A Belle for a new generation: Key takeaways
- Belle is modernising its brand to appeal to younger consumers
- The brand is shifting its retail approach toward open-layout concept stores, experiential pop-ups, and showroom-style livestreams
- Overcoming its legacy footprint is Belle’s main challenge
In September, on one of Shanghai’s busiest streets, the footwear brand Belle (百丽) opened a pop-up Friends Screening Hall. It was a small space. Squeezed into it was a shoe shop, an outdoor cinema and a place for fans to interact – indirectly – with brand ambassador, actor-cum-model, Zhang Linghe (张凌赫).
Though the format is standard pop-up playbook stuff, Belle is doing something way outside the box with the location. For a brand that’s a mainstay of the Chinese shopping mall, Wukang Road was different. But what was Belle doing there?
A younger Belle
Belle built its reputation on comfortable, presentable shoes. Those shoes being easy to find in department stores was a key part of the pitch. These qualities still hold value in today’s market, they just might not be enough to make a younger shopper seek the brand out. So, Belle’s shoes have begun to change alongside its market.
Belle’s shoes have begun to change alongside its market
More relaxed styles are being introduced. Its Runway range draws on retro sports trends, from German army trainers to racing-inspired shoes. The idea is to make that promise of comfort and match it with a shoe someone wants to style. This gives the brand a way to talk about its longstanding comfort proposition in ways that relate to how younger customers dress.
A different place to meet the brand
Belle is also reconsidering where and how customers come across its products. Its newer concept stores in Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Chengdu use more open layouts and warmer materials than the densely stocked counters associated with traditional department stores. The intention is to give shoppers room to browse and try shoes on at their own pace.
Online, another big name brand ambassador, Zhang Ruonan (章若楠), was put to work. She played her part in a showroom-style livestream. The event was used to convey styling ideas alongside product details.
The stores, the livestream, and the Wukang Road activation. These are all elements of a new sales strategy. Belle is working on more than a younger-looking campaign. It is changing the very settings in which people judge the shoes to match the way young Chinese consumers shop.
The stores, the livestream, and the Wukang Road activation. These are all elements of a new sales strategy
They’ll have to do a lot of work to make this stick. A carefully designed Shanghai pop-up is very different to Belle in your local mall. For an established brand with a large retail presence, changing a few spaces is easier than changing the expectation attached to its name everywhere.
Dao view: The shoes must outlast the spectacle
Belle’s best hand is the connection between its new styles and the places and ways it’s been presenting them. If they’re updating their marketing tactic to meet a younger audience at their level, online, with strong star-power is where they need to be.
Last year (2025) livestreaming sales hit 660 million users and RMB6.95 trillion (about US$1.04 trillion) in sales. Those numbers are driven by a heavily online segment of Gen Z and Millennials – the young audience Belle is looking for.
The brand has always been about reach. That’s what its shopping mall presence was for. The Belle of the future might do well to look to build a stronger online footprint. They may find they no longer need such a large one offline.
