The giant bicycle manufacturer Giant Group has launched its third succession. Chairman Du Xiuzhen announced his retirement on December 27, and CEO Liu Yongchang will serve as the new director. The CEO will be replaced by current brand chief Liu Sujuan. The personnel case will be completed from January 2025. Effective from January 1st. Du Xiuzhen is regarded as the "godmother of women's bicycles" and founded the women's bicycle brand Liv. The book "Brave and True" records her entrepreneurial story and life journey:
In the fall of 2007, Du Xiuzhen took over the women's cycling project of Giant Group after her first ride. In May of that year, Liu Jinbiao was inspired by the movie "Island Etude" and dreamed of cycling around Taiwan. At the age of 73, he completed his first cycling cycle around Taiwan.
Du Xiuzhen was on a business trip and only accompanied him on a bicycle ride from Tainan to Kaohsiung. Although she had not ridden a bicycle since graduating from middle school, she still wore the smallest boy's jersey and rode the smallest aluminum flat-handle city bike on the way. I also injured in a crash. I rode single-speed to Kaohsiung because I didn't know how to change gears. My whole body was sore (especially my butt) after the whole ride. I couldn't help but mutter: "Why is it so difficult to ride?"
The uncomfortable riding experience became Du Xiuzhen's original intention when establishing the brand.
Du Xiuzhen: I am not the only woman who has encountered the same problem
At that time, Giant Group produced 3 million bicycles annually. Why were there no bicycles designed for women? Why are there no cycling tops and pants that both look good and fit well? Being fashionable, she cannot accept unattractive outfits. "When I couldn't find bicycles and body products that fit me, I knew I wouldn't be the only woman to encounter this problem."
Therefore, she founded Liv, the world's first bicycle brand specifically for women, with the idea of making cycling friendly and caring to women around the world.
In fact, the global market back then was not only Giant Group, but there were no women-only bicycle brands in other countries. why is that?
2 reasons why there are no female brands for bicycles
There are two reasons. First, bicycles are a male-dominated industry, and they cannot truly understand the differences between women's physiological structure and men's riding bicycles. Therefore, women's bicycles are regarded as small-sized products of men's bicycles; second, it is generally It is believed that girls are not as brave as boys to challenge long-distance highway, mountain road and off-road riding routes, so the women's bicycles launched by major brands are mainly commuter bikes.
If Du Xiuzhen doesn't do it, she will do it. If she does, she will do it wholeheartedly. She regards building a brand as an internal entrepreneurship. "Because we don't know whether it will work, we can only be diligent and frugal, grow slowly, and then go out independently when the time is right."
First, name the brand. "Girls should have their own names." Du Xiuzhen insists that if a brand wants to be attractive to female consumers, its name is very important. Internal teams and external consultants worked together to come up with the name "Liv" for the world's first exclusive women's bicycle brand. At the beginning, the brand was launched as "Liv/giant".
"If you didn't add Giant at that time, no one would buy from you. We would need hens to raise chicks." Du Xiuzhen knows very well that even if consumers are not familiar with Liv at the beginning, they will trust Liv's quality because of Giant.
Since then, the group has summoned R&D Chief Zhang Shengchang to assist and set up female design engineers. From the founder, planning, engineers and marketing teams, the innovation process from R&D, design, manufacturing to marketing is all led by women, in order to truly be able to Enter the perspective of female users to ensure that each bicycle fully complies with the "women-only" concept and develop truly right products.
Du Xiuzhen will never give up because she has never done it before, or because she is not in a major. She believes that learning and disciplined practice will bring results. Just like the feeling of flying close to the ground brought by riding a bicycle, when the acceleration reaches a certain level, the two wheels can generate forward inertial kinetic energy. The knight only needs to pedal at the right time to maintain momentum, so he can maintain balance and speed and continue to move forward.
After working as Liv, she said that she learned more from the real consumer world, "I would like to know what women like, think, and need."
Brands are like people, they need to be cultivated both internally and externally. "To be a brand, you have to be authentic, and my personality is the same," Du Xiuzhen said. The true self is the source of all behaviors. "Each of us must know who we are in order to be responsible for our own lives."
