2015 Smart Shoes Industry Trend Analysis

With the further development of smart wearable technology, wearable devices have evolved from simple, smart wear for glasses and watches to more difficult necessities such as shoes and clothes. Since adidas and Nike introduced the concept of smart shoes into the domestic market around 2012, smart shoes have gradually become a new direction for domestic companies to pursue. The smart shoe market is slowly taking shape. Especially after entering 2015, smart shoes have ushered in a rapid development, and the number of smart manufacturers and smart shoe shipments have grown significantly. In the footwear industry and smart wearable areas, smart shoes have become a force that cannot be ignored.

First, the status of China's footwear industry

In 2015, China's manufacturing industry was affected by the economic downturn and the overall situation was sluggish. The footwear industry was no exception. The 4th Global Footwear Sustainable Development International Summit data showed that in 2015 China's footwear industry operating index has fallen below 90. , in the colder index interval.

From a nationwide perspective, in 2015 China's footwear industry began to see a trend of centralized orders. Small and medium-sized manufacturers are continuously failing due to lack of competitiveness, and large manufacturers are experiencing saturation of orders.

1. Centralization of orders

Since the outbreak of the financial crisis in 2008, orders from traditional industries have slowly become fragmented. Long-term orders have become short-listed and big orders have been broken into small orders. For a long period of time, domestic footwear industry has been in such a state. . Until around 2015, with the continuous accumulation of technical advantages of large shoe enterprises, coupled with the recovery of the sports shoe market, orders in the shoe industry began to show a trend of concentration.

2. Small and Medium-sized Manufacturers Closed

Since 2015, the situation of small and medium-sized shoe enterprises has become more difficult. In addition to the financial pressure brought about by the increase in labor costs, there have been tightening policies for domestic environmental control, and the pressure on environmental protection is also increasing. According to the statistics of the Pearl River Delta, in the Pearl River Delta's failed enterprises in 2015, more than 90% of shoe enterprises were under-scale enterprises. Those small home-plant manufacturers were also largely shut down in 2015.

3. Large manufacturers order supersaturation

Among the shoe enterprises above designated size, the saturation of orders in 2015 is very common. The three major footwear giants of Baocheng Industry, Fengtai Enterprise and F-Qiqi Group achieved record revenues last year, and the regional leading companies such as Double Chi Orders in 2015 also increased significantly compared to 2014. In comparison, although there are many small and medium-sized enterprises, enterprises above the scale still bear most of the production capacity of the footwear industry. And these companies are not as fragile as small businesses in the face of difficulties. With the improvement of shoemaking technology, coupled with the promotion of machine automation, the advantages of large shoe production are constantly expanding, and orders are gradually returned to large shoe enterprises.

Second, the shoe base and representative development

China's footwear industry can be roughly divided into four major clusters: First, the footwear production base represented by Fujian Putian, Quanzhou and other places, mainly producing sports shoes; Second, Guangzhou, Dongguan, Huidong and other places as the representative of Guangdong Footwear base mainly produces mid-to-high-end shoes; thirdly, Zhejiang Footwear Base represented by Wenzhou, Taizhou and other places mainly produces mid-to-low shoes; Fourthly, it is a western shoe base represented by Chengdu and Chongqing, mainly producing women. shoe.

Shoes in Putian, Quanzhou and other places are generally developing well in 2015. As the foundry production base of the world's footwear brands, in 2015, Putian had more than 40 shoe companies paying more than 10 million taxpayers, an increase of more than 10 in number compared to last year, and the tax payment amount increased by more than 300 million compared with 2014. In today's economic downturn environment, the performance of Putian shoe companies has made everyone's eyes shine. Among them, the unit of Mr. Chen Wenzhao, president of the Putian Shoes Association, has seen a significant increase in tax payment for three consecutive years. He has become the highest paying taxpayer in Putian's local shoe company. The company's total tax amount exceeds 100 million.

Quanzhou's shoe companies also performed well. Anta, 361°, and Hongxing's Quanzhou-listed shoe companies had higher gains compared to 2014. Among them, ANTA's performance exceeded expectations and reached the highest level in history. In ANTA's 2015 first-half performance report, ANTA's revenue rose by 24% year-on-year to 5.11 billion yuan, and gross profit margin increased by 46.6% year-on-year to 2.38 billion yuan. In addition, operating profit increased by 28.5% year-on-year to 1.26 billion yuan. At the same time, Anta also announced the data for the first quarter of 2016 trade fairs, and achieved an increase in the amount of orders for nine consecutive quarters.

Correspondingly, shoe stores in Guangzhou, Dongguan and other places generally did not perform well in 2015, and there have been cases in which shoe companies have collapsed. The 5th Dongguan Enterprise Survival Report survey conducted jointly by Nandu Daily, Dr. Xie and Daejang.com revealed that of the 150 companies surveyed, more than 60% said that the volume of orders received in 2014 decreased by nearly 27% year-on-year. Corporate orders fell by more than 30%, while the proportion of companies with falling orders profits reached 69.34%. In this round of drastic adjustments, 32% of the companies are operating at a loss, and it is difficult to maintain them. 90% of shoe companies in Dongguan are worried that there will be more shut downs, and the entire industry is filled with pessimism.

In general, the traditional footwear industry has become saturated. Shoe companies are currently exploring new growth points. “Transition and upgrading” has become the key word for the development of the industry. With the deepening of the concept of "smart manufacturing", smart shoes are expected to become the next breakthrough in the footwear industry.

Third, the development of China's smart shoes

Smart shoes were first introduced by Nike and Adidas in China around 2012. They were mainly used in sports shoes at first, but the market response was not good.

In 2013, the concept of smart wear began to become an outlet, and smart shoes have re-entered the field of vision. Domestic shoe companies also began to follow suit. Double Chi Corporation set up a smart shoe incubation platform to start research and development of smart shoes. Li Ning and Xiaomi announced that they would jointly launch smart running shoes. Several well-known shoe companies have begun to devote energy to smart shoes.

In 2014, Internet manufacturers became the dominant players in the field of smart shoes. These Internet companies started with intelligent children's shoes and made domestic smart shoes appear for the first time in the domestic market.

In 2015, the smart shoe market was blossoming. Traditional shoe companies and Internet companies were making efforts. There were dozens of smart shoe brands on the market. Among them, traditional shoe companies such as Double Chi Corporation, relying on intelligent shoe incubation platform, cooperated with the entrepreneurial team and continuously launched a variety of smart shoes. And Li Ning, 361 ° and other shoe companies and millet, Baidu, such as Internet giants, to jointly promote the production of smart shoes. In 2014, due to the lack of control over the supply chain of the footwear industry, Internet companies with outstanding performance could not control risks and began to experience fatigue.

Overall, smart shoes are still in the initial stage of development. Whether it is an Internet company or a shoe company, they are testing smart shoes in a small area, but it can be seen that smart shoes have formed an industry and are continuously expanding. The active participation of shoe enterprises in the cross-domain interaction of the Internet has become a good beginning. The footwear industry is generally optimistic about the application of smart wear technology in shoes, and believes that this will become one of the key points in the transformation and upgrading of manufacturing industries.

Fourth, smart shoes product analysis

At present, smart shoes on the market can be mainly divided into two types of step shoes and positioning shoes. The main sales target for pedometer shoes is sports enthusiasts. In 2015, step counter shoes are the most popular smart shoes on the market. According to public statistics such as Taobao, Tmall, Jingdong, Taobao Crowdfunding and Jingdong Crowdfunding, the sales of counter-step shoes in 2015 have exceeded 50 million.

Another product category is positioning shoes, this product is mainly for children. Children's intelligent positioning shoes can monitor the positioning of children, prevent accidental loss of children and protect children's safety. Over the past two years, Baidu, Tencent, Li Ning, 361°, Daphne and other giants have joined the field of children's smart shoes one after another. The outlook for children's smart shoes is generally promising.

In addition, there are products for the elderly and pregnant women in the market, but there is no scope for disengagement of step shoes and positioning shoes. Products for the elderly are mainly used for positioning products. Shoes designed for pregnant women are considered for sports and health. The main application is a step counter shoe with health management function.

Compared to last year, the number of smart shoe manufacturers has increased this year. The data shows that from 2014 to 2015, there are more than 10 smart shoe brands unveiled to the market. The largest increase in the number of traditional shoe companies, the current number has exceeded the Internet company. At present, there are five smart shoe brands in the market, as shown in the table.

The sales channels of smart shoes mainly include official websites, official flagship stores, authorized agents, and crowdfunding channels. The sales of official flagship stores and crowdfunding channels account for more than 80% of all channels. The traditional shoe companies like Li Ning and Shuang Chi also have their own offline stores that can sell smart shoe products and also bring in certain sales.

V. Smart shoe industry chain analysis

The smart shoes industry chain involves many links. From the perspective of industrial division of labor, there are roughly four links: chip and parts manufacturers, mobile developers, shoes, and industrial design.

2. Chips and Parts Manufacturers

The first is the link of chip and parts manufacturers, including: chips, sensors, batteries, sensors, wireless modules, etc. The second is the chip, according to the different categories, chip and other parts manufacturers are also different, the mainstream suppliers have intel, Qualcomm, MTK and other brands. As the industry chain matures, integrated platform solutions based on wearable chips are emerging. At present, the chip solutions of Qualcomm and MTK are more common. The third is the sensor. The sensor is a window for the smart shoe device to sense the external environment, and also an important hardware for product function differentiation. The sensitivity of the sensor often determines the accuracy of the product. There are mainly three types of sensors used in smart shoes, including interactive perception, physiological parameter detection, and environmental perception. Due to the advantages of miniaturization, low cost, and high precision, most current smart shoes use MEMS sensors. The fourth is the battery. The battery of smart shoes is divided into two categories. One type is a button battery, which is low in cost and convenient to use, and is generally applied to Bluetooth and low-power sensor elements. The other type is a rechargeable lithium battery that can be recharged repeatedly, has a high cost, and must be periodically charged, and is generally used in higher power consumption GPS positioning smart shoes.

2. Shoes

As the core component of smart shoes, shoes are also the carrier of smart components. But from the shoe itself, its brand, quality, cost-effectiveness, appearance and other factors that affect consumer purchases have not changed. Smart features are additional points for shoes, not decisive factors.

3. Mobile developers

The visual function of smart shoes is inseparable from mobile applications. Mobile developers are an important part in the development of smart shoes.

4. Industrial Design

Intelligent devices need to place smart components inside, which involves industrial design. How to make the built-in smart components work in the best condition without affecting the beauty and comfort of the shoes, the China Industrial Design Red Star Award may have given the answer. In December 2015, the Red Star Award has ranked the first pair so far. Award-winning smart shoes.

Sixth, the future development trend of smart shoes industry

The market size of smart shoes has grown rapidly in 2015, and the domestic environment in 2016 is still conducive to the development of smart shoes. At the policy level, the country released the Internet, "Made in China 2025" and other related documents all support the traditional shoe-making enterprises in their transition toward smart manufacturing. At the capital level, investors are generally optimistic about the field of smart shoes, and several smart shoe manufacturers have won this year. At the media level, smart wearable products are one of the biggest hotspots for media in 2015. Therefore, it is expected that the scale of smart shoes will further expand in 2016.

The intelligentization of shoe and clothing is not achieved by having core hardware technology. There are many key points in production and sales that determine success or failure. Cooperation with traditional shoe companies can effectively control risks. Traditional shoe companies can introduce teams that are familiar with the Internet's operating model. They combine the advantages of traditional shoe companies in the supply chain and offline channels with the Internet model, and will do more with less in the research, production, and sales of smart shoes.

In addition to step counting and positioning functions, smart shoes also have certain game functions. According to the smart shoe concept product launched at the Expo, Chinajoy and other exhibitions, the smart shoe can now play the role of a game control device to a certain extent, through connection with mobile phones, tablets, and computers. Move your feet to play the game. In addition, smart shoes can also be connected with the current hot VR glasses, travel around the world in the virtual reality world, in advance to enjoy the convenience brought by VR tourism.

With the advancement of computer technology and sensor technology, the Internet of Everything is more than just a slogan. Smart shoes will become an important entrance to the Internet of Things. Because of this, whether it is a smart hardware manufacturer like Xiaomi who has achieved certain achievements in the smart wristband area, or an Internet giant like BAT, he has not forgotten to take a share in the field of smart shoes and lay out in this field, trying to seize it. This new IoT portal.

In general, the smart shoe industry in 2015 is still in the exploratory period. The industrial environment and consumer habits are gradually forming. The industrial chain is gradually mature and smart shoes will develop in a more perfect direction. This stage focuses on mining user needs, trying out product forms, building a software ecosystem, and improving user experience.