Last week, Super Typhoon Lichma called for wind and rain and headed north. On August 12, Jincheng was in full swing, and the Meteorological Observatory issued information to remind citizens to take precautions.

At about 8 a.m. that morning, a long queue was formed on Chifeng Road in Heping District. A long line of snakes ran from Henan Road to Hebei Road, and the queuers stood on the street with umbrellas. Some people were curious to ask: in the face of this bad typhoon weather, these young people do not go to a safe place to escape, but they have to stand in line on the street, what is the matter in the end? Someone answered the mystery: they were queuing up to buy shoes. Rain is not enough to quench the enthusiasm of shoe fans. What kind of shoes can be so attractive? Behind the trend, what are the unknown secrets?

Reporters learned that whenever a well-known sports brand releases new shoes, there will be a queue to buy shoes on the streets of Jincheng, and even a street scene will be hung on the social network platform. The shop on Chifeng Road had earlier issued a warning that it would sell three limited editions of fashion sports shoes on the 12th day. Although Tiangong is not beautiful, the customers who come to the queue are still enthusiastic, and the queue is dominated by young students. Several queuers told reporters that at about 2 a.m., there were scattered queues in front of the store. At about 5 a.m., the number of people had reached about 200, and all the 500 number plates prepared in advance at 10 a.m. had been issued.

Line up to get the number only. The lucky ones who get the number may not be able to buy their favorite shoes as they wish, but also depend on the result of the lottery at 18:00 that day. The sooner they are drawn, the more sizes they can choose, the less room they can choose later. It is certain that only a few buyers will be able to snap up the brand supporters in the end.

Every time a "limited payment" product is sold, it can stimulate consumers to buy so much enthusiasm, which has become a common "routine" for some brands, and this "routine" has been tried repeatedly. There are young people on the Internet to say frankly: I was hit by "shoes" and "poison". There was even a voice saying, "Shoes are not for wearing, but for stir-frying!"

Phenomenon:

"Stir-fried" sneakers

Speaking of queuing up to buy shoes, people will surely see the scene of relative shortage of materials in the planned economy era. In the market economy era, such things as "queuing up and rushing to buy" are getting further and further away from the life of citizens. However, when a product is crowned with "limited edition", "customized edition", "joint fund" and other gimmicks, the scene of queuing for snap-up will reappear, such as sports shoes, which are popular among young people in recent years, and make people's eyeballs.

Buying a pair of sneakers is not a big news, but the reporter wants to tell you that many young people buy them not for wearing, but for "fried" for collection, is it a cause for concern and reflection? It is worth noting that the rush to buy a sneaker is no longer limited to a small number of fans and "enthusiasts" within the circle of popular, there is a trend of "out of the circle", attracting more and more "after 95" and "after 00" to join it. There are also stories on the Internet about how to make a fortune by "fried shoes". For example, a 24-5-year-old boy who started "fried shoes" in college and later specialized in the "fried shoes" business can earn 500,000 yuan a year. When people questioned the authenticity of the story, they could not help asking: Is a pair of sports shoes worn by others really worth that high price?

The following set of comparative data may answer your questions. In September 2017, a well-known sports brand joined forces with the international fashion brand to launch a limited edition basketball shoes. The initial selling price was 1399 yuan. It did not take long for the online shopping platform to sell more than 10,000 yuan. Now the price of this red, white and black basketball shoes has reached about 30,000 yuan, and the price of other matching colors in the same series is also high, approaching 10,000 yuan. Not long ago, the same brand, together with American rappers to create "barbed" sneakers, just listed when the official price was 1299 yuan, a couple of months later it was fired to 78,000 yuan a pair.

Reporters learned that on August 12, one of the limited joint edition sports shoes sold in the store was priced at 969 yuan. A few hours after the sale, the spot size of men's gold has been called to 3000 yuan a pair in the secondary market of the network. These expensive fashionable sports shoes far exceed the expected market price. While refreshing the psychological bottom line of consumers, they also allow more. People are afraid of it.

Such a market atmosphere is more likely to have some characteristics of the stock market, the so-called "middle-aged people speculate in stocks, young people speculate in shoes". High profits have attracted more and more "stir-fried shoe" entrants, intending to make a profit. The purpose of their shoe purchase is no longer simple everyday wear, but to realize profits and maximize profits. Because of this, popular sports shoes have repeatedly hit new high prices. Manufacturers and fans have joined forces to magnify the value of shoes and turn them into luxury goods, investments and collectibles.

Question:

Business Experience of "Stir-fried Shoes"

"Generally, the selling price of shoes is about 1000 yuan. If the situation is good, they can be sold at 10 times the price in the secondary market." Shoelace senior personage millet (alias) told reporters. Indeed, such trendy sneakers have the dual attributes of low threshold and high income, and are attracting more and more young people who want to achieve economic independence as soon as possible. "If you're lucky, it's probably the mentality of most young shoe speculators to snap up a few newly released trendy shoes at a cost of 34,000 yuan and find the right opportunity to sell them at a premium." Millet told reporters the truth.

In addition to these market retail investors, another important role, the banker, has emerged as the times require. According to media reports, in November 2018, a joint-brand basketball shoes were to be sold in Kunming, Yunnan Province. A farmer from northeastern China flew to Kunming specially. He temporarily recruited 50 people to help him rank and buy them at the price of 200 yuan per person. Later, he learned that only 26 pairs of shoes were sold in Kunming market, and he "snatched" 21 pairs of them.

Such speculation aggravates the price of sneakers. Unlike retail investors, bankers often have strong financial support behind them. They usually aim at certain specific styles and sizes for centralized sweeping, and even hire people to increase the probability of lottery when they sell, so as to create a "one-shoe" situation on the market by virtue of the advantages of monopoly of supply. "In the absence of new incremental sales channels, through the monopoly of key best-selling styles and gold sizes, the overall price of the same brand, the same series of other shoes has risen." Millet told reporters so.

The reality of the sports shoes market is that, due to the lack of new channels for purchase and sale, after the release of new limited shoes by brand manufacturers, buyers have to wait for a long queue and draw lots. It is almost impossible for consumers who really want to buy shoes from their own clothes to buy their favorite shoes smoothly in the first-class market. So, what is the attitude of brand businessmen towards this?

Chain:

Business acquiescence and retail fanaticism

At present, fashion shoes in the booming market are mainly concentrated in Adidas, Air Jordan (Nike's sub-brand), which seem to have been silent and acquiescent towards the market situation that is gradually losing its rationality.

The tacit attitude towards sports brand is easy to understand. The high speculation price and the queuing scene of a shoe are invisible to enhance the brand value of the product and further consolidate its high-end impression different from the general brand in the minds of consumers. It not only gets beautiful sales, but also creates a high-end brand image. Why don't manufacturers like it? There will only be more and more "routines" for manufacturers to sell in limited quantities in the future. In the sports shoes market, the brand maintains absolute voice, is the direct producer of shoes, "the banker eats meat, individual soup", and those real footwear fans seem to have only a sigh of "shoes".

With the limited means of brand side and the continuous hype of "shoe speculators", the profitability of the sneaker market has also been spotted by the fake shoe manufacturers. The high-end imitations of the shoes that are fried to ten thousand yuan on the market usually cost several hundred yuan. In order to avoid buying fake goods, vertical trading platforms providing identification and sale services emerged at the historic moment. Some platform service providers have launched a "first identify, then ship" service strategy to help consumers avoid buying fake shoes by providing paid identification services. Since consumers are afraid of buying fake shoes, then I will help you identify, after the identification, then according to the transaction price to draw a certain percentage of commission from the seller.

The most familiar second-hand trading platform for sports shoe enthusiasts is "poisonous App". According to the data from Tian Eye Survey, the main company of the platform is Shanghai Knowledgeable Equipment Information Technology Co., Ltd., which was established in July 2015. In fact, such a business model is not original in China. Overseas, there are similar sales service platforms. On some network platforms, each pair of sneakers has a trading code similar to the stock market, which completely contrasts with the stock market.

This convenient second-hand trading platform also invisibly further pushes up the market price of sneakers. Everyone seems to be a "shoe vendor". As long as they meet the right quotation, the buyer can throw out the shoes in his hands. The purchasing power of young people has been the best confirmation at this time. According to the forecast of a foreign market research institute, by 2025, the global sports shoes market will reach 95 billion US dollars, and its huge market potential can be seen.

Recommendation:

Reasonable consumption according to one's ability

Millet is a graduate student in school, but also an old player of sneakers. Since middle school, she has bought many sneakers for collection. For the two years of the shoe market, he also some do not understand. "Too many people have come into this circle. There are so many people queuing for new shoes every time. It's hard to tell who's going to buy them and who's just going to make money."

For the increasingly irrational market, millet expressed his concern: "In the past, some of his favorite shoes, the price is still affordable, even if you can not grab the first round, the price of other channels is not so extraordinary; but now feel that it is too difficult to buy a pair of shoes that you like." The rapid development of the domestic sports shoes market is making the hobby of playing shoes less pure. If the former buyers purchased more out of psychological satisfaction, now they have more economic considerations.

The sports shoes market, like other investment products markets, has its own risk. The day when the bubble is broken, millet is very rational about the idea of "fried shoes". "I always feel that shoes are for wear, not for frying." Admittedly, the hobby of sneakers does require effort. Rational consumption, if blindly pursuing the so-called trend and turnover income, will be controlled by it. Or don't fall into a bigger trap because of temporary vanity or greed for short-sighted interests.