who lives in a community on Bayi Road, believes that it is really convenient to buy elderly shoes now, and there are shoes for the elderly to sell when they go out, which not only saves effort but also saves worry.
In the Dennis supermarket of the competition of the elderly shoes counter, the reporter saw a pair of old people shoes placed in a conspicuous position, manager Li Rongyin told reporters, these shoes according to the competition dance, jogging and other different functions classification, not only comfortable and integrated into the fashion elements, easy to be ignored by the elderly "face value consumption psychology" can be satisfied here, the elderly can also wear comfortable shoes to show "fashion".
Regulate market protection rights
The market prospect of the elderly shoes is huge for the "pain points" of the elderly wearing shoes, but the huge market demand has also made the industry embark on the "outlet" at the same time, stepping on the "tip of the wave".
"It is better to honor your parents than to start by caring for their daily lives. It is better to buy high-end consumer goods than to buy a pair of comfortable shoes for parents. "The slogan of a brand of shoes for the elderly not only attracts the elderly, but also attracts many young consumers. There are a variety of old people's shoe brands, and the sales are on fire, but is its quality really as good as advertised?
Judging from the previous media exposure, some brands have the phenomenon of low quality and high price, and some brands have exaggerated and false publicity. In this regard, Wang Chunyang, a professor at the Normal College, said that at present, there is no unified industry standard for the elderly shoe brand, and many brands are eager to divide the market, from quality to design is not perfect, he called on relevant departments to speed up the formulation of industry standards. In addition, relevant departments such as industry and commerce are best to strengthen supervision of the elderly shoe market to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of consumers. At the same time, he also suggested that consumers should not only listen to the publicity of the merchant when purchasing, shop around, and buy good or not expensive is the last word.
Nanyang Newspaper Media Group all-media reporter Ran Yuanyuan