The transformation of the stationmaster to the electric Nala the experience of the two years ' development

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Beginning in May 2009, 2 years, Nala has achieved a monthly sales volume of more than 15 million, one of the leading cosmetic vertical categories. It is also a typical representative of rapid development.

From 2009 to 2010, my first article was published in the sending generation. During the period of 3 articles became Hot wen, I did not write again. And then, it became a frequent guest of the Delegates ' Conference. I am grateful to send and Lao Xing. I wish I could write down my experience and help more people like me two years ago.

I personally experience the real process of theory and practice, experience a variety of hard work, feel extremely fortunate, also know the challenges and opportunities ahead.

Since 2011, with venture capital, a stronger team;

Starting in 2011, Nala has turned from a big seller to a real e-commerce business, and in the summer, independent merchants will be online.

Since 2011, Nala has a solid foundation in supply chain, brand cooperation, operation and so on.

I know:

We still have a lot of imperfections, need more efforts, more learning, more talent to join, faster speed!

In this article, I would like to try to make a more comprehensive summary of some of the important experiences of the past two years, which may include the content of my communication on other occasions, and it will add some bits and pieces, but it is carefully sorted out from the bottom of my heart and hopefully useful to you. I try not to use any jargon that is difficult to understand in order to help people who are first in the electrical business. My style has always been simple, direct and real, and I hope not to incur criticism.

The cause of entrepreneurship

2002, almost 10 years ago, when I first went to college, I liked computer DIY and hardware. At that time DIY profit is good, I can be very low price for students to use a very reliable computer, so many students let me help them to buy a computer. The business of the university is not small. Then did some digital business, especially when MP3 just got up, the profit is very high. The original business through the campus BBS to do, business big, I registered the domain name, made a website, also belong to the first website of the Business-to-consumer, with a large team to do together. That's when I found out I was a born "dealer".

December 2008, I also in Korea Postech study master. Wife is already in Korea, so she used spare time to help students purchase Korean cosmetics. Through a lot of local forums and Taobao shop to sell out, this time to help a classmate's shop to do four diamonds.

Almost this time I married, but on the Jingdong website to buy my wedding 53-inch LCD TV when there is a very serious after-sale problems: orders submitted more than 20 days before delivery, in the day before the wedding mail to my home, the results received is a damaged TV. So I wrote an article on behalf of "Jingdong and Lao Liu: if there is no goods and services, make more money is just making money," this article caused the whole electric circle of the great sensation, causing Liu directly to call my father and I apologize. After that article, I felt I had an urge to be a company that was eager to do good service and goods. Today, I am deeply aware of Liu's difficulties.

At the end of April in 2009, I was a ph. D. At MIT's Ocean College on an island on the 50mile east of Boston, USA. In a poor student's life predicament and my entrepreneurial impulse, just entered this famous university one months I decided to return home. Only 3 days later, May 1, I went to Hangzhou. Very decisive.

A detailed description of the above historical story, in fact, and I later do a lot of things.

It's important to find the first batch of collaborators.

May 2009, my wife is responsible for the purchase, open her Taobao shop, and I try to think about where to start my entrepreneurial dream. At that time we only had 32000 yuan. Taking into account the problem of survival first, I decided to start from Taobao. Unexpectedly, is out of hand.

Shop from the beginning there are some micro-innovation, but frankly speaking, I have been more confused how to start. I watched 10 years of E-commerce, see a lot of the ups and downs of the website, I also know that 2009, E-commerce and Taobao is a huge development opportunities.

Early 2009 was really one of the best opportunities to enter this industry, since then, whether it is Taobao or all aspects of the high cost, the various types of goal of the strong also appeared, especially capital and traditional enterprise progress, so, like me so low start-up funds, today has been very difficult to almost impossible.

In the first month or two, I was most concerned about earning hundreds of or one thousand or two thousand dollars a day. My wife is very familiar with the goods, she is responsible for purchasing. Because our goods are purchased from the Korean shopping mall, so the price is high, but the customer is more trust. Purchasing mode is only then can, now basically no big market.

My task is to build a team, since to start a business, you need to find someone. I saw a few waves of people, tried a few waves, and finally found my first partner in June F. Although very young, it is rare to have a self-motivated and professional spirit of the new sharp, now has been able to stand alone Nala hundreds of of the company's operations director of the post.

August, when we order in 50-100 single daily Day, I found the S and Z two people, S is a customer service, Z is responsible for warehouse and delivery;

I, my wife, F, S, Z, five people, personality complementary, ability complementary. Until now, besides my wife has already withdrawn, the other several are already the company's senior management person, is also our solid backbone. We have a good rapport.

So it's important to find the first batch of collaborators. At this stage, the foundation of the team is important.

Here, I think there are several principles:

(1) The emperor system is much better than the democratic system in small groups. However, as the team growth and corporate governance more difficult, the leadership of the mind and latitude, a high demand. The so-called, ten people to do within the brothers, hundred people to do the emperor, thousands of people to do model employees, thousands of people to do grandson.

(2) The team in Germany can not do, do not hesitate to eliminate; In this regard, I agree with Chong Bridges said;

(3) mutual trust is the basis of cooperation. A bunch of people with a lot of cool resumes, if not concentric comrades, than a group of grassroots solidarity.

(4) In the beginning, pop can save costs, but when you want to make your career bigger, you must remove the self-employed and pop! Now I see a lot of Taobao shop boss, especially I contact more cosmetics category Purpose dispensers, is generally pop, not willing to remove this layer of relationship. This is very wrong.

(5) Small start-up companies, very difficult to find someone, must at all costs to find any possible people around.

Financial planning and gross margin are important in the early days.

2009, we developed very quickly, soon to the crown, the team also moved several times home, increased to more than 10 people. By the end of 2009, we had basically sold 1 million a month.

We had a small amount of money to do, and by the beginning of 2011 there was no borrowing or financing. One important reason to do this is that we have enough money to roll the flow, and the core of which is that our gross margin is high enough.

The 90% of electric entrepreneurs I've seen, despite their long entrepreneurial plans, are not going to be seen in financial planning. The entrepreneur that does not have many resources, must remember one point is: you from the beginning every day must go diligently realizes the profit!

Money is the most important thing for you to succeed at this time. The essence of electricity is business, business on the road, only money, to keep you passionate.

Starting from the grassroots you have to make money every day so you can buy more computers, spend more advertising and hire more people. So you can make the business grow bigger.

Good after-sales service is also done by money. No money, how do you talk about service? For example, the 5-layer carton packaging must be better than the 3-storey carton, which is the money problem.

So the planning of starting a business, the most important and probably the only thing that matters is how you make some money with little money in your hand.

For example, you have 50,000, you should think how from 50,000 yuan to earn 100,000 yuan, and then from 100,000 to make 200,000, from 200,000 to earn 400,000. Instead of thinking too much about what the operating model, what marketing techniques, what promotion channels, what team building.

What you need to solve is a financial plan for the next few months. How much is the stock? How much is the charge? How much does it cost to buy a computer broadband fast food and rent a house? How much is the profit margin? How much is the profit?

One of my buddies was thinking about making a computer desk in bed.

This dude thinks this is a new blue sea market. Then a few brothers also help him plan how to promote, how to do Baidu keyword, how to do with the city door and other fancy things. But even if you sell 1000 tables a day, I estimate that the net profit is 10000 yuan, you need 10 customer service at least, their wages and expenses you can not afford to pay. So you have no money to ask someone to wrap 1000 packages for you.

In this year, I have known a few such people have failed.

There was a man who told me that Ali Baba had come out, ready to do the garment business, but also pulled several well-known internet companies have been to work together, with 500,000 of funds to do, and then he told me some of his models, such as building leaflets, email marketing, Google Baidu keyword and so on, confident. At that time I envy him 500,000, because I have only 30,000 yuan to start. Later, I just sell things, do not want other. A few months later, I did the crown, he was organizing a team meeting to study, renting a big city office building, and still writing a proposal to find more investors; In a few months he said he had failed. In the process, he did not sell a list. This is a typical example, if you have only tens of thousands of or even hundreds of thousands of, you have to cherish, you must hurry to make money, and quickly find ways to sell things out.

At that time, I knew a cosmetic colleague who had spent 2 years making a crown shop. She did well, sales are good, every day 3, 40 single, but do not do much. The girl sold her mobile phone at the hottest time in a few years ago, earning millions. After making cosmetics, also do a good job. Then she asked me, "How can I not do it all the time?" I analyzed her and felt that her success depended on a low profit, which was about 10% of gross profit per product.

I help her calculate, suppose she sells 150,000 each month, gross profit only 10,005 most. First of all, this accumulation of capital is not enough to store more money for her goods, she will hoard more than twice times the goods to meet her sales growth, to spend months or even a year; Second, you're cheaper, again have the ability, also need to pull people to, on Taobao, through train and all kinds of booth, rely on her profit, is not dare to do; third, good after-sale is a lot of cost, so you dare not return a direct refund, so you dare not send things to customers. Four, you dare not invite more staff, do not buy camera pictures, do not dare to purchase high configuration computer for employees. Wait for these reasons and decide that you do not do very much. 20 can do, but you need more to do 100 orders a day. This is a lot of Taobao small and medium-sized shops do not do the reason.

So, we have to figure out how to calculate this big account and financial development planning. You have the ability to do big, your business model is OK, but do you calculate the big financial account? How are you going to accumulate your first 1 million and then do 100 orders a day?

In this business circle, there are several main bodies, companies, shareholders, investors, brands, customers, Taobao; for the healthy business development, I think the cosmetics industry should at least maintain a 35% gross margin on the network. First of all, the company has a lot of costs, HR costs, operating costs, advertising costs, shareholders and investors need to be profitable; Taobao wants you to contribute some advertising fees to the platform; customers also want you to be reasonable in the circumstances, to develop, expand more goods, do better service; The brand does not want you to drop his brand at a low price. Therefore, I have been in the industry appeal, we have to have 35% of the gross profit, the price war is basically just a moment of fast, dead quickly. 35% margin is not high, compared to offline cosmetics, is actually very low gross margin.

Grab the market at a low price? This strategy, you want to see if you can afford to play!

Not every electric dealer can become Van Gogh when the excellence of Macaulay, 99.9% of the electricity quotient, can only be made to buy and sell money. Not every electric dealers can take VC money, take the capital route. There won't be a lot of electric dealers on Nasdaq. So pay attention to gross margin. The business of gross margin is not high, again scenery, you also will be sad.

　　

There are still many kinds of e-commerce patterns in China, such as the early development of Taobao, Jingdong, Vancl are low prices started, but there are huge capital support. Completely two concepts.

Grasp the essence of industry accurately

Analysis of the nature of the industry, said it is a little empty word. It's really important. Analyzing the nature of the industry is actually discovering the most essential consumer demand in the industry. As can be seen from the figure below, 3C industry and the nature of the cosmetics industry is very different. The first essential requirement of the cosmetics industry is genuine, and the first essential requirement of the 3C industry is low price. So the 3C industry, the price war is very serious. Cosmetics industry, because it is used in the face, a lot of people do not dare to buy on the network, so the special counter in the department store is flourishing. The second essential requirement of the cosmetics industry is functionality, that is, whether it suits me. This is also more important than the price, you can not give an oily skin people recommend dry skin products. In the cosmetics industry, the price sensitivity is actually relatively low.

　　

Based on the nature of this industry, Nala did a few things, one is not price war. We are positioning our customer base and pricing according to our gross margin requirements, and our prices are reasonable. In addition, the maintenance of the most important genuine needs, so we strengthen the supply of control and quality inspection, the source of buyers must be positive. In the shop, highlighting authentic evidence. Now, we are more to the brand agents and manufacturers directly rely on. In helping consumers choose the cosmetics they need, we do reality show, product Details page, gangs, QQ group, etc., to the customer communication tools and platforms.

　　

This summer, please look forward to Nala's independent consumer (www.nala.com.cn), Taobao can not meet the needs of some cosmetics category products, we will be implemented on independent customers.

Focus on data

The data may be boring and boring, but the data should be the most persuasive, the data can be reflected at all levels of operation, and the Internet is characterized by business data-making;

The boss's job is to mainly look at the data, the data operation can achieve fine operation, the formation of core competitiveness!

Procurement, invoicing, flow and promotion, finance, design, customer management can be data management and application. The final implementation, let the software to manage the data.

For a small example, for example, for membership data, the following points may be included:

(1) The total number of visitors, daily average number of visitors, daily repeat numbers;

(2) The number of shoppers who have been shopping, the number of orders received, the average number of items purchased;

(3) Analysis of customer data: daily orders in the proportion of repeat customers;

(4) VIP customer Data: VIP Purchase frequency, customer unit price, cumulative shopping amount and distribution;

(5) Affiliate Marketing Analysis: Analysis of the effectiveness of the Members ' activities;

(6) The effect analysis of the proportion of dormant users and wake-up activity (call out, EDM,QQ Group, etc.);

(7) Regional membership ratio: on the self-construction logistics, distribution cost analysis, the role of the offline AC ring;

(8) Each time period customer visits, consults, the next single proportion: to the customer service and the company work time to be more useful;

　　

Customer First

Regular and customer exchange of the shopkeeper, must be able to know that the electrical business common user needs have these:

(1) Authentic

(2) Commodity rich

(3) not out of stock

(4) Many new products

(5) New Product quick

(6) The shopping has the safeguard: you must add false one to compensate three;

(7) Interface comfortable: Do your interface design style;

(8) Easy to find what you want

(9) Detailed and clear description

(10) Give me expert advice

(11) Let me consult and teach me knowledge

(12) Communication and interaction

(13) Let me use the comfortable way to contact you at any time, may include want want, telephone, webpage and so on exchanges;

(14) Reasonable price

(15) Special events

(16) Convenient return and return goods

(17) Quick Refund

(18) Package mail

(19) Gift giving

(20) Send sample

(21) preferential treatment for old customers

(22) Payment assistance

(23) Can remit money

(24) can credit card

(25) can be paid on delivery

(26) can take

(27) Various express way

(28) Delivery within 24 hours

(29) Help me Express

(30) Packaging safety and meticulous

.......

You need to list your customer needs according to your store situation and product structure characteristics. Try to meet the needs of your customers, use your characteristics to make a brand, I believe, as long as you do so, good customers and old customers will find the door. Good service is important, never forget, no matter what stage, I always remind myself. We all know the importance of repeat customers to the customer. It is related to your net profit and persistence!

Nala These two years, still can not fully meet the above needs, I am very ashamed. There may be some places, because of the stage reason, we may not be able to do so meticulous, but we will continue to progress!

On cooperation and openness

Cosmetics market is very big, we each shop or website compared with it is very small; When your shop, to a certain extent, the important path to continue to develop is cooperation! The rapid growth of the market, everyone is weak; If you really want to say opponents, then I think there is only one, is their own!

Even the competitive products of the shop or website can compete for cooperation. To compete, wait until two more than 1 billion of the competition, not late!

The most interesting business is the cooperative relationship of competition, only in this way can resources integration and rapid growth.

The starting point of cooperation are many, customer service, warehousing, promotion, design and so on, good things, are actively sharing to others, the initiative to find the point of cooperation; advertising, promotional sharing; cooperate more! To explore their own characteristics, and then go to a greater extent to share; plagiarism is undesirable, but it can imitate and learn from each other, but have your own things

To find cooperation, we must first consider whether the gas field is the same. Nala is fortunate enough to find the right strategic partner and investor in accurate time. And to find the right staff and cadres, these are NALA for the present and future, vital!

Nala today and the future must belong to more people.

Two kinds of typical promotion of Taobao

Taobao has two typical IP shapes.

One is a robust IP, the rise depends on two ways:

1 Fast Development (promotional activities, hard wide, discounts, low prices, new, etc.);

2 slow development (rely on old customers, good experience, brand, good promotion plan, process and management, etc.).

Quick and slow combination, a fast one slowly, steadily rising. So most of this has become a well-known Taobao shop. But Taobao's single shop traffic bottlenecks are there.

Another typical IP shape is only hard wide, only rely on focus map, etc., common in the Tmall of the various brand shops. Belong to only know hard wide and activities, others do not understand. The flow is very large, but like a funnel, can not catch, also lose.

　　

　　

Invoicing: Retail Nature

There's not much to say. Send 10 orders a day, manual can be, 50 single daily, manual + Express singles can be printed; Excel accounts. Send 100 orders a day, you need a special system, shop housekeeper and housekeeper and so on can try, these software need very time-consuming to running-in, pick suitable for their own use. Shipped hundreds of orders a day, or use ERP bar.

A stable and fast invoicing system is the core competitiveness of E-commerce. There is no such thing as a fantastic order-processing process, less than 1000 single. This order processing process includes not only hardware configuration, but also process design and running-in.

In this respect, send on behalf of experts a lot, 007,ken are!

Taobao many large sellers are here is a hurdle, facing a lot of technical problems. I know a lot of golden Crown shops, so far in the inventory mess.

I feel that the future university will set up this professional to train electric dealers invoicing talent, the future of the 51JOB will also have a variety of talent to understand invoicing. Suitable for the machine to deal with the people can consider OH:

The so-called retail industry, the essence is the gross profit margin and the best combination of turnover rate, cash flow for the King! Good system and process can make you do more business in more than a year.

Excellent e-commerce DNA

Met a lot of excellent e-commerce companies, summed up I think there are several important DNA, very common. I think you can take a look at your company:

(1) Fast: growth rate of 2-10 times, embrace change, small steps run, and constantly error correction, side want to do, rapid adjustment, continuous reflection and summary.

(2) Open: Daring, not petty, not afraid of making mistakes, open sharing and mutual assistance;

(3) Bigotry and concentration: Do not follow the bandwagon, do not imitate, focus on not waver;

(4) Simple: The business model is simple, passing only one or two important demand points to users;

(5) Excellence (6) data, it: operation or management, all data;

(7) User first: Continuously improve services and commodities;

(8) Pay attention to talent: dig people, recruit all spare no effort! Training, pay attention!

Protection of intellectual property rights do not know how many people in the domain name, trademarks, patents and other losses. Everyone take a closer look, especially Taobao sellers, few have this awareness. Please pay special attention.

The future of Chinese cosmetics franchise Store

China in 5 years, 10 years also difficult to produce a strong national cosmetics fashion brand. It's a Chinese woman. Most worshipping and Chinese manufacturing do not control the quality and brand, decided.

But China could produce an autonomous cosmetics brand franchise in 5, 10 years. It is something that can be sold abroad, but the franchise is a brand of Chinese native. Originally online, China has a lot of cosmetics franchise brand, the provinces have, but Watson and Sephora already in China has a strong layout, if we do not work hard, then this franchise store will all be occupied by foreigners, with the original department stores are all over the Wal-Mart Carrefour repression.

I'm not convinced!

The brand of cosmetics franchise stores in China can be most likely to start on the web. So we have to work hard. In addition, Taobao has a lot of resources in favor of their own brands of cosmetics-made shops. But I am very worried when I see these proprietary cosmetics used in a way that is similar to the hype of television commercials and a lot of hard work and popularity.

End

Write more, do not know what to say. More and more deep, I feel every step is very hard, do, and back to think, incredibly lucky. Don't ask me what to look down on the traditional enterprises into the electricity business, how to see the vertical category of consumer, how to view the construction of logistics, how to treat Taobao Mall, how to look at investment and financing,,,, these problems, in fact, only you will understand.

Shao Yipo once told me a word, in China, business opportunities too much, you only bold to do, paranoid to do, focus on to do! You're going to keep it up! Never be proud, never be discouraged! Don't think too much about your patterns and directions right.

Key in you, in our executive power!

The future of Nala

I hope Nala's future is like this:

is one of the best service cosmetics retailers;

is a fine operation and meticulous management of the company;

is a staff, customers, shareholders, brand, partners, platform side (Taobao) and so on are happy and satisfied with the place;

Is the best focus on data and technology companies;

is an array of authentic companies;

is a talent yearning and production of talent companies;

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