As a model that has achieved tremendous success, shoe chain specialty operations have attracted many merchants in recent years who have followed suit, using it as a primary means to capture the terminal market. Take Oakley Group, a giant in the footwear industry, as an example. Since pioneering the shoe chain model in 1998, they have opened 3,000 specialty stores nationwide within just four short years. This has become the main marketing approach in Oakley's "multi-legged" strategy, enabling Oakley to grow at an annual rate of 40%. However, with the "pie" being limited, and this sales model being widely adopted by small and medium-sized enterprises across the country, some smaller manufacturers have even copied Oakley’s marketing model without any modifications. This shadow-following marketing strategy, while allowing some small and medium-sized leather shoe enterprises to avoid many detours and quickly elevate their brand in a short time, has exposed the insufficient innovation capabilities in China's footwear market. This has forced companies leading in the industry to seek new marketing methods.
World-renowned marketing master Milton Kotler once pointed out that for shoe brands to succeed in today's and future shoe marketing markets, they must meet consumers' intrinsic needs: enhancing the high added value of the brand, providing purchasing convenience, maintaining product freshness, and ensuring equivalence between product and price, among others. These have all become the primary factors in stimulating consumer purchases. For this reason, transforming channels, pulling terminals, and remaking brands have become very necessary.
Nowadays, many enterprises place great emphasis on implementing brand strategies. Some companies that have already established branded products are actively using these brands to expand operations, hoping to achieve ideal brand strategic benefits. However, although brand operations can bring visible benefits to enterprises, they are not truly strategic measures. In the new situation where branded products at home and abroad continue to emerge and brand competition among enterprises becomes increasingly fierce, the focus of implementing brand strategies is not how to create brands and gain profits through fame, but how to further develop and strengthen brands, winning the "white-hot war" of brand competition. Only then can the fleeting appearance of brands after their launch be avoided, ensuring long-term success.
After establishing a brand, enterprises should not only pay attention to doing well in brand operations but also be adept at planning from a strategic perspective and orchestrating large-scale brand operation campaigns. Oakley Group has successful practices in this area. As a top 100 private enterprise nationwide with an annual production capacity of over 10 million pairs and an annual output value of more than 1 billion yuan, Oakley Group’s marketing model has continuously evolved with market changes, transitioning from wholesale operations to manufacturer-retailer joint ventures, from chain specialty stores to multi-brand operations. Oakley's marketing innovations have driven the rapid development of the enterprise. Although Oakley possesses the largest marketing network in China's shoe manufacturing industry, with no issues in product sales, they do not rest content with profiting solely from brand operations. When many shoe-making enterprises are still struggling in the chain specialty store model, Oakley has taken another step forward to cater to consumer demands by integrating its three major brands with a completely new marketing mindset, launching a brand supermarket called "Oakley Prestige Space". This round of marketing model transformation has changed the past practice of "single brand, single sale," combining multiple brands together. Currently, this brand supermarket has been fully rolled out in provinces such as Zhejiang, Hunan, and Fujian, integrating brands like Oakley, Kanglong, and Beautiful Lady. According to relevant company officials, soon after, Oakley's "Prestige Space" will also include over a dozen different types and personalities of shoe brands from competitors. Oakley's move allows various consumer groups to freely choose various shoe styles in a relaxed, comfortable, and novel shopping environment while enjoying the unique shoe culture of "Oakley Prestige Space".
Undoubtedly, the strategic shift from chain specialty stores to brand supermarkets has found a successful path for Oakley to adapt to brand requirements, enhance brand levels, strengthen brand market advantages, and ensure a leap into the next century.