"Selling armor, happy to mention Bentley", firmly caught people's attention.
Li Zhifu, who was born in 1994, pointed to the copywriting on the short video and said: "This Bentley is talking about me." In March this year, he just bought a Bentley for more than 4 million yuan. At this time, he had been wearing armor for less than three years, and the initial investment cost was only hundreds of thousands.
Source: Screenshot of Li Zhifu's social media
The East China Sea, where Li Zhifu is located, is a county in northern Jiangsu, which is keenly grasping the changes in the market, and has achieved the ultimate in the seemingly niche subdivision of wearing nails, and quietly amazed the public in the consumer market.
Blue Ocean, the judgment is right
Unlike the stereotypical businessman, Li Zhifu likes to be clean, but his shop is always the noisiest on that street, which is particularly conspicuous.
On the "Nail Wearing Street" in the East China Sea, Li Zhifu was the first to open a nail wearing shop. In just a few years, he has expanded from one store to 18 stores. In this armor display store called Yihe, every wall is full of products. The cheapest wearing armor is only 7 yuan, and the most expensive is about 20 yuan, which can be wholesale or retail.
Among them, a mountain of armor is enclosed in the center of a shop, surrounded by streamers. They don't show their faces, they sit around with small benches, the camera is aimed at the hands that are constantly rummaging in the "A pile", and they screen and introduce the people in the live broadcast room with a very fast speaking speed.
On Douyin, a live broadcast room that sells armor
Fans will mark which one they like, put it in the small box at their hand, and wait for the live broadcast to go to the cashier to settle the bill, and make money by the price difference. Trading turned out to be so efficient.
This bunch of products that Li Zhifu received at low prices from other poorly managed stores are called "unique products", with broken codes and cheap prices, and then sold at home and abroad by these anchors through major short video platforms. Of course, Li Zhifu's own production scale is even larger, with 85 stations distributed in various towns and villages in the East China Sea, and more than 2,000 workers.
Donghai County is rich in resources and is known as the "Crystal Capital of the World". Locals say that it is the development of the crystal industry that allows the local area to have a strong e-commerce gene and be able to link the world. In the upstream of the crystal industry chain, the agglomeration effect is formed, and the cost advantage is obvious. In Crystal City, many shops have slogans on the door of the initiative to solicit anchors. The closer the anchor sales are to the source of production, the more cost-effective they can be.
In Lianyungang City, Jiangsu Province, in a crystal e-commerce center in Donghai County, the staff is selling goods through live broadcast on mobile phones / Source: Visual China
Nowadays, in addition to crystals, wearing armor also benefits from the advantages of e-commerce, forming a continuous improvement of the industrial belt. Donghai has become the largest production base for wearing nails in the country, creating more opportunities for local young people.
Generally speaking, there are two types of nails, the machine model is simple in color and low in price, and the manual model is more delicate, requiring workers to draw on the plastic nail piece one by one like an offline nail technician.
Li Zhifu's Yihe factory store ranks first in the sales of wearable nails on Alibaba. "At that time, I first saw a customer selling armor on Pinduoduo, and the sales data was generally rising." Li Zhifu sensed the huge business opportunities involved.
A variety of wearing armor on the shopping platform
In order to seize the market, he opened an offline wearable nail store for wholesale for the first time, and at the same time stationed in Alibaba online, gaining a first-mover advantage in this industry.
Wearing armor is a huge blue ocean market - now it seems that Li Zhifu's judgment is right. Now the extremely hot wearing armor has reached the peak season of holidays, and a live broadcast can even trade millions of yuan. A large number of anchors and dealers have also gone to the East China Sea from all over the country to select products and set foot on this new track of nuggets.
Three years, it has become a forest
"In my first year of doing armor, I made the money I made for the past ten years."
Li Zhifu himself is also amazed at the speed of development of the industry. In the past three years, the prosperity of the wearable nail market has continued to stir people's hearts. This industry seems to have been pressed the accelerator button, and more and more people are entering, eager to seize opportunities in the wind of the times.
Li Zhifu, who joined the industry at the end of 2021, said: "In 2022, there will be only a few dozen companies in this industry, and in 2023 it will reach several hundred, and this year there will be thousands in the East China Sea." "Donghai "Wear a Street" in this process has grown savagely, and now it even has a sense of "becoming a forest".
According to relevant industry data, there are 400,000 pairs of handmade handmade armor in Donghai County, and the annual output will exceed 100 million pairs in 2023, accounting for more than 70% of the country's total output.
Although a pair of handmade armor is small, it involves a lot of raw materials, such as a basic white deck, various colors of color glue, accessories of different materials, and so on. However, in such a short period of time, Donghai has formed a complete chain of hand-worn nail industry.
Elaborate nail art template / Source: Picture Worm Creative
Being able to make a handmade low-priced commodity into an industrial chain in a short period of time is wisdom and experience for these entrepreneurs in the East China Sea.
According to the three-year planning plan of the Donghai County Wearable Nail Industry Association, the Donghai Wearable Nail Industry strives to have a production capacity of more than 300 million pairs, sales of more than 80 billion yuan, more than 20 enterprises on the development scale, and more than 500 million yuan in tax revenue by the end of 2026.
The first impression of Tokai is "vitality", which is a simple and resilient force. If we ask the locals what are the characteristics of the East China Sea, we often hear some of the same words in various answers, such as "small Zhejiang", such as "dare to think and dare to do".
Located in the East China Sea of Jiangsu, it has always been called "Little Zhejiang". As we all know, Zhejiang's small commodity market and e-commerce economy are very developed, and the same is true of the East China Sea. Many entrepreneurs in Donghai started from small businesses, with a keen sense of smell of the market, keenly discovering business opportunities, forming a unique and innovative style among the Suzhou businessmen.
Aerial photography of Xishuanghu Scenic Area in Donghai County / Source: Picture Insect Creativity
The grassroots image of Donghai entrepreneurs has a long history, and although their starting point is relatively low, they are also more able to endure hardships than ordinary people. For example, Li Zhifu graduated from junior high school, and began to work his own at the age of 16, working hard to help others "dig wells", and later took over the crystal processing business from his relatives, and was able to realize the dream of "opening a factory".
Of course, hard-working is not the traditional way of thinking. Li Zhifu's cousin Zheng Junwei spoke highly of him, she thought that although Li Zhifu was young, he had always been very hard-working and self-motivated, and now he is very strict and careful in business management.
Li Zhifu always said that what he values most is "cost-effective", and when asked how to achieve "cost-effective", he has accumulated a lot of management experience at a young age. For example, he cooperates with 85 sites in various towns and villages, each of which can design its own styles and produce them exclusively. If the style sells well, they can also earn more themselves, and the creativity and work efficiency in it can be infinitely amplified.
The business of wearing nails also includes a lot of local mothers in the East China Sea. Freedom of time, easy to pick up and drop off children, piecework charges, and obvious incentive effect are perfect jobs for them. Their production line is like a large study room, sitting at the table and carefully drawing various patterns.
A handmade nail practitioner in Donghai County/Source: Lianyungang Business
"I feel very proud," is how Li Zhifu feels, adding, "I am really proud to be able to lead more than 2,000 people to make money together". This value is intangible, a responsibility, and an emotion.
As for why he chose to buy Bentley at the moment, Li Zhifu, who claims to be low-key, also gave some special explanations of his own - he didn't like it much, he just tried to use this crude and eye-catching way to fight those high-profile competitors and enhance his presence in the eyes of customers. Everything is fluid, and knowing how to show wealth is also a good way to market.
"I've got the effect I want," he said. ”
Initiators, Catastrophic Persons
Is it too late to enter the wearable nail industry now?
Han Qiuchen's judgment is that it is definitely not too late. In April, he just registered his wearable nail brand Tuwen, and also received an angel round of financing.
Han Qiuchen is also a "post-90s" entrepreneur in the East China Sea. After finishing university in Zhejiang, he worked in trade, finance, and finally chose to return to his hometown to start a quartz business. Director Jia Zhangke once said that only by leaving his hometown can he get his hometown. In this comparison of departures, he also has many subtle explorations of the economy of his hometown.
After a certain amount of accumulation over the years, Han Qiuchen also took a fancy to the rising new track of wearing armor. But unlike other operators in the East China Sea, he doesn't want to do wholesale, but wants to be an influential high-end wearable nail brand.
Entering this industry as an "entrant", Han Qiuchen is looking forward to becoming a real "game-breaker".
According to Li Zheng, secretary general of the Donghai County Wearable Nail Industry Association, only 10% of the wearable nails in Donghai are now sold as brands, and most of them are still wholesale and OEM.
"It's not interesting to cut a batch of leeks in the short term, I want to do long-term business, do high-end wearing nails, and set up R&D centers in first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai." Han Qiuchen is ready to spend half a year preparing for his brand to go to the market.
High-end wearable nails are designed by professional art academy students, with high-end materials, meticulously crafted, and customized for consumers. According to Han Qiuchen, the customization cycle of high-end wearable armor will be longer, and the price will be higher, and a pair can reach more than 1,000 yuan.
On social platforms, there are many consumers who like to collect and are willing to pay a high price to buy wearable nails
The current team of this high-end wearable nail brand called Tu Wu is not large, and professional designers are still recruiting. Different from the "Bao Ma Cooperation Model" in the township, Han Qiuchen is more inclined to the employee management method of modern enterprises. He said that he would buy five insurances and one housing fund for designers, and would also require them to complete the design in shifts to form a perfect system.
Judging from the current market, building a high-end wearable nail brand may not be an "easy to walk" road. The nail art market, which has been popular for so many years, has not yet appeared a big brand that can make people familiar with it.
But what made Han Qiuchen more confident was that the Chinese University of China chose to cooperate with their company to wear nails for this year's graduation season. The two armor patterns were designed by students from the Department of Art and Design at Renmin University. Many companies have participated in the competition through the Tokai Wearable Nail Industry Association. In the end, Han Qiuchen's products won by their lifelike quality and details.
To a certain extent, it can be said that wearing armor can not only show the unique charm of the individual in terms of fashion, but also have the ability to carry and spread culture.
On February 8, 2022, in the women's big air final of freestyle skiing at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, Gu Ailing won the gold, and her finger nails had a five-ring pattern / Source: Visual China
In Han Qiuchen's view, in the future, wearing armor is bound to move towards a more high-quality route, and the content of different cultural backgrounds can be customized. In addition, the safety standard operation belonging to the wearable nail industry will also be more perfect sooner or later.
Whether it is Li Zhifu, who is a wholesaler, or Han Qiuchen, who wants to go to the high-end, as young entrepreneurs in the East China Sea, they have an optimistic power and ride the wind. In Donghai, every subject who wants to succeed in this production chain also has a basic consensus - we must form our own competitiveness, no matter which road we take or which link we are in.
Not only are market players boldly breaking through and doing boldly, but the government is also supporting and guiding the emerging industry of wearing nails. The 2024 Jiangsu Provincial Government Work Report proposes: "Better support the high-quality development of the county economy." ”
Recently, a new Donghai Wearable Nail Exhibition Center has been established in Hall 3 of Donghai Crystal City, which aims to guide wearable nail enterprises to form an agglomeration effect, promote brand building, provide a broader market space for the future development of the wearable nail industry, and create international influence.
Donghai County, Lianyungang, Jiangsu, China Donghai Crystal City/Source: Picture Worm Creative
Zhang Qibing, secretary of the Donghai County Party Committee, said that Donghai has a good foundation for the development of e-commerce, with 150,000 e-commerce employees. Wearable nails have gradually become a new growth pole for the economic development of the East China Sea, and Donghai is promoting the tripartite linkage of policies, platforms and enterprises to form an agglomeration effect, and take the lead in starting the standardization of the wearable nail industry to further enhance the level of industrial development.
Creativity and vitality are intensively stirring in the East China Sea. They turned "small business" into "big business" and "small commodities" into "big market", polishing the most solid background color in the county's economic development.