Mother and child case: millet pregnant and infant how to do 4 years 80 stores, running water 150 million

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[Guide] Millet pregnant baby with 50,000 yuan in the office opened the first shop, just 4 years time, stores reached 80, sales 150 million, and its gross margin is the average baby shop twice times. The advantage of Millet pregnancy in 1) a unique commodity, 2 attractive price, 3 customer friendly, personalized service.

--The dialogue between Yueng and the founder Li Zhiheng of Millet Baby

China baby Boy · Note

A pregnant baby retail chain Enterprise, in 2010, with 50,000 yuan in the office opened the first shop, just 4 years, stores reached 80, sales 150 million, and its gross margin is the average baby shop twice times. The company that grew up with the rocket speed is Taiyuan millet pregnant baby.

August 15, Millet founder, CEO Li Zhiheng from Shanxi to Guangzhou to participate in "Yueng Salon." Yueng interviewed him at Sharon's lunch break, more than 40 minutes of interviews, dialysis the same way as the baby goddess of the operation.

Yueng: Rivers and lakes rumor, millet pregnant baby chain is opened in the office building?

Li Zhiheng: Yes. I entered the baby industry is very accidental, 2010 I run a DM pregnant Baby magazine, a customer to advertise in the magazine, I went to him there to see a bit, feel bad, in the face of the children grow up shop, how can that do? So I tried to open the first store in the office building.

Yueng: What was the effect?

Li Zhiheng: About the second month, sales broke through 200,000, and gross margin was high. Sales continued to grow, and we opened a new store in the office building and soon made a profit. We are proud, a 200 square meters office shop, about one months sales of 1 million.

Yueng: How did you do that?

Li Zhiheng: Our DM advertisement circulation is big, play the role of promotion. In addition, high-end customers willing to go to office, more quiet. Our shop assistant does a good job of consultant sales, although the number of customers is not many, but the customer unit price is high.

Yueng: What is the ratio of street shop to office building now?

Li Zhiheng: Office store opened 3, because the customer too much, to office some influence, we all turn to the street.

Understand 85 after mother, cultural marketing to drive the market

Yueng: As far as I know, millet pregnant baby's "Mother Spring Festival Gala" by a lot of industry acclaim, such a creative how to get? What is the promotion of your brand?

Li Zhiheng: "Pregnant mummy Style exhibition" event by the media as "Mother Spring Festival Gala", in 2006, held the first, was the Shanxi Maternity Association of the Secretary-General put forward, I took this task, the activity is very good, and then insist on doing once a year, may be two years in the middle of a year to do once.

Yueng: I have seen this activity, very characteristic. Now the mother is very concerned about themselves, the original we think the woman a pregnancy concern is all in the baby, as if the mother does not exist. In fact, I learned from some of my friends that the mother in her pregnancy is also very concerned about themselves.

Li Zhiheng: Yes, they are very concerned about themselves. See the young mother of this demand, I also invested in a maternity photo studio, specifically for pregnant women to take pictures, and asked the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing Film Institute professionals to design a photo template for pregnant women.

We have close contact with the pregnant customer group, there are many very interesting findings, these 85 mothers sometimes more attention to themselves than children, they put their feelings first, the baby in the second. But the majority of those who are dads see the baby first.

Yueng: How does this affect your market position?

Li Zhiheng: So, we will put a lot of mom supplies in the store, like bra underwear, maternity clothes, all pregnant women eat, wear, live, line our category are all, and sales are very large.

Yueng: So it seems that the millet baby shop is very understanding of the younger generation of mothers, customers and you have a very close relationship?

Li Zhiheng: Yes, some customers who join our "Mom Spring Festival Gala" have a good relationship with us by now. For example, the first championship, she was pregnant with children to participate in our performance, and later her children attended the CCTV Spring Festival Gala, she first time on the phone told me.

Yueng: This is a good development of the fan economy.

Li Zhiheng: Yes, we are very focused on nurturing customers, which is my proudest point. At least I as the boss, I know a lot of customers, many customers and I often communicate and communicate. Besides me, I have two assistants who communicate with them exclusively.

Yueng: Have you ever thought about setting up a team to interact with customers?

Li Zhiheng: We have now, my company's marketing system has a department is not other people, such as millet nets 10 people and customers in the online interaction, the magazine editorial office, the company customer service department, from different levels and customers to communicate.

Yueng: Now a lot of catalogues are like red kids, and it's gone. Do you think this catalogue is useful to you now?

Li Zhiheng: Very useful, our magazine from the content editor to see, added some commonweal content, the layout is also beautiful. Another important thing is that we have a lot of interaction with our customers in magazines.

Yueng: You actually turned retail into a social platform.

Li Zhiheng: It's a social platform. For example, I put your little baby in the magazine, so many people in your circle of friends will say, this is Hu total baby, spread on a wide. In this issue we took the "Mom Spring Festival Gala" champion, runner-up and runner-up, rented a very beautiful photographic base, arranged two photographers, six people took six hours to shoot. We work hard.

Yueng: How much do you spend on culture each year?

Li Zhiheng: Accounted for 1%-2%.

Yueng: What's the biggest difference between a previous baby-child retail and what you're doing now?

Li Zhiheng: We are doing cultural marketing, they are only in open shop hospitality, this is the difference. I have always practiced the culture of pregnancy and baby. Including the establishment of the spicy MOM Club, we have baby photography competition, Dad knowledge Contest, make a lot. We advocate the use of culture to guide a concept of life. So millet is the slogan of pregnancy and infant system to create six-star service, we are the dissemination of a concept, but is guided by culture, products are naturally accepted.

Yueng: Your expansion is still very fast, in less than 4 years to open 80 stores. Many of my friends have a pretty big cost challenge. How do you assess where you should open a shop when you are expanding?

Li Zhiheng: We do marketing first, then go to the shop.

Yueng: Is the first place to do marketing to make brand influence?

Li Zhiheng: Yes, like I'm going to open a shop somewhere, I won't drive this year, I'll be driving next year. I start with some academic meetings and seminars, and slowly send our catalogue to the local market, which is to do some marketing activities, especially now that we have a website.

Our website design is also based on the needs of customers to do, not to stand in the perspective of our business.

Yueng: I see the site now has a mother and child platform feel.

Li Zhiheng: This is the goal, is being explored.

The secret of high profit: Set up your own product system

Yueng: But now because we do retail gross margin is limited, do not know the side is not convenient to disclose your margin situation?

Li Zhiheng: I can tell you frankly that our gross margin is 1-2 times higher than the average retail store.

Yueng: How does it work?

Li Zhiheng: It is simple to achieve this, we do not do now popular, best-selling goods, because we have their own product system. Use our unique way to push a brand that we think is good. In three years we can launch more than 100 brands and rewrite the whole business. Three years ago the brand, through our shop, is now very famous in Shanxi. (Millet at least participate in eight international and domestic baby supplies exhibition every year, in the first time will be the latest high-quality high-end brand to the millet shelves.) Every quarter of the store for the Baby brand optimization and upgrade, and constantly add new items, and constantly eliminate the old brand, always keep the shelves of pregnant and infant supplies with developed countries synchronized. )

Yueng: Shanxi Province is not a first-line brand not too concerned about the province? In Qingdao, how is your model developing?

Li Zhiheng: Well, it turns out that we can get to Qingdao.

Yueng: Because I also from the brand enterprises out, and sometimes there will be a big shop bullying, customer bullying shop phenomenon. During your training and growth, will some brands because of growing up, unable to control, want to get rid of your situation?

Li Zhiheng: A few, but few. That is the boss of the character, about 100 brands will have a two of the situation. And we are cash in stock, I am very credit, the general manufacturers are willing to continue to work together for a long time.

Yueng: A lot of retailers are going to Yahuo, in this way to deal with the brand, the use of funds. You used a cash purchase to get a higher profit, which is back to the nature of business: I can sell, I'll give you the money.

Li Zhiheng: If we sell more, we will ask manufacturers to give us some support when doing activities, most enterprises still support, we have become friends.

Yueng: So you generally have no intermediary distributor?

Li Zhiheng: No. In addition to powdered milk, I do not act as an agent. The proportion of milk powder accounted for only about 35% of our, more is our direct agent, exclusive took the agent and then put in our store inside.

Yueng: Your milk powder sales accounted for only 35%, the average store is 50%.

Li Zhiheng: Because of the low quality of some shop assistants, he only sells FMCG. In fact, we are quick to eliminate the type of goods are a lot, extended to the clothing supplies. The sales ratio of this piece is difficult for others to achieve.

Yueng: How much do you invest in improving the quality of the staff?

Li Zhiheng: We are a small business, we are their own training, have a complete training courses and training system. Our training is very solid, I would like to speak two subjects in person. Our rewards to our employees are also very rich, for example, some stores can reach a monthly income of 20,000 yuan. Only in this way, the company's strength can precipitate down.

To challenge the electric business: rely on differentiated marketing

Yueng: Do you feel the impact of the Internet electric Dealer?

Li Zhiheng: About three years ago we put forward a challenge to the electric business, in fact, the effect is very good.

Yueng: How to challenge the electric dealer?

Li Zhiheng: A challenge to the electricity business is to let the customer intuitively feel that my things than the electrical business is not only cheaper, more convenient delivery than the electrical business, and I also can guarantee the quality! This is our way to challenge, we are not simply cheap, our shop generally have cultural activities.

Yueng: It is not just goods that consume.

Li Zhiheng: Yes! There is a lottery in the shop, the award-winning quiz Ah, the baby to do all kinds of games ah. Everyone has such a sense of participation, especially after the birth of a child, I hope the store to do more such activities, so that her children have the opportunity to participate in such activities, the effect is good. The most important is now we have more shops, we do the activities of the time, the general manufacturers will also give some special support.

Yueng Reviews

In the 60 's, a company that studied retailing in the United States, through a lot of research, concluded that the competitive advantage between small retail chains and the Big Mac Ultra was:

1, unique goods, 2, attractive price, 3, customer friendly, personalized service. However, when commodity information emerges as a tidal wave on the internet, the number of unique commodities has become scarce. Thus, the price war becomes our most important tactic, the competition is more and more fierce, almost crazy, lost the most fundamental business reason.

On the arrival of the electric business shock wave in the past few years, Taiyuan millet pregnant and infant with their own practice, quietly to the market to prove that there is a third mode exists, that is "customer friendly service." Retailing is the service industry, and the service industry is the people and the customers. Customer shopping is to meet her various needs, price demand is only one.

The success of Millet, once again proved that when we return to the "human" attention, our customers as a living life, not just "cash machine", we can find a unique competitive business model.