The losing battle: the City of Victoria, a ghost town under the mobile internet wave

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Seven years after the advent of the city, it was like crossing 700 years. The metabolism of the Times is too fast, the flower has not had time to open to quickly wither, even without an advantage can be perpetuated. The defeat of the city of Victoria, is a mistake, but also the times.

The city created a coupon printing industry, and even become synonymous with this industry. The most popular, it's more than 2000 terminals, in-depth "North Canton" and even Hong Kong and other 10 cities, attracted more than 5 million users and more than 3,000 businesses. In the young population, it has even become a fashion trend.

However, the advent of the seven-year-old-dimensional city is a dream.

2013 Dream Wake up Time, the city only less than 20 terminals, scattered in Beijing, Shanghai, the humble corner of the two places, no one cares. As of March 2013, the City of Victoria and the Tick group announced the merger. The weak embrace group-style merger, the original Tick group CEO song become the new helm, and Zhang Yibin founder of the city is far away from exotic, he is no longer the "city" owner.

"Magic" card popular

Some people say that the city is moved by mobile internet cliff, the result is cornered, others said, the founder of Zhang Yibin did not seize the opportunity to transition, the final Bingbairushandao.

Originally, coupon printer This piece of blue sea, is Zhang Yibin first discovered.

He was a graduate student of East China Normal University in 2004. Occasionally, Zhang Yibin noticed a phenomenon: Shanghai each business district, the merchants will be blind distribution coupons, lack of pertinence, it is difficult to win consumer goodwill; At the same time, the network on a variety of discounted information attracted many consumers, but because there is no paper coupons so trust, it is difficult to form offline consumption.

As a result, Zhang Yibin has an unprecedented business model in mind: a terminal that can print coupons, like ATM machines, all over the corner of the crowd. The merchant may release the discount information, the promotion brand, the user may obtain the coupon through the RFID Frequency identification card, the terminal operator mainly by collects the advertisement fee to the merchant to realize the profit.

At the end of 2006, Zhang Yibin led a team to develop the terminal, named "Dimensional City", and registered a patent. He first found a few brands, such as DQ ice cream, to provide a free trial. In Shanghai subway station, when the city of the Victoria complex came out, it quickly attracted many trendy young people.

They hold a piece of mahjong card size of the Villoca, placed in the terminal sensor area, and then press the following printed with the Merchant brand logo "small light box", the machine will print out a coupon for the merchant. With this coupon, they can go to a nearby merchant to enjoy a corresponding discount.

Villoca printed with a variety of cartoon patterns, can be used as a mobile phone chain hanging on the phone, which is in line with the young people like to use mobile phone chain decoration mobile phone trend. For young consumers, both discount and stylish Villoca full of "magic", although each price as high as 20 yuan, but still sales hot.

The city of Victoria turned out, indeed in a period of time to change the consumption habits of young people, but also for businesses to provide an unprecedented marketing platform. Subsequently, the dimensional city of Canton distribution terminals, not only occupy the Shanghai's shopping district and subway station, but also spread out to the country. And KFC, McDonald's and other businesses followed, the city of the business policy from "free" into "Each small light box monthly fee of 3000 yuan."

2008, the City of Victoria in Shanghai to sit nearly 2 million members, more than 1000 terminals a year to spit out 20 million coupons, the merchant put the price also rose to each light box 4000 yuan per month. The rising business star has sparked a spate of media reports of "the most promising technology companies", "the most innovative companies with investment value" and "Best New marketing platform" and so on.

Up to 2011, the city's income nearly billion, a time style unlimited.

Big Data flash in the pan

The success of the city is called "The good and the good."

Weather-the financial crisis of the 2008, to a certain extent, inspired the city's coupon business. Many businesses have chosen to work with the city in order to cut costs. Geographical location-from 2007 to 2010, the city obtained three rounds of financing, a total of up to tens of millions of U.S. dollars, a strong capital assistance, catalyzing the rapid growth of the city of Victoria. ren-Zhang Yibin and his two alumni formed a "Chinese partner" type of entrepreneurial team: Zhang Yibin in charge of development strategy, the other two founders charge management and technology, three people work together for the maintenance of the city.

In the eyes of employees, Zhang Yibin is a "Confucian scholar", bookish, with an idealistic complex. He has a lot of new ideas, although some ideas can not be landed, but he still thought to try to carry out, and finally achieve the results he wanted. For example, when the city started, if not his persistent tireless development of the machine, countless times to open the door of the merchant, there will be no such innovation. "said one of the Victoria City's old staff.

(Zhang Yibin founder of the city)

In the beginning, Zhang Yibin for the design of the profit model is to the merchant fees. Although a focus on the traditional products under the line, but its "user, traffic and background management" of the Internet properties, so that the city's marketing services more and more accurate.

From the consumption behavior, compared to the free coupons on the street, the city has realized that consumers from the passive "vouchers" to the active "Ticket selection" change. From "Interception of distribution" to "fixed distribution", users know that there must be coupons in a certain subway mouth waiting for their own, their trust in the business will be enhanced in an intangible. The Victoria City Terminal has printed coupons with a recovery rate of 30%, while street-side coupons usually have a recovery rate of only 5%.

Not only that, Zhang Yibin also designed two databases for the city, respectively, to manage user information and user behavior. Through data statistics, the city can quickly know the most popular products and the least marketable products, even consumer behavior can be through data analysis at a glance. Zhang Yibin declared: "A hot pot shop to know that tomorrow there is snow, decided to promote, as long as the night before told us that the next day preferential information will appear in the terminal of the city." ”

Accurate database and rapid implementation, making the city more accurate than traditional advertising and timely, and more than online marketing closer to consumers and consumer sites. The number of contractors in the city has not only soared to more than 3,000, but the renewal rate has exceeded 80%.

Zhang Yibin character of perseverance, let the dimensional city this new thing quickly landed for reality. However, the excessive perseverance slowly evolved into a stubborn, so that he faced with the changes in the future trend, still adhere to a road to black.

2011, the Mobile internet era quietly, with Apple, Samsung as the representative of the smartphone, will once the global handset industry overlord Nokia cornered. As group purchase and other in the mobile phone to achieve payment, consumers can be in a few seconds on the phone to get discounts, and no longer need to go to the maintenance of the terminal printing coupons.

In the unpredictable, whether to enter or retreat, whether to stick or change? Zhang Yibin, who has a PhD in computer science, cannot fathom the mystery. He is carefully planning how to "consolidate the line" when the mobile internet, "stealth opponents" has begun to come strong.

Embattled

Open the official website of the city, it is not difficult to find that its media coverage of the plate less than 2011 and 2012 traces. So, what happened to the city of Victoria in the two years of the fragment?

In two years, the mobile internet has risen rapidly, and Zhang Yibin is still clinging to his "sensible" strategy: "We are a coupon service company under the line, mobile Internet can also be based on, but the main force or do a good job offline." "Although the city has also set up the department responsible for the development of mobile clients, but Zhang Yibin did not give enough attention, but did not spend the effort to study, but repeatedly stressed" or forget the initial, consolidate line.

However, the tide of the times hit, quickly submerged the Zhang Yibin "persistent." Whether it is the consumers of the same, or the city's own ills, the incoming "internal and personal" pressure him through.

The first is "internal". In the process of rapid expansion, the internal management of the city has not been upgraded synchronously. Soon suffered an expansion bottleneck. For example, the actual situation of different cities, and the local branch to obtain insufficient authority, Shanghai headquarters on the field market insight, the orders are often not in line with the actual needs, resulting in the work of local companies difficult to carry out.

At this point, the city's own mishap also began to highlight. The coupon cost is too high, not only need the machine cost, the entry cost, but also needs the labor cost. By contrast, apps on the mobile internet can replicate almost "0 cost", and location-based lbs apps are enough to replace the terminals near the merchant.

With a variety of app apps exploding on the internet, consumers are gradually replacing paper coupons with mobile phone coupons. Businesses can use these apps, low-cost or even 0 of the cost of issuing coupons, so merchants pay to the city's willingness to decline in a straight line.

Users sharply reduced, businesses cover tight pockets, the city's employees are more difficult to sell, wages also with the business decrease and rapidly shrink. "At the best of times, one can get five hundred thousand or six hundred thousand yuan in a year, but then it will take a nosedive and get a basic salary every month." "Many employees have lost their enthusiasm for work and the brain drain in the Victoria complex is serious."

At the same time, let Zhang Yibin headache also has "aggression". In some important regional markets, imitators have sprung up, the market share of the city is gradually diluted.

The city is still here.

From 2012 onwards, the city of Victoria began to falter. In fact, the city of Victoria has tried to change. 2011, the city has cooperated with the F group, users can be through the maintenance of the city Terminal order, to the merchant direct payment. With the help of the city, F group broke a single line of operation, set up the offline platform. Unfortunately, this is only a single project business cooperation, based on Zhang Yibin stubborn "under the line for the most", the city of the network on the exploration of the line to an abrupt halt.

Until October 2012, Zhang Yibin no longer as chief executive of the city, and withdrew from the management of the company, retaining only a few shares in the company. The capital side in order to save the city of the defeat, put forward to let the dimensional city and tick group merged, Zhang Yibin of course can't promise. The city for him, as his own hand raised children, how can be handed over. Eventually, Zhang Yibin was forced to leave management before two companies announced the merger.

Since then, the city completely lost the "soul", the original following the Zhang Yibin of some of the old staff also left, the Victoria City of the decline in the speed of further accelerated, the number of employees from the highest peak of more than 2000 people reduced to now less than 200 people.

In February 2013, the city officially announced the merger with the Tick group, the new company name is still in the city, the name of the tick group as an independent brand reservation. After the merger, the original Tick CEO song as the new company Ceo,nea Investment Global partner, China's managing director Xiaodong as chairman.

Source: Suntalk Author: Wu Jiawen