The 2400 kilometer 318 National Highway from Chengdu to Lhasa is the golden route in the hearts of cyclists and also the route that Zhang Xingang is most familiar with.
Not only did he complete this cycling route himself, but he also founded a cycling club and organized cycling activities every week through QQ groups and BBS. He also sponsored the graduation cycling of college students in Sichuan and Tibet for 8 consecutive years, making him one of the people who sowed the seeds of cycling in China.
It is rare in the domestic market for founders to lead by example in educating the market.
Through these members, enthusiasts gradually developed and then influenced a wider circle. Under the influence of the event, many people came to Zhang Xingang's store to purchase cycling equipment.
This should also be considered a business case of private domain operation in ancient times.
Source: Xiaohongshu
Nowadays, with the increasing popularity of outdoor sports, countless brands have entered the cycling equipment track. Looking back, Zhang Xingang's "Rock Brothers" had been deeply rooted in this industry for more than 10 years before the cycling craze.
Starting from an unknown small commodity in Yiwu, this company has become a global giant in segmented industries. In today's highly competitive market, multiple products have consistently dominated Amazon's hot selling category, with branches and overseas warehousing centers established around the world.
How did it do it?
International Brand Born from Yiwu Residential Houses
In 2005, Zhang Xingang founded a cycling club after graduating from Zhejiang University, representing cycling brands and selling bicycles.
The first time the club organized an activity was on New Year's Day in 2006. Everyone was going to a reservoir for cycling, where the scenery was beautiful and there were also farmhouses. The cycling trip was 60 kilometers back and forth.
Because of the cold weather at that time, after the recruitment post was posted, Zhang Xingang was worried that no one would participate, so he also invited his friends in.
Someone added him on QQ with a probing mentality, and Zhang Xingang told them that as long as the person came, they would be fine, and they would have the car and equipment.
Before departure, Zhang Xin woke up at six o'clock and called them one by one to notify them to wake up. He even bought breakfast for the team and was worried that they wouldn't come.
In the end, 10 people came. After the event, Zhang Xingang took beautiful photos for each person and wrote a travel summary to post on the forum.
After the first event, the first batch of seed users began to bring their friends to participate, gradually forming a social network effect.
Source: Xiaohongshu
Within six months, the club rapidly developed and absorbed hundreds of members. The "club+product sales" model enabled Zhang Xingang to repay the initial debts of his entrepreneurship within two years.
However, he realized that there were significant risks associated with this "debt business" - customers could choose not to pay a deposit or advance payment, which could ultimately lead to the risk of not receiving payment.
This has always been a thorn in his heart.
The turning point occurred during a conversation between him and his college classmates.
At that time, this student was already selling cycling products on eBay, but it was only as a hobby and the business was not very extensive. At that time, domestic goods priced at 70-80 yuan could be sold overseas for 50-60 US dollars, with few competitors.
After thinking about it, Zhang Xingang realized that he was studying international economics and trade, which happened to align with his major.
So he immediately convinced his classmates to pay 150000 yuan and move from Hangzhou to Yiwu, using local supply chain resources to start a small seller on eBay.
In 2010, the two rented a private house in Yiwu, consisting of three bedrooms and one living room. Two rooms were used for sleeping, one room was used as a warehouse, and the living room was used as an office.
They felt that the word 'rock' was full of rock atmosphere and in line with the temperament of cycling, so 'ROCKBROS' (Rock Brothers) was born in this private house.
Source: Xiaohongshu
In the same year, Amazon's business rose globally. With the establishment of AliExpress in 2011, ROCKBROS began to be launched on various platforms, coinciding with the boom of the cycling industry. ROCKBROS took advantage of the situation and exploded.
From White Label to Brand
Not long ago, Liu Qiangdong said that the cross-border e-commerce model is unsustainable because only selling cheap goods will not only damage our national image, but also be boycotted by foreign countries.
Zhang Xingang also saw this limitation.
He found that the research and development of white label products lags behind market demand and is laborious but not pleasing. And without a brand, many platform activities cannot be participated in.
At that time, the rise of Internet entrepreneurship and the continuous influx of capital, Internet products told stories, content, communities, scenes, and user experience. And all of these require self operated brands to control.
In 2013, the Rock Brothers began to pay attention to the domestic market and wanted to sign up for Tmall's "Double Eleven" event. However, as they were agency brands, they could not offer discounts at will, thus missing out on huge traffic.
This incident hurt Zhang Xingang, and he began to consider the possibility of having his own brand.
Although he thought that branding was a very high-end thing that required a lot of capital and manpower, in order to better develop and maintain sustained growth, he made up his mind that he must do his own brand.
After establishing his own brand, Zhang Xingang sought cooperation with the factory through his network, starting from small orders. Until 2015, he was determined to deeply cooperate with the supply chain, so he invested in a factory that had cooperated well and deeply bound himself with them.
At that time, many people advised him: don't touch the factory, the investment is uncontrollable, and managing all aspects is too difficult, making it difficult to make money.
But Zhang Xingang believes that the foundation of a brand lies in its products. The true source of a good product is the factory. Only by laying out efforts at the factory end can the growth of the brand be guaranteed.
Source: Xiaohongshu
The Rock Brothers have been immersed in the industry for over a decade, which is also a decade of tremendous changes in the e-commerce industry. The Rock Brothers have gone through a key "leap" from foreign trade to parallel domestic and international sales, from agency sales to branding - every step has been taken firmly.
At present, the overall annual sales of Rock Brothers exceed 1 billion yuan, with overseas sales accounting for 60%-70%.
Benefiting from the domestic cycling trend in the past two years, the domestic market has doubled in growth, surpassing overseas momentum.
Next year, the Rock Brothers will launch their own vehicle products and open multiple specialty stores offline.
Nowadays, it has supplied to hundreds of cycling stores across the country.
This is an industry on the rise of the wind, and Zhang Xingang was prepared before the wind came. He said, "Without passion, we cannot persist. We have been rooted in the industry and wait for the wind to come."
