Zulijian shoes become a trendy shoe. How did “old man’s shoes” become a fashionable item for young girls?

Zulijian, a brand originally designed for the elderly, has now set off a craze among young people. Zulijian's transformation is not only a fashion phenomenon, but also a successful case of brand rejuvenation. This article takes us to a deeper understanding of how Zulijian made good use of the Xiaohongshu platform to complete the turnaround, and what kind of operational logic is reflected behind the successful brand building.

"Zulijian Princess Shoes"

“It’s a pity that Zulijian doesn’t make Hanfu shoes”

Zulijian, a pair of shoes for the elderly, has recently become a favorite among young people on Xiaohongshu. Various posts about modifying Zulijian have emerged on Xiaohongshu. People with vertical interests (people interested in Hanfu, Lolita, and JK) have manually transformed Zulijian from elderly shoes into fashionable items such as Mary Jane and princess shoes.

The topic #足力健修改 on Xiaohongshu has 3.506 million views. The three most popular items among young people are the white mother shoes, the purple sneakers modified into the same style as "Kulomi", and the warm wool shoes.

Zulijian has also become a synonym for comfortable and good-looking "trendy shoes". The names such as "Zulijian" among young people and "Zulijian" in the United States are ways for international brands to build closer relations with domestic consumers.

How did Zulijian achieve brand rejuvenation? And how did it achieve the evolution from "old people's shoes" to "princess shoes"?

1. Treasure domestic products for niche interest groups

The key platform for the explosion of Zulijian’s brand is Xiaohongshu.

Starting from April last year, Lolita and Hanfu enthusiasts uploaded Zulijian transformation tutorials on Xiaohongshu. The white Zulijian shoes were transformed into exquisite lace shoes, and since then, the low-cost transformation tutorials of Zulijian have become popular.

With the help of the active interaction of the official account @足力健老人鞋, posts such as "12r transformation of 足力健", "3r transformation of elderly shoes", and "get handmade 足力健 in one click" are emerging in an endless stream.

In June 2022, Xiaohongshu user @Coconut Juice Avocado uploaded a tutorial on how to transform black Zulijian shoes into comfortable Mary Jane shoes. Zulijian inadvertently became a hot topic in the shoe circle, "Mary Jane", and the related topic #MaryJane has 490 million views on Xiaohongshu.

The official Zulijian brand quickly followed the trend and encouraged consumers to upgrade their Zulijian while also launching an activity to give away accessory packages. The black and white Zulijian were once sold out in the summer of 22.

Later, users with high handcrafting skills began to try embroidering on Zulijian shoes, transforming them into commuter shoes, princess shoes, Kuromi shoes, etc.

In October this year, Zulijian was chosen by girls in the Hanfu circle again. The white Zulijian was changed into "Pearl Hanfu Shoes", which once again set off a trend of explosive changes to Zulijian. As a popular brand with affordable prices and comfortable wearing, Zulijian has taken on the "overwhelming wealth" that has come again.

Zulijian has various operating methods on Xiaohongshu. It not only actively interacts under various renovation posts, but also specially summarizes various renovation posts for sharing, interacts with various domestic brands, and launches logo renovation competitions, design competitions, recruiting product experience officers and other operational activities. It is so active that it does not seem like an "old man's shoe" brand. So far, it has attracted 29,000 fans on Xiaohongshu and established 3 brand private domain groups.

It is not difficult to see that what made Zulijian popular on the Internet was the Xiaohongshu platform and its high-quality interest-based users.

Especially Hanfu enthusiasts and Lolita enthusiasts, they discovered the comfortable and cost-effective product characteristics of Zulijian, and used manual modification and youthful aesthetics to make Zulijian shoes for the elderly in line with the young user group.

Xiaohongshu's interest-based users not only purchase Zulijian's products, but also create new consumer demands in the process of spontaneously modifying and sharing tutorials.

Consumer relationships are a kind of brand asset in themselves, and this asset is spontaneously transformed into a brand's content asset. Zulijian has well maintained this trend, allowing the brand to connect with young consumers and regain vitality.

2. Zulijian’s road to brand advancement

The development path of the Zulijian senior citizen shoes brand can be roughly divided into the following two stages: the start-up period before 2017 and the growth period after 2017.

In 2015, Zhang Jingkang, the founder of Zulijian, determined that the field of elderly shoes was a blue ocean in the footwear industry and decided to start a business.

In 2017, Zulijian's elderly shoes had achieved sales of 5 million thanks to its unique product positioning and service brand. After that, the brand sought consultation from Hua & Hua Marketing Strategy Company, and since then Zulijian's sales have grown rapidly. Hua & Hua changed the logo and advertising slogan of Zulijian's elderly shoes and implemented a series of brand strategies.

Zulijian has formed 6 complete business activities, such as spending a lot of money on advertising on CCTV, using "half-kneeling" ultimate service to improve customer loyalty, 3 types of stores with 2 models of channels, and "moving from small supermarkets to large street stores" to find new customer groups.

By improving the layout of offline stores and business strategies such as TVC advertising and services, Zulijian has seized the "silver economy" and become a leader in the senior citizen shoes segment. In 2019, the sales volume of Zulijian's senior citizen shoes had reached 4 billion.

In 2018, Zulijian, which was at the peak of its popularity, focused on online channels. The e-commerce sales of Zulijian's senior shoes exceeded 100 million yuan in a single day on "Double Eleven", ranking first in the men's shoe category.

In recent years, Zulijian's online strategies have become more comprehensive and diverse. For example, it has entered the super-headline live broadcast room and built a brand self-broadcast matrix; it invited a "square dance" model team to the live broadcast room, making the live broadcast room an instant hit; it still plays the "family card" in the strategy of influencer promotion, and on some platforms such as Bilibili and Xiaohongshu, it will actively cater to the preferences of young people, strengthen interaction, and launch various operational activities.

According to data from the Operation Research Society, in the past year, Zulijian has associated 473 influencers in live streaming with goods, with the proportion of influencers being 10% super-head, 20% head, and 70% mid- to low-end. Zulijian has appeared in super-head live streaming rooms such as Xiao Yangge and Dongfang Zhenxuan.

According to Relang data, Zulijian has 21 brand matrix accounts. Among them, @足力健官方旗舰店 insists on bringing goods forty times a month, with an average live broadcast time of more than 10 hours. The sales volume of Zulijian official flagship store has reached 1.179 million. There are only three different products in the store. The best-selling one is the elderly walking shoes priced at 129 yuan, with sales of 497,000. Zulijian's overall online sales are nearly 200 million.

According to Relang data, in 2023, the sales of Zulijian brand’s self-broadcasting reached 171 million, accounting for 86.33%, and the sales of Dabo reached 24.42 million, accounting for 12.3%.

In November 2022, Zulijian invited the aunts from the square dance model team to the live broadcast room to start a unique "square dance" style live broadcast.

In terms of grass-planting strategy, Zulijian still plays the "family card", mainly targeting bloggers in the fields of life, fashion, agriculture, rural areas and farmers. Mid-level bloggers with fans ranging from 1 million to 5 million still follow the "filial piety and respect for the elderly" route.

On Xiaohongshu, Zulijian's style is younger and more lively, in line with young women. Although he calls himself an old man and often "wishes young ladies to retire soon", he also occasionally starts "official activities", such as changing the Zulijian logo to Santa Claus or a Fenbid muscle man.

The comprehensive marketing strategy and content have helped Zulijian gain considerable popularity online. To date, Zulijian’s brand share in the field of elderly shoes and men’s shoes cannot be underestimated.

3. Behind the success

Zulijian’s turnaround did not happen overnight. In fact, around 2018, the public’s impression of Zulijian was still that it was a pair of “old people’s shoes”.

From 2018 to 2019, a number of domestic TVC advertisements such as Zulijian elderly shoes, Shapuaisi, 8848 titanium mobile phone, and Huiren Shenbao tablets were uploaded to Bilibili as video materials for netizens to deconstruct and entertain, and were recreated into "ghost animal" videos by Bilibili users. Zulijian elderly shoes were jokingly called "Zhang Kaili's X-generation combat boots" and "no sprains on sudden stops and no falls on changes of direction" became part of the meme.

With the rise of a number of "national trend" shoes such as Huili, Feiyue, and Hongxing Erke, in 2021, Zulijian was called "NIKE alternative" and "senior version of AJ" on Douyin, and was recommended by experts such as @MARK Mark Trend Selection @Brain Hole Girl T @Beijing Shoe Ghost, etc.

The difference between Zulijian senior citizen shoes and other trendy products like Huili and Feiyue is that the reason why young people like them is not because of their appearance design, but because of their comfort and cost-effectiveness.

"Nike is 699, but Zulijian is only over 60 after using the coupons" and "Non-slip and comfortable to wear, Zulijian YYDS" were the comments of consumers on Zulijian at the time. Compared with male consumers who were more skeptical and neutral in their comments, female consumers were more accepting of Zulijian.

Starting from 2022, Zulijian began to become the favorite of girls in vertical interest circles. Most of them were troubled by finding affordable shoes to match Lolita and Hanfu.

Some of the stores that sell Lolita and Hanfu matching shoes are clothing stores, not specialized shoe stores. Due to factors such as unstable customer base, the matching shoes they produce often have problems such as high premium, poor workmanship, strong plastic feel, and discomfort to wear.

Finding affordable, good-looking and comfortable shoes to match clothes is a long-term demand of this group of people. With the popularity of "national tide" shoes and the "explosive reform" style of Xiaohongshu, Zulijian was discovered by consumers. The brand stood at the forefront of traffic by maintaining consumer relationship assets and content assets, and caught this wave of "flooding wealth."

In general, the Zulijian brand has gained recognition among young people and has expanded its sales through the construction of online channels and the promotion of short videos, pictures and text content. However, the brand itself still focuses on "old people's shoes" and has fewer fashionable and youthful products. If young consumers want a pair of comfortable and affordable "trendy" shoes, they have to modify them themselves.

Behind the successful marketing and channel construction, the Zulijian brand has its own problems.

In 2019, an old man fell and broke his leg while wearing Zulijian and sued Zulijian and Zhang Kaili for false advertising. Zulijian was fined 31 million yuan at the time, and since then, the Zulijian brand has been plagued by negative public opinion.

In 2019 and 2020, Zulijian was successively detected with quality problems due to product quality by the Market Supervision Administrations in Jiangsu and Hubei, and was also ordered to rectify by the Anhui Market Supervision Bureau.

Amid negative public opinion, Zulijian was also exposed to have defaulted on employee wages and supplier payments. In 2022, the total amount of execution against Zulijian exceeded 110 million yuan, and its founder Zhang Jingkang was restricted from high consumption five times within a year.

At a time when the "filial piety economy" and "freeloading economy" are booming, brands need to pay attention to their own product quality issues and negative public opinion while targeting younger people. After all, brands can only go further if they adhere to long-termism.

References:

Earning millions a day on Douyin, "Little Red Book Girl" makes "Old Man Shoes" popular Source: Operation Research Society

Cute girl falls in love with Zulijian. We summarize 3 consumption trends of young people. Source: Kas Data

Zulijian, with annual sales of 4 billion, has begun to harvest the post-00s Source: Guanchao New Consumption

Author: Laisheng

WeChat public account: Marketing Kanke (ID: yingxiaokanke)