The Change of Aokang Marketing Mode: The Revelation of Internationalization

After successfully winning the Chinese shoe king, for Aoncom Group president Wang Zhenyu, how can Aokang truly realize internationalization is the primary issue he thinks.

As we all know, after nearly 20 years of development, local Chinese companies seem to have begun to exert their force in the direction of internationalization. Although Haier,
Lenovo and TCL are much larger than Aokang in terms of the size of the company, but on the road to internationalization, it may be cautious but it captures the essence of the problem.

Two-way travel: Internationalization of the footwear industry

In the actual case of Chinese shoe-making enterprises taking internationalization, many companies choose to do the same for foreign brands. The disadvantage is that they cannot build their own brands; many companies choose to go to foreign markets to open stores. However, the high cost makes the company feel like holding a chicken rib. It is a pity that it is abandoned and tasteless.

No matter whether setting up a factory or setting up a factory in a foreign country, it was impossible to perfect it. Therefore, Wang Zhenlian chose a “two-way route” combined with the actual situation of Aokang Enterprise. A new model of internationalization came into being. This model was Jiao Feng, a professor at Shanghai Jiaotong University, called "the third type of cooperation between China and foreign countries."

There are already too many arguments to prove that the indigenous Chinese manufacturing industry has chosen the road of internationalization, which is an out-and-out risk. Recently, with the EU’s escalating anti-dumping duties on shoes made in China, Imagine if O’Connell’s president Wang Zhenwei had a creative “two-way travel” model, then O’Connell’s road to internationalization is now possible. Must be full of thorns. The Aokang Group, the leader in China's shoemaking industry, has played a role in other international shoemaking enterprises in the exploration of internationalization and deserves our deep thinking.

Huangpu River Alliance

At 22 o'clock on October 10, 2004, a Dornier 352 official charter flight landed at Wenzhou airport. Digo, the CEO of the Italian footwear industry’s first brand, GEOX, walked down the ramp and walked towards Wang Zhenluo, president of Aokang Group, who waited at the airport for a long time. The two big hands clasped tightly together. At this time, it was less than a month since the Wenzhou shoes were burned in Spain. In such a sensitive period, Diago’s visit to the people was certainly a lot of suspicion. .

This suspicion was confirmed by the media at a press conference one day later: The company was specially awarded for the opening of the largest footwear production base in Asia for GEOX, the international brand industrial park of Aokang.

In fact, as early as October 2002, O'Connell and GEOX had already held hands. As the first time for Diago's China visit, Diago chose Aokang as their partner. The camera returned to 7pm on September 11th, 2003, August 15th of the lunar calendar, which is the Chinese traditional Mid-Autumn Festival. On a luxury cruise ship on the Huangpu River, distinguished entrepreneurs from Italy, Digo, President of GEOX, and Wang Zhenlian, President of Aokang Group, toast to celebrate their successful cooperation.

On this day, CEO of GEOX company held Wang Zhenyu's hand while swimming in the Huangpu River. He said: “We are as young as we are on the same boat.” This is a first-rate international brand sincerely approving and agreeing with Chinese entrepreneurs. This is also a time Win-win choice. After China's accession to the WTO, GEOX was bent on entering the world's most populous Chinese market. Aokang has also long ago set his sights on a broader international market. In more than one year before the cooperation, CEO of GEOX led the company's backbone members to visit China and neighboring countries to conduct business visits and seek Asian partners. After an in-depth and meticulous "unannounced visit", GEOX believes that Aokang has strong production, design and sales capabilities. The company's decision-making horizon is broad and its sense of innovation is strong. It is an ideal partner.

GEOX China speeds up

According to statistics, as of now, GEOX has more than 100 sales outlets in China with sales of nearly 100 million yuan, an increase of up to 500%. "This growth rate far exceeds GEOX's average global growth rate." According to the latest data from the GEOX website: GEOX's revenue reached 1.5 billion euros in 2001, compared with 3.4 billion euros in 2004, an increase of 70%. "GEOX's development in China is simply a geometric fission growth." Sitting around Diago, Wang Zhenluo is obviously very confident.

The two-strong cooperation has become a classic case of cooperation between Chinese and foreign shoe companies in recent years. In particular, the “two-way travel” cooperation model is highly respected by the industry. This model is: Aokang will not only process global market products for GEOX, but will also participate in the design and development of its products sold in the Asian market. Moreover, with the help of Aokang's strong network advantages in China, it helps the GEOX brand to take root in the country. "It can be said that from production to sales, O'Connell is GEOX's full-fledged agent in China."

In the international market, GEOX helps Aokang to recommend Aokang through its global network and sell Aokang products. “What we are trying to win is sales agency rights. What's more important is the management, technology, and latest information of top international brand names.” From Wang Zhenyu's words, people can easily discover his true intentions: find a large ship and go by boat to the sea. Through this large ship, the internationalization of its own enterprise will be realized as soon as possible.

There are no permanent friends in the market. Some people question whether O'Connell is introducing wolf into the room. Some people think that the Chinese and foreign double wolf fights the front and the future is not good. Wang Zhenlu thinks that, further, think about it. "Cooperating with risk is a risk. Giving up on it and allowing it to cooperate with others is even more risky. Instead of passively waiting for others to shake the cake, it is better to share the cake together." In fact, two-way travel is a win-win game.

International R&D: Internationalization from product sources

An important factor in the internationalization of Chinese companies is the internationalization of brand image.

Aokang's retired logo is "AK", a self-possessed "double-headed phoenix," which means that O'Connell is in a fierce market environment.

Today, in order to comply with the trend of internationalization, Aokang began to break through the LOGO. The word A changed to Λ, meaning that Aokang soared, pursuing ideals and reaching the peak of its career; the graphic symbol added above the K letter emphasized "a point of breakthrough," reflecting the breakthrough spirit of the Aokang brand, and at the same time giving The sense of extension of the road achieves the cultural inheritance of the original brand image and creates the artistic conception outside the pen. It gives people an association beyond the figure, and also conveys the imagination of the “road”, “person” and “shoe”. , And the interpretation of the relationship between the three, and as the audience's key points of memory and different from other similar brands of unique visual characteristics, but also as a brand's visual image of the divergence and extension of promotion points.

Product internationalization whirlwind

The domestic market's spurt and advancements have made this once-new footwear industry's new army a reluctant agitation.

The brand's development stage is divided into physical strength, intelligence, and charm. For footwear brands, the physical stage is the production and price, the intellectual stage is the style and design, and the charm stage is entirely the personality and cultural connotation. For most domestic brands, it is only at the physical stage. Going out of the physical stage and rising to the intellectual stage is what Aokang wants to break through.

In order to achieve this breakthrough, Aokang Group, a leader in the domestic industry, has invested more than 200 million yuan to introduce 30 international first-class production lines, and established a shoe-like design center and information center in Italy, employing Italy with extensive work experience. The shoe-making masters and design masters are based in Wenzhou headquarters to guide the development and design. Each year, more than 3,000 new varieties are developed to ensure that Aokang leather shoes are always at the forefront of trends.

In addition, Aokang Group has set up branches and offices in Italy, Spain, the United States, Germany, and Japan, and established an import-export company that specializes in overseas sales. The sales reach has expanded to the United States, Japan, Russia, South Korea, and Saudi Arabia. , Germany, Spain, South Africa and other global more than 20 countries and regions, and opened its own brand stores in New York, Indonesia and other places.

Wang Zhenlu believes that just saying it well and doing well cannot be an international brand. For Aokang, it is more important to sell well. In the face of the unprecedented challenge of building an international brand, Aokang must build a scientific and rational, rapid and efficient marketing structure, and realize the internationalization of sales methods.

The formation of internationally renowned brands depends mainly on two aspects. One is history and culture, and the other is sales. Wang Zhenlu believes that the former cannot be created at once. Therefore, to create an international brand, it is necessary to establish a global sales network with a responsive and thoughtful service in order to establish a good end market. In a virtuous circle, the brand has gradually grown into a world famous brand.