Three years after publicly breaking with major physical hypermarkets to focus on e-commerce, Blue Moon has quietly returned to some hypermarkets. Recently, it has also faced allegations of pyramid scheme involvement. Recently, a reporter from China Business Journal learned from 51job that Blue Moon's recruitment account on the platform was suspended due to multiple complaints. The complaints mainly questioned whether Blue Moon is a pyramid scheme, and that recruitment information did not match job descriptions, with prospective employees required to sell Moon Vouchers to help Blue Moon sell products for free. In response, the reporter sent an interview request to Blue Moon for more information, but received no reply by press time. Due to a major shift in traditional channel strategy, starting from June-July 2015, Blue Moon voluntarily removed its products from hypermarkets such as RT-Mart, Carrefour, Renrenle, Auchan, and Walmart. After leaving hypermarkets, Blue Moon successively adopted e-commerce, O2O, and WeChat business models, but the results were unsatisfactory. In May this year, Blue Moon returned to Carrefour. However, returning to traditional channels has not been easy; Blue Moon must still comply with various restrictions imposed by hypermarkets. Whether it can heal the rift with supermarkets remains a severe test. Recruitment Purpose Questioned A 51job representative told reporters that Blue Moon's positions complained about on 51job included county promotion director, community promotion specialist, HR partner director, business director, sales director, and promotion supervisor. Complaints included questioning whether the company is a pyramid scheme, and more commonly, that Blue Moon used recruitment to help sell products for free or promote Moon Vouchers. On September 6, reporters searched 51job with the keyword "Blue Moon" and found many positions still being recruited normally. The representative said she was not sure when Blue Moon's account was restored, but the complained positions had been deleted. Wan Deqian, an independent e-commerce commentator who previously worked at RT-Mart, believes that "companies with high visibility like Blue Moon rarely receive complaints; they are usually VIP users of major recruitment platforms. However, influenced by the Li Wenxing incident, people are more concerned and cautious about virtual recruitment. Blue Moon's practice of recruiting people to sell goods has occurred long ago; many anonymous users on Zhihu have posted complaints about such recruitment tactics." On Zhihu, reporters indeed noticed similar claims. According to interviewee Sally (pseudonym), who joined Blue Moon in 2015 and worked in administration before leaving, she said, "Everyone has to sell products; even functional departments need to sell. We take turns, through stores, WeChat Moments, etc." Reporters learned that the so-called "Moon Voucher" refers to a recharge voucher in Blue Moon's WeChat public account, Moon Hut. When consumers recharge 300 yuan or 600 yuan for these vouchers, they can use them during promotional periods to purchase washing machine sets for free: 300 yuan for one set, 600 yuan for two sets. In this regard, Li Xu, president of the China Anti-Pyramid Scheme Association, told reporters, "According to the 'Regulations on Prohibition of Pyramid Schemes,' pyramid schemes have three characteristics: paying an entry fee to qualify, developing downlines to form a hierarchy, and multi-level compensation through rebates. Blue Moon's Moon Hut is a WeChat business model, and the Moon Voucher promotion uses incentive mechanisms similar to multi-level direct selling. However, WeChat business has always been surrounded by controversy, with chaotic marketing, uneven product quality, and lack of supervision. Although not exactly the same as traditional pyramid schemes, it somewhat resembles them. But for the Moon Voucher project, without a detailed commission table, it's hard to judge." Ouyang Wenzhang, an expert from the China Marketing Association's Direct Selling Expert Committee, also mentioned that first, Blue Moon is not a direct selling enterprise and lacks a direct selling license, so it definitely does not fall under direct selling. Second, if it uses head-hunting as a sales method and other aspects meet some basic characteristics of the 'Regulations on Prohibition of Pyramid Schemes,' we can only say the possibility of a pyramid scheme exists. But determining whether it is a pyramid scheme is the function of industry and commerce, public security, etc., and evidence needs to be investigated by public security. Brand marketing expert Lu Shengzhen believes that mass recruitment of sales personnel is a human wave tactic, an attempt at all-staff marketing after Blue Moon exited hypermarkets, reflecting Blue Moon's anxiety over performance. For employees, it is a helpless task, forcing them to sell at below-cost prices within their personal circles. This greatly overdraws Blue Moon's brand reputation and employees' enthusiasm and loyalty. When discussing Blue Moon's marketing methods, Sally frankly said, "They should change their marketing methods; not only do people around them dislike it, but even employees dislike it." "Willful" Channel Changes Due to a major shift in traditional channel strategy, starting from June-July 2015, Blue Moon began voluntarily removing its products from hypermarkets such as RT-Mart, Carrefour, Renrenle, Auchan, and Walmart. Wan Deqian, who worked at RT-Mart at the time, told reporters that in April 2015, Blue Moon proposed to hypermarkets including RT-Mart to change the consignment model (where goods are shipped to the store's warehouse, and unsold goods are returned to Blue Moon) to a counter model, where Blue Moon only rents counters in hypermarkets, sets prices independently, reduces contract deductions, and negotiates profit distribution with hypermarkets after sales. However, this request was rejected by these hypermarkets. After leaving hypermarkets, Blue Moon successively adopted e-commerce, O2O, and WeChat business models, but the results were unsatisfactory. In e-commerce, Blue Moon entered JD.com. Data from JD.com showed that during the "6·18" promotion in 2015, Blue Moon sold 1.01 million units of laundry detergent in half a day. It is estimated that this volume equals the annual sales of 2-3 hypermarkets. Wan Deqian believes that Blue Moon's cooperation with JD.com gave it a taste of zero channel costs, "but it cannot be ignored that the 1.01 million units sold in half a day on JD.com was achieved on JD's hottest sales day, at the cost of negative gross margin." Wan Deqian also pointed out, "Even if online e-commerce achieves absolute monopoly, its share of total market shipments will not exceed 20%." With the disappearance of online dividends, high logistics costs and fixed customer service expenses on online channels mean Blue Moon's development on e-commerce platforms like JD and Tmall is not easy. Daily chemical expert Zhang Honghui believes that on highly competitive e-commerce platforms, professional teams are needed for planning. "Many stores on Tmall and JD are operated by outsourcing or professional independent e-commerce marketing teams. If Blue Moon is not professional enough, its development will be affected." In O2O and WeChat business models, on one hand, Blue Moon began building self-operated "Moon Hut" community stores in cities like Beijing and Guangzhou to sell products. Consumers order through the Moon Hut WeChat public account or app, and stores provide product sales, laundry services, and offline logistics delivery. On the other hand, Blue Moon actively recruited "cleaning consultants" for ground promotion. It is understood that "cleaning consultants" use their personal networks to recommend Blue Moon to friends and family, guide them to order on the "Moon Hut" WeChat platform, and deliver the products themselves, earning up to 16% commission. "Cleaning consultants" are not employees but partners, requiring a deposit to join. "The WeChat business model is inherently controversial. It has low channel costs, far less than supermarket entry fees. Notably, WeChat business operators must constantly find downlines and increase purchase frequency to build the marketing chain. But laundry detergent is not fresh produce; consumers do not buy it weekly, and everyone's network is limited. Eventually, it may annoy relatives and friends," Wan Deqian said. Moon Hut has not developed on a large scale. The Moon Hut in Wangjing, Beijing, has moved; the other three are in non-core areas like Shunyi, Miyun, and Changping. Reporters found that in Guangzhou, the Moon Hut store is located in the Zengcheng Phoenix City community, far from the city center. After encountering unsatisfactory results with e-commerce and self-built O2O and WeChat business models, Blue Moon returned to Carrefour in May this year. But returning to hypermarkets is not without pressure for Blue Moon. On one hand, during its absence from hypermarkets, Blue Moon's market space has been divided by brands like Liby, Chunneng, Weishen, and Omo. According to Euromonitor data, Blue Moon's market share in China has declined from 23.4% in 2012 to 20.3% in 2016. On the other hand, "re-entering requires a series of new fees. It is understood that hypermarkets charge entry fees, display fees, deductions, DM (direct mail), and promotion fees, which together account for 30%-35% of the laundry detergent selling price," Gao Jianfeng, managing director of Shanghai Bogao Consulting, told reporters. Lu Shengzhen also said that Blue Moon's return to stores is inevitable. After returning, Blue Moon must still comply with various restrictions imposed by hypermarkets. Whether it can heal the rift with supermarkets remains a severe test. So far, Carrefour has re-accepted it, but Blue Moon is still absent from RT-Mart. Source: China Business Network Source: Zhihu user Xianbu I am a 2015 sales reserve cadre at Blue Moon, from a first-tier university. I passed multiple rounds of interviews to get the offer, but that was just the beginning of a tragedy, a nightmare for most of the 2015 reserve cadres. As graduation approached, even in July, Blue Moon did not notify us to start work. Fortunately, I got my diploma late; many graduates went home and waited for news from the moon. Finally, news came: we were to buy tickets to Nanjing for training. After two days of training, they told us to buy tickets to Guangzhou headquarters. How could we buy tickets at such short notice? This year, the moon reformed and removed products from supermarkets, leaving many supermarket workers jobless. The company did not give a direct response. During training, the workers surrounded the company, scaring me and the girls; but they did not make things difficult for us, knowing we were fresh graduates and it wasn't our fault. They just complained about the moon's inhumanity and cruelty to employees, saying we should find better jobs than a scam company. Of course, they also acknowledged the moon's glorious history; wages used to be decent. But now the moon keeps reforming and forcing employees to resign. I resigned after about ten days. The resignation process was complicated. Training was about scientific laundry and brainwashing, with market department executives giving motivational talks. After a few days of basic training, we were divided into groups. Some went to the e-commerce group, managing and replying to coaches everywhere, which was tiring. Colleagues often worked overtime until midnight. I was assigned to the WeChat business group, promoting the Moon Mall. Simply put, we had to get relatives, friends, and classmates to buy laundry detergent from the platform. A set cost at least 80-100 yuan. We had daily sales targets, with senior colleagues as team leaders urging us. We spent all day in the office contacting them via computer, calling it "Saving 10 Billion Clothes Worldwide," but it was essentially a pyramid scheme. Occasionally, we went to university towns in Guangdong to recruit college students, promoting and asking for ID numbers. In short, the moon removed products from supermarkets, entered JD and WeChat Mall, but had no logistics system. They needed people to stock goods locally and deliver on orders, with a deposit of 128,000 yuan. It was full of pitfalls and unreliability. Of course, the moon changed policies every few days. Seeing this method was ineffective, they did not persist for three months, but many dealers who paid deposits were hurt. In short, I later resigned. I saw former colleagues being transferred from one city to another, not knowing what they were doing now. Also, it is true that salaries were reduced after becoming regular employees. A reform could set you back years of promotion. After joining, there was no sense of belonging, existence, or goal. I wonder how many of the 600+ sales reserve cadres from 2015 remain. Please reply. The 3rd (CFIC) China FMCG + Internet Conference will be held in Chongqing in November 2017. The conference will closely focus on the theme "New Forces, New Ecology," inviting 1,000+ distributors, 500+ brand owners, 200+ B2B platform founders, and 100+ investment and financing institutions to jointly explore new chapters of cross-border integration! Core Topics of This Conference:
How can the FMCG industry achieve new growth opportunities through B2B
How to build a new supply chain behind new retail
How can intra-city logistics help B2B achieve leapfrog development
Highlights of This Conference:
The industry's first "2017 China FMCG B2B Industry Competitiveness White Paper"
Case sharing of excellent transforming and upgrading distributors
Upgraded conference + exhibition, Hall 6 Internet Technology Exhibition strengthens docking
Alibaba Retail Link, GLPS Finance, Eternal Asia Supply Chain, Best Store Plus, Yijiupi, Haiding: leaders from various fields deliver speeches and share pioneering views.
Registration is now open. Long press the QR code below or click "Read Original" to register. Early bird tickets before September 17 enjoy a 30% discount! Add friend with note "Conference Registration" Click the links below to review the highlights of the 1st and 2nd FMCG + Internet Conferences: 2016 "FMCG + Internet" Summit Forum 2017 (2nd) China FMCG + Internet Conference Click the links below to review the highlights of the 1st and 2nd FMCG + Internet Conferences: 2016 "FMCG + Internet" Summit Forum -END-