Profiting in Times of Crisis

    Affected by the global financial crisis, the shoe-making industry has entered its winter. "The grim economic situation may continue for a while. In good times, we are able to develop better than others; in bad times, we need to regroup and build our strengths, so that when others cannot make a profit, we can; when others suffer great losses, we don't, or minimize them, and basically, tide ourselves over the low ebbs in the shortest span of time possible," said Xu Chengjian.

    To cope with the price-cutting tactics of firms making similar products, Xu has done an end run. Starting in June 2008, Spider King invested RMB 4 million inviting veteran experts to train marketing personnel. The training program lasted two months and involved more than 5,000 marketing personnel in 22 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. Such large-scale training programs have been conducted for three successive years, and will continue this year.

    Statistics show that the sales volume of Spider King has increased more than 20 percent year-on-year. In 2009 the company added 800 outlets and upgraded nearly 1,000 old ones, bringing the number of outlets in the Spider King retail network to more than 4,000 across the country.

XIAO QINCHAO is chief editor of the Wenzhou-based China’s Shoe Capital, and XU XIONGLIANG is chief editor of the Spider King Journal.