The secret of the popularity of luxury eyewear brand Gentle Monster This article is from the fashion brand network If yo

The secret of the popularity of luxury eyewear brand Gentle Monster This article is from the fashion brand network If you need to delete it, please contact kaity@yichao.cn On a Saturday afternoon, the shopping street of Huaihai Road in Shanghai was a little deserted, but the heat did not discourage people from queuing in front of the Korean luxury frame brand Gentel Monster. Since the flagship store opened last September, this has been a common sight. The store is often filled with customers who are patronizing new items, and it is always necessary to control the flow of people, and the line of cashiers on the second floor is not short at all.

This is not only the case in Shanghai, but also around the world. Founded in 2001, Gentel Monster has become one of Asia's hottest fashion brands by selling oversized, high-priced sunglasses that fit short noses.

(Recommended reading: The world's luxury eyewear rankings are said to have the brand's sales growing 3 or even 7 times every year. Gentle Monster has opened more than a dozen flagship stores around the world, including seven in South Korea, Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Chengdu and New York.

The brand also has authorized retailers in more than 20 countries around the world. According to Business of Fashion, it generated $250 million in sales last year, with 70 percent of its sales coming from direct sales. How exactly did the Korean luxury brand manage to achieve such a sales miracle in just a few years? Last month, at a summit of IDG, a US-based Chinese media, Hankook Kim, the brand's founder and CEO, shared the secret behind his success.

1. Product novelKim said that customers naturally like to buy new things, and customers actually buy not only the product but also the experience of trying new things. The biggest task of a brand is to provide new products that exceed consumers' expectations.

He says his formula for success is: Brand Appeal = Brand Philosophy x Understanding of the Brand.

Kim mentioned that it is important to continue to innovate not only from the brand itself, but also from the consumer's perspective. 2. Strange appearance, but how does a company meet the tastes of ever-changing consumers? Kim attributes the rapid rise of Gentel Monster to the retail store experience, especially the quirky setting. Kim revealed that four years ago, before opening his first flagship store, he did a survey of all the retail stores in the market and came to the conclusion that

Most stores are sending a message to consumers: "Please buy our products." But Gentle Monster decided to take a different approach, with its retail store more like an art gallery, and the sunglasses sold inside were incidental items. The furnishings in their store changed every seven days, and at first it was difficult to maintain that pace, but then he changed the pace to once every 21 days.

Each store has its own different theme, such as Artists, Family and Resurrection, Secret Apartments, and Project Quantum. Each exhibit is also like an art exhibition, carefully arranged. Consumers need to look for a while before they see the sunglasses, and they usually rush to take pictures first.

Recommended reading: Why is Gentle Monster, a Korean eyewear brand, so popular?" You'll think they're crazy, doing free art exhibitions in big cities where land is at a premium," said Amanda Sun of Private Equity in a survey: "But space creates memories, and a good flagship store can easily attract young consumers, and their spread on social media is a natural way to promote it." 3. Star EffectIn addition to the previous marketing guidelines, Kim is not shy about admitting that Korean stars have helped Gentle Monster a lot.

Gentle Monster's sunglasses have many advantages: oversized lenses, low nose bridges that are more suitable for Asians than most European and American brands, and the well-designed retail stores have also attracted the attention of many fashion bloggers.

But it also took three years for the brand to become popular in Asia in 2014. South Korean movie star Kim Ji-hyun has worn the brand's sunglasses many times in "My Love from the Star", and Chinese stars such as Li Yifeng, Yang Yang, and Wu Yifan, as well as supermodels Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid, have worn Gentle Monster sunglasses on the street. However, in the process of the brand's global expansion, Gentle Monster wanted to reduce its association with Korean stars, celebrities are a good means of publicity but not necessarily ideal for branding.

For Kim, his most important task is to bring new experiences to customers. For himself, he needs to be very accurate about the next luxury market, what is called "new".