Quality key to Boken shoes' success

After hot sales of Boken shoes on a social group buying platform, Fu Qiu chose to build his own factory in 2024 in Huidong county of Huizhou, Guangdong province, to further control quality and improve supply chain response speed.

"After launching fur-lined Boken shoes last winter, we sold nearly 30,000 pairs online, far exceeding expectations," said Fu.

The Chinese term Boken is a phonetic translation of the abbreviation Birken from the German footwear brand Birkenstock, typically referring to shoes with comfort, durability and health-oriented design.

In addition to his expertise in selling small leather shoes for years, Fu observed that in June 2023, many top merchants were selling tens of thousands of pairs of Boken shoes on Pinduoduo, a social shopping platform based on group buying.

"We noticed that how to wear the 'ugly' Boken shoes to exude a sense of sophistication had also become a hot topic online," said Fu.

Despite intense competition upon release, sales of Fu's fur-lined Boken shoes did not experience explosive growth during the autumn and winter seasons of 2023, according to Fu.

"After years of development, the premise for online success among white-label merchants in the shoe industry was providing products with high quality at a good price," said Fu.

Thanks to Pinduoduo's policies supporting new quality merchants with online marketing cost reductions, Boken shoes, small leather shoes, and other products with high quality at a good price quickly grew into hits with sales exceeding tens of thousands.

"Online orders have increased significantly, and industrial workers also enjoyed the dividends brought by the new e-commerce wave," said Fu.

After calculations by Fu's team, the online marketing cost for a pair of shoes was around 30 yuan. "By saving this cost and passing on the benefits to consumers, the competitiveness could be significantly enhanced," said Fu.

Since September 2024, Pinduoduo has intensified its support for supplies with new quality at a competitive cost, strongly backing merchants with product and technologically innovative capabilities.

"With the support of resources, the marketing costs are reduced and the cost reduction is a key part of our competitiveness," said Fu.

Orders on the online group buying platform have steadily increased, with the company's overall daily order volume reaching 1,700 pairs of shoes, according to Fu.

Fu embarked on his entrepreneurial journey, moving from the e-commerce capital of Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, in 2020, to the industrial shoe center of Huidong, which has more than 5,000 shoe makers.

In the first half of 2024, over 510 million pairs of shoes were produced in Huidong, with a total output value of 26.83 billion yuan ($3.667 billion), according to local government data.

A women's shoe promotion center has been established in Huidong, inviting a seasoned e-commerce team to utilize shelf e-commerce as the online channel to promote the full chain of original shoe products.

The local government has made greater efforts to promote the regional brand identity of "Huidong Women's Shoes", focusing on quality, brand innovation and expanding promotion.

The development plan has given confidence to Fu. "I am not worried about the future decline of Boken shoes as women's shoes in Huidong have advantages such as fast production speed and a mature industry," said Fu. "What we need to do is study consumer trends, develop new products, collaborate with platforms to create high-quality and cost-effective e-commerce hits, gradually upgrading our supply chain advantage to brand and technological advantages."