What tricks can an umbrella play?
Lei Penglin's answer was somewhat unexpected.
If you are afraid of walking at night, there are umbrellas with flashlights and reflective laser umbrellas.
If you're worried about getting your clothes wet in a rainstorm, there are full-body umbrellas with draped curtains.
If you are enough "social cow", you are not afraid to be a "conspicuous bag" in the crowd, and there is a "My Emperor" umbrella with its own crown.
……
As a "humanoid wishing pool" in the mouth of netizens, only you can't think of it, and there is no umbrella that he can't make.
Lei Penglin, 37 years old this year, is the owner of Fei Lian Umbrella Factory, through the brains to open up the umbrella creativity of "flashing" users, and the nonsensical short video of "everyone who has seen it is silent", Lei Penglin not only solved the slow-selling crisis that the umbrella factory once faced, but also became the number one Internet celebrity in his own factory.
Here are the true stories about him:
Text | Zhu Yuxing
Edit | Pique
A silent umbrella that flashes you "deafening"
No one can "retreat from Lei Penglin's Douyin account".
It is obviously a serious brand merchant, but at first glance, I thought that which rural brother was filming.
Other people's videos are beautiful and professional product displays, and the video of the flying umbrella factory looks almost exactly the same from the thumbnail - the "Syrian-style" factory building is only symbolically decorated with a few open umbrellas, and Lei Penglin stands in the center of the picture. Click on the video, the simple and rough style is even more unexpected, and was piccinously rated by users as "directly hitting the heavenly spirit cover".
For example, this is a new product in the store, the "My Emperor's Umbrella" that has just been put on the shelves, holding it as if every step is on the road to the enthronement ceremony.
This is a hit in the store, an umbrella with a torch, and it's not afraid to walk on a rainy night.
This is currently the biggest dark horse - Princess Liuhua Lolita Umbrella, Li Yunlong may have to be embarrassed to support it.
There are also fishing umbrellas with high voices, which were snatched by fishing guys crazy nearly 10,000.
In these videos, Lei Penglin has a serious and serious expression, holding an umbrella and bouncing to display products, without saying a word. Many users left "My silence is deafening" reviews.
Perhaps it is this impressive style of painting that this umbrella selling account has attracted 1.74 million followers.
The comment area of each video has thousands to hundreds of thousands of comments, most of which are users depicting their favorite umbrellas, begging the same aesthetic friends to top their own heat, and some people even attached drawings to "make a wish online", hoping that Lei Penglin could launch their imaginary umbrella after seeing it.
Figure | Lei Penglin message area "wished" young people
Lei Penglin is used to the pomp and circumstance in the comment section. No matter how strange the umbrella is, "as long as the voice is really high enough, everyone really likes it, I can make it".
It is such an umbrella factory that is not defined, which has become the first stop for many young people to buy umbrellas on Douyin e-commerce.
From "Lei sales" all the way to "Lei Zong"
Why open an umbrella factory that is not defined? This goes back to Lei Penglin's twists and turns in the beginning.
Lei Penglin was born in 1986 in a poor rural area in Henan. When he grew up as a teenager, most of his peers would go south to work in search of a way out after finishing junior high school.
Lei Penglin is no exception, before graduating from junior high school, he dropped out of school and entered the factory to learn the craft.
In the factory, Lei Penglin had a sales dream. In Lei Penglin's view, salespeople with commissions "earn more and earn higher salaries than factory directors" and can get rich quickly.
Therefore, when a friend who worked in Shaoxing umbrella factory called and said that "the umbrella factory has a good business and can be re-sold", 18-year-old Lei Penglin ran to Shaoxing without hesitation.
In ten years, he worked in all positions in the umbrella factory and became a professional salesman.
During his tenure, he showed amazing sales skills, saved a considerable amount of savings, and practiced the ability to distinguish umbrellas - any umbrella, Lei Penglin only needs to hold it in his hand and weigh it, he can tell its craftsmanship and estimate the price.
But after repeatedly winning the title of "pin crown" in the factory, Lei Penglin was also confused.
Traditional umbrella factories are mainly offline sales, channels are king, dealers hold the right to speak, and factory sales career ceilings are low. In her tenth year in the industry, Lei Penglin obviously felt that she had "done the job", and no matter how she did it next, she would not make a breakthrough in the sales position.
After thinking about it, Lei Penglin decided to start a business, work for herself, and break the dilemma that sales are subject to channels.
In 2014, the export of the umbrella industry was in the dividend period, as long as an umbrella factory was established, there was no worry about business. Lei Penglin transformed into "Lei Zong" and founded the "Flying Umbrella Factory" in Shaoxing, which can produce thousands of umbrellas a day by supplying foreign trade and small businesses.
Figure | Lei Penglin when starting her own business
However, in the Red Sea market, peers have poured in, and homogenization competition has intensified. After making a quick buck, Lei Penglin's daily shipments plummeted from 4,000 to 1,000.
Just when Lei Penglin was thinking about what to do in the future, a new domestic brand that relied on Internet channels gave him a huge impact.
Lei Penglin never thought, "An umbrella can be sold for more than 100 yuan?" "This completely subverted his previous perception.
The Internet has become Lei Penglin's sales breakthrough.
However, the popularity model of this cutting-edge brand is too difficult to replicate. "We are just a small factory, we don't have the funds to hire the team to specialize in branding, our primary purpose is to be seen and sold." Lei Penglin explained.
By chance, Lei Penglin saw business opportunities from the popular "Peppa Pig" bracelet with Douyin short videos. "This kind of small thing is very simple for the factory, and it can be produced by pulling the electric gate. The hard thing is that we don't know that the customer likes this and doesn't know to produce this. ”
He found that Douyin e-commerce can solve this problem by subtracting the redundant links in the middle, allowing factories and users to communicate face-to-face. Direct-to-user transactions also mean that they will no longer be constrained by channels and can have a broader market.
At that time, Douyin e-commerce had not yet proposed the concept of "interest e-commerce", and Lei Penglin could not define this model, but he was still sure that this was the opportunity he was waiting for.
With excitement, Lei Penglin registered a Douyin account and became the first blue V brand selling umbrellas in Douyin e-commerce.
"Forget it, I'll be this Internet celebrity"
But the reality is much more skinny than Lei Penglin thought.
All traditional bosses need a run-in period to embrace Douyin e-commerce, and Lei Penglin has a similar experience.
When she first made a video to show the goods, Lei Penglin thought that she "didn't look good, didn't know how to deal with young people, and would not be liked by young people", so she specially recruited a young man to shoot on camera.
However, the invited person is not from a technical background, does not understand the specifications of different products, and often uses inaccurate language in the introduction, and the user finds that it does not match the real thing after receiving the goods and returns it. During that time, the number of returns in stores was much higher than the industry average.
Lei Penglin realized that the person who appeared on the camera must be professional enough to make consumers believe that you are an expert, so that you are willing to buy, willing to use, and feel that the goods are genuine. After thinking about it, Lei Penglin decided to appear in person. "After all, the boss personally introduces it, and the sense of trust will still be stronger."
Although Lei Penglin is familiar with the product, she does not understand video production skills. At the beginning, he showed and introduced, down to the density of the umbrella cloth, the number of vinyl layers, the number of strands of the umbrella frame, and the differences between different parameters.
Figure | Lei Penglin held an umbrella
The boss personally appeared, the explanation was in place, and while sales rose, the return rate quickly decreased, but some people in the comment area still thought that he "talked too much, was noisy, and did not know whether to see with his eyes or listen with his ears."
Lei Penglin gradually understood that to do business online, merchants cannot unilaterally export product selling points, but must interact with users, understand users' needs, and then make corresponding adjustments.
So Lei Penglin simply stopped talking and used large-scale body movements to show the performance of the umbrella. The slightly "ghost animal" style immediately attracted the attention of many people, and the form of "silent film" was fixed.
According to netizens' questions about the product, Lei Penglin gradually perfected the display link in this "silent film". For example, someone once asked, "Does the umbrella surface dry quickly after being wet?" ”
Lei Penglin felt that the direct reply "do fast" seemed unconvincing. He took a large basin of water and splashed it directly on the umbrella surface, rotated the umbrella a few times, quickly opened and closed a few times, shook off the water droplets, and then took a dry paper towel and put it on the umbrella surface, blowing air, the paper towel was blown to the ground because it was dry and did not absorb water.
The video quickly "exploded", and a large number of questions followed: "Can two people fight this umbrella?" "Can it resist the wind?" "Is the lever smooth?" ......
With previous experience, Lei Penglin also responded quickly - he filmed all the answers into an intuitive video display. During the question and answer, fans' title for Lei Penglin also changed from "anchor" to "uncle".
Figure | Lei Penglin shows the umbrella's wind resistance, water resistance and shading
The "nonsensical" silent film style has become a tacit understanding between Lei Penglin and users: outsiders seem to be "crazy", but in the eyes of fans, this is the habit of "asking uncle before buying an umbrella".
Gradually, the comment section is no longer only a question about performance, but also full of bizarre "wishes". One day, a user asked in the comment area: "Is there an electric umbrella?" At that time, the umbrella factory did not have related products, but Lei Penglin knew at a glance that "this thing is not difficult and can be made." A large number of likes and messages made Lei Penglin sure that "this umbrella must sell well", so he immediately arranged factory production.
As he expected, the electric umbrella quickly sold out. Lei Penglin is keenly aware of the business opportunities behind this, "This generation of young people has changed, they emphasize more individuality and have more novel ideas. ”
Immediately, he changed his business ideas and began to launch some umbrellas that were rated as "although I can't understand it, but I was shocked" based on popular comments, such as "umbrellas that bloom in the water" and "laser umbrellas".
Especially the umbrella that reflects light. This umbrella, which was regarded as "unsellable" by peers, became a hit on Douyin e-commerce, with related videos receiving more than 1.5 million likes and nearly 20,000 sold in 3 months on the shelf.
Now through Douyin e-commerce alone, Lei Penglin can sell nearly 50,000 umbrellas every month, a 60% increase in sales compared with before. Lei Penglin knew that she had chosen the right one again.
In addition to shading the sun and rain,
How much more imagination can an umbrella satisfy?
Today, Lei Penglin's umbrella factory has doubled in size to become a medium-sized umbrella factory with more than 200 employees.
Lei Penglin said that he wants to make Feilian "everyone's umbrella factory". "Only in this way can the Flying Umbrella Factory continue to develop."
Even if there are innovative products within the industry, they will run aground for fear that the demand is too niche.
Figure | Lei Penglin's umbrella factory is participating in the exhibition
Therefore, for a long time, the umbrella industry lacked innovation motivation, and could only do similar products for price wars. As the payer, consumers lack the right to speak, and can only be forced to accept the "cookie-cutter" umbrella.
As a traditional manufacturer standing behind the scenes, Lei Penglin did not have the opportunity to go to the front of the stage and communicate with everyone, let alone listen to him talk about the hardships and thoughts behind making an umbrella.
"But it's different now." Lei Penglin said that technology has given users and factories another choice.
With the advancement of umbrella making technology, an umbrella can be controlled within 1 day from design to production, and support customization, which means that users can independently choose their favorite patterns and shapes to make umbrellas.
In the wave of the Internet, umbrellas have changed from daily necessities to decorations and social products for young people to express themselves - like Lei Penglin's comment area, there are many netizens who bring pictures to ask about customization, and those who are interested in this model will leave messages, like and express support, and meet friends with umbrellas.
Factories can also get feedback from users in a timely manner through Douyin e-commerce, and formulate production plans, cycles, and quantities based on likes and message data, without worrying about inventory backlogs caused by overproduction.
After gaining respect, Lei Penglin realized the importance of user feelings to entrepreneurs. Lei Penglin likes to use the "companion" proposed by Douyin e-commerce to describe his relationship with users.
Therefore, he spends 1 hour a day replying to user messages, "trying to be responsive". During the live broadcast, when encountering old customers, Lei Penglin said bluntly on the "possession of the boss": "What do you fancy, uncle will send you".
Figure | Lei Penglin and users are more like friends
Lei Penglin's factory has also attracted many fellow factory owners to learn from experience.
Like Lei Penglin, they have rich industry accumulation, but lack a platform for display, and Lei Penglin's story has given them new inspiration.
As the growth base of Douyin's e-commerce creators, "Looking for Companions" will continue to explore outstanding influencers and merchants to help them gain more attention and opportunities and achieve longer-term development on the platform.
What surprised Lei Penglin even more was that many "brain-opening" video clips spread abroad, and many foreign users were surprised by his "Chinese creativity" after seeing it, and left messages wanting to buy.
For Lei Penglin, who has been making umbrellas for nearly 20 years, umbrella making is not simply a way to make a living, but also a means for him to communicate with the world and help China's traditional umbrella industry export to the outside world.
"Next, I also want to make some umbrellas that contain traditional culture, umbrellas that change color when it rains, or umbrellas that friends can inscribe each other..." Lei Penglin gushed about the new products in the future.
Of course, what he longs for most is to be a "shaker brand", a brand that is completely grassroots but has strong vitality.
He will never forget the afternoon when he found that the cutting-edge domestic product could sell an umbrella for more than 100 yuan. He turned the umbrella over and over, and his inner shock was beyond words. He understood that it was a gift under the dividends of the times, and although he was unwilling, he still yearned for it, and longed for a career he could make.
Now that he is finally on the cusp, "then naturally he has to make a little new attempt."
#老板卖伞一言不发却销量过万#