The archive · Marketing & Growth · Marketing decision · 2016
Weilong 2016: Hot-strip store in Apple style, sales up 5x
In 2016, Weilong's Tmall store went Apple-style, trended with iPhone 7, daily sales rose 5x.
Weilong (卫龙) · Kuntin Technology (杭州昆汀科技)
What it had to solve
Weilong hot strips had long carried the 'junk food' label, and its e-commerce pages used the same warm-toned promotional style as all food stores; the operations team wanted to differentiate, making consumers want to check every now and then what new trick Weilong was playing.
How it works
Around 2016, Weilong hot strips were still a typical 'five-mao snack': a junk-food label, and e-commerce pages filled with warm-toned promotional elements like those of all food merchants. From June 2016, Weilong's Tmall flagship store began to change—the entire store was redesigned in full Apple style.
The creative core was contrast: the hot strips were renamed Hotstrip (an English coinage for 辣条), the product line was packaged as Hotstrip 1.0, 2.0, and Mini, and the detail pages read '128G ultra-large capacity' and 'nutrition is surprisingly rich', fully imitating Apple launch-style white pages, small blue auxiliary text, and a minimalist frame, deliberately abandoning the warm colors in the food category that most stimulate appetite.
At 10 a.m. on September 8, the morning of the iPhone 7 launch, the Weilong flagship store was updated to 'Hotstrip7.0, changing the food world, every strip has a principle', successfully riding the nationwide hot topic; page screenshots filled WeChat Moments and Weibo. Earlier, on the eve of 618, the self-deprecating incident 'why won't you ship my order' had also reached Sina Weibo trending searches.
According to the operations team's disclosure to Tianxia Wangshang (《天下网商》), the Apple style did not bring an instant surge, but the continuous new play styles made consumers form the habit of checking every now and then what new trick Weilong was playing; flagship-store daily sales in August 2016 rose about 5 times year over year. Industry reviews were split: some called it a model of imitating Apple style, while others warned that marketing gimmicks are hard to change product reputation.
Why it lands
- Contrast is the topic: five-mao hot strips using tech-company launch language, and the absurdity made users screenshot and spread it voluntarily.
- Going against industry conventions: abandoning the common warm-toned promotional style of the food category, the cool-color differentiation was visible at a glance.
- Hot topics can be predicted: Apple's annual launch events can be planned in advance, and the team compressed the response cycle to the shortest.
- Continuous new launches rather than one viral burst: a marketing rhythm of two or three times a year kept the store active over the long term.
- The team did not play by convention: a young operations team of more than 30 people had no advertising experience, and instead dared to do things traditional brands would not dare to do.
What it did
The Apple-style pages went viral on WeChat Moments (朋友圈) and Weibo (微博); industry observers said 'among all designs imitating Apple style, only Weilong captured the essence'; a self-deprecating incident on the eve of 618 reached Sina Weibo (新浪微博) trending searches; according to the operations team, flagship-store daily sales in August 2016 rose about 5 times year over year, and thereafter 'what new trick is Weilong playing' became a regular expectation.
What you can take
Small brands ride big topics by creating contrast, not borrowing spotlight; humor and self-deprecation make consumers spread it voluntarily.
Since then
Apple style became Weilong e-commerce's long-term persona: afterward, Weilong continued to ride trends in directions such as Double 11, livestreaming, and 2D/anime culture, flagship-store daily sales maintained growth, and peers called it 'the best at playing with the store'; industry retrospectives treated it as a benchmark for imitating Apple style, while also warning that marketing gimmicks cannot buy product reputation.
Sources
- 所有模仿苹果风的设计里，只有卫龙辣条掌握了精髓！
- 什么，卫龙辣条挖来了苹果的平面设计师和营销总监？！
- “苹果味”辣条是怎样诞生的？卫龙运营团队教你用正确的姿势蹭热点
- 零食广告玩转互联网 辣条广告高仿“苹果”
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