Reborn multinational giant

Chapter 420



As soon as president Lei opened his mouth, the noisy conference room suddenly became silent, and everyone\'s eyes focused on Fang zhe again.

In previous lives, after several years of rapid development after its establishment, Xiaomi fell into a trough period lasting for nearly two years. During that period, Xiaomi\'s mobile phone sales fell sharply. Whether it was Huawei\'s glory of learning Xiaomi\'s Internet model or relying on offline and star endorsement and other marketing strategies, such as Japan Zhongtian\'s vivo and oppo, it overshadowed Xiaomi in sales and popularity.

Therefore, the outside world also questioned Xiaomi, believing that Xiaomi\'s glory is gone forever and Xiaomi is going downhill. Whether it is the self-review of Xiaomi\'s internal senior executives such as president Lei or the analysis and judgment of its peers in the industry, they all believe that Xiaomi\'s mobile phone sales have declined significantly, and the main reason for Xiaomi\'s decline is the neglect of offline channels.

Of course, ignoring that offline channels are only the superficial reason, and going deeper is that after several years of rapid development, the growth rate of domestic e-commerce users has slowed down and the demographic dividend has gradually disappeared. After several years of rapid development, users willing to buy Xiaomi mobile phones through online channels have basically consumed 7788. Xiaomi\'s potential buyers, It can only aim at offline consumers and replacement users.

Fortunately, it\'s not too late for Mr. Lei and other senior executives of Xiaomi to "mend the way after the sheep is lost". Learning is also due to the slowdown of e-commerce growth. Alibaba, which plays the banner of "new retail" under the line of sight, has opened Xiaomi\'s home with a new retail model everywhere. In addition, Xiaomi has made rapid progress in overseas markets such as India, which has allowed Xiaomi to stop its decline and return to its peak!

In Fang Zhe\'s opinion, the main reason why Xiaomi ignored offline in the first few years is that there is an irreconcilable contradiction between the development of offline and Xiaomi\'s original intention of using the Internet model as a mobile phone and Xiaomi\'s core competitiveness cost performance!

Originally, Fang zhe planned to wait for some time and find president Lei to talk in private and remind him to pay attention to offline. But now, since Li Shangjun raised this matter at the meeting and President Lei asked in person, Fang zhe doesn\'t intend to hide it anymore.

Under the gaze of the crowd, Fang zhe said slowly:

"Before discussing whether Xiaomi should be offline now, let me ask you a few questions!

First, we think that according to the channel sales mode that Xiaomi only sells mobile phones online, what determines the ceiling of Xiaomi\'s mobile phone sales? "

After hearing Fang Zhe\'s question, the senior executives attending the meeting whispered and discussed with each other for a moment, and finally came to a general conclusion: "according to the current channel sales model, the ceiling of Xiaomi mobile phone sales is determined by the number of users willing to buy Xiaomi mobile phones online. In other words, it is determined by the number of e-commerce users at a larger level!"

"Well, the second question is, when the sales volume of Xiaomi online meets the ceiling, where should Xiaomi\'s potential buyers find it?"

"Offline!"

"Overseas!"

"Change user!"

The executives gave three different answers. Fang zhe nodded and said:

"Let\'s not talk about offline. If we enter the overseas market, what channels should we use to sell mobile phones? Do we also use the online sales model as now?

Even if it can, the dividends of overseas online users are also exhausted? There are also replacement users. According to the average replacement rate of one smartphone every two years, it is basically impossible for Xiaomi to maintain rapid growth.

So, in any case, we can\'t bypass offline channels! "

The executives attending the meeting heard it. It is obvious that Fang Zhe, as the chief consultant, supports Li Shangjun\'s view, but even so, many executives still have something to say.

"President Fang, I think your example is a bit extreme. I think most of my colleagues here should share my view, that is, we Xiaomi will enter the offline, but not now, but at least one to two years, or even two to three years later!" an executive\'s speech was nodded and agreed by most executives.

Fang zhe smiled and looked at him. This senior executive is no one else. He is one of Xiaomi\'s founders and the peak in charge of MIUI business. Fang zhe asked:

"Mr. Hong, and most of the executives who are doing it, I want to ask you why you think Xiaomi should enter the offline market in two to three years?"

On Fang Zhe\'s question, Hong Feng acted as a representative again without thinking and said:

"I think that now the way Xiaomi uses the Internet mode to make mobile phones has just started, the online sales channel has just been opened, and the business development of the whole company is also very rapid. We should not rush into offline channels, which will not only put great pressure on our business and capital chain, but also seriously impact our core competitiveness based on cost performance!"

"Yes, we have planned to enter the low-end mobile phone market, which is equivalent to opening one or more new product R & D lines. If we enter the offline at the same time, it is easy to have problems from work pressure to capital!"

The executives in the conference room agreed with Hong Feng\'s reason, and even Mr. Lei, who was sitting in the chair, nodded.

Fang zhe smiled clearly in his heart. Therefore, in his previous life, Lei always said that Xiaomi\'s biggest mistake was to ignore the offline. This should not be ignored, but forced!

"Two questions, let\'s talk about the second one first. Marching offline will seriously impact Xiaomi\'s core competitiveness based on cost performance. I don\'t object to this, but I don\'t agree, because it is inevitable that marching offline will have an impact on our Xiaomi\'s cost performance advantage now or two or three years later. Therefore, what we should consider is the way and impact of marching offline Find a balance between the two!

Let\'s talk about the first question. Rashly entering the offline will put great pressure on Xiaomi\'s business and capital chain. I also have no objection to this. I want to ask you, if we enter the offline in a year or two, or even two or three years, what competitiveness and advantages will we use to ensure that we can win it from China cool and other emerging smartphone manufacturers We have been operating offline channels for two or three years? "

Fang zhe asked this rhetorical question, and the meeting room fell into silence again. Yes, Xiaomi\'s core competitiveness and cost performance can only exist online. Even after two or three years, this situation should not change. What will Xiaomi rely on to play offline at that time?

The problem of spear and shield made the meeting room very quiet and the needle fell. Half a day later, an executive said yes:

"Even if we go offline now, there is no competitive advantage. In two or three years, at least our online business is stable. In addition, Xiaomi\'s brand is certainly much stronger than now. It should still be possible to open the market offline!"

Hearing this, Fang zhe smiled softly. It seems that some executives who insisted not to be offline have wavered!

Therefore, Fang zhe said again:

"President Lei also said just now that operators are cutting subsidies to the four major mobile phone manufacturers of China cool Union. In the past, their bundling sales model based on Mobile Unicom will become more and more difficult. This is a good time for major mobile phone manufacturers to make efforts to develop traditional channels and agents.

In addition, we all know a little about the quality of their mobile phones. Even at the same price, the quality of their mobile phones is much worse than that of Xiaomi. We should not underestimate our own ability and the quality of mobile phones made with the Internet model.

Whether it is the MIUI system specially designed for Chinese people, our cost compression in addition to channels, and various leading black technology patents that Xiaomi cooperates with us can be regarded as our competitive advantage.

Moreover, now is a big wave of smart phones rising in the world, and there is basically no sales pressure on offline sales channels. Two or three years ago, seven of the 10 mobile phone stores in Zhongguancun Street were selling Nokia, and now the number has dropped to less than five.

These missing mobile phone stores have begun to sell smart phones such as Samsung, LG, ZTE and Huawei. All channels and agents are changing the track. If we don\'t sell now, we will do better in two or three years. "