The Ministry of Commerce issued the "Notice on the Recognition of the First Batch of "Chinese Time-honored Brands"". The first batch of recognized "Chinese Time-honored Brands" is 430, involving 27 provinces and cities across the country. In the newly released list, 30 old famous brands in Tianjin were selected, and Lao Meihua was on the list. Lao Meihua is a time-honored shoe store with a history of more than 100 years in Tianjin. It was founded in 1911.
Tianjin's shoemaking industry has a long history. The commercial street a hundred years ago was populated by "Shachuan" which dealt in leather shoes, "Jinjiuxia" which dealt in satin shoes and "Huili" which dealt in rubber shoes. It is necessary to find the information of these enterprises. It has been very difficult to trace, and most of the once-splendid footwear industry has faded out of the stage of history.
However, "Lao Meihua", a specialty shoe store specializing in the "Three-inch Golden Lotus" for women's feet, "stepped" through a hundred years of vicissitudes after the feudal foot-binding system was abolished. From entrepreneurship, development, shrinkage, to further development and other major historical stages, it has embarked on its own path.
Strategy: Be one step ahead in development and expansion
Older Tianjin people basically know that Lao Meihua is world-famous for specializing in footwear and other specialty shoes. . Until the 1990s, Lao Meihua continued to receive customers from all over the world in its birthplace - the 25-square-meter "one-room building" in Nanshi, Tianjin (No. 74, Heping Road, Nanshikou) . Due to the demolition and reconstruction of the Laonan City area, Lao Meihua has always wanted to take this opportunity to seek new development space.
"In 2000, Lao Meihua went out from a 25-square-meter sales department in Nanshi to currently have 5 direct-operated stores in the city and 70 shop-in-shops, specialty stores, and franchise chain agents nationwide. , the direct-operated store area exceeds more than 600 square meters." Fang Shuying, chairman of Laomeihua Shoes and Clothing Co., Ltd., was very emotional when talking about the development history of Laomeihua.
No employee will forget the hardships it took for the company to take the first step of expansion. Wang Jiemin, a witness of enterprise development and current office director of Laomeihua Shoes and Clothing Co., Ltd., recalled, “In 2000, after the news that the commercial pedestrian street was to be expanded on Heping Road came out, Laomeihua shareholders had a premonition that an opportunity was coming, so they started eight projects in succession. After writing letters to the competent authorities several times and applying to the city leaders several times, with the strong support of the government, the 270-square-meter 'golden' store at No. 192 Heping Road was finally acquired."
A year later. , Lao Meihua purchased a 44-square-meter store at No. 207 Heping Road, located between the two time-honored brands Zhengxingde and Hengdeli; then, it purchased a 225-square-meter store at No. 198 Heping Road, which is now located on Jin Street The old Meihua clothing store; under the renovation of Ancient Culture Street, the old American Chinese once again saw the opportunity and rented a 26-square-meter store behind the Tianhou Temple; with the construction of Tanggu Commercial Street, the old Meihua opened its doors in Tanggu Commercial Street and Rented a 200-square-meter store in a prime location in the middle of the Bund, and purchased a 132-square-meter ground floor store in Yangliuqing Commercial Street.
Fang Shuying said, “If we want to develop and grow, we must be one step ahead in strategic decision-making. If others look at the problem from the first step, we must stand at the third step; if others If we stand on the third step, we must stand on the fifth step or even the eighth step.”
Mr. Fang said that quite a few brands in Laonan City failed to find stores in advance and did not. To reserve space for future development, the development situation is not optimistic. Lao Meihua was the first to purchase real estate, laying a solid material foundation for future development.
It is reported that as of 2005, Lao Meihua's sales reached 15.486 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 54.9%; profits and taxes were 857,000 yuan, a year-on-year increase of 53.1%. The per capita annual income was 30,000 yuan, a year-on-year increase of 30.4%.
“Good development benefits from good strategies. Good strategies are formed during development and need to be constantly changed and improved.” Fang Shuying said, taking Laomeihua Development Franchise Store as an example, “ In the past, Lao Meihua's strategy was to develop direct sales with Jinjie as its headquarters, but the market did not develop as you expected. After the TV series "Qiao Family Courtyard" was broadcast, many casual shoe shops appeared across the country, including Qiao Family Courtyard casual shoe shops. , old Beijing casual shoe shops, Zhengzhou casual shoe shops, etc. are overwhelming."
So Lao Meihua followed the market and posted on the Internet, "The franchise fee is 10,000 yuan and the deposit is 5,000 yuan, you can join and come with seven sets of plaques." Lao Meihua's new strategy is to let franchisees occupy the market and quickly expand the market share of the Lao Meihua brand.
The market is the only criterion for testing strategy. Once the strategy changes, the situation will undergo a "big reversal."
Lao Meihua quickly established franchise stores in six districts of Tianjin, even Jixian and Baodi, and extended its tentacles to Hebei, Guangdong, Shaanxi, Xinjiang and other places to occupy the national market. Fang Shuying said, "The annual wholesale amount of Laomeihua shoes has also jumped from more than 3 million yuan to more than 15 million yuan."
The reporter came to a franchise store located at No. 369 Dagu Road in this city. Manager Zhang Wenxue introduced, "We joined Laomeihua in July 2006 and officially opened a store of more than 70 square meters at the end of September. We sell more than a thousand kinds of Laomeihua products, and our monthly business income is better than expected, and now we have a large number of customers.” There are many high-end office buildings around this store, and the residents have high cultural tastes. In response to this feature, the store has introduced mid-to-high-end products from Lao Meihua, and the market prospects are promising.
Products: Deeply cultivate the market and expand the industrial chain
Regarding the development of time-honored brands, Wang Xinghua, a professor at the School of Economics and Management of Tianjin University of Science and Technology, believes that “for time-honored brands, the biggest advantage lies in their unique products. and intangible assets. The uniqueness of products increases the survivability of time-honored brands, which is also the reason why time-honored brands have come out on top in the fierce market competition in the past."
The production technology of Lao Meihua’s products has been refined for hundreds of years. Master Guo Dongxian, who has been engaged in product development in Lao Meihua for many years, told reporters, “In terms of material selection, Lao Meihua’s thousand-soled cloth shoes use new white cloth for their linings. , the upper is made of Ruifuxiang fabric; in terms of technology, it needs to complete eight processes of gluing, pulling, adjusting, matching, covering, edge, stringing and arranging. The sole has fourteen layers, and each square inch of the sole is ninety-nine and eighty-one. When inspecting shoes, Lao Meihua strictly follows the principles of 'One Right, Two Musts, Three Don'ts, Four Cleans, Five Levels, Six Same, Seven Musts, and Eight Certainties'." Master Guo believes that this is precisely the pursuit of product quality. , the pursuit of excellence in production technology has made Lao Meihua prosperous for nearly a century.
“But advantages may also become a burden for the continued development of time-honored brands. Social changes, some of the original practices no longer meet today’s market needs, and the environment is changing rapidly, making the vitality of products much more fragile. Change has become particularly important," Wang Xinghua believes.
In recent years, Lao Meihua has been "seeking innovation" and "seeking change." According to Guo Dongxian, "We invited more than 30 skilled craftsmen from the shoe shop to study various foot types and design There are more than 30 kinds of last styles. In terms of shoe styles, flat heels, wedge heels, and square heels are added. The shoe styles are moving towards fashionable square mouth, oblique mouth, and round mouth. The upper surface breaks through the traditional pure wool and wool. Cloth, plain cloth, silk and satin, chemical fiber, canvas, denim, leather, etc. appeared, and techniques such as braiding, stringing, and embellishment were added."
Not only do we seek innovation in the style of shoes, but we also seek changes in the functions of shoes. Lao Meihua has developed various functional shoes suitable for modern people. For example, there are shoes with health care functions, such as morning exercise shoes, shoes for the elderly, stepping shoes, walking shoes, shoes for pregnant women, and non-slip shoes; there are also shoes suitable for driving people, slippers suitable for modern white-collar workers to carry on business trips; dragon and phoenix wedding shoes that keep up with the times, Shoes for old people. As Fang Shuying said, "Research the market based on modern people's living standards and be brave in innovation. This market will always have endless resources."
"To expand brand connotation, we must expand the industrial chain. We cannot just develop a single product." Lao Meihua has set a higher goal for itself, which is to "target the huge middle-aged and elderly market and develop from shoes to clothing, and then to various elderly products and services."
Lao Meihua has established its own clothing research and development department. On the one hand, it is developing traditional style clothing, and on the other hand, it is developing new clothing that meets the needs of modern middle-aged and elderly people. In this regard, Liu Yanru, the assistant manager in charge of clothing at Lao Meihua, explained, "In terms of clothing development, we have set an eight-character policy of 'understanding the human body deeply and keeping up with fashion.' To understand the human body deeply is based on the special bodies of the elderly. Structure, big hips and big breasts, and we develop clothing suitable for middle-aged and elderly people. We keep up with fashion because modern middle-aged and elderly people love beauty more, and their clothing should be more beautiful and more comfortable to wear."
With the continuous efforts of Laomeihua people, clothing has gradually become another signature product of Laomeihua. At the third folk art fair held in Tianjin not long ago, Laomeihua launched more than 100 sets of improved Tang suits with needlepoint machine embroidery of dragons, butterflies and peonies. They were loved by Chinese and foreign friends, and all the samples were sold out.
The successful "expansion" of the apparel industry has given Chinese Americans confidence. Laomeihua is using the newly purchased Yangliuqing Commercial Street to build an "elderly health center" to provide the elderly with customized products. New services including shoes, hats, clothing, etc.
“After this matter is completed, Lao Meihua has another big move,” the house manager revealed. “Lao Meihua is planning to build a boutique store, taking a high-end route, with traditional craftsmanship and hand-made sewing. , special customization, for the elderly and the wedding market with special needs."
Intangible Assets: Inheriting the spirit of brand inheritance
"The biggest assets of time-honored brands are intangible assets, including two. In terms of aspects: one is the brand and the other is the spirit." Wang Xinghua, a professor at Tianjin University of Science and Technology, believes that "the brand gives time-honored brands the capital to 'rely on the old and sell the old'. Old means a long history and extremely high visibility. This kind of visibility requires new ones. This can only be achieved with huge investment from the brand."
Wang Xinghua said, "The ultimate breakthrough of time-honored brands is to use the brand assets formed by time-honored brands to leverage the tangible market. In today's era of homogeneous products, it can make a company stand out."
At the same time, she also pointed out that the spirit of time-honored brands is the essence of Chinese business culture and the root of regional and even national culture and emotions.
“Time-honored brands are treasures left to us by our ancestors!” Fang Shu said in plain English and with sincere emotion, “We are determined to free up space in this valuable land on Heping Road and Jin Street. A small cultural relics hall has been opened in one room to witness the century-old history of the old Meihua."
"This is the three-inch golden lotus that women wore after binding their feet in the early years. It was a tool used to make shoes. "This is the shoe last used by Deng Yingchao's mother and the math master Chen Shengshen to make shoes; and hanging on it are the inscriptions written by Feng Jicai and Pu Zuo for Lao Meihua." Mr. Fang carefully introduced every item in the exhibition hall to the visitors. .
“I believe that the greatest wealth accumulated by time-honored brands over the years is goodwill. A century-old brand has accumulated a century-old goodwill.” Yang Chunhui, chief lawyer of Tianjin Kunpeng Law Firm, believes that “businessmen have attached great importance to goodwill since ancient times. "At that time, there was no ISO9001 certification, but there was a set of standards, such as 'three and a half needles per inch', which is equivalent to the current quality certification. In the past, time-honored brands mainly relied on self-discipline to accumulate goodwill."
When learning that Lao Meihua has registered trademarks such as "Xiao Meihua" and "Xiumeihua" in advance for children's shoes and women's shoes that have yet to be developed, Yang Chunhui said, "With the development of our country's legal system, The protection of trademark and intellectual property rights has been promoted to a higher and higher status, which has injected new connotation into the goodwill of time-honored brands. In addition to their own self-discipline, it is more about the external protection given by relevant state departments. ” p>
"When Mr. Ma Sanli was alive, he said: 'Lao Meihua is the time-honored brand of Tianjin people. It must be like a baton, able to catch it and pass it on.'" Fang Shuying said, "I think this inheritance It’s not just the inheritance of goods, but also the inheritance of spirit.” Over the years, Lao Meihua has experienced innovations in its system and business model, but the professional ethics, business practices and service purposes passed down by the time-honored brand have never been lost.
“For many years, the old Meihua Shoe Store has retained the nine-character convenience measures of ‘leave, mail, deliver, order, represent, visit, return, exchange, and repair’”, the manager of the house said as he took something from the cabinet. There was a large pile of letters, more than 200 at a rough count. These letters come from all over the country, from Guizhou and Yunnan in the south, to Heilongjiang in the north, to Xinjiang, Ningxia, Gansu in the northwest, and from more than 20 provinces and cities such as Guangdong and Fujian in the southeast. They are all letters asking for the purchase of old American and Chinese shoes.
Liu Fenghua, the person in charge of mail order at Lao Meihua, introduced one of the tens of thousands of mailing stories over the decades, "A soldier from the People's Liberation Army once wrote a letter asking to buy a pair of small shoes for his mother's birthday. We answered him first. A letter asked him to send his mother's foot samples and the price of the shoes; then he went to the post office to pick up the shoe samples and remit money, then went downstairs to buy shoes, buy a foot and a half of packaging cloth, sew the package, write the address, and mail it. out; write another letter telling him, 'You sent 50 yuan, shoes 35 yuan, postage 3.5 yuan', how much money is left to send back." Liu Fenghua said that she handles fifty or sixty orders of this kind of business every month .
New salespeople are often confused by this, thinking it is time-consuming, laborious and unprofitable. Over time, they realize that this is the heirloom of a century-old brand and the spiritual style behind the century-old brand.