Young People'S Favorite Hole Shoes, Who Is The Big Winner

Different from the past trend of pursuing delicacy and luxury, in recent years, the public has increasingly embraced a more relaxed and comfortable lifestyle.

In October last year, CEO Brand Watch once sent a document to sort out emerging fashion items, one of which was slippers that were comfortable to wear without losing their personalized expression. This summer, the fashion craze of slippers continues, and the home leisure scene further radiates the workplace show. The "ugly and cute" hole shoes have become the favorite of the young generation. Under the "Dongmen", Crocs (demand area: 30-70 square meters, representative projects: Beijing Century Jinyuan Shopping Center, Wuhan Huiju Shopping Center, etc.) is undoubtedly one of the most noteworthy brands.

Ugly shoes that make people "really fragrant"

"There are only two kinds of people in the world, one is the people who wear the shoes, the other is the people who do not wear the shoes, and there is no one who only wear the shoes once." Put on the shoes, become its followers, and young people successively flow into the "cave door".

As the originator of cave shoes, the American shoe brand Crocs is the most widely known brand. In 2002, Crocs created its * * * product classic clog shoes with lightweight EVA materials and innovative integrated structure, bringing a "comfort revolution" to the slipper field.

Since then, "Dongdong Shoes" has become a representative design of Crocs * * *, and has gained a large number of fans by virtue of comfort and practicality. In just four years, Crocs was listed on NASDAQ in the United States in 2006, raising $200 million, becoming an IPO of * * * in the history of shoe brands at that time. The prospectus also shows that Crocs has earned $800 million in the four years before listing.

However, the development of Crocs has not been smooth. During this period, Crocs experienced a period of downturn in its development, and it slowly returned to the public's vision after launching the brand transformation plan in 2014. Especially under the epidemic situation, the trend of focusing on comfortable consumption makes Crocs welcome a new upsurge.

In terms of products, while following the classic, Crocs also constantly introduces new styles and designs to show the ever-changing style. In addition to the classic shoes, Crocs also launched Mega Crush Clog Light Wheel Hole Shoes, Platform Clog Cloud Hole Shoes, Crush Clog Puff Hole Shoes, Dylan Clog Chestnut Hole Shoes, Classic Cozzzy Sandal classic fur slippers and other shoes, which can adapt to different scenes and seasons from heel height, color to style.

Up to now, Crocs has sold more than 850 million pairs of shoes in 85 countries and regions around the world. In addition, from the perspective of performance, this pair of "ugly shoes" has also continued to make people "really fragrant" in recent years.

Since 2018, Crocs has maintained double-digit growth for five consecutive years. In 2022, Crocs' sales rose by 53.67% to US $3.555 billion, a record high, and its core brand Crocs' revenue rose by 14.9% to US $2.7 billion year on year.

In the first quarter of this year, Crocs' revenue increased by 33.9% year on year to $884 million, and its core brand Crocs contributed $649 million, up 19% year on year. Affected by this, Crocs also raised its full year performance forecast for 2023, which is expected to record a total revenue of $3.945-4045 billion in 2023.

Creative Overlay Hits the Fashion Beat

Although Crocs has conquered many consumers with its comfortable wearing experience, the beauty and ugliness disputes around "hole shoes" in the fashion industry have never stopped. Crocs also generously received the voices of all parties, and used "Ugly is Beautiful" as a slogan to convey the brand's unique personality and stimulate consumer resonance. Of course, Crocs is also trying to meet users' higher demands for fashion and personality.

***The effect and celebrity effect can be said to be an important breakthrough for Crocs to enter the fashion industry in recent years. It has innovated the image of "hole shoes" with a rich co branding system, so that products with fashionable and popular styles can be seen by more young people.

From the perspective of cooperation objects, Crocs co names can be summarized into several types:

One is the co branding of fashion trends, including luxury brands, designer brands, street fashion brands, etc. Such co branded products are often expensive, and can attract great attention, which can well convey to consumers that "Crocs can also be fashionable, trendy and stylish".

For example, Crocs and luxury brand Balenciaga jointly launched popular products such as high-heeled hole shoes and thick soled hole shoes; Cooperate with Japanese fashion brand Beams to add fashionable and interesting elements such as tassels and beading to Dongdong shoes; Joined hands with Chinese fashion designer Shangguan Zhe to create Crocs Clog with removable shoe covers

The second is the co branding of mass consumer brands in various fields. Such co branded products are close to the daily life of the public, but they are very creative and interesting, and can well open the national awareness.

For example, Crocs co branded with 7-Eleven, a convenience store brand, and launched four products inspired by the color matching of convenience stores; The co branded shoes launched with KFC, a fast-food giant, have become the appearance of KFC's fried chicken barrel, and are equipped with detachable imitation chicken legs.

The third is the high popularity IP in games, animation and other fields. Such co branded products can effectively break different consumer circles, stimulate consumers to actively carry out secondary communication of co branded funds, and increase brand flow.

For example, Crocs broke the dimensional wall and launched the "born * * *" series of combat boots in conjunction with the popular heroes in mobile game "*******", Xiao Qiao, Cai Wenji, Sun Wukong, Lu Ban No.7 and Mengqi; With the hot IP - CRYBABY parade series as the design theme, Bubble Mart and the trendy game brand jointly create the classic Klogg hole shoes printed with the stripe pattern of the "big turntable" of the amusement park.

As far as Crocs is concerned, the continuous and stable co branding rhythm is not only its exploration and breaking of the border, but also allows consumers to keep expectations and then harvest surprises.

Of course, Crocs itself or its co branded partners, as well as ordinary consumers, can exert their imagination and creativity on "rough" shoes.

"Jibbitz Zhibixing", an accessory used to decorate the vamp of hole shoes, is more called "shoe flower" by netizens. It is understood that a pair of Crocs shoes can place more than 20 Zhibi stars. In addition to the free combination playing method, the original single hole shoes have become a "new battlefield" for young consumers to show their individual aesthetic and attitude.

On the official sales channel of Crocs, the price of a single Zhibisheng is 28 to 45 yuan, and that of a five piece set is 88 to 148 yuan. In terms of style, the original simple graphics have been upgraded and iterated into three-dimensional ornaments with more creative details. In addition, we also played the co branding game, with Disney, Baokemeng, Bubble Mart, etc., we have launched Zhibixing ornaments with corresponding themes.

A variety of accessories provide more space for young people to create their own exclusive DIY shoes and show their individuality. This process of second creation meets the needs of Generation Z to publicize their individuality and express themselves, and also helps Dongdong shoes to reach young people continuously.

How long can you run in the heat?

Obviously, the expansion of the scale of the Dongmen has made Crocs more outspoken.

It is worth noting that "accelerating the layout of the Asian market" has been one of the strategic initiatives explicitly proposed by Crocs, with the goal of achieving 25% of the sales in the Asian market by 2026.

China, a potential market, is an important part of its strategic layout. Crocs is continuing to enter the vision of domestic young consumers through multi-dimensional exploration and attempts.

In terms of channel layout, the brand has set up dozens of direct stores in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Nanjing and other cities, and there are more than 100 dealers in various cities. In the middle of June, Crocs also opened the Shanghai * * * Energy Center Store at Century Plaza in Pudong, Shanghai. The overall design inherits the brand's bright and simple style, and interprets the brand's "natural and comfortable" attitude with simple lines and colorful color elements.

At the same time, Crocs is also actively breaking through the star effect. Since 2020, the brand has officially announced the cooperation of local stars such as Yang Mi, Ouyang Nana, Bai Jingting, Zhou Yutong and so on. Through their deep fan base in young consumer groups, they reach more users and occupy the consumer mind.

According to Crocs' quarterly financial report of * * * this year, the Crocs brand's revenue in the Asia Pacific region reached $140 million, up 46.1% year on year, exceeding the growth rate of North America and EMEALA (Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America) in the same period. Among them, the revenue growth in the Chinese market exceeded 110%.

Nevertheless, in the Chinese market, where there is no shortage of low prices, Crocs still has some obstacles to face if its business is to be sustainable for a long time.

For example, consumers' loyalty to Crocs is still not high, and a large number of imitators and copycats are eating away at Crocs' market share.

Now, SKECH, Decathlon, Warrior and other brands have all launched their own hollow shoes, which are much lower in price than Crocs. Although Crocs officials have repeatedly claimed that these products will not have the same soft, antiskid, breathable and deodorant functions as genuine Croslite materials, this does not seem to affect consumers to buy more cost-effective imitations. In addition, on the e-commerce platform, not only are there flat shoes, but even "shoe flower" can find flat shoes.

Therefore, for Crocs to do business with Chinese people, it is necessary to consider the diversity of consumers in the Chinese market, start from the user psychology, and take more innovative measures to improve the stickiness of existing users and activate potential users.