With the rise of feminism, many of the "beautiful torture instruments" that were sought after in the past are being abandoned by women in the new era, including high heels. Over the years, high heels seem to be being replaced by a variety of flats, with women commuting to work opting for sneakers, loafers and even the notoriously ugly hole-in-the-hole shoes. The days when every woman wanted to have a pair of heels seem to be gone.
Related to the outdoor sports trend in recent years, there are 1.91 million+ notes on [high heels] on Xiaohongshu, many of which are about the discomfort of wearing high heels;There are 2.41 million+ notes on [sneakers], mainly for outfits and product recommendations.
Douyin's hot topic [High heels can't give the stability of flat shoes] related *** amount reached 36500 million, with 268 participants80,000 people. At the same time, the amount of Douyin topic [Sister Wind Thin Heels Are Too Amazing] is also as high as 36900 million, and the number of participants in the discussion was 2630 thousand.
The consumer group of Douyin e-commerce high-heeled shoes is aging. People aged 18-23 accounted for 1429%, and people aged 24-30 accounted for 1429%, and 28 people aged 31-4057%, and the 41-50 year old group accounted for the largest proportion of 4286%。
From the perspective of consumption intention, there is an interesting polarization, with a TGI of 169 for middle-aged people over 41 years old81, 18-23 year olds have a TGI of 29464。The middle age group of 24-40 years old may have a lower willingness to buy high heels due to the pressure of work and life.
Surveys have shown that many young people feel that high heels seem to be exclusive to the previous generation, and the sense of age and uncomfortable wearing make them no longer a mandatory choice among many shoe choices.
It is not necessarily true to say that the domestic high-heeled shoes market has not grown in recent years, but it is a fact that the growth rate has slowed down.
From 2017 to 2020, the size of China's high-heeled shoes retail market was 50 billion yuan, 57 billion yuan, 66 billion yuan, and 75 billion yuan respectively, with a year-on-year growth rate of 13%-16%. But it is clear that the growth rate has declined in 2020.
In recent years, in order to conform to the trend of the times, women's shoe brands have focused on the development of e-commerce channels, and live e-commerce has become a must for all brands.
Observing the data of the high-heeled shoes category on Douyin in the past two years, it is found that the growth rate is relatively flat, and the highest year-on-year growth rate is 20 in April this year4%, the lowest was negative growth in September, a year-on-year increase of -476%。From January to November 2023, the year-on-year growth in total sales was only 385%；
Data shows that at its peak, the global high-heeled market reached 200 billion US dollars, or about 1 yuan3 trillion yuan.
Thanks to this, a large number of well-known women's shoe brands have been born in China's high-heeled shoe market, such as Daphne, Red Dragonfly, Belle, etc.
At her peak, Daphne sold women's high heels, with an annual income of HK$10.5 billion. The number of stores is as high as 6,881, all over the country's major shopping malls. But things have taken a turn for the worse since 2015, with Daphne closing an average of 1,256 stores a year. From 2018 to 2022, Daphne's annual camp shrank by 95%.
Red Dragonfly has experienced a similar experience, and since its launch in 2015, its growth has accelerated, with stores opening and closing. In 2015 alone, 483 stores were closed. In January 2023, Red Dragonfly announced that the company expects a loss of 25 million yuan to 37.5 million yuan in 2022. In fact, since 2018, Red Dragonfly's revenue and net profit have been declining.
Saturday, which used to be the "first stock of women's shoes", has now divested its footwear business, changed the company's name to Yuanwang Technology, and transformed into a live broadcast business. The revenue of footwear brands such as Thousand Spirited Ao Com is also declining to varying degrees.
In the past few years, such stories have played out in many shoe companies that once made their fortunes in the high-heeled business.
The current women's footwear market is segmented into multiple sub-markets such as casual shoes, sneakers, high heels, and slippers, and consumers have more purchasing choices. In various footwear competitions, the fastest growing market size in recent years is the sports shoes category, followed by casual shoes.
In the face of more and more women abandoning high heels, shoe companies that want to survive the new wave are eagerly making adjustments.
Observing that in the offline stores of domestic footwear brands today, the C position in the store is often placed with current popular styles such as dad shoes and loafers, and traditional high heels account for a very small proportion of the store.
International luxury brands such as Chanel and LV have also launched sneaker products, and brands known for their high heels, such as Sergio Rossi, Jimmy Choo and Stuart Weitzman, have had to adapt to market demand for sneakers and low-heeled shoes after their shoe sales declined in 2020.
When designing high-heeled products, brands have begun to pay more attention to comfort while taking into account the beauty and fashion. Data shows that in 2015, global sales of square-heeled heels that are more comfortable than stiletto heels increased by 13%.
In addition to product changes, some brands that started by relying on department store channels have also opened up online and offline collaborative business models in recent years. For example, Saturday shares are in the layout of short** and live broadcast e-commerce business, and is actively divesting the footwear business. Daphne is exploring asset-light operations through licensing. In 2021, after the asset-light transformation, Daphne finally achieved a turnaround.
Perhaps today's young people are more comfortable in their choice of shoes, and high heels seem to have lost their unique appeal in the past. But the law that "fashion is a cycle" is hard to break. I believe that one day, the heels trend will make a comeback. It's just how the current women's shoe brands get through this difficult time is the most important thing.