The older the model, the more money it can make!

Searching for new opportunities in traditional industries: In the wave of digitalization, many people have turned their attention to emerging projects and innovative fields, but often overlook those old projects that seem outdated but still have great potential. This article will give you an in-depth understanding of why those underestimated traditional industries can still bring rich returns, and through real case analysis, it reveals the key factors for success in these fields.

There are so many entrepreneurial projects that can make money, but many people always feel that there are not many projects to do.

Because many people are always looking for new projects and want to innovate.

But it is precisely these old projects that many people look down upon that actually have many teams that have been making money quietly.

1. Why not do old business?

Then why do many people look down on old businesses, or have no new ideas for many old businesses?

1. Lack of personal experience

Why is it that some people think there is no chance in some old businesses, but others can start and make money?

Because many people have no experience. For example, they think there is no chance to run a physical store, no chance to open a hotel, no chance to run an e-commerce platform, and no chance to do social e-commerce.

Many people have not worked in this industry for three to five years or even ten years, so naturally they cannot see the pain points and opportunities for reform.

2. Pursue new trends

Some people also think that doing traditional business is not profitable, boring, and it would be embarrassing to talk about it.

Sometimes we do things just to pursue new trends without considering whether we have the ability to do so.

3. I feel like I have a head

We made the same mistake when we started our business.

At that time, the project was preparing for transformation and we still had a lot of money, so we started looking for a new direction.

There were three or four of us partners, and we looked at many projects separately and listed many of our own ideas.

During project review meetings, when some traditional projects are mentioned, others will habitually deny them.

For example, this kind of project is outdated, and there are already several giants in this project.

2. Why can traditional industries make money?

But in fact, after three to five years, or ten years, if we look back at some of the ideas we proposed in the past, or some of the projects we looked down upon, we can see that many people are still making money or new players are entering the market.

1. The crowd is still there

Many people think that only young people use QQ nowadays, but in fact, people born in the 70s, 80s, and 90s are still using QQ.

Even though many people in this group are attracted by WeChat and Tik Tok, there are still a large number of users.

A certain type of people will not disappear in a short period of time, and will even continue to exist.

For example, every year there are newborns, mothers, college students, fresh graduates, people who are going to take postgraduate entrance exams, people who want to take the civil service exam, and people who want to learn to drive. This type of group of people has always existed.

2. The habit is still there

Many people feel that many traditional cakes, clothing and some handicrafts are no longer eaten or used by anyone.

Just like my hometown, when I was a child I particularly liked to eat a kind of pastry.

Some people may think that no one eats it now, but in fact, many people have become accustomed to it. The taste and demand are still there, and the supply of such products is still there.

3. There are many people who have needs

It seems like when you look around you think 100% of people are using smartphones, so you think keyboard phones are no longer used.

But if you open Taobao and Pinduoduo, you will see many elderly phones selling millions of units a year.

Of course, this is not limited to China. Many foreign countries have just started using so-called elderly phones.

Many people are now buying electric vehicles, motorcycles, and electric vehicles, but bicycle sales have also been increasing.

4. Irreplaceable advantages

Another very important reason is that many people think that all industries must evolve.

In fact, there are many industries that do not need so-called upgrades. Many upgrades are just icing on the cake and do not change the essence of things.

For example, if you open an offline store to sell noodles, the core is the store and the taste of the noodles. Many of the innovations you make are actually redundant.

For example, why physical stores can always be open is because they are not only convenient, where you can shop, try things on, and seek after-sales service, but more importantly, they provide a unique shopping and relaxing experience that cannot be replaced by offline virtual stores.

3. Which traditional industries can still make money?

The reason why I wrote this article is mainly due to my own personal experience in recent years. I will briefly share three real cases with you.

1. Gadgets

We have all used a lot of tools such as check-in, registration, and lottery. You may be able to name a few of the top gadgets. Some of them not only have multiple critical functions but are also free.

If you were to make this kind of tool at this time, 99% of people would be against it.

There are also membership card systems for offline merchants, but everyone says they are outdated and there are a lot of them.

But even with this cognitive bias, my friend can still earn four to five million a year by selling this software.

2. Physical stores

Since the advent of e-commerce, many offline physical stores have been complaining.

No matter whether you have ever opened a physical store or not, as long as you see others opening one, they will say that the person is just going to die and anyone who opens a physical store is stupid.

Many of them said that they wanted to succeed quickly. Those who really wanted to get things done are now making a lot of money by opening snack shops, fruit shops, and clothing stores.

A friend of mine opened a city department store wholesale warehouse this year, located on the outskirts of the city. The rent is low and the product prices are also low. In a small city, the annual sales easily exceed 100 million yuan.

3. Taoke

Do you think there are still people running Taobao public accounts, Taobao apps or Taobao WeChat groups?

Do you think new players can still make money?

According to traditional cognition, Taoke suffered a huge Waterloo after 2020.

Especially for many social agent-type Taobao platforms, the traffic and amount have been almost halved. Many people feel that the users have been educated and it is definitely not profitable.

This year in Hangzhou, I have established at least three teams to develop Taobao apps, and each app can make two to three million yuan a year.

This year, Alibaba launched its own Taobao APP - Tao Together, which is enough to show that Taobao can still make money.

4. What should you pay attention to when making money in traditional industries?

The above three cases are all real cases that happened around me, and they all made money by doing traditional businesses.

Later I will share with you some specific projects and some opportunities therein.

So if you want to do traditional business, what should newbies pay attention to?

1. Vertical

Start with a small area and don't look for something grand and high-end.

The more vertical the industry is, the more opportunities you will see, and the cost of venture capital will be easier to control.

2. Pain points

You think that no matter how traditional an industry is, there will always be pain points.

Solving users' pain points is more important than providing users with more functions.

For example, why do many people use small programs such as Qunlian and Kuaituantuan to sell goods? Because it is more convenient than downloading apps or registering on PC, but the essential need is to find a good selling tool.

3. Channels

Although we are doing traditional business, we can utilize many new channels.

For example, for traditional tourism, users can search on Baidu or go to offline travel agencies for consultation.

But with new channels such as TikTok, Kuaishou, and Xiaohongshu, tourism can be done well whether it is promoting content, selling goods through live streaming, or taking people to see the scenery and explain the culture through live streaming.

Similarly, restaurants, snack shops, clothing stores, stewed food stores, fruit stores, and even clothing repair shops, these traditional businesses can also make good use of new media and new channels, such as Meituan, errand running platforms, and so on.

So the business is traditional, but the sales channels can be young and rich.

For example, returning to the countryside to raise pigs, chickens, and grow tea are traditional businesses, but relying on live streaming, writing public accounts, shooting short videos, or creating private groups are new sales methods.

If you still plan to start a business in 2025, it is recommended that you open your mind, not be limited, and look more at so-called traditional businesses. Perhaps you can find new ways.