Dangdang's chairman, Yu, founded the first online bookstore in China with her husband, Guoqing, in 1999. She once told reporters: "Since the Dangdang, I have little sense of the changes in the four seasons, when every time I go to the window to see the lush green trees, I realized that the summer came."
First Financial daily: You said you are not sensitive to the four seasons, because Dangdang work too much burden, or you too focused?
Yu: I'm a very, very dedicated person. One of our projects caught my attention, and I forgot where I was, or what time it was.
Daily: These years Dangdang's main strategy is more robust. Do you think there is anything missing from this robust measure?
Yu: I think there is no equal between the sound and missed opportunities, when the style of doing things also reflects our focus. The first few years when the focus on a good bookstore, and then a good DVD store, to later do our clothing shop, beauty shop, furniture home textile other these stores. Others judge us more stable, I regard this as a compliment.
Daily: When as the first time as a power trader to focus on the book, DVD, but now there are clothing, furniture, this is not a violation of the original intention?
Yu: I think there are plans to do business, to be a company and to keep pace with the times. In more than 10 years when I started to do the electricity business, the sale of things on the internet is a strange thing. But with the improvement of customer cognition, with the improvement of the network environment, customers want to buy things on the Internet, then we will follow the needs of customers to go, explore the next suitable for Dangdang to sell what.
Daily: We see that the electric business is more competitive than the traditional industry, more like a 0 and a game, I win, you may lose.
Yu: I think 0 and game is a little trick that the media is stirring up a bit of a conversation between us. In the process of rising consumption, there are some advantages of electric business, and the overall development speed is very fast. Is that 0 and what? More than 10 years ago, the book market is relatively large, today's book market is also relatively large, that I think we and many other companies grow together, is the overall market more and more to do a process, so in my opinion is not 0 and, but everyone Republican. But there must be competition in the Republic.
Daily: There is no denying that the competition of electric dealers is very fierce, and a lot of burning money to do marketing. Will there eventually be monopolies and oligarchs? When is it possible to achieve a balance?
Yu: I think business, equilibrium is not there, there is only a periodic dynamic equilibrium; Oligarchs do not exist, oligarchs are just some people's dream. Some enterprises will do a lot, some enterprises will develop slowly. The most important thing is to specialize in the operation of the industry, to be valuable to customers.
Daily newspaper: But there is a saying in the electricity business that the quantity is the king, we just said that the burning of money is also hope to get more quantity. What is the way to expand the volume when competing with other electric dealers?
Yu: A large quantity for the king, the volume must be concentrated in a certain area of the big, if 1 million yuan sales scattered in shampoo, mobile phones, laptops, it does not bring a very large amount of a supplier. So the volume must focus, so as to have a professional demeanor. To say that burning money, Chanyou clever burning method, there are stupid burning method. The clever burning method, is wants in the product price and the service effort, simply goes to burn the money the effect is not good. Long-term, to the price to do a good job, the quality of products to do a good job.
Daily: Entrepreneurial never end, business opportunities have been there. However, some entrepreneurs seize a first-come advantage, will find that has become a commercial giant of the electric dealers through imitation to compete for the market. How to solve this problem?
Yu: The so-called competitive advantage, is to the people in front of the detour straight. As an entrepreneur, the lead is only temporary, want to continue to lead also need to think about where the market, I have some new things let me continue to lead. The mission of startups and entrepreneurs is to find opportunities and then make products in a more skillful, faster and newer way.
Daily: One last question for female entrepreneurs. You recently said that the life you want is a leisurely life. What advice would you give to a part of a woman who has an entrepreneurial heart?
Yu: The advice I want to give them is to be calm. Because there will always be people on the road to doubt you, challenge you, so you must learn to observe carefully, but in the face of difficulties, face setbacks, face criticism to calm down, to think, to trust their intuition, not to be around others.