Hard to close O2O: entrepreneurs struggling to O2O frontiers

Intermediary transaction SEO diagnosis Taobao guest Cloud host technology Hall

Three years ago, just graduated from Shanghai Jiaotong University Zhang Xuhao did not think of how to start their own entrepreneurial career, he and a few students graduated from college together to set up a restaurant to send takeout takeout company, "Hungry Mody" in such a vague positioning under the start. But the takeaway business is not flattering, after 1.5 groping, entrepreneurial team will be "hungry" relocation-do the catering industry taobao.

In the Zhang Xuhao of the ideal territory, the country will have 50,000 restaurants to access the "Hungry Mody" site, users can see on the website all the food, you can choose to send out to sell home, you can choose to set the location to shop consumption. According to the current access to more than 3,000 restaurants generate 60,000 orders a day, the future should be 1 million per day scale. The idea of such a scale is much less impressive than Taobao's current trading volume, but it is also a spectacular one. Providing customers and restaurants with a digital trading platform it takes some gas to have a "money" path, Zhang Xuhao does not expect to charge a commission on each transaction as "the original business model", and he wants to make the scale bigger, "Taobao is free first, then there are many business models, now do not worry."

Help the restaurant to complete the order in digital form and become the current task of the "Hungry" team. Building an information platform is not difficult, even in the period of loss, has completed two rounds of financing of the "hungry" is more willing to spend energy to shop signs all over the country, so that more restaurant access to the platform is "hungry" team's work focus. As a start-up team, despite the size of 200 people, for Zhang Xuhao, "This is not enough." Like many in the industry, Zhang Xuhao is not worried about the current losses, "it is fully profitable to cover more mature areas, and more losses come mainly from our simultaneous development of many new areas, which is tantamount to a profit subsidy."

On an expanded map of "hungry," a city is divided into more than 100 plots, each of which is progressively covered. Zhang Xuhao said that Shanghai now has about more than 10 plots are very profitable, the September 2011 into Beijing, about four or five plots are very profitable.

In addition to the annual fee paid by the restaurant and the cost of bidding, there is also a personalized income to provide solutions for the special needs of some restaurants, such as custom services that must arrive within 15 minutes. In a small scope of the proven profit model let Zhang Xuhao more comfortable horse enclosure to expand the scale, "the ability to realize in a small scope has been validated, now as long as the larger scale, we reconsider the present." "Zhang Xuhao said.

Looking for pain points

"Hungry" is just a spray in the O2O waves. O2O that online to Offline, that is, offline business opportunities and the Internet together, let the Internet become the front line trading, so that offline services can be used online marketing. Zhang Xuhao has been looking forward to, the future "hungry" and Taobao as much as there are enough businesses and users.

Also with "Taobao model" as an example of the ant short rent, but ants short rent by virtue of net years of landlord accumulation, do not worry about insufficient business, in the Ant Short Lease CEO Gong business card, ant short rent Four words below also specially marked "NET's website" line of fine print.

Rental market and hotel market in the middle of the short rental market is net bullish, once the net short rent channel was separate opened to obtain independent domain name, named ant Short Rent, as net new favorite, get 20 million dollars of investment. There are vacant rooms but just want to rent a landlord for a while, hotels, cooperative hotel and so are the short rental of ants supply, through the ant short rental platform deposited in 1000 yuan guarantee gold "login to publish the room is done", last June, just to the ant short rental Gong that the short rental market than the original idea of "a little more."

But at the beginning of his arrival, he did experience a period of less "light". Within one months of taking office, as a result of internal personnel changes, the original 200 of the entrepreneurial team has become less than 50 people each day to deal with more than 10 separation applications, in addition, more challenging is how to protect the user experience.

Let his headache is the entire service chain is too long, from the online purchase, with the landlord to negotiate, to live under the experience, "a link can not be a problem." Gong's answer is always brief, swift and firm, and in his view, the most important thing now is to protect the user experience. And this is a need to hit the money of the project, the user complained, the landlord did not leave room and can not actively deal with, "we say forget, in order to ensure the user experience, we first deal with." "In addition to stick money to ensure that the user experience, but also in the promotion of efforts, even in the field of short-term rental leader, in Gong, ant short Rent is still in the stage of improving products," the promotion of things still think, now still relatively early. "He wants to do the product first and then consider the promotion.

In the conference room on the first floor of net, Gong does not seem to be so concerned about profitability, he quickly repeats it two times "early", almost without thinking, and the repeated emphasis on the user experience is still in the conversation. The experience extends from line to line, comments and shares turn back to the line, so the inner loop can enhance the user's loyalty to the platform, but a large part of the user experience depends on the degree to which the O2O enterprise controls the traditional industry.

This is not a Danci achievable goal. Ant short Rent is currently through the security system and evaluation system to protect the user's offline experience, all landlords must be in the ant short Rent to save 1000 dollars guarantee Gold, "if there is any problem, we from the protection of gold inside buckle, in addition, if the landlord has irregularities, a slight warning, serious directly offline." ”

"O2O's business model is brand new, and many landing models are not immediately conceivable, requiring more innovation and integration of offline resources." "In Gong's view, O2O development will not be too fast, he cited the example of Dangdang," when the 1997 began to do, did more than 10 years until 2010, according to normal speed, the market 2005 do, after three years to 2008 began to do ants short rent, so not too fast. " ”

O2O This concept into China for only five years, the prosperity of mobile interconnection is only two years, in the 2013 Global Mobile Internet Conference moving value points in the venue, the guests put Ctrip as the earliest domestic O2O, and in 1999 Ctrip was founded in the 13 years after the start of their own wireless division. "What I do now is to accumulate the resources and relationships under the line, to understand the operation process, to rethink the mobile Internet, to reinterpret our one-stop travel service, which is the beginning of Ctrip's second start." Hao, chief executive of Ctrip's wireless division, said in a self-introduction.

Find the industry insiders under the pain point and put forward solutions, become O2O Enterprise's first task. But there is no object to imitate.

At the 2013 Global Mobile Internet Conference, even Tencent, which is thought to have got the mobile internet ticket, is not afraid that this is just a "ticket", "frankly also surprised a cold sweat." No matter how strong you are in front of the mobile internet boom, a little negligence may be a one-month capsize. Do not see a lot of companies seem to be very big, very strong, in fact, may be vulnerable, so to report on the evolution of the industry in awe of the heart, trembling to do everything well, the service well. Ma said at the meeting.

"O2O Combination"

To make the line and offline docking smooth is a vast project, the requirements of the Chief Engineer is also very high. The CEO of O2O Enterprise not only understands the design and interaction of products on mobile Internet, but also is proficient in the operation and promotion of traditional industries. But "Hungry?" the founding team does not worry about this, although it is a graduate team, in order to understand the catering industry cost structure and demand, this help Shanghai Jiaotong University graduates spent a year before starting a business lurking in the restaurant, full-time delivery take-away. Founder of Wang Yu as CTO main technology, in addition, the Director of brand cooperation before the old is hungry partner, then directly sold the restaurant to join the "hungry Mody." "Our team is very interesting, technical aspects of the best students in Jiaotong University, market development are in the restaurant experienced people." "Zhang Xuhao said.

The combination of market and technology is not uncommon in mobile-interconnected development teams. In 2006, two travel enthusiasts made a travel community website after work, 4 years later, a succession of companies resigned from the original company, officially operating the site called the Hornets, the name is not directly linked to the poisonous insect, but rather to the ants and bees in the two species of sharing and collaboration, this with the " User-generated content "is consistent with the pattern of the leeches. Today, the three words are printed on the largest subway line in Beijing, which is not a small amount of advertising spending, but it may not be a matter of just getting 15 million dollars in the funding of the leech.

The two founders of the Hive have known each other for ten years and are supposed to be good friends from the sounds of their names. CEO Chen Yu previously in Sina to do products and technology, COO Lu Gang before the market in Sohu. The experience of the two people traveling together each year is a source of inspiration for the product, which is the language barrier that two people encounter when they travel. This is the first of the app,2011 year April online, 6 months later, the 5 million dollar a round of financing to come.

Subsequently, the MA Honeycomb launched 4 app, hope to cover the journey before and after. "Mobile Internet and PC are completely different, his whole product design, interaction, promotion and operation are completely different, we feel mobile Internet is simple and direct, each app should be to solve the user's specific needs, not unification." "Chen Yu is very confident in the mobile terminal strategy, after all, the mobile end of the installation volume in April this year has exceeded 20 million."

Such achievements benefited from active promotion, in addition to advertising investment, micro-bo, micro-letter, everyone and other social platforms sharing attributes have become the entrance of the MA Honeycomb.

The investment in mobile internet will also increase, which has formed a consensus in the industry. Just completed the B-round funding of the 15 million-dollar Ma Honeycomb is more willing to spend money on mobile interconnection. "Mobile interconnection product shape and user requirements are still different, such as the current restrictions on traffic, exit after the problem of network signals, so we have a lot of product improvement in space, but also to do more updated products." "Chen Yu more than once in public to emphasize the importance of products, what he has recently talked about is" the Swarm "," The Swarm is a great way to help travelers search for the most cost-effective travel products and services, and the response is good, and our investment in the swarm will increase, which represents a commercial endeavor. " ”

Earlier this year, Tencent search to find a hive, hope that through cooperation to try some new ways, both sides in May announced the intention of cooperation, Chen Yu hope that through the cooperation with the street map to allow users online can see the local real map. But in the cooperation with the offline business is still in the exploratory stage, airlines or hotels hope to pass their own advantages to the customer, to attract them to the online experience services, and this is not a fresh way, Hong Kong airlines are discussing with the MA honeycomb more in-depth cooperation possible. In the future, members of the MA honeycomb may be given priority or price concessions when travelling on Hong Kong Airlines.

Just got a B-round investment to become an enviable record in the industry, although not listed in each app's profit schedule, but Chen Yu is not an entrepreneur who does not care about earnings. Turning to profitability, he changed his tone, seriously stressing that "in less than six months last year, more than 10 million yuan in income", this makes him more certain three years ago when the start of the position of the MA honeycomb-a new media platform as the core of the travel strategy, he did not want to use the "portal" this cliché, "one source is advertising revenue , one is to air tickets, hotels, travel introduction itself as the core of tourism services, for these tourism services, in our O2A Partners accept orders when a division and commission. "However, he is well aware that such a profit model is far from adequate."

It's a long way from a mature business model. "The more you know about the operating characteristics and industry characteristics of the offline business, the more you can find solutions to the pain points of users and businesses." Liu Huanqi, founder of the product network, repeatedly stressed that do O2O need to soak in the traditional industry. The rapid development of mobile Internet, and offline consumption can not be replaced, the network and the reality of the docking needs to be constantly running-in, the quality of the network is under such considerations founded.

"The two of us are a typical O2O combination," he said. "Liu Huanqi, who was in charge of the market in Ikea, said. Zhenhua, who worked as general manager of the Net mobile division, co-founded the consultancy for O2O Enterprises last October. Liu Wan Haze needs to often communicate with O2O entrepreneurs, according to the situation to write some analysis of the article hanging in the product network, and regularly held a dinner party, invite the industry to participate in the exchange, "a demand, two difficult, this has the need for in-depth study."

Personalization with the last kilometer

Online and offline docking at the technical level is not a problem, in the vision of the micro-passport founder Li, in the future people can see the information on the phone, complete payment, to the scene through the mobile phone verification, enjoy services, "the development of mobile Internet to make the transaction link compression."

Li Electronic voucher is the on-site verification of this link of technology, in the form of dynamic two-dimensional code, electronic voucher generation, distribution, circulation, verification, to the final write-off, composed of its complete life cycle.

June 4, micro-passports at the Millennium Hotel in Beijing, held a micro-passport micro-interface products technology experience, participants in the mobile phone will receive a dynamic two-dimensional code, as the experience will be tickets, show the mobile phone on the dynamic two-dimensional code, through the verification of the micro-seal will issue a female voice "Wei pass."

"If the O2O into an industrial chain, we are the last link in the industrial chain, is the real economy to connect the virtual economy contact point." "The balcony of the micro-passport office," founder Li said.

Advances in technology are far from being halted, and the next device in the micro-passport can support mobile NFC, Bluetooth 4.0, and even ultrasonic functions to complete closed-loop verification. Only six months ago, in a terrace overlooking the panorama of ocean-going shinkansen, Li began a team-building effort, with a broad vision and plenty of room for imagination. "Mobile internet is not just tied to the internet on the phone, but must be subversive of the original Internet mode, hardware and software combination, directly in the life to do the application, this is the direction of the successful mobile internet." "Business-born Li but prefer technology, determined to do the most secure and efficient independent third party mobile phone voucher platform."

Through such a platform, the user will receive the membership card, coupons or cards can not be loaded into the wallet, but in the form of a dynamic two-dimensional code of the mobile phone. Micro-Passport founder Li confident that he can provide technical support for O2O closed loop. There are good reasons for optimism, the June began with the product appeared in the public before the micro-passport has been formally signed with Peng Micro-purchase, and Sina Weibo wallet contract is under review, June 4 of that technology sharing will directly bring 52 of cooperation intentions.

Li often mentioned in public, the unification of four identities, perhaps in the near future will be achieved, "Everyone has legal status, communication identity, payment status and trading status, you can use an identity corresponding to the other three identity, at any time to deal with payment, access to services." "With a mobile phone can be completed to purchase payment, certification, enjoy services, and perhaps someone else just married you to push the honeymoon travel advice."

Today from the MA honeycomb download Travel Strategy is after the introduction of the engine analysis and identification and Operation team Audit, may be a Maldives travel guide contains hundreds of of the recommendations and comments, but everyone saw the Raiders are the same.

The popular version of the travel strategy has no way to do everything, but soon the same travelers who go to the Maldives, go on vacation and go on a honeymoon will receive different travel strategies. Ma Honeycomb is the online user data analysis and design interaction, ready to launch in the year to meet individual needs personalized travel strategy. "Everyone has personalized needs, and not necessarily high-rich Cai have high-end customization," Chen said, "any industry from the seller's market to the buyer, the first may be to meet the basic needs, and then the market will be subdivided, there are strong personalized factors in it." ”

Personalized customization is not just for online users. Aspire to become China's food and beverage Taobao "hungry" is trying to provide customized services for offline businesses, such as a limited time discount for meals, before 10 o'clock in the morning to enjoy the discount. "This can help the restaurant to improve efficiency, to achieve e-commerce in the catering industry, our profit model will naturally have a qualitative change." Zhang Xuhao said that using the online platform to provide an integrated operation for the offline restaurant is the mode of cooperation he is exploring.

However, technology updates are always faster than commercial profits, and apps have not yet been able to adapt to business logic, and the HTML5 app concept is on the line. The app requires exquisite simplicity in design, which makes it possible to design a variety of targeted apps for O2O companies that require long chain coverage in the online travel market. Whether it is Ctrip or Ma honeycomb, each launched a 5 app, and this is just the last resort, "app more or less, we just want to find the most suitable for the user to use the way," Chen Liti Way, "We also hope to H5 way to develop, so that we do not install so many app, It is through the micro-letter or microblogging platform to use our services. ”

Have to step down the line to promote and rapid changes in technology updates, micro-passport founder Li deeply himself on average 6 hours a day sleep is a luxury.

Source: Global Business Classic author: Yu Han