The day after Huang Panpan came to pay New Year's greetings, which was the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, Su Zelin and Qin Shiqing returned to the company because the holiday was over on the seventh day.
There are a lot of things to do after the New Year. Apart from other things, many investors have seen the booming sales of this company's stores and the surge in applications for franchise stores. It will take a lot of time to deal with this, so you have to be busy.
When we arrived at the Dingsheng Building headquarters on the morning of the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, the employees were all in high spirits.
During this special Spring Festival, New World started its annual holiday later than most companies and ended it earlier than most companies, but no one complained.
New Century has always emphasized and cultivated team spirit, and employees have a sense of shared honor and disgrace. Moreover, the company also takes out a portion of its profits for bonus incentives for various departments.
In other words, the better the company's performance and the more outstanding the department's performance, the higher your monthly and year-end bonuses will be.
Unlike some stingy private companies, no matter how hard the employees work, or how they work overtime all day, their income remains the same, or their bonuses are pitifully small, so they naturally lack motivation.
New Century's first battle to impact the national market was a great victory. This was the result of the joint efforts of all employees in the team. Everyone was proud of it, and this month's bonus was expected to increase significantly, so no one complained about going back to work a few days early.
What's more, on the first day back to work, they give out New Year's bonuses, the smallest of which is 300 yuan. This is much more generous than the 100 or even 50 yuan bonuses given by most companies.
The employees couldn't help but feel overjoyed and feel lucky to have joined a good company.
With enthusiasm and drive, we began our struggle in the Year of the Rooster.
Two months passed in a flash.
In March, the grass is green and the birds are singing. Winter is fading away and the breeze is getting warmer. It is the picturesque season in Lin'an. This world-famous ancient cultural city has also entered the peak tourist season, with a significant increase in the number of tourists.
After a week of continuous plum rain, the long-lost spring sunshine finally reappeared on the earth, bringing people a good mood for outing and entertainment.
At the New Century headquarters, Su Zelin was in a good mood as he looked at the report submitted by the Finance Department in his office.
The sales data of direct-operated stores across the country after the Spring Festival has been counted. A lot of sales have been recovered in these two months alone, and the effect of the brand influence enhancement brought by sponsoring the Spring Festival Gala has been very significant. Including the Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Luzhou regions where it is based, the performance in the second month was also very good.
At this time Yan Qiuwen walked in.
"Qiu Wen, you're here just in time. What do you think of this financial report?"
Hunzi handed her the report. Although such sales data was a company secret, the female military advisor was involved in almost all the most important affairs of the New Century, and Su Zelin also needed her to express her opinion.
Yan Qiuwen took it, looked at it casually for a while, and made a detailed analysis.
"On the surface, sales in the second month of the Spring Festival dropped significantly compared with the previous month."
"However, the first month was an atypical result, with the added bonus of the Spring Festival Gala and large-scale marketing activities."
"By the second month, consumers' purchasing desire had already returned to rationality. The sales volume has reached this level, which is already quite good. For example, the stores in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Luzhou have seen a significant increase compared to the peak season last year!"
"Considering that the second month after the Spring Festival happens to be March and April, the most difficult time of the year for business, most businesses will be more miserable than other months, but our company has bucked the trend, and this report card is very outstanding. Sales after April will be even better if nothing unexpected happens!"
Su Zelin clapped his hands and said, "Well said, it's just as I thought. We have won a great victory this time. The 300 million was not wasted! But we can't stop after winning the first battle. We have to strike while the iron is hot and continue to segment the market into county towns, and then towns!"
The county towns and townships in the Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Lu regions have already been laid out, but other provinces have only opened stores in prefecture-level cities. After all, time is limited. It only took three months from the decision to enter the national market to the establishment of direct-operated stores in all provinces. It is impossible to eat a fat man in one bite.
However, in the past two months, more and more direct-operated stores and franchise stores have been opened in cities and prefectures, and the next step is to turn our attention to county towns.
"The advertising and marketing strategies for county and town consumers must be different. I have made a new plan. Qiu Wen, please take a look at it!"
This was the main purpose of him calling Yan Qiuwen to his office.
Whenever he made an important plan, he would ask the female military advisor to join the discussion. Yan Qiuwen would often provide him with many constructive supplements, and these ideas were worth a thousand gold.
As he spoke, Su Zelin took out a document from the drawer, sat down on the sofa in the office, put it on the coffee table, and then started to make tea.
This kind of large-scale project usually cannot be discussed in a short time, and often lasts for more than an hour, or even several hours, so Su Zelin is used to talking while drinking tea, which is less boring and can also refresh his mind.
Yan Qiuwen sat next to him, her eyes falling on the cover of the plan - "Thousand Counties Plan".
Straightforward and clear.
There are currently more than 1,600 county towns and county-level cities in the country. Excluding the Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Lu regions that have completely occupied the market, there are more than 1,000 left.
The earliest digital giants to enter the county were the Blue and Green factories. However, the Green factory was only established last year and has not yet become a big player. It is currently focusing on MP3s and will not launch its first mobile phone until 2008. Its junior brother, the Blue factory, which came from BBK, will be launched a few years later.
However, these two up-and-coming companies defeated many domestic predecessors and finally stood at the top of the industry, becoming two giants in the field in later generations. One of the important reasons for this is that they paid great attention to the layout of the offline market.
Other mobile phone manufacturers have been led astray by rice and are only thinking about developing on the Internet. Only the blue and green manufacturers have been quietly working offline, opening a large number of authorized stores in counties and towns, and fighting their way out.
Once the Internet market was saturated, other manufacturers turned their attention to small offline locations, but they had already been completely occupied by the blue and green giants.
When did another giant, Huawei, start expanding into county towns
2016!
It will take several years before every county town is laid out.
With such a fast market expansion, how can we compete with the big blue and green companies
However, Su Zelin entered the urban and rural markets several years earlier than the blue and green giants, and had all the first-mover advantage. Therefore, after a few years, even if he was impacted by the Internet, he was not afraid at all.
If the strategies of the blue and green giants can succeed, we can also succeed, and will only be more successful!
After taking a look at the Thousand Counties Plan, Yan Qiuwen had a rough understanding of Su Zelin's thoughts.
There is no need for too many direct-operated stores or franchise stores in a county town. One or two will be enough at the beginning. The specifications can also be more conservative than those of stores in prefecture-level cities. After all, it is a small place with limited consumption capacity. However, they must be opened in places with the highest traffic.
New Century follows the path of the blue and green giants in its previous life, but it focuses on producing high-quality products, ensuring that each store has a full range of products and first-class services, so there will be some differences in strategy.
Just like direct-operated fruit stores, there are only a few of them in the whole country, and they are only considered for opening in first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.
With the development of the domestic economy and the improvement of people's consumption capacity, the number of stores in county towns can be gradually increased.
Yan Qiuwen looked through the documents and nodded continuously.
If someone else looked at the plan made by Su Zelin, it would be almost impeccable.
He has a strong sense of the overall situation, is far-sighted, and is proficient in various sales methods, which are also very "detailed".
What does "fine" mean
Take the New Century's impact on the national market last year as an example. If it were operated by other companies, they would probably have made a universal plan and then sent it to the marketing managers of various provinces and cities, and asked them to implement it accordingly.
But Su Zelin is different. He will first make a general plan, and then make slight adjustments according to different provinces and regions. For example, the sales methods and promotion strategies will be different in economically backward provinces and economically developed provinces. In addition, some ethnic minority areas will have to make additional adjustments.
Before the plan is finalized, he will also encourage regional managers to provide additional opinions. After all, regional managers know the local situation and consumer psychology better than himself.
If Su Zelin thinks the suggestion is reasonable, he will adopt it and reward the regional head.
In this way, regional managers will have a greater sense of identity and participation, rather than feeling like they are following instructions like machines. During the marketing process in the region, they will also actively provide feedback and form very good interactive communication with the headquarters.
These things are not necessarily something that many companies, even giant companies, can do, but Su Zelin can do it. This is also the reason why New Century has been able to develop so rapidly. It is not an exaggeration to call him the absolute soul of this company.
Although Yang Fen is the president and Kang Baohong is the manager, the one who is truly in charge is Su Zelin after all. The other two cannot be blamed, but if they were allowed to take the helm, New Century would not have achieved what it has today.
After reading it, Yan Qiuwen spoke.
"Urban and rural consumers are a special group in the market, and they are also a larger group than prefecture-level city consumers. Influenced by their living environment and income level, they have special consumer psychology and behavior."
"Take farmers as an example. Although they have received support from national policies in recent years, especially the 'Three Rural Policies' implemented this year, their income will increase significantly in the future, but overall it is still at a relatively low level. After all, the per capita income of farmers in my country was less than 3,000 yuan last year!"
"Therefore, farmers generally pay more attention to the practicality of goods in their purchasing motivation, requiring reliable quality, strong durability and low price, rather than the brand, packaging, style, design and other appearance factors of the goods. For example, heavy bicycles, non-folding umbrellas and small TVs that have long been unsalable in big cities are still very popular in county and township markets!"
"In this case, when promoting the county and township markets, especially the town and village markets, I think we should focus on low-end and mid-range products with good quality and low prices, and at the same time the proportion of computers can be appropriately reduced."
"The decoration of the storefront should be slightly adjusted. It would be better to give people a more intimate feeling instead of being professional and fancy."
"The service of the store staff also needs to be further improved. Just like the skit in the Spring Festival Gala, many rural consumers who buy mobile phones for the first time will feel cramped or even at a loss. If they can get good service, it is easy to build a good reputation in the minds of such consumers and make them loyal customers."
"… "
Yan Qiuwen talked eloquently while Su Zelin listened with great delight.
The female military strategist is a person who can "plan strategies from behind and win battles thousands of miles away". Although she was born in a provincial capital and may not have had much chance to visit small places like counties and towns, she knows the consumption psychology of these people very well.
Yan Qiuwen's words undoubtedly make a lot of sense.
If you want to sell computers and mobile phones in big cities, consumers may first pay attention to whether there are many styles, whether there are popular new models, and what the configurations are. Of course, price is also within their consideration range, but they are not that sensitive.
Consumers in small towns and villages are different. If a farmer walks into a store and sees that all the mobile phones are priced over one thousand yuan, he may be so scared that he turns around and runs away without any desire to inquire.
As for computers, many people in rural areas now don’t even know what they are, let alone buy them.
The store decoration style does need some changes. Just like a countryman who wants to eat and sees a nicely decorated restaurant, he will definitely not consider going in to dine, even if the consumption in this restaurant is not high.
Of course, the decoration cannot significantly lower the grade.
After all, consumers in county towns are more complex, including bosses, salaried workers in state-owned enterprises, migrant workers, farmers, etc., with different incomes, so a new decoration plan must be made, and changes must be made on the original basis. It should not lower the grade too much, but at the same time it should not scare low-level consumers away and make them not even have the courage to walk in and take a look.
Yan Qiuwen continued to speak, and Su Zelin listened carefully, pouring her tea from time to time.
After more than an hour, the female military advisor made a summary.
"When you first start working in the county and township markets, the profits may not be too high, so you need to be patient enough."
"However, this group of consumers is huge, and our country's policies in recent years have been tilted towards counties and towns. Their income will increase rapidly year by year, and their potential is even greater than that of consumers in cities!"
"If we build a good reputation and gain their trust, the loyalty of county and township consumers will be higher than that of city consumers. In a few years, the profits they bring to New Century may not be lower than those in the city market!"
"Another point is that few digital companies pay attention to the county and township markets. If New Century is willing to invest and exert its strength in this area, it will hardly face much competition and can easily win it."
Su Zelin clapped his hands and praised: "With Qiu Wen, there is no need to worry about not achieving great things!"
Many of Yan Qiuwen's ideas coincide with his own, but she can always remind him of his blind spots that he can't think of, and the female military advisor can always solve the problems that he can't figure out.
Qiuwen is so easy to use, I really hope I can use it longer!
I’m afraid that one day she will tell me that the research is completed and I have to leave.
At that time, it will be a huge loss to yourself.
Although the idea is smooth, it will take some time to implement it.
If nothing else, the money is in place.
Because New Century will have to serve more than a thousand counties in the future. Even if there is only one direct-operated store in each county, the specifications will be lower than those in prefecture-level cities, and the money needed will be no less than before.
This is easy to solve. You can just go to the bank and apply for another loan.
After the Spring Festival Gala, New Century's momentum was as strong as a tiger, and the company's valuation soared wildly. It would definitely not be a problem to borrow an extra 20 to 30 billion from the bank.
However, the local market has not been fully settled yet, and there are a large number of franchise stores waiting for approval every day, so it will take about another month or two.
The "Thousand Counties Plan" will be almost completed by the middle of the year, and then it will be the turn of towns and villages next year. The national layout will be completely completed. It is estimated that a total of 15 billion yuan will be needed to borrow from banks.
Because there are quite a lot of towns, nearly 20,000, and only one store can be opened in each town. Even if some investors join in, New Century’s own direct stores will not be much less, so this expense is actually the largest.
In fact, 15 billion is not enough, but considering that the thousands of stores that have been opened in cities and towns provide a steady flow of blood transfusions every month, it is estimated that the total amount to be borrowed from the bank will be about this amount.
However, considering the huge potential of the rural market, it is totally worth it.
After laying out the rural market, New Century’s channels became amazing, even terrifying.
What does it mean to have tens of thousands of boutique stores
This offline dominance even surpasses the blue and green giants in the previous life!
Even if there are 10,000 directly-operated stores, and each store has an average monthly net profit of 10,000 yuan, that means 100 million yuan in revenue per month, and 1.2 billion yuan per year.
In fact, the net profit of each directly-operated store far exceeds this figure. Add to that the income from supplying goods to franchise stores, and the annual revenue is at least several billion.
What's more, the purchasing power of county and township consumers will continue to increase, and their income will also increase year by year.
It was easy to pay off the bank debt, and then New Century would have huge cash flow like the blue and green factories in its previous life, without having to worry about funds at all.
By that time, the scoundrel would have probably retired and started enjoying life.
Of course, the prerequisite is to manage the relationships with several girlfriends, otherwise you will still have worries.
After finishing the business talk, Su Zelin suddenly remembered something: "Qiu Wen, have you been exercising these days?"
A few years ago, Yan Qiuwen had a fever. When she was receiving an IV drip, the nurse told her that her arteries were too narrow and she needed to do some exercise. I don’t know if she took her words to heart.
“No time!”
Yan Qiuwen said without thinking.
Su Zelin frowned, "That won't do. As my female military advisor, you have to ensure your health so that you can devote yourself to your work better. Besides, how can you be busy? If you need a rest or a vacation, just tell me."
“It’s boring to be alone!”
Yan Qiuwen said again.
Su Zelin thought about it and it was true.
Yan Qiuwen's social circle is too small and she has very few friends.
Qin Shiqing could barely be counted as one, because they were roommates for four years in college. In fact, although they were in the same company, Yan Qiuwen never looked for Qin Shiqing to play with.
Maybe our IQs are not at the same level, so we have nothing to talk about.
Therefore, Qin Shiqing now has a better relationship with Song Yuwei rather than her roommate, because Qin Shiqing also knows that Yan Qiuwen has no interest in playing with her.
Yan Qiuwen’s other friend is herself.
I can be considered as the female military advisor's true friend, or even confidant.
After all, there is Lu Xiaofeng and Ximen Chuxue.
Su Zelin glanced at the bright sunlight outside the French window, hesitated a little and said: "If you think it's boring to exercise alone, how about this, while the weather is good today, after get off work tonight, I will go play tennis with you?"
"Play tennis? I can't."
"It doesn't matter if you don't know how to do it, it's very simple. Qiu Wen, you're so smart, just learn it casually. Besides, I can teach you step by step, and I won't charge you if you can't teach me!"
"Can I refuse?"
"No, you have to exercise to get better, otherwise you will suffer from injections in the future. So, it's a happy decision. I'll book the venue right away!"
"… "