Macaulay: The decline of the vertical electric quotient

Focus on their own products, selling goods that can not be bought elsewhere, the "tail" to retain, in fact, the survival of the road is very simple, but in the ever-expanding electric business ambitions, become the most impossible task.

Once on the "China Business First shares" Halo, in October 2010, the Nasdaq-listed Macquarie, the recent spread may be sold, and let the domestic electric dealers to borrow shell listing. Although, August 25, the government has announced to the media that the sale of rumors, but its "first share" of the halo has long been dissipated, in addition to the first year of the market to maintain profits, successive years of losses so that Mai Lin became a vertical distributor of the opposite typical, and more crucially, the vertical electric operators of the wrong route has become a nightmare of the Macaulay.

The dream of the vertical electric trader

Almost all the vertical electric dealers are trying to move from vertical to synthetic.

2010, Mai Lin, Dangdang listed, the vertical electric business to the peak of financing. According to statistics, the current year, the electricity quotient of more than 24, the amount of 600 million U.S. dollars, 2011, 95 from the dealer financing, the total amount of more than 4.691 billion U.S. dollars, to create new highs. But in the second half of 2011, E-commerce investment environment plummeted.

The ups and downs of Macaulay is undoubtedly the best footnote to all this.

According to media reports, the rumors of Macaulay's acquisition is directly related to its continuing losses. Macaulay only in the listing of the year 2010 to maintain the total revenue of 227.5 million U.S. dollars, net profit of 4.4 million U.S. dollars of success, into 2011 years, Macaulay into a loss. Macaulay 2011 Net operating income of 217.9 million U.S. dollars, net loss of 33.3 million U.S. dollars, 2012 net operating income of 15,180 U.S. dollars, net loss of 22.4 million U.S. dollars.

August 14, Macaulay announced the results of the two quarter as of June 30 without the audit earnings. Its net operating income was $21.8 million in the second quarter, down 44.1% from a year earlier. The net loss was $6.2 million trillion, which increased by 1.3 million dollars over the same period last year.

This trajectory contrasts with the rise and fall of E-commerce, with two key reasons for this outcome:

One is that the initial layout defects lead to bulls attacking, lack of focus.

Mecoxlane is the most famous in the field of electrical business is its "Network Shop telephone order" of the three channels. On the face of it, this is a very balanced structure, especially based on the traditional advantage of the Macaulay telephone mail order. But the seemingly robust layout has caused the difficulty in the allocation of the originally limited resources of the Macaulay Forest. It is clear that Macaulay until the beginning of this year to reduce and stop the catalog issue, to gradually dilute the telephone mail order features, focus on e-commerce above, but at the moment, the former pioneers have lagged too many peers.

At the same time, Mai Lin is proud of more than 2000 physical stores also become the soft rib of e-commerce, there is no difference between the electrical and physical stores to achieve the results of the operation, or because of warehousing and logistics factors such as the price is difficult to reduce, or let the entity shop into a "fitting room", this problem not only Macaulay has, Other entities to open the brand Taobao store, Suning, Gome and other physical stores to enter the electricity business.

The second is the positioning of the wobble caused its sandwiched between the vertical and the synthesis, do not know where to go.

Macaulay's positioning is the vertical electric quotient, but this is only its initial goal, and when the book when, do the electrical appliances of the east, the real goal of the Mai Lin is also to the comprehensive store leap forward. And when, Jing Dong There is a difference is that Macaulay misjudged the situation, think oneself in the telephone mail order already established brand image and no natural transition to the network above, like many entity brands, encounter the embarrassment of online shopping, and originally white-collar women as the goal of the characteristics of the MAI Lin brand also in this translation process to dilute. In the private brand's network influence has not yet formed, directly increased the opening of the franchise, the result not only blurred their own image, but also because of the weakness of the sales and let the franchisee gradually lost confidence.

Obsessed want to leap from the vertical electric business to a comprehensive class of electric power business dream, in fact, just led to wheat and so on, such as the banner of the vertical electricity business because of the pace is too big and "nonsense."

Sell Goods not available elsewhere

Almost all vertical electric dealers have these common problems, the dream is too full, the reality is too bony.

According to media reports, August, in the past two years, after burning more than 60 million yuan, trying to create a hot goods with the main platform hot passenger network no accident on the list of the electrical quotient. Prior to this, the initial, Amoy, cotton and other vertical electric dealers or the acquisition or layoffs or closures, so that once the big hot vertical electric dealers into the Jedi.

Therefore, the brand is still not strong enough to highlight, but also seek a larger expansion of the plan.

And the same time when the Mai-Lin, Jingdong can from vertical to integrated, in addition to the entire electrical business sector, the general category portal is blue overseas, but also rely on its own product category set more broadly, originally belong to a single category of comprehensive stores, and no specific brand image and living under the brand products can be said, This characteristic determines its generalization of the network reputation is not locked in its own products, transition is relatively easy.

And as with the Mai Lin similar as every customer sincerity goods, although the initial reliance on mass propaganda such as "where the object" and the relatively low price and reliable quality and rise, but once entered the V mode, a large number of the introduction of a variety of franchise brands, Xu Tu to the rapid elimination of the type of comprehensive electric platform to highlight the long tail effect of conversion, Its intrinsic brand image is stranded by the lazy thinking of netizens. In addition, despite the introduction of a large number of brands have been in the physical sales established Word-of-mouth, but because of the former inertia of the thinking limit and be circled dead. More crucially, the current comprehensive electric business platform, most of the franchise brand itself is a "wide net" mode, each platform has sales, but also let these vertical electric business integration of the road become attractive all without.

But, the private brand state of the vertical electric dealer is not and the long tail model, many of the initial phase of the operation of the vertical electric operator is coincident with the long tail of the law, that is, the author in the "Hands ferocious" a book repeatedly put forward-sold elsewhere to buy goods.

Single look at the initial success of the vertical electric quotient, you can see this feature: where the simple men's shirts and Xing, Mai-Lin main female apparel, le bee focus on cosmetics, etc., are based on their own brand of high-quality Low-cost products hit the market door. Its quality guarantee superior to Consumer-to-consumer store, the product price is more affordable than the entity brand in the comprehensive store, its "small ship is good to turn" the characteristic and lets its product in the type and the characteristic has many bright colors. So many, just formed the "sell elsewhere can not buy" the characteristics of the goods, at the same time, if the entire e-commerce industry as a huge store, then this vertical electric dealer is just a long tail in the longer end.

Keep the tail.

Jingdong Mall CEO Liu has said that in 2013, the vertical consumer electric power provider "to the independent brand has a lot of opportunities, but the main retail platform for vertical electric dealers are doomed to have no opportunity." In his view, whether the traditional retail industry or the Internet industry, "Development to the end of the three to five, and now is thousands of, so I think 99% of the Electric Chamber of Commerce died."

But a soldier who doesn't want to be a general is no good soldier. Vertical electric operators expect to synthesize from the vertical, which is understandable, but also in line with their development needs, but the way forward to go?

You can't blur the face of your own brand. This is the first rule of the development route, such as Mecoxlane so frequently change the array, a moment "troika", a while back to the telephone mail order, and then want to open the physical store market, the top of the design volatility, and ultimately drag the brand. And the introduction of a large number of homogeneous stores and other brands, so that its own brand has been caught in the encirclement of the competition. This error, most of the vertical electric dealers in the crime, its neglect of their own even if the eventual development of the integrated category of stores, but also need to take their own brand as the backbone to the franchise and other brands for the "long tail", forming and other electronic Business platform differentiated competition strategy. Don't forget in the physical store, whether it is an absolute comprehensive Carrefour store or a relatively comprehensive Watson's store, in addition to goods complete, cheap, its own brand products even if only OEM products of high quality and low price, is the most attractive consumer of the core bright spot, is not a commodity elsewhere. Such a long tail can be beats.

Cannot excessively pursue all-inclusive. In this rule, most of the wards of the vertical electric dealers are prone to make mistakes is not gradual, from its own brand to a single category of integrated store transition, and then from the consumer group to gradually enrich the other product lines and products, but jumping directly into the pan-consumer population and consumption of the theme of the comprehensive class portal, Intended to achieve one-stop consumption. And this rapid development, will inevitably bring about the structural imbalance of products, become the current troubled these dealers a fatal bottleneck-seemingly complete, but the product is not diverse. This shows that the gradual, gradual enrichment of categories, is the current vertical electric business survival.

But another all-inclusive is a major strategic malady that has been completed from vertical to integrated transformation, such as Jingdong, when, etc. In particular, Jingdong, while its own electric business is still burning money, it still does not pay attention to the difference of competition, but on the one hand and peer big price war, on the other hand, in their own completely without the foundation of the direction, such as being widely criticized by the Beijing-East Self-built Logistics, as well as its recent burst of attempts to open a physical store under the new strategy This does not pay attention to the Division of the division, and blindly want to taibaodalan trend, it is bound to become similar to the Mai-lin "troika" type of drag.

Focus on their own products, selling goods that can not be bought elsewhere, the "tail" to retain, in fact, the survival of the road is very simple, but in the ever-expanding electric business ambitions, become the most impossible task.