The fallen tall handsome rich dream of the non accidental death of the vertical electric quotient

Author/Zhangke

The rapid expansion of platform-type electric dealers is regarded as the main cause of the decline of vertical electric power. And the fundamental, "Gao Shuai Fu" positioning and business practices is the ultimate death of the "Original Sin."

's persistent pursuit of quality is a concept and spirit worth advocating, but it is not suitable for the existing law of the vertical electric quotient.

"2012, E-commerce Enterprises will usher in a second death period." "The Lin CEO said this sentence a year ago, a word into prophecy." But unexpectedly, what he prophesied was his own destiny.

Since the cotton network in November 2010 to the launch of the August this year, the sharp layoffs, due to arrears of suppliers to the warehouse was seized by the news, less than two years time.

The cotton net is not the first martyr in the vertical electric business. Le Cool Day, Regiment treasure Net, Peng Net, Yao Point 100 ... In the list of these already defunct dealers, the shortest life span is only three months.

And the still-surviving vertical electric quotient is not optimistic. "The first stock of China's electricity quotient" Mai Lin is on the verge of returning to the city, the cool, catwalk, ooh and other luxury sites are trapped in the storm of wage layoffs. Massamasso quietly shut down the first high-profile opening of the World Trade Day experience shop, marketing strategy, a comprehensive contraction, the industry insiders said, if the early next year Massamasso can not get new capital injection, will face the fate of bankruptcy.

The booming scene is in the blink of an eye, also fulfilled a year ago the vertical electric quotient growth last bus prediction.

At that time, analysts also optimistic that, after 35, as the cost of upgrading, when most of the traditional brand into the field of E-commerce, will make the vertical electric network loss of competitive advantage, premature or acquired. The truth is that this time is two years ahead of schedule.

The rapid expansion of platform-type electric dealers is regarded as the main cause of the decline of vertical electric power. Operating standardized products, higher-cost vertical electric operators are simply powerless to withstand the gongchenglvede of platform-type merchants and become the victims of their rapid expansion. And the fundamental, vertical electric dealers "high handsome rich" positioning and business practices is the ultimate death of the "Original Sin."

It's not hard to see what they have in common with the struggling vertical electric operators, most of the consumer groups they sell are in the middle or above, pursuing a quality, tasteful life, a much higher-priced group of quality, and most of the founders who are able to focus on this group of users. Or because of this, in the operation they also exposed the "high handsome rich" habit, in the case of capital shortage still wantonly burning money marketing, leading to the break of the capital chain.

Not only that, the bad economic environment has become their soporific. Economic growth slowed, prices rose, human costs climbed, labor-intensive industries moved to Southeast Asia as a whole ... Online, offline retail industry overall slump. Even Wal-Mart, Carrefour, such as traditional retail giants can not escape the loss of fate, for the immature vertical electric business, the cold winter increasingly biting.

Grade quality is hard to pull profit point

The untimely high handsome rich dream

And most Internet people in the dress collocation of casual different, in the Cotton network CEO Lin, many of the fashion and rigorous, in public appearances, he is always a stiff, tailored suit, with a tie or scarf also often brighten the eyes. There is a mature yuppie fan.

See Lin's wardrobe, it is not difficult to understand why he is the product of the quality and taste of almost crazy obsession. His dream is to do China's Calvin Klein, to leather supermarket socks life. In Lin it seems that the supermarket socks are "wretched socks", from color to quality, etiquette, are not in line with international norms.

However, thirty or forty of people's cotton team, only designers to reach 8 people, Dior has a color hat, has been the designer of the cotton in the design of socks. This product in the cotton online line, there is a full 8 months out of stock period, because the factory's playing board can not let Lin satisfaction: "The factory master of our philosophy does not understand." They have been doing supermarket socks for years, and the culture of socks turned into cultural socks is a huge gap. ”

To this end, Lin at the cost of playing board master please go to Beijing, take them to the major mall to feel the International class brand products, let them accept the internationalization of the aesthetic.

Some people say that a pair of socks, make it so complicated, like to open a painting, it is worth it? Business needs compromise and balance. Lin said: "The ordinary wear and the quality of wear is completely different." In this respect, I am a neat freak. ”

It is precisely because of this cleanliness, the cotton net only for the innovation of cloth to burn out 400,000 yuan.

When the cotton net added new underwear. Underwear product Manager wants to make user experience better products, his idea is: fabric is cotton, but feel like modal. Cotton fabric needs series treatment, can become modal effect. After the series of processing prices, than the average price of cotton more than one times. But after physical treatment of the fabric, there will be hair left on the surface. So the problem arises. Many users complain about falling down on Weibo and have quality problems. At that time, including Lin, the company's senior executives, have to wash underwear, washed for three days, still fall velvet.

Lin immediately decided to put the problem product all down. Lin also self ridicule: "When there was Zhang hit the fridge, now we have" burn "underwear. Privately he also admits: "In the heart that pain, you need to know what 400,000 yuan for the start-up company means?" is life. ”

As with the cotton network, Massamasso in shirts, suits and other cloth selection and tailoring process is also very demanding. They do not hesitate to find for Armani and other international front-line brands to do foundry design and production of clothing, fabrics are mostly used with the same material Armani, but the clothing price is only about one-fifth of Armani.

Of course, the pursuit of quality is worthy of advocating the concept and spirit, but not at this moment, not suitable for the current vertical electric business survival rules.

The cotton network is not not hot, many feel Lin selling socks unreliable friends, unexpectedly in a year to spend around the purchase of cotton socks, this once let Lin proud. But when he was immersed in the joy of success he did not seem to think, 1000 yuan, more than 30 pairs of socks, how long to wear?

For socks such a long period of consumption of products, to sales can be sustained and stable growth, in addition to access to new customers there is no other way. However, the number of people who can afford 30 yuan a pair of socks is a minority, and in the lower stage of the economy, a considerable part of this group also covers the wallet tightly. There is not enough user base to support the blank cycle, the cotton network naturally to the dilemma.

The problem facing the cotton net is not a case. A Massamasso Gold member said he spent more than $3,000 in Massamasso in 2011, and so far in 2012 there was no consumption, because the clothes he bought last year were enough to wear and no new consumption needed.

An industry veteran Personage said, can live very moist electric business very few, Amoy brand Han clothing house is a minority can in the environment so bad circumstance, still can maintain high growth, high profit of one minority. Because the location of Korean clothing is cheap, do is "cock silk" business, it can be in low prices, and repeatedly reduce costs to obtain profit space and growth space. Han's clothing house and Uniqlo's growth experience is very similar. Uniqlo was the first small workshop in Japan to make a suit. At that time, Japan's economy was in a depression, relying on the look of things very noble sell very cheap, Uniqlo quickly by the Japanese consumers, the most popular, Uniqlo founder even in the media to interview to appeal to consumers, temporarily do not come to consumption, Because the store has not enough to accommodate so many customers.

In contrast, the current difficult to survive the electricity quotient, most of the beginning of the establishment of a high handsome rich dream. Vera wants to be a Chinese CK, elegant 100 want to do with 500 yuan Burberry towels have the same quality of their own home textile brands; first-time CEO Xu Xiaohui hope that their customer groups are knowledgeable, literate, and also have income of the literary youth; Massamasso wants to be an online wardrobe for elite business men. This contrarian dream, at this time somewhat outdated.

In the outside world, the Lin CEO is always not in accordance with the regular routines, in the electrical business in the winter period to adhere to high-profile propaganda, and finally tore up the cotton capital chain, leading to the death of cotton.

Marketing "Not bad money"

Funding breakage is unsustainable

The last death of cotton in the capital chain, which is also the main cause of death for most electrical dealers. The direct cause of this result is the cotton in the electric business industry a whine, insecure, still high-profile marketing.

In the eyes of the outside world, Lin always do not follow the usual routines, and even often at odds with the market trend. This has nothing to do with early Lin's work experience. Lin is Beijing Jinshan early entrepreneurial staff, has served as a channel manager Jinshan software, perennial in the game circle, the game industry to do the marketing of money play has been in Lin's mind deep-rooted. His only electric-business experience was in 2000 as director of product marketing in China's first web site, "cool".

As an early Chinese online gaming industry "free experience" of the well-known behind-the-scenes trader, Lin is familiar with the "experience of marketing" way. Previous successful experience, let Lin that this is the Internet industry has long matured marketing model, Tencent's free client, 360 of free antivirus, where the low price experience T-shirt, the trial of each group purchase site and the recent flourished 1999 Yuan experience version of the Millet mobile phone, are experiential marketing beneficiaries.

So, in the first half of 2011, when large and small electric dealers were madly throwing money in the enclosure, cotton network has faded out of the consumer's sight, almost no promotion, and in the second half of the electrical business into the "cold winter", Lin announced the focus of media: Cotton network and the media Q-card cooperation, the user through the Q card and the Audience screen interaction, Can rely on the verification code to log in to the cotton network free of charge for a limited version of the socks a pair, but also to enjoy the website "Log on to send 100 Yuan red packets gift" activities.

At the same time, the cotton network in other channels such as navigation site 2345, Friends of the Century good edge of the site opened the same form of free experience activities.

From the beginning of the establishment of the Cotton Network "experiential marketing", a rough estimate, planing the cost of freight and packaging costs, on average, each single sock will compensate about 10 yuan. If you send out 100,000 pairs of socks, the cost of actual cotton for the free experience is 1 million.

At that time, Cotton's capital chain has been very tense. In a few short months, Lin has seen more than 40 VCs trying to save the crisis, but eventually failed. At the end of 2011, the Cotton net still gritted its teeth and spread advertisements on buses and subways.

Burning money to do the promotion, marketing, for the current electric business is clearly not a wise move, the effect of output is far less than input. There are statistics that a few years ago Dangdang each to obtain a new customer cost is 12-15 yuan, Jingdong will need 20 yuan. But the cost of acquiring new customers is at least 120 yuan, or more than $200. The more important problem is that these consumers, who are directed at marketing, are hard to become loyal customers.

Massamasso in the months after the line, in order to attract new customers, increase sales, a large number of products are used 50 percent promotional. For most consumers, it is a devil's temptation to buy clothes that are similar in quality to those of Armani, with prices ranging from 150-300 to one.

So the growth rate at the beginning of Massamasso was staggering. Unfortunately, Massamasso cannot keep this type of consumer. In carrying a huge loss of pressure for a period of promotional, Massamasso gradually reduce promotional efforts, with the gradual recovery of product prices, the initial rush of this group of customers also lost.

Spend big effort to play marketing, push up the cost of new customers, the appetite of the customers, for these electrical quotient, quite some move up stones to hit their feet sad meaning.