Wang: Getting out of the mess and starting a business in the United States

Today's group buying, has already exceeded the 2010-year group purchase definition limit, more accurately said that the local life. This transcendence is also a return to the concept and the story of the escape. Although the concept of group buying and O2O once let this industry boil, but after the bubble is desolate. Today, looking back at that vigorous and dynamic thousand-Regiment war, we can see: local life, is not a capital can simply prop up the industry. 2013 is a memorable year for the United States: this year, the United States Regiment not only survived from the battle, but also occupied more than half of the market share of group buying, and at the end of 2013, the first announced full-year profit. Public data show that the annual turnover of the United States regiment amounted to 16 billion yuan in 2013, an increase of 188% compared with 2012. Wang according to the U.S. Regiment's growth rate projections, the United States to 2015 sales will exceed the 100 billion mark. This year, for CEO Wang is also worth remembering: this year, is the tenth year of his continuous entrepreneurship. After going through the school and the meal, it chooses a more mature way to realize the value of entrepreneurship. For today's Wang, he is no longer a geek, but an entrepreneur who connects local life with the Internet. Looking back on American business, we will find that the experience is not only applicable to the United States group. Grab the cash and get out of the capital mess. If today we look at the capital support of the thousand-group war, we can easily find that the first task is to survive. Among them, the cash becomes the most important. It is impossible to prove the CEO Wang to the efficient use of cash is affected by the early years of entrepreneurial experience, but adequate and healthy cash flow is Wang firmly put the fate of the United States to grasp the key in their own hands. When the meal was closed and the team discussed the new entrepreneurial plan, there were Foursquare and Groupon two models, but has always been keen on SNS Wang, finally chose the cash flow closer to the Groupon model. But when the American regiment was just starting out, cash was precisely their biggest disadvantage. In the June 2010, opponents such as handle and glutinous rice have been getting financing, which means that competitors can use the speed of market promotion and ground expansion. It was the first trough of the American Regiment. At that time, the United States Regiment 10 Sales 4 went to the glutinous Rice Regiment, leaving the sale also took away the United States and Wanda to talk about a good list. Renren's glutinous rice Regiment used Renren's home page advertising position, the first single sold 150,000 film tickets, and the United States regiment each single sales record only thousands of. It was a very depressing day. Sales every day in the corridor a lot of smoke, smoke out to talk about business. Wang every Saturday night will give the team to share, has many entrepreneurial he looked very calm: entrepreneurship is like riding a roller coaster, today's trough, may rise tomorrow. "When you inject a strong pin into the team, Wang's anxiety persists, and he meets every employee who leaves the café and spends a lot of time persuading him." For sales Peng, those days are almost the hardest part of life. At that time, the American Regiment demanded that everyA sales visit to 8 businesses a day, if 3 consecutive times will be directly eliminated, if done well on the option to reward. There were other options in Wang. At that time, many competitors to take the agent model in exchange for development speed, with market share in exchange for VC investment, but Wang firm only do direct business model, because the direct mode can control the quality of group buying, between the cash and product quality, he once again chose the latter. The strategy of the fight is often a choice, this simple blunt force but to help the United States Regiment unexpected "ushered in a good way." In each major group buying site many single day, Wang also insist on a single day. Import all traffic into a merchant. The willingness to co-operate is also stronger when businesses find that traffic and business are several times more than other group-buying sites in the United States. Until September 2010, Wang got the first investment of Sequoia, the first life and death after the founding of the United States Regiment finally crossed the past. The second important option for Wang is to not join the group-buying campaign quickly after getting funding. In the first half of 2011, handle nets, litters regiment in the financing after the crazy expansion of the major cities of the public transport, subways, elevators filled with group buying ads. In the group buying market as a whole irrational environment, almost all the future of the group buy in the market share and new users, do not hit the advertising is difficult to bring traffic, sales of a large number of robbed single. This industry-wide euphoria is hard to keep from being swayed. At that time I went to Shenyang with the City team meeting, I just spoke half, the following people said, Wang always you don't cheat, you tell me when to advertise, other I don't want to listen. "Wang Huiwen, who was in charge of the American market, recalls. In the early years of entrepreneurship, we only brave, why do we have to advertise when it is not so brave? Because I was in the house when the brave once, spend a lot of money did not effect. "Wang Huiwen said. Wang's attitude towards capital is more mature than before. There are two kinds of failure, one is the money spent, the other is not confidence, confidence can be self-realization, money or in need of enough money to spend. "To resist the pressure to make a decision not to hit the ads in addition to Wang firmly grasp the intuitive judgment of cash flow, but more importantly, he has the ability to convince the team internal and investors different voices." For this decision, Wang to the team's explanation is the peer crazy hit advertising is actually to help the industry to enlighten consumers, the United States Regiment every penny to spend on the blade, must be from the consumer's recent step directly to buy. So when the ad war to 100 yuan to obtain a user's phase of the United States group to choose 10 Yuan to obtain a user's online advertising, and the understanding of the line is precisely Wang different from the competitors the biggest advantage. At that time, the United States group bought such as "handle" litters group, and other key words, and hao123 navigation page, Group buy navigation site Group 800 cooperation, the fact that this has not affected the brand awareness of the United States Regiment, so many friends at that time to meet Wang said, you do a good job in the United States, I seem to be everywhere can see your ads. "After borrowing a peer advertising campaign, fallout, WangMade a "complete reversal of his previous meanness"-the first to launch an expired refund in March 2011. An expired refund is a great test for the group buying site to precipitate funds and cash flow turnover. Previously, there have been group buying tried such a model, but it is difficult to achieve systematic process, only meet some more difficult consumers will refund. The United States Regiment launched an expired refund ", the deposit on the account of the funds quickly less than 10 million yuan." In the short term, there may be a risk of an expired refund, but Wang that when a competitor uses advertising to enlighten the consumer about group buying, if a consumer mentions a group buying it is the best thing to do, it is the way to win the people's hearts with this kind of word-of-mouth spread. Wang understand that group buying business model is characterized by advances (consumer funds first hit the account on the website), the capital advance model can maintain a stable cash flow. But if the group purchase site with this cash flow for marketing or regional expansion, once the financial chain break business will face the risk of not receiving money, the industry may appear avalanches. Electric business in winter as scheduled, the industry shuffle opportunity to come quickly. At that time, Wang did something that was very consistent with his character, and it looked childish and cute----to the balance of the account. In the second round of the United States Group financing site, Wang a bill, the account has 61,922,122 U.S. dollars balance, and denounced the industry impetuous. Results are immediate, sales out of the list, the United States Group of Partners trust significantly higher. Until today, at that time Wang the way of the account is still a great battle of the era of the most beautiful public relations-the United States Regiment in the industry when the winter came to show their own healthy cash flow, which is also light out the United States Regiment in the book behind the muscle-efficient management and integrated operational efficiency. Perhaps because of the origins of Internet products, to let Wang in the management of a large number of sales of group buying companies have more experience-the more business seems to be a lot of time with data to improve management efficiency is becoming more important, and many disappeared in that bubble in the group buying company, precisely is defeated in the rapid expansion of the management of Runaway. The management determinism behind the data is in the American Regiment's office area, with an LCD screen hanging above each department. You can see how many users are registered per minute in real time at the Mobile client department, the number and proportion of users from Android, iphone and ipad, the volume of each terminal per minute, and the changing trend of turnover at different times of the day; you can see in the Customer service department today, the proportion of customer service calls, customer satisfaction ratio, Number of idle customer service. Wang's first job every morning is to look at the data from the previous day, then meet with executives to analyze the problem, and the performance of each business unit is evident in the table. Wang even made microblogging jokes: data showed that I was older than 96.3% of all employees in the United States. What does that mean? " Wang don't think he is what management wizards, what he did is to stick to common sense, his own argument is, as long as the account is clear, who can make wise decisions. Wang also admitted that the founding of the United States in the past few years he has been accompaniedA moderate anxiety, which comes from the CEO's responsibility for something that is not happening, is the source of anxiety. If you know enough about a first-line situation, you can make a relatively comprehensive collection of information in front of you and finally make a judgment. When you don't have enough time, you don't have enough resources, you have to make a decision when you don't have enough information, it's inevitable that you have some anxiety. "Wang said. For the data of the serious, directly affect the pace of development of the United States Regiment. September 2011, the handle network submitted to the IPO. Once the handle network is listed, under the help of capital expansion, other group buying sites are almost impossible to surpass. At that time, handle nets, litters group as the first Camp group purchase site to expand to more than 300 regions nationwide, the public comments, glutinous rice network expanded to more than 50 regions, the United States Group to walk in the middle expansion to 100 cities. Wang insists that the decision to expand into every city must conform to science. He will integrate the city's population, GDP, Taobao consumption index, KFC, McDonald's and the number of cinemas and other indicators to calculate the input-output ratio. When he found that the input-output ratio was not cost-effective, it stopped expanding, which was why the group suddenly stopped when it expanded to more than 90 cities. November 2011, the market mutation let the United States group usher in a turnaround. Handle online market failure, the U.S. regiment lost a strong enemy, 24 coupons capital chain completely fractured, Wang acquired 24 coupons team Most people, took over 24 coupons in some areas of expansion, rapid growth of the business. In the face of the financial problems of the group buying competition, the fine operation of the U.S. regiment quickly and steadily occupy the market. The United States summed up the victory at that time: we just did something other people didn't do and didn't do what others did. "When the external hard market work came to an ending, Wang Huiwen was transferred into the product department to develop products, together with the U.S. team co-founder and CTO Murong both developed the internal business process system and customer relationship management system." Before the operation of these two systems, the U.S. regiment's sales mainly rely on the mail to the online each single, but after the hair, who received a single, write a message to find who is not known. Secondly, each on a single note to the specific location of the merchant, business license, picture and qualification audit; After the system operation, the editor does not need to fill in the list and audit, the efficiency increased 2.8 times times, sales of customer visits and results at a glance. At the same time, the United States group also in the industry's earliest developed a business automatic borrowing system to solve the business concerns of the issue of the account, greatly improve the loyalty of businesses. In the fourth quarter of 2012, the United States Regiment has reached a break-even balance. This is what Wang says about integrated operational efficiencies. The key to improving the efficiency of integrated operations is the customer service department in the United States, a department in which many companies are relatively marginalized. Canga Wei said, the customer service department is the United States Regiment all business goalkeeper, the customer service department's ultimate goal is does not have itself, to the user reflects the question must achieve the trace, the accountability in the end. The standard of the Customer service Department is not customer satisfaction, but the number of calls. Now the number of incoming calls has dropped from 300 to 1.00 or so, and some of the same group of Groupon site business size is the United States Regiment 1/10, call center of the incoming volume is 10 times times the United States Regiment. The secret of the United States Regiment is that all mail must be cc Canga Wei, to show that the company's top priority, can not solve the problem of all the VP pull, the projector on the scene to solve, which forced sales orders, the editor on a single and so on the details of each process is very cautious. A group buying site partners such comments United States Regiment: If it is other group buy business and customer service problems, general process cumbersome, need to find customer service to find the director of the signature, slow can be dragged for one weeks, but the United States regiment only need to submit online, the afternoon can be resolved. Today, the U.S. regiment's gross margin is only about 5%. All executives, including Wang, agree that the nature of group buying is similar to that of supermarkets, where everyone sees Wal-Mart's daily low prices, but the essence of low prices is high efficiency and low cost. In the 2012 annual meeting, Wang told the story of the Antarctic Expedition-the ultimate winning team is not the fastest, but the very scientific calculation of the daily need for supply and physical consumption of people, the core is the emphasis on doing things to speak scientific and meticulous operation. Instead of using code to change the world, it is better to say that this emphasis on scientific development is the main reason. Wang: Movies, takeout and hotels Goldman Sachs has a famous saying: We are greedy, but we are long-term greedy. "Wang thought it would be a good thing to use that phrase," he said, using Amazon as an analogy: Amazon is not profitable until today, but its market value is growing, and it is putting all the money it earns. "Group buying has entered a stable state but also faces growing ceilings." Canga Wei once questioned the business model of group buying that does not exist in itself. Group buying is a pseudo concept, if we all do group buying, the price will eventually return to the market equilibrium price, equivalent to no group purchase. Wang that the third industry as the last virgin land of the internet has a bright future. 10 years ago the rise of e-commerce to solve the problems of primary and the second industry, Alibaba is a typical representative. 2014, the proportion of the third industry GDP may become the country's first major industries, the positioning of local life services, the U.S. group is the first to enter the tertiary sector of the Internet power. Wang selected the film, take-away and hotel three major industries as the force point. For example, the first deep expansion of the cat's eye movie, not only can choose the online seat, but also to watch the film review, 2013 volume of 60 million, the country every 10 film tickets from the United States Regiment. It is almost impossible to say that cat's eye film has become an indispensable channel for film distributors, and it is becoming more and more commonplace to advertise in cat's eye movies. A detail can reflect how Wang does vertical industry. Xu Xian, head of the cat's eye film, visited every movie theater and yard manager in Beijing before launching the business. Which cinemas use the 4K screen, the resolution of each movie theater, Xu Xian is clear to the heart. Wang that the depth of cooperation between the United States and the merchant is the best way to solve the cost of information communication. Only know the theater cooperation way is far from enough, each theater has severalScreens, how many seats, what films to put in each period, the American Regiment builds the platform is through the product to match the demand and the supply. What we do is socially meaningful. According to the law of economics, assuming that in a perfect world the cost of information communication is zero, the bidding process occurs instantaneously, you can always find a price, all the supply completely consumed. At that time the equilibrium state is the best and can avoid a lot of repetitive construction. "This is the resource allocation problem that O2O solves in the Wang ideal." Another unexpected dark horse is the hotel industry. According to the group's internal data, the United States Mission Hotel business has been more than where to go, where the hotel business department has erected a banner against the United States Regiment. Wang choose the key to expand the hotel industry is the core secret is a prepaid mode, all the accounts will go through the platform, subversion to where, Ctrip, art, such as OTA to pay the model, which is actually in the education of consumer habits. The end of 2013, the United States and the group of foreign sales began to go online. But hungry, Alibaba Amoy Point, the public comments, such as many take-away app has been in this field to fight. As long as we abide by the rules of the game, and finally in a fair market to see who the consumers choose, which is why I like the market economy, consumers vote is the most democratic money. "No matter whether Wang is successful in this new business form, when everyone is talking about the Internet subversion today, a person who believes in technology and innovation" is taking the initiative to delve into the traditional enterprise to seek integration. Wang summed up what he was doing: the internet is changing the financial and education industries, Youku wants to use the Internet to change TV, the cat, Taobao, Beijing East in the change of supermarkets and department stores. The United States to do is through the Internet to change the local beer and skittles industry. From the school to the meal is not to the United States on the surface as things are not the same, the essence of the Internet to believe that the fundamental power of change. ”