Reinventing the Millennium

This Internet industry conference in Shanghai is quite popular.

In addition to the lack of two giant leaders, there are many emerging forces coming to participate this year.

Like Shen Ya from Vipshop, Chen Nian from Fanke, and Chen Yizhou from Tuanbao, they were all interested in coming over for industry exchanges. Naturally, there are also well-known domestic investors like Wang Fengyi outside the company.

Everyone was having a good time, and there was quite a lively scene of Qiang Zhuo, Ma Chen and their gang discussing swordsmanship in the West Lake for several years.

Although Fang Zhuo was a little regretful that Erma didn't come to the meeting, he also liked the lively atmosphere today. He always liked to communicate with people, but...

Qingzi, one of the representatives of the group buying industry, was sitting far away, but he still looked as charming as ever.

Chen Nian from Fanke, a vertical e-commerce company, was chatting with the person sitting next to him. Why did he look at me with a wary look when he turned around?

There is also Chen Yizhou, he is from Thousand Oaks Group, and his eyes cannot be said to be too friendly.

Fang Zhuo turned his head and looked back at the leader who was speaking on the stage.

Li Yanhong witnessed Mr. Fang turning around. From this angle, he could see Mr. Fang's cold, sharp and unkind eyes, but he didn't know who he was looking at.

The leader was speaking, so he couldn't whisper. He waited until someone was replaced before praising in a low voice: "Yike Mobile has replaced its own-designed chip this time. This is amazing!"

Baidu does not have a chip business, so it is completely outside the industry.

But even outside the industry, Li Yanhong also knows how remarkable Yike's actions are this time. Yike's flagship mobile phone is to compete with the first-tier international mobile phone manufacturers. In this case, he dares to take out the Zhurong chip. In fact, Liu Qiang As mentioned at the press conference, this chip is at the internationally advanced level.

Since the rise of Yike in the mobile phone industry, it has been praised as "Chinese Nokia" in China, but until today, at least based on Li Yanhong's personal feelings, Yike now does have the image of Nokia in China. .

The Zhurong chip that was introduced just in June can be said to be the second deepest impression that Yike brought to Li Yanhong.

As for why this key component is second...

In fact, Yike’s wave of efforts to solve patent problems cannot help but put it at the top of the list.

"Not bad, let's try it too." Fang Zhuo also laughed softly.

"It's already on the flagship model. Isn't this pretty good?" Li Yanhong teased.

“Because this is only a good start, the follow-up situation is more important.” Fang Zhuo explained candidly, “This time the chip design is largely due to our technology acquisition in the United States, as well as cooperation with other manufacturers. Now that the cooperation is over, the follow-up pressure is still very high.”

Li Yanhong nodded silently in his mind. This was very logical. He heard that Yike took advantage of the financial crisis to recruit a large number of technical talents in the United States.

He continued to praise: "That's great. As long as we go in this direction, Yike will accumulate more and more. If we lower the model further and use mid- and low-positioned chips, the top, middle and bottom We can continue to gain market share.”

Fang Zhuo smiled and said: "Mr. Li's vision is good. If you are no longer on Baidu in the future, you can come to our Yike."

"I founded Baidu by myself. If I were not in Baidu..." Li Yanhong was speechless.

Fang Zhuo joked: "Who says founders can't be kicked out by the board of directors, but that's not the case with Sina."

Li Yanhong was unable to comment.

A moment later, when the guests came on stage, he said seriously: "What President Qi said before, if it were Yike, I could make the decision immediately."

Fang Zhuo just wanted to listen to the speeches of the guests on stage. He was stunned for a moment before he realized: "Oh? Can Baidu talk to Yike?"

"If Yike is willing to change the default search engine on the mobile phone to Baidu, we can talk about long-term cooperation." Li Yanhong said seriously.

Yike is different. Yike is China's Nokia. As for Meizu and other manufacturers that try to catch up with YMS, they are nothing more than local chickens and dogs. How can they negotiate with Baidu?

Fang Zhuo said regretfully: "Mr. Li, you told me earlier that Yike was the condition of cooperation when investing in Sogou. This cannot be changed. We must have a contractual spirit."

Li Yanhong wanted to laugh, who was talking about the spirit of contract?

He asked seriously: "Mr. Fang, do you really think Sogou can be used to target Baidu? Can you really see the chance of winning?"

"Mr. Li, you have to realize that Yike does not need to win. We are just a mobile phone company, and Sogou is not run by my people." Fang Zhuo corrected his understanding, "Whether it is Baidu or Sogou, this will not delay Yike." Yike sells mobile phones, of course, if Sogou can go public, it will be a good reward for Yike’s investment.”

Li Yanhong stopped talking.

He was also slightly affected by the company's preparation thinking some time ago. Although he heard Mr. Fang's response today, he still had some speculation in his heart.

Before Fang Zhuo finished speaking, he continued: "Mr. Li, Baidu's growth is quite good, but when I exchanged corporate culture with Alibaba before, I deeply felt that we still need to exercise self-restraint when our business reaches a certain scale. Therefore, Yike has updated its purpose. It used to be to maintain progress, but now it is to make technology good on this basis."

Li Yanhong joked: "Mr. Fang also wants to exchange corporate culture with me, right? Then I have to go back later to draw attention to the signing of the non-compete agreement."

You, you...

Fang Zhuo shook his head, refusing to accept the teasing and not talking about this anymore.

The speeches made by the guests on the stage were quite real. Since the financial crisis, the domestic Internet industry has taken the lead to shake off the impact and has become even more prosperous. Whether it is vertical e-commerce or group buying projects, they are springing up like mushrooms after a rain.

In addition, many companies have gone public this year, and the atmosphere for investment, entrepreneurship, and development is still relatively strong.

Fang Zhuo sat in the front row and finished his exchange with Li Yanhong. He also listened to the guests' speeches very seriously. It is rare to hear their keen perception of the market from the founders of these projects.

Of course, there will be some errors in it.

Chen Yizhou on the stage finished his speech on the group buying market, and then Chen Nian, the founder of Vanke, walked up.

Vanke is a vertical e-commerce company that specializes in the clothing category. It is somewhat imitated by the online direct-selling clothing brand PPG, focusing on high-quality and low-priced basic models.

From simple and elegant T-shirts to fashionable jackets, sweatshirts, and canvas shoes, coupled with the beautiful outfits of publicity and models, it has now stood out among many clothing brands.

This year, Vancl's revenue is expected to exceed 2 billion, and the year-on-year growth is expected to exceed 300%. The development speed is very fast.

Chen Nian is a veteran in e-commerce. He initially worked with Lei Jun on Joyo.com, and later became an angel investor for a while after being acquired by Amazon. Then he founded Vancl Eslite.

Judging from the current scale, it is now even the third in the B2C field after Tesco and Joyo Amazon. Of course, the gap between each one is extremely large.

Chen Nian takes the stage with full confidence.

Fanke is very successful. Not only is its revenue rising, but the capital market is also very optimistic. He has raised three rounds of funding since 2007, and plans to continue to raise funds in the second half of this year, not even one round, but two more rounds. wheel.

"In the past three years, Fanke's development has encountered setbacks and criticism, and it has also been compared with its peers."

"Facts have proved that in the B2C market, which is considered to have few opportunities, as long as you are good at exploring and sincerely serve customers, you can still make a breakthrough."

"When I was raising funds in 2008, I looked for several companies. When people saw that we were doing B2C, they shook their heads and said, 'You are doing B2C now, and Tesco's stalls are all spread out. How can we do it?'"

Chen Nian on the stage suddenly mentioned the leader in the B2C field and directly named it. This inevitably cheered up the atmosphere that was slightly sluggish due to the length of the meeting.

The strong female boss of Tesco is not here today, but the boss of Tesco is sitting in the first row in front of you!

Fang Zhuo, who was listening carefully in the first row, heard that he was being cueed and sat up straighter. Yes, what the investor said makes sense. Fanke must be unique in order to break through.

"But today, two years later, our revenue in the first half of the year has exceeded 1 billion, and our valuation exceeds 1 billion US dollars!"

"I am not humble enough to say that Tesco cannot stop our rise!"

Chen Nian's mood is a bit high.

Fang Zhuo was a little disappointed. He thought he was going to talk about practical things, but why did he talk about valuation? Besides, Tesco's internal report did not mention targeting Fanke.

He himself roughly knows that Fanke's momentum in the past two years is inseparable from good marketing.

Like the spokesperson Han Han, he shouted, "I love the Internet, I love freedom, I love getting up late, I love night food stalls, and I love racing; I also love the 29 yuan T-shirt. I am not a standard bearer or someone's endorsement. I am Han Han. I I only represent myself. I’m just like you, I’m a regular customer”.

Like Wang Luodan, who has a similar temperament, his slogans of "love the Internet, love freedom, I only represent myself" and "love performing, dressing up, fighting, and enjoying" are indeed very popular among a large number of young people.

In addition to marketing, services such as free shipping, 24-hour customer service, and 30-day returns are also quite considerate in the current e-commerce field.

Of course, the 29 yuan T-shirt is a key factor.

For 29 yuan, the brand has a certain style and the website has good services. This is probably the secret of Fanke’s success in the field of vertical e-commerce.

However, what Fang Zhuo wanted to hear was Chen Nian talking about things he didn't know.

"In the second half of this year, Vancl plans to continue to raise funds and continue to move forward quickly. I just had a conversation with the investment institution just before attending the meeting, and I still heard familiar questions."

“He asked me what I thought about the competition between Tesco and Fanke in the B2C field.”

Chen Nian moved his gaze downwards and saw Mr. Fang in the first row. He said with great force, "My answer is that Fanke is different!"

He continued: "In the final analysis, what we are building is a brand. Our latest definition of Fanke is an Internet fast-moving consumer goods brand, which is something that even Tesco cannot do."

Fang Zhuo couldn't help but smile. Mr. Chen is indeed confident now, even a little arrogant. It's not that he always mentions Tesco now, but that he has already talked in front of the media about the future acquisition of Louis Vuitton, Converse, etc. It's about the brand.

However, it is normal to be confident and even arrogant. I also publicly counted down to Sony back then, so this is understandable.

Fang Zhuo looked at Chen Nian and couldn't help but miss the past years.

He stretched out his hand to signal, "Okay, okay, this is the correct way to discuss Taoism, that is, you have to communicate face to face, why don't you pass the microphone over."

Li Yanhong was sitting next to Mr. Fang and was a little stunned. Mr. Chen on the stage had a grudge against Tesco or Mr. Fang. Wouldn't it be better for you to develop your Fanke honestly? Why do you want to confront Mars like this?

Mr. Chen, fighting against everything will only harm you!

When Li Yanhong saw that the microphone had not arrived, he took the initiative to get a microphone and handed it to Mr. Fang.

"Mr. Chen, you just mentioned an interesting topic, and it made me think about it." Fang Zhuo got the microphone and smiled, "It's just right that you can answer my questions while you are on stage."

Chen Nian is not afraid to ask questions. Vanke started out in marketing to a certain extent. Today may not be the beginning of another good marketing campaign. Young brands and young people are unconventional.

"First point, I saw Vanke's advertisement, and I had a doubt at that time." Fang Zhuo asked seriously, "Mr. Chen, can you answer me honestly? Han Han usually wears a 29 yuan T-shirt. ?"

Chen Nian didn't panic and immediately replied: "Of course, Mr. Fang, Han Han likes our T-shirts and our culture very much. He is a regular customer."

Fang Zhuo asked again: "Mr. Chen, has he always been a regular customer, or is he just an occasional regular customer out of advertising needs?"

Chen Nian's heart sank slightly. Han Han's advertisements are still different from regular advertisements. You should be more cautious about this issue...

But before he could answer, there was laughter. Han Han always wore 29 yuan T-shirts. Who would believe it?

"Don't embarrass Mr. Chen." Someone shouted from behind.

Fang Zhuo glanced sideways and held the microphone: "Okay, my second question is, I heard that Fanke is going to develop into a larger business next, so how do you deal with a larger business, a larger scale, and more businesses?" Variety and price advantage of Tesco with stronger bargaining power?”

"It's easier for Vanke to focus on T-shirts, but to introduce more shoes, socks, bags and other products, are you going to make them all yourself? If you don't make them yourself, if Tesco raises competition, it will fully match your categories. How are you going to deal with the price war?”

"It's like, tomorrow I will ask Tesco to start a price war with Vancl. What will you do? Find an institution to burn money? How long can it last?"

Fang Zhuo's eyes were bright and there was no doubt that he could really do this tomorrow.

Chen Nian's microphone was on. He faced Mr. Fang's scrutinizing gaze, and his mouth suddenly became unfluent: "Price, price war, Tesco, Tesco, I think Vanke's segmented brand is something that Tesco cannot Comparable."

"Let's see, the styles of clothing are actually not difficult to be similar. Most of Fanke's products are basic styles. Tesco will also release basic styles tomorrow with a price tag of 20 yuan. Do you want Fanke to follow?" Fang Zhuo spoke faster.

Chen Nian suddenly fell silent.

He suddenly wondered whether there really was such a test that could appear at any time.

Seeing that Mr. Chen didn't answer, Fang Zhuo sighed to himself: "Not just Fanke, this may be a problem that vertical e-commerce will face in the future. If the giant looks over and uses its stronger bargaining power to compete, you What to do?”

"Rapid expansion is easy to be blind and can easily lead to management and supply chain loss of control."

"But if you don't expand quickly, once the giants take notice, it will probably fail."

"So, for vertical e-commerce, it must run faster than similar vertical e-commerce, but it must run steadily. This is a race to escape. Without excellent leadership, it is difficult to get out of the shadows."

Fang Zhuo used "escape" to describe the situation faced by vertical e-commerce.

However, until he put down the microphone, Chen Nian did not give a corresponding answer, and reluctantly ended the conversation by saying, "The nature is different, Fanke is an emerging FMCG brand."

The expected marketing scene seems to be missing.

When Chen Nian returned to his position, what made him feel even worse was that the investor next to him frowned, as if he was seriously thinking about the threats from the giant leader.

All the old-fashioned high-spiritedness was gone, and I felt a little regretful because I would still need to raise funds in the second half of the year.

"Mr. Chen, how do you think we should answer the question raised by Mr. Fang? If Fanke continues to increase SKUs, how will Tesco's bargaining power be dealt with?" an investor from Tiger Fund suddenly asked.

Chen Nian said "Yeah". It seemed that Tesco didn't care before, but now it seems that he came on stage and exposed it.

He said in a sonorous voice: "Every guest is different."

Li Guoqing, who was in the back row, sneered when he heard the words in front of him. I said at first that Dangdang was different, but they were all the same. Brother, don’t lie to yourself.

It's a battle royale. Don't just go up and tease the BOSS. There's no such thing as this.

Li Guoqing came here and found a seat farthest away from Mr. Fang. He had already found a certain way to use it. Mr. Fang's name was easy to use, but Mr. Fang was the person he wanted to avoid.