A pair of thousands, an annual income of 8 billion! The king of Internet celebrity shoes who is popular by macho men, the more expensive the more popular

Golden wrong knife

2024-05-16 15:23Published in Beijing

In the face of consumption, young people are always quite "double standard".

While shouting that with a monthly salary of 20,000 yuan, he can't afford to go to the mall, can't afford to buy fruits, and can't afford to follow his share, and more than 10 pieces of ice cream are disgusted by assassins.

But on the other hand, in the face of high-priced products, it is another buy and one does not squeak.

For example, lululemon, which sells yoga pants for 1,000 pairs, has become so popular that young people in small towns have started to buy them in the past two years.

The Archaeopteryx, which sold its jackets to thousands of dollars, was robbed by young people.

There is also an ang run that sells mediocre running shoes at AJ price, and is also queued up to rob it.

When it comes to Angpao, many people may be puzzled. After all, as a Swiss brand, it has only opened more than 10 directly-operated stores in first-tier cities such as Shanghai, Beijing, and Shenzhen after entering China for five years, which is not half a point different from Nike Li Ning's thousands of stores, and its popularity is not too high.

As an apprentice of Archaeopteryx and lululemon, it has also been questioned by many as being tied to the top by the label of "Three Treasures of the Middle Class".

But that doesn't stop it from getting hotter the more expensive it gets.

The gross profit margin of Angrun in the third quarter of 2023 is 59%, while the average gross profit margin of Lululemon in recent years is only 55%, and Nike is only 44%.

But at the same time, whether it is Sanlitun in Beijing or Wukang Road in Shanghai, the front of the new Angpao store is crowded with young people, and those who don't know think they are lining Huawei.

Queuing is not marketing, but real service to make money.

In the past five years, Angpao's performance has been running wildly, and its net sales in 2022 will exceed 8 billion. It took Lululemon 14 years to reach a billion dollars in revenue with a pair of yoga pants. And it only took 10 years for Angpao, a brand that was only established in 2010.

It is not uncommon to be able to become the new middle-class three treasures together with Archaeopteryx and Lululemon, but it is strange that it can earn more and more every year.

Behind this, Ang Ran really grasped the essence, but completely ran out of his own way.

Essence 1:

The more expensive it is, the more popular it is, so that the poor ghosts all say it is good

Like many middle-class treasures, the first obvious middle-class characteristic of Ang Run is that it is expensive!

The average price of a pair of shoes is more than 1,000 yuan, and the high-end shoes are more than 2,000 yuan.

There was once such a saying: Everyone in Jing'an District, Shanghai, has a pair of clothes, pants are lululemon, and shoes must be Ang Run, which can be summed up in one sentence: A man cannot have Ang Run and inferiority complex at the same time.

But only expensive is obviously not enough, it is easy to price expensive brands, but it is difficult to convince users. After all, the former Salomon was complained about "middle-class foot fitness" because of its rustic design, and no one cared about it when it was put on sale in Ole.

In fact, Ang Run also had this anxiety at the beginning, and the sole design was too unique and even strange, which was called "looking like a tooth in urgent need of correction." ”

Behind being so expensive and sought after, Ang Run has mastered a essence: making running shoes into X artifacts.

A shoe that costs thousands at every turn, even if the technology is superb, will be disliked as too expensive, but if it is equipped with X, the cost performance is full, and even the cost is very low.

The first is that he was born with his own forced qualifications. Although the appearance is not very flattering, Ang Run has an innate advantage: from the Swiss Alps, this origin makes many people think of "high quality, expensive price" for the first time, after all, the last one everyone knows is a Swiss famous watch.

In addition to being born in Switzerland, its founder Bernhard is also a well-known Swiss athlete, which adds a bit of confidence to the brand.

Who knows shoes better than a pro? When the athlete goes off the field, the persuasion can be said to be leveraged.

The second is the design of the tops X.

Other brands will treat the niche as a problem, but Angpao takes the niche as an advantage.

How do you quickly find a run in a crowd of running shoes? It's very simple, although the logo of Ang Run is not strange, it is niche enough, and it is in a conspicuous position, and people who wear it can see the same kind at a glance.

In addition, the character design should also be in place.

For example, Arc'teryx and lululemon have both relied on the label of "middle-class three treasures" to bind the upper position, and the fastest way to set up a person is to tie up big names.

The same is true for Ang Run, who found the tennis king Federer and made him an investor and spokesperson for the brand.

Running was originally the sport with the lowest threshold, but tennis is different, it is played by people who have money and time.

In addition to winning the top tennis sport, over the years, Ang Run has also continued to sign various great runners, and will also let each store organize offline running activities, bundle with Starbucks, Sanlitun and other activities, and make shoes into social currency.

Relying on these tricks, the price is often thousands, "middle-class foot fitness" is the most dignified label of Salomon, and Ang Run has become a "forced symbol".

This popularity is directly reflected in the performance:

In the third quarter of last year, Ang Pao achieved its strongest record since its IPO - net sales rose 46.5% year-on-year to 480 million Swiss francs (about 550 million US dollars), and net profit jumped 184% to 58.7 million Swiss francs (about 67.16 million US dollars).

When Nike and Adi often offer 2 or 3 discounts on "big sales", the non-discounted Angpao sells hotly.

Essence 2:

There are no new stories, but there are spokespeople everywhere

As we all know, the second step for a brand to impress the middle class is to tell a story.

There is never a shortage of "middle-class shoes" in the market that can tell stories, just like Allbirds, how natural the materials used, the upper is eucalyptus fiber, the sole is sugarcane development, and the insole is integrated with castor oil, which doesn't sound like making shoes, but like making food.

Archaeopteryx is a must-have for the big guy, and there is an ingenuity story of the whole team stumbling for a technology behind it.

But reality proves that many storytellers end up being clever and mistaken, and Allbirds is complained about because of its excessive emphasis on environmental protection.

In fact, Ang Run has also played the environmental protection card, and launched 100% recyclable running shoes in 2020, with only 10 parts for a pair of shoes, all from the same type of raw materials, or bio-based materials, and users can only buy this shoe with a continuous subscription service.

But one of the more witty things about Ang Pao is that it doesn't focus entirely on storytelling, but captures the essence of the product's power: practicality.

As soon as Ang Run was born, it emphasized that it had made "the world's lightest cushioned running shoe", and the sole design came from this idea.

At the same time, it also has a careful opportunity: there will be a small Swiss flag on the shoe, even if you don't see the logo clearly, you can recognize that it is a run, and it will deepen people's impression of "good quality".

However, these are secondary, and Angrun knows that in order to make users buy it, they can only speak with the results: either take the technology or have an exclusive patent.

In the past ten years, it has launched several patents, including CloudTec cushioning technology, Speedboard propeller plate, Helion Superfoam foam, etc.

Some loyal users of Ang Run said that although the appearance is mediocre, it does have a good grip when worn, and there is a feeling of stepping on cotton, and it is not tiring to walk wildly for a day.

Even ETH Zurich has published an independent study confirming that CloudTec's patented sole technology reduces the heart rate and blood lactate levels of athletes.

Product power is the best proof of X, both face and foundation, so that young people are quickly divided into two factions: those with and without Ang.

Whether it is a sports star or an ordinary person, they are the spokespersons of walking, and as long as there is Ang, there must be more than one pair, and even the topic of "Ang Run" on Xiaohongshu has more than 50 million views.

The market price of cooperative shoes on the platform has risen to about 2500, but it is still difficult to find a shoe, it can be said that having a pair of high-end running, you have a double ticket to enter the tide circle + running circle.

Essence 3:

Dead vertical hits, but they can be pervasive

In the middle-class formula, it seems that as long as there are foreign brands + outdoor genes, more than half of the success will be achieved.

Over the years, pheromones, lululemon, and Xiaobu have all been like this. "Wearing an Archaeopteryx jacket, pants and Lululemon yoga pants, Salomon shoes, and a backpack on the north side, it is a full set of middle-class equipment."

This formula can also be applied to other brands.

If you look deeper, they actually do the same thing: vertical hits.

For example, Salomon shoes look fat and big because they need to be embedded in the socks to ensure that the shoes are one when running at high speeds.

The slogan in the prospectus is "completely change the feeling of running." ”

Vertical hits are certainly flattering, but they may not be suitable for everyone.

For example, some people complained that the shoes were too soft, and the orthopedic surgeon pointed out that the shoes wore out too quickly, which was easy to cause tendonitis.

A buyer of Ang Run said: "Ang Run's shoes are very light, but they are also easy to break. For example, the inner lining of the heel can tear quickly, and the upper can also break easily. ”

But even if people dislike it in their mouths, their bodies are honest. According to the On prospectus, in user research, 43% of brand consumers will repurchase, and 75% of consumers have recommended On running shoes to others.

Behind the positioning of niche sales but not niche, the third essence of Ang Pao is dry channels.

In addition to user loyalty, more important is the loyalty of distributors.

In terms of value anchors, it is quite down-to-earth in terms of channels. Smooth and stable distribution channels are an important reason why Angrun can continue to be popular.

For example, the birth of allbirds coincided with the DTC trend in the United States, and it was reluctant to hand over to traditional distributors, and only wanted to build its own official website or store sales. This also brings obvious drawbacks: people who want to buy it are forced to buy it due to geographical restrictions.

In the early days of the brand's establishment, Angrun mainly sold shoes through a wholesale model, focusing on a high profit and high sales, which was also the key to its entry into the Chinese market in 2018.

Even in the later period, Angrun began to pay attention to its own direct sales model, established its own e-commerce platform in 2012, and opened its first offline flagship store in 2020, but Angrun has never given up the distribution business, a data is enough to prove:

As of 2020, more than 60% of Angrun's revenue comes from distribution channels.

In the market that their own strength cannot reach, dealers can run through. According to the company's prospectus, as of the first half of 2021, its products were sold in more than 8,100 retail stores in more than 50 countries and regions around the world.

This principle is also similar to the overlord of the tea industry, Chaji or Mixue Bingcheng - put down the shelf and join, and quickly penetrate into people's lives, because only when you see it first, can you sell it.

Reality has proved that the idea of Ang run is quite correct, and it has completely opened the gap with its peers, compared with all birds who only do direct sales, the initial starting point is about the same, and now the market value is directly to 50 times that of it, basically hanging to play.

In the end, the layout of the channel has also become a sharp blade for Angrun to split the international market.

The three treasures of the middle class will always change, but under the volume of many peers, Ang Run still firmly grasps the middle class.

Not everyone loves sports, and not all brands that meet the middle-class formula can be popular, whether it is expensive, it can tell stories, rub foreign filters + outdoor heat, these routines may become popular, but they are not long-term solutions.

The reason why Ang Run has become more and more popular year by year, and he has not fallen off the altar until now, in the final analysis, he still grasps the deeper and more time-tested essence of human nature-

Loaded with X, practical, and easy to buy.

Playing routines has been popular for a while, and mastering human nature is the ultimate rule to sit firmly on the throne.

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