Hard work is important, and intelligence and determination are also valuable, but sometimes the historical process needs to be taken into consideration. China's sports market has entered the retail stage, and domestic sneaker product managers were born. A group of people who love sneakers have the opportunity to turn their hobby into a career and gradually establish standards for the industry through personal practice. They are the witnesses and creators of sports shoes that break through the material attributes, move towards cultural and spiritual heights, and become self-expression.
author | Cong Wenlei
design | Gao Jie
enthusiast
Nike founder Phil Knight In his book "Shoe Dog", he devoted all his heart and soul to it and worked hard to make, sell, buy or design People who wear shoes are called "shoe dogs."
Pan Yun calls this kind of people sneaker enthusiasts. He is the sneaker product manager of a leading domestic sports shoes and apparel brand. His home has a collection of various types of sneakers, including basketball shoes, trendy sneakers, and running shoes.
sneaker is the translation of sneakers in a broad sense. Several sneaker product managers we communicated with belong to the fields of professional sports shoes and sports and leisure shoes. What they have in common is that they are all shoe dogs, they love sneakers, and they have the habit of buying shoes, collecting shoes, and researching shoes.
Because he became interested in sneakers in high school, Luo Jinwei took the initiative to work in a relative's shoe factory; he also worked part-time as summer jobs in Nike and Adidas stores; after graduating from university with a major in international finance, he chose to become a salesperson for a sneaker brand, working in the front-end market Gain experience. Having been involved in the sneaker industry for 17 years, from salesman to buyer to director of Peak Sports Shoes Product Center, Luo Jinwei attributes it all to "love".
has a similar starting point and Wei Qunchao. His WeChat avatar is a full moon that looks like a basketball being thrown into the basket. He is the kind of basketball fan who "will stop unconsciously when passing the court, watch it for a while and then leave reluctantly." After graduating from university in 2014, he also did not apply for a job based on his major. Instead, he directly entered Peak . After working in store sales for two years, he later became a product manager.
The professional background of colleges and universities is not that important in the starting point of their careers. As long as they have an interest in sports, sneakers, and a basic ambition, they can participate in the development of Chinese sneakers.
Hobbies are personal destiny, but the emergence of a career requires a certain amount of luck. In this sense, China's local sneaker product managers are the product of Chinese sportswear companies' promotion of branding.
This is Pan Yun’s explanation of his career. In 2012, after Pan Yun graduated from a sports college, he entered a leading domestic sports shoes and clothing brand by virtue of his status as a fresh graduate. Before becoming an official sneaker product manager, he first entered the sales store as a sales manager to observe the market and understand consumer needs.
During the years when Pan Yun was still in college, almost all sports brands in China were in an extremely complicated inventory quagmire.
The excitement of the 2008 Beijing Olympics has huge mobilizing power. Almost all sports brands, including local companies, are full of confidence in the potential of China's sports consumer market. At that time, domestic sports brands still followed the wholesale business philosophy of the foundry era, which was heavy and slow, had a long supply chain, multi-level links in the sales chain, and invested heavily in marketing.
After more than 20 days of the Olympic Games, the high-hanging inventory risk immediately exploded. The overall inventory and sales of for many domestic brands of sports shoes and clothing is 50%-60% higher than that of , which is far higher than the controllable range of 10%-20%.
This is an extremely painful transformation period. Domestic sports brands are trying their best to reduce inventory to protect the safety of their capital chains, while looking for transformation strategies that are more in line with market rules and prospects. Anta CEO Ding Shizhong publicly pointed out in 2010 that there were problems with the "large wholesale model" and required Anta to complete its retail transformation within 3-5 years.
As a result, China's local sports brands have shifted their business models from wholesale to retail, and have begun their own brand long marches. In fact, it was also in 2008 that Adidas seized the opportunity of being the official sponsor of the Beijing Olympics and officially introduced the profession of "sneaker planning" to China. Li Ning learned from this approach and became the first domestic sports brand in China to do product planning.
As a transformation detail, after Li Ning, other domestic sports brands began to imitate mature overseas sports brands and tried to gradually establish their own "product manager" position.
Unlike other professions, there is no standard answer to "What is a sneaker product manager" in China. On the one hand, domestic colleges and universities currently do not offer relevant majors for systematic training; on the other hand, because each brand has a different positioning, the definition of a sneaker product manager is also different.
For example, some companies will define product managers as process managers, who will be responsible for a series of process management from product design to development to ordering and finally to the market. Some company product managers focus more on the back-end, leaving the front-end to the marketing department; others prefer the front-end, interacting directly with consumers in the brand private domain .
In our summary, an interesting trend can be found. The diverse professional backgrounds of China’s local sneaker product managers are also related to the commercialization and industrialization development of China’s shoe and apparel market to a certain extent.
When local brands enter the early stages of retailing, they are still mainly pursuing sales data. Therefore, most of the early product managers come from positions such as marketing, planning and even finance. After 2013, as Chinese companies became more familiar with sneaker planning and inventory pressure gradually eased, some people with design backgrounds began to switch careers as product managers. Until now, design job transfer is the most common way in this industry.
When a new profession first appears, it often attracts people from various professional backgrounds to influx in and bring in fresh blood, which is a symbol of vitality. However, for this new profession, the basis for such vitality is still the rapid growth of China’s sneaker-loving crowd. Data shows that China’s sports shoes and apparel market size has reached 385.8 billion yuan in 2021.
Such a huge and fierce sports shoes and apparel market will also promote the continuous upgrading and segmentation of the product manager profession. As consumers pursue the functionality of sports products, enthusiasts from ergonomics, human body protection and other professions are becoming a new generation of sneaker product managers.
Of course, as a symbol of the transformation of sports brands from wholesale to retail, product managers’ love is not enough. This is a position that requires extremely strong comprehensive capabilities.
baton
Even if there is no standard answer to the definition of sneaker product manager, several product managers have reached a consensus on the core professional abilities, that is, the ability to set the tone and find direction, and the ability to connect and communicate.
is similar to Internet product manager . The job of a sneaker product manager requires full participation in the entire life cycle of the product.
went from incubation to implementation, and iterative improvements after implementation. They need to have clear insights and analysis of market positioning, consumer portraits, and competing products, and have strong communication and connection skills to connect all aspects of product production and circulation.
This requires the product manager to first "disassemble" the goal based on the final profit goal to be achieved.
They need to build a corresponding product matrix based on the profit target to be achieved by a certain subcategory. If it includes key products, the matrix will be more detailed and more funds will be invested.
When Pan Yun builds a professional running shoe matrix for the brand he works for, he must take into account the company's strategic planning and consumer market demand, which also reflects his most valued professional ability of "finding direction" as a sneaker product manager.
Behind this capability is based on insights into the consumer market, summarizing consumers' complex needs into specific product definitions, and investing in market segments to meet consumer needs.
Take the Peak slippers as an example. According to Luo Jinwei, the slippers on the market are divided into Walmart , Carrefour style home slippers, and Birkenstock, havaianas relatively high-end slippers. Although the slippers category in the sneaker industry has always existed, innovation and applicability are still Scarcity.
They also noticed that the use scenarios of sports slippers include changing into basketball shoes to relax after coming off the court, and taking a shower in the bathroom.
Peak Slippers
However, many brands of sports slippers at that time, foam , would have a peculiar smell after wading in water and were not non-slip. Seizing this pain point and combining it with Peak's newly launched "Taiji" technology, it launched the one-piece Taiji slippers, which meet consumers' needs for comfort, fashion and multiple scenarios. This slipper is currently the best-selling item in Peak’s official Tmall flagship store.
After identifying consumer needs and determining product definition, product managers need to communicate with designers and developers. Wei Qunchao is sometimes joked by colleagues from other departments in the company, "You just rely on your mouth." But in his view, as a bridge to deal with different departments, "connection and communication skills" are the basic qualities. This kind of communication content mainly refers to how to integrate consumer needs, technological iterations, design language, and brand assets into a pair of shoes within a limited budget.
For product managers who have switched jobs from designers, it is common to be pulled between sensibility and rationality. Yuhao was previously a designer for a domestic sneaker brand. In his view, for a mature industry, both the front and back ends need to be understood. Three years after joining the industry, he resigned from his previous company and became a sneaker designer and product manager for MADGAMMA, a new domestic casual sports brand. When drawing pictures, he usually draws several more pictures to find the most suitable one based on factors such as budget cost, overall design direction, channel placement, etc.
After the developer produces the design on the drawing into a product, he will provide one to three versions to the product manager for confirmation. After selecting the final model and before it is officially put into the market, the product manager will try the new product with old fans of his brand and listen to their suggestions. In the private domain of brand segmentation, product managers of relevant subcategories will also choose to sneak in to collect everyone’s opinions and feedback on the product.
After the final version of the product is determined, the product manager still needs to hold a conference call, communicate online and offline with dealers, buyers, and customers across the country, measure and determine the output, and some product managers also need to participate before the product is launched. They also need to be involved in after-sales service, feedback collection and product improvement after sales.
This means that sneaker product managers not only have to go from "why to make this product" to "how to make this product", but also need to consider "how to improve this product or get rid of it."
Of course, in shoedog eyes, improving the way everyone interacts with the Earth's surface is a wonderful thing. After the launch of Peak's "Flash" series, it once made up for the company's shortcomings in professional sports shoes, and the team was immersed in joy. However, the shortcomings of the wide shoe last soon emerged in data feedback and direct complaints from private users.
The cost of modifying shoe last to is relatively huge. Some people hesitated and compromised under such pressure, but Wei Qunchao and his team colleagues still insisted on making adjustments. The adjusted "Flash 3" is a professional narrow guard last, which has been well received by fans and user communities.
Observer
A good product manager must be a meticulous and ubiquitous observer.
Duoduo was still studying traditional Chinese medicine in college and spent most of his living expenses on shoes and clothing. After graduation, she also gave up her major and chose to enter the clothing industry. After working as a clothing stylist and buyer, she joined Huajiao Planet. She has been engaged in product photography and Xiaohongshu launch work, and is now the product manager of the brand. Pang Xiaomin, the founder of
, hopes that the product managers of his brand will be fashion enthusiasts or heavy users of Xiaohongshu. This is because, compared to other companies that focus on R&D and design, they put planning first.
Huajiao Planet is a sports lifestyle brand founded in 2019, focusing on cross-scenario and comfortable sports shoe products. Different from sports shoes that emphasize functionality, the products they launch focus more on the balance of functionality and fashion, and are satisfying for users to wear in multiple scenes of daily life.
Observing how the target group lives has become the prerequisite for the establishment of Zanthoxylum Planeta products. After the identity change, Duoduo turned his daily habit of observing other people's shoes into a professional one. During her commute, she would write short biographies for subway passengers, starting from the perspective of "who they are, where they are going, and what they are going to do." Duoduo would observe the color and style of the sneakers they wore, their overall attire, and their age. , what time to get on the bus, which stop to get off, etc., and then extend the scenes that the character will travel through throughout the day, and sneaker products that can adapt to these scenes.
Luo Jinwei and his colleagues will also unconsciously observe the shoes of passers-by. For example, on a rainy day, if the opponent's shoes make noise, they will think about whether the sneakers are not wet enough to prevent slipping.
When Pan Yun walks on the street, he will unconsciously observe the shoes of passers-by, and even go up to ask them how they feel about their clothes and what triggers their consumption. Pan Yun compared this behavior to antique appreciation, "If you have never bought so many antiques, suffered losses, been fooled, and understood it, it is impossible to accumulate insight."
in sports brands As the sales model evolves towards DTC and even the C2M model, product managers are paying more and more attention to consumer portraits and data.
Product managers have explored changes in consumer needs through experience accumulation and established their own professional methodology.
The consensus of the product managers of several sports brands in our office is that as consumers become more and more professional, the segmentation of consumption scenarios has also brought changes to the sales logic of sports shoes.
Luo Jinwei believes that based on consumers' "what do I want to wear these shoes and clothes for today?", future sales store displays will become more segmented and professional. For example, when consumers walk into a store, they will clearly perceive that this part of the product is suitable for running five kilometers, this part is suitable for running a half marathon, and this part is suitable for running a full marathon.
The picture he painted, Swiss running shoe brand "On" is trying to realize. When you enter an Angpa store, the clerk will proactively ask you how many kilometers you want to run and provide products with suitable materials based on consumer needs. Capri, the marketing department of Angpa China, once said that they will also recommend some products in a more targeted manner based on the guests' own requirements for sports and their pursuit of sports performance.
It is undeniable that the days when one pair of shoes conquered the world no longer exist. Pan Yun believes that in the future, everyone's shoe cabinet will be divided into categories. Some shoes have matching attributes, some have cultural attributes, and some are used as daily wear.
may not be so complicated. MADGAMMA directly proposes "INTERTEKK ECOSYSTEM" (footwear parts assembly ecology) in response to consumers' different preferences and needs. The brand provides midsole parts suitable for different sports scenes, and consumers can freely disassemble and assemble them according to their preferences.
MADGAMMA "Saturn Model Replacement Shoes"
It should be noted that whether it is a functional sports brand or a sports and leisure brand, a good sneaker product requires a set of technology to support the functionality of the product.In the 1980s, Reebok released the Freestyle, the first performance shoe for women. ASICS developed the cushioning gel technology. Nike introduced the "air cushion" from aerospace technology into basketball shoes, and sports shoes became technology. The beginning of intensive products.
In Pang Xiaomin’s view, every brand is making technological iterations, and the important thing is to maintain a high degree of consistency between technology, product design, and brand concept.
In response to the cushioning needs of mass consumers when running, Li Ning launched "Jueying" in 2020. The midsole of the product is composed of a double-layer heterogeneous carbon plate combined with Li Ning's unique technology. In addition to cushioning, it also has excellent rebound ability. Due to its unique product competitiveness, daily operations and strong channel capabilities, although this product is priced at 1,699 yuan, which is even more expensive than the same type of product NIKE, it still achieved good sales.
Nowadays, in addition to being a strong support for technology-intensive products, technology also contributes to the realization of a vertically segmented lifestyle. In order to realize the slogan of "wearing barefoot with more freedom", Zanthoxylum Planet uses the silk upper material from composite fibers extracted from natural plants, which feels refreshing and comfortable on the skin; the glutinous rice-like midsole material is breathable and soft. The product as a whole is consistent with the free and healthy lifestyle concept that the brand wants to convey.
In fact, when every brand is developing technology, it is culture that causes the differences between brands. Converse was once used as a basketball shoe and played an important role in the popularization of modern basketball. As the technological content of basketball shoes increases, Converse has gradually fallen behind in the professional basketball market; it can be bound to the spirit of rock and punk , but it has been highly respected in the subculture circle, giving the brand new expression and positioning.
creator
sneakers were originally functional products. After the expression of brand consistency, they have the opportunity to settle into a culture over time. Therefore, in China, making a good pair of sports shoes is not only a good business with a future, but also requires its own cultural creativity.
China’s first-generation sneaker culture was an imported culture, mostly based on sneaker culture developed from basketball. The stories of a group of legendary athletes such as the Airman and Jordan have become concrete representatives of sneaker culture in the hearts of people born in the 1980s and early 1990s.
As the new generation of Chinese consumers recognize their own culture, domestic sports brands have more room to implement strategies. This generation of domestic sneaker product managers have also begun to explore China’s sneaker culture.
"National Trend" is a good way to express Chinese sneaker culture. Not only Li Ning, which has gained popularity since New York Fashion Week in 2018, many domestic sports brands combine design concepts with national trend elements.
Peak integrated the freehand elements of kites and magpie bridges into the Flash 3 series; Anta integrated Chinese local delicacies into sneaker design in the form of color matching, launching "Frenzy 4 Generation Food Limited Color Matching" practical sneakers; Xtep basketball shoes "Dragon Claw", taking the dragon The shape of the claws is named after "royal thunder", "purple smoke", and "unicorn". Wei Qunchao said that the distinctiveness of national fashion elements is a major advantage in competing with foreign brands.
Pan Yun said, "Under the original premise, no matter how hard you work, you will not be able to achieve the current status of domestic sports brands."
After domestic sports brands flow to retail, productization, and commercialization, the trend is divided into Personalized curves, gurgling flow.
Huajiao Planet is also seizing the new changes in Chinese sports brands and injecting its own understanding into the concept of sneakers. Pang Xiaomin has his own insights into the changes in China's sports consumption concept. When he served as the product manager of LeTV Sports community, he began to pay attention to the direction of lifestyle.
In his opinion, male consumers account for more than 80% of the domestic sneaker market. Women are relatively missing in the sneaker market, and they are entering a stage of diversified lifestyles.In other words, in addition to emphasizing the functionality and competitive spirit of the product, consumers pay more attention to their own spiritual level and emphasize personal emotional expression - this is also the meaning of sneaker culture.
In 2019, Huajiao Planet launched "Ice Cream Silk Shoes", which are made of silk material and feel like sheets, and can be worn barefoot. "Wearing barefoot" is the product concept that the brand most wants to convey. Pang Xiaomin said that he would not specifically find a buzzword to describe his products. "On the contrary, it will appear that we are not special enough, or difficult to remember."
Pepper Planet "Ice Cream Silk" Shoes"
Unlike the product managers of several major domestic brands who regard commercialization and personality as irreconcilable conflicts, Pang Xiaomin pays more attention to and respects his own feelings. He firmly believes that "narcissism" is a necessary characteristic for good products and brands. "To build a brand, you need to be confident. If you don't have this characteristic, you are not suitable to be a brand-led company."
This attitude is also for personalization. and a direct response to segmentation trends. This trend itself means the emergence of more niche products and the possibility of more sports shoe brands.
MADGAMMA where Yuhao is located is also one of them. Founder Vincent once served as the R&D and Innovation Director of Asia under Under Armor . During his tenure, he was responsible for establishing Under Armor's Asian R&D team and leading the R&D and innovation of Under Armor's footwear technology platform.
There are also former Under Armor colleagues around Yuhao, who often come up with many creative ideas that he praises. "It's really great, but not many of them have been put into the market." He believes that these colleagues are forward-looking in terms of sports performance and concept innovation of sneakers, but perhaps because large sports brand companies are too large, many product ideas have not been applied to reality.
Different from Under Armor's core brand genes of functionality and high performance, MADGAMMA focuses on fashion and technology. In Yuhao's view, China has the world's leading supply chain resources and can design and develop top products. The so-called gap with foreign brands lies in sneaker culture and consumption concepts.
For example, China's slippers market is very large and has the potential for upgrading, but brands need to express a new slipper culture to users. As a product manager, Yuhao participates in the entire process of a slipper from planning to design to production and testing. Not only must the "modular" technology that the company regards as its core barrier be applied, but designers must also add trendy elements to convey a new way of playing sneakers and sneaker culture.
Because of this, ignores certain cultural deposits on sneakers, or directly translates sneaker culture, which may trigger an emotional rebound among consumers.
"Reload", a replica of the classic brand invested by Jiao Ge Friend, has been accused of "plagiarism" and even worse since its launch. Although it is blameless in terms of legal recognition and business practices, and its business model is also successful, such negative voices may always accompany this sports brand that hopes to reach more ordinary consumers with the help of live broadcast e-commerce. .
The value of classic sneakers lies not only in the design of the item itself, but also in the heritage and culture recognized by shoe dogs. Luo Yonghao expressed the social value of reloading in the interview, but it is difficult to gain their recognition: "It allows those who cannot afford brand-name shoes to buy quality and materials at one-third of the price. A good product that is as good as the original, or even better than the original, and the most classic good design. "
In the United States, the prosperity of sneakers and its culture is promoted by a group of key figures with different origins, passing the baton. This is a certain standard for our understanding of the Chinese market.
However, during our interviews, we could sense more characteristics. The Chinese market is large in scale, has great potential, has developed content communities, and has a hierarchical society. Sneakers are rapidly advancing and coexisting in the process of becoming functional products, spiritual symbols, and then lifestyles.
Specific to product managers, those sales staff, marketing workers, designers, artificial mechanics graduates and professional athletes, people with various related professional backgrounds can use their talents to innovate the industry because of their love.
