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- Source/Chief Business Intelligence
- Author/Chief Business Intelligence
Introduction: The latest "middle-class three treasures" is released, dad wears Archaeopteryx, mother wears Lululemon, child wears moodytiger, one person and one brand, the whole family lives together.
These products are sometimes praised by netizens for their high appearance, and sometimes they are complained about "the same style of Song Dandan".
There are also a variety of "effects", such as waterproof, heat preservation, ultra-light and ultra-cool and other technological ruthlessness.
Compared with their appearance and function, what is more beautiful is the price of these brands.
Thousands of is just a small meaning, and some brands of classic models even have to be distributed, so that some netizens doubt whether it is an "IQ tax".
However, even the "IQ tax", these "sports luxuries" that cost ordinary people a month's salary, are not affordable to ordinary families, and their "harvest" target is "middle-class families".
Compared with those financial products, the middle-class families who invested in all their net worth once returned to the pre-liberation period, spending thousands of "sports luxury" at every turn, but just sprinkling water.
01, 1.868 billion US dollars can not feed the "middle harvester"
Lululemon, a high-end sportswear brand, targets "super gril", that is, "high-quality human women" who have money and leisure, love sports, and earn about $80,000 a year.
Since it is aimed at "Super Girl", then of course the brand has to face the "pink tax" controversy.
It costs 450 yuan for a vest and 750-980 yuan for a pair of yoga pants.
I really don't see the difference between these 750 yuan pair of leggings and 850 pair of leggings.
Some people may ask, rich people are not fools, why did Lululemon capture the hearts of these "super girls".
Some bloggers made a comparison of genuine pirated copies, the same sports jacket, the price difference is 10 times or even 20 times, and this blogger called the genuine version "fraud-level showing figure".
Such a high price, in addition to high appearance, the "technology" content is of course not less.
It is said that the technical fabric developed by Lululemon is nude, quick-drying and breathable, which also adds another reason for the high price.
Although many netizens complained, the difference between those Lululemon "replacements" and the original version is obviously not proportional to the price difference.
But in the eyes of the "super girls" who strive for excellence, they are also willing to pay a premium of several hundred yuan for this gap.
In addition to women's yoga clothing, Lululemon is also trying to enter the middle-class male market.
Although Lululemon's men's business increased by 27% in the second quarter of 2022, their products have not been less complained about.
For example, this New Year's men's vest priced at 1250 yuan, with a red vest and a white textile hat, was complained by netizens that he collided with Teacher Song Dandan.
Song Dandan: Pinch
If Archaeopteryx is the "Hermes of outdoor gear", then Lululemon is the "Tesla of yoga pants", with chicken soup printed on the walls of the store and the brand's founder's favorite quotes in the box.
Compared with the NBA, a certain Kun brother who "likes to sing and dance and play basketball" to be an ambassador, he has been questioned by netizens until now.
Lululemon promotes its brand, mostly looking for fitness coaches and yoga teachers who are very appealing in related fields to do publicity.
This type of ambassador is cheap and effective.
Some small Internet celebrities, without even paying a promotion fee, a pair of yoga pants with a price of hundreds can be sent.
In China, Lululemon also follows the customs, doing micro-business, pulling WeChat groups, organizing community activities from time to time, and engaging in offline courses and lectures.
Although marketing and promotion spend only 2%, the customers they bring in are both loyal and willing to pay.
Some netizens said: "It's my fault, not its fault." ”
There are even netizens who show off how many pieces of Lululemon they own by posting brand labels.
However, this operation seems to have a very visual feeling.
Since "Cherry Freedom," there has even been a new term in "Fitness Girl": "Lululemon Freedom."
Today, both male and female customers seem to be more attracted to the "middle class", healthy, sports-oriented lifestyle represented by "Lululemon" than to pursue its appearance.
2022 lululemon "Summer Challenge" promotional image
There were even spicy comments from netizens: "If it is reduced to the level of Decathlon, no one may pay attention." ”
Lululemon also has high hopes for China's "super girl", believing that China's fitness market still has more room for development.
In 2022, Lululemon's net revenue reached $1.868 billion, and now its market capitalization has surpassed Adidas to become the second most valuable company in the sports field, after Nike.
Hermès in the outdoor world, money-burning bird in the middle class
At the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023, the same storm jacket "Archaeopteryx" of the "Park Uncle", which was once disliked by the majority of young people, was all over the streets overnight.
At the beginning, Archaeopteryx was a high-end foreign brand in North America, and the price was already prohibitive.
In 2018, it was acquired by Anta and became a familiar domestic product, and the price skyrocketed.
An ordinary looking "hard shell" storm jacket costs thousands of dollars, and changing to a slightly better color quadruples the price.
For example, this "Meituan brother of the same model" costs six thousand.
And the same "Meituan same model", the camel brand only needs less than 400.
I used to disdain the "earthy" outfit of the park boss and aunt, but when I looked back, I found that "poor B" was actually myself.
Before knowing his price, I thought that "ugly" was its disadvantage, but I didn't think it was my aesthetic backwardness.
Before the explosion, he was called "food delivery", and now he is called "mountain style".
Archaeopteryx storm jacket expensive, it is said that there is a reason why he is expensive, their popular product hard shell storm jacket, under the shower head washed can achieve a perfect waterproof effect, waterproof and windproof insulation, that is all professional level.
There are also netizens who call themselves "outdoor sports enthusiasts" standing at the top end of the contempt chain, spitting on followers: "So many 'urban outdoor' people bought it and I really can't think of any other use than to install X." ”
Some netizens complained: "Hard shell is to cope with the outdoors, in the city to wear hard shell emergency I can only say pretend." ”
While many buyers don't know anything about outdoor exercise, and the biggest amount of exercise each day is a sit-up to get up and go to bed, that doesn't stop them from being interested in these outdoor gear.
However, how many senior outdoor sportsmen are there, and how many are the number of sports whites?
To grasp the big and let go of the small, the brand side has a "big picture concept".
In addition to stormtroopers, Archaeopteryx other products are also expensive.
The highest sales volume of Archaeopteryx flagship store is a polyester waist bag worth 400 yuan, which can only hold mobile phones, keys, and a pack of tissues.
A polyester belt with a slightly lower sales volume costs 400 yuan, and a cotton T-shirt with a logo on the chest costs 1,000 yuan.
Buying popular colors requires a lot of speed, but there are also bad reviews from buyers: "The neckline is deformed after one wash." ”
I don't know if this kind of popularity is an accident, or the boss behind Anta is doing the pusher, the brand end is not let go anyway, playing the slogan of "Hermes in high-end outdoors".
Netizens commented: "The recent Archaeopteryx is not a male version of Lululemon, which shows the status of a middle-class aristocracy after wearing it." ”
When it comes to "loving birds, buying birds, and wearing birds", the pride of "three treasures of the middle class" has been fully reflected.
Most of Archaeopteryx's offline stores are located in high-end shopping malls and top business districts, and during the explosion, there are even queues to enter the door.
Some popular down jackets cost 10,000 and even have to be distributed.
"I didn't have Hermes, but I had Hermès disease."
Hermès' profit in 2022 is 4.7 billion euros, which is 37.15 billion yuan at the current exchange rate.
The profit of Archaeopteryx in 2022 is 280 million yuan, and it is the first time that Anta has contributed positive profit in the four years since the acquisition.
If you want to benchmark against Hermes, there is still more than 130 times worse.
And with similar positioning, Archaeopteryx is also learning from Lululemon.
Archaeopteryx used to focus on outdoor expertise, and now it also tells the brand story.
It learned from Lululemon's community operation model, developed the concept of membership, and opened a lot of live mountain classes and outdoor activities.
In 2022 alone, more than 100 events were organized.
However, half a year has passed since the explosion, and I don't know if there is a place for Archaeopteryx for the "fashion items" of the next autumn and winter.
03, Moodytiger's 180 million victory, "brainwashing" products won hemp
Although Moodytiger is a thoroughly domestic product, it is known as the "Lululemon of children's clothing".
Moodytiger's goal is clear, that is, children from middle-class families, whether from brand tonality, brand concept, or price, are basically benchmarked against Lululemon.
Their strategy is not a failure, and in 2022, Taobao's total sales also reached 180 million yuan.
Moodytiger was founded in 2018, and from the beginning, the main promotion is "star same" and production technology.
It is said that the family business of the brand founder has provided fabrics to various international brands, so Moodytiger's fabrics are said to have the same black technology as the previous two, and are sunscreen and breathable for summer.
At that time, Lululemon filled the gap in the demand for yoga sportswear in North America, and Moodytiger aimed at domestic niche sports, such as skiing and surfing.
However, Moodytiger, who tried to benchmark Lululemon, was once accepted by middle-class moms because "stars are also wearing".
However, after becoming popular among middle-class families, Moodytiger fell into the controversy of "fake foreign cards".
The author found the official website of suspected Moodytiger on the Internet, which is consistent with the logo of Taobao official store and has the same advertising picture.
Suspected Moodytiger's official website
Taobao official picture
However, the default language is English, and there seems to be no Chinese in switching languages, so I don't know what the intention is.
Moodytiger has promoted the most black technology fabrics, and some netizens said that the down jacket of the safe B-grade fabric promoted by the online store was found to be C grade after getting it.
Some netizens exposed that they took their children to the beach to play, wearing sunscreen clothing known as 50+ sun protection index, and the child was still tanned, only to find that the so-called "sunscreen clothing" tag did not mark the sun protection standard.
From 2021 to 2022, Moodytiger was also fined by the Municipal Regulatory Bureau for product quality issues and advertising violations.
Some consumers wondered: selling so expensive, just this?
Although Archaeopteryx and Lululemon are expensive, at least people's "technology" publicity is genuine, even if they know that the premium is high, consumers are willing to pay for this upgrade of experience.
If Moodytiger wants to go further, the quality control of the product needs to be improved.
The so-called "three treasures of middle-class families" are nothing more than high premiums and loyal customers brought by technology and "storytelling".
And many users, perhaps not because they are good at sports, or have related needs, but in order to catch up with the trend of the "middle class", choose to buy these sports equipment.
More than the use value of these products, consumers seem to value the "middle-class" status they represent.
However, either don Archaeopteryx or be an outdoor expert; It's not about collecting all the shades of Lululemon and having a good body right away; It's not that wearing Moodytiger allows children to learn extreme sports painlessly.
The "health, wealth, freedom" preached by these brands is not a backward and ignorant concept.
However, if we think that buying these products makes us who we want to be, we will fall into the trap of these "middle-class" consumerism.
What do you think of the "new three treasures of middle-class families"? Welcome to leave your opinion in the comment area.
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