To discuss Internet+, we must first analyze or sort out one thing: what are the new characteristics brought by the advent of the Internet era? In my personal view, there are five new characteristics: 1. Time value far exceeds spatial value; 2. Professional value can always be discovered; 3. Information flows at high speed and low cost, approaching zero; 4. Flattening, with continuous reduction of hierarchy; 5. Large-scale collaboration is highly efficient and low-cost!
The term "Internet thinking" is very popular! Typical examples include Lei Jun's: focus, extreme, word-of-mouth, speed! There is also free thinking, etc. But in my personal view, Lei Jun's seven-character formula is not exclusive to the Internet era; the traditional era also needed these. Free thinking is not new either; Procter & Gamble in the FMCG industry gave away small sachets of shampoo on a large scale, which counts as such.
Therefore, to research or operate with Internet+, we need to truly grasp the characteristics of the Internet era. The above five points are the new characteristics as I understand them. So what impact will these new characteristics have on business operations? This is crucial.
When time value is higher than spatial value, the "occupy the mountain as king" mindset no longer works. For example, in the industry, hotel buyout sales and terminal dominance have been instantly shattered. Another impact of time value exceeding spatial value is that consumers are shopping at all times, requiring enterprises to ideally achieve 24-hour seamless operations. 24-hour operations! Think about our business operations and management: employees clock in and out on time, thinking, "Why isn't it time to leave yet?" How can they be willing to work longer hours or always think for the enterprise?
Professional value can always be discovered. What impact does this have on operations? It means that truly high-tech, high-emotion, high-value products can quickly be discovered by consumers, and resources and attention easily converge on high-quality products, while mediocre products are ignored and find it increasingly difficult to survive. From this perspective, Lei Jun's emphasis on "extreme" has some merit.
With massive information generation and high-speed flow, costs approach zero. Whether a CEO or a head of state, if willing, can easily communicate and dialogue with end users. The value of such communication and dialogue has immeasurable effects on brand communication and brand influence! Look at Internet companies launching new products, such as Xiaomi, 360, LeEco, etc. Haven't their CEOs' Weibo and WeChat played a huge role? This means that CEOs should or must personally participate in social marketing. For various consumer goods like wine, this has considerable value. If other companies need to invest tens of millions in product promotion, while a company only needs its CEO and a few friends to post a few Weibo and WeChat messages, the cost competitiveness is self-evident.
Flattening, with continuous reduction of hierarchy, implies two things. Internally, enterprises must reduce middle management and improve organizational response speed! Employees should be entrepreneurial, not part of lengthy organizational systems. Externally, resources should be tilted toward more efficient places, with fewer levels and closer to consumers. In the alcohol industry, for example, cooperate with more efficient distribution enterprises like 1919, or open brand online stores and micro-stores. In the future, enterprises will be "modularized," with some functions connecting like plugs at any time.
Large-scale collaboration is highly efficient and low-cost, which has an even greater impact. Do you know an entrepreneur called "WuXi AppTec"? Through globalized, networked, distributed, large-scale collaboration, it develops new drugs for large multinational pharmaceutical companies. Currently, 8,000 scientists serve WuXi AppTec, and the company pays hundreds of millions in monthly salaries. 8,000 scientists! For a company with a short history, imagine the difficulty without the Internet! This requires enterprises to focus on their strengths and continuously accumulate advantages, share and cooperate, rather than being "big and complete" with eyes closed, or operating only in their small circle. The "small sparrow with all organs" model faces increasingly strong challenges.
Above, I discussed my views on Internet characteristics and their impact on operations. Next, let's talk about what is more essential before marketing.
Before marketing, first clarify what the enterprise's core competitiveness is? Not all ideas are worth persisting in!
1. Product enterprises: core is R&D and brand marketing. 2. Distribution enterprises: core is creating unique user value and distribution efficiency.
If you are a product enterprise without R&D capability or brand marketing capability, I can draw a somewhat arbitrary conclusion: you may eventually die.
Remember, it's brand marketing, not just selling goods!
In my view, all industries are creative industries. Human nature is eternal; people are never just rational economic beings.
Many of our traditional enterprises, including red and white wine companies, only know how to sell products and compete on price. The so-called new economy e-commerce has basically risen by competing on price, exploiting the price gap caused by low traditional distribution efficiency and high distribution costs. But in brand building, many e-commerce companies have little to show. Of course, now there are gradually more e-commerce product brands with unique positioning and value.
The concept of Internet+ seems to be only so hot in China. In Japan and the United States, it's not this hot.
The main reason is that China's traditional distribution costs are too high and efficiency is too low. So e-commerce seized the opportunity to break out, and even produced a Jack Ma, creating a huge demonstration effect. Traditional enterprises are also panicked.
In Japan, traditional distribution efficiency is extremely high, e-commerce development is not fast, and it hasn't caused big waves. Objectively speaking, the value created by e-commerce platforms is not too great; it mainly improves efficiency. Of course, e-commerce platforms are now facing bottlenecks, with rising traffic costs! Online and offline traffic are facing rebalancing, entering a strategic stalemate phase! This is another opportunity for many enterprises.
Of course, when laying out Internet+, enterprises must also consider the attributes and consumption characteristics of their products. For example, red wine, due to its immediacy, scenario-based, and casual consumption characteristics, has offline sales far exceeding online.
Therefore, for wine operations, offline must be highly focused on and participated in.
Take our California wine business segment as an example. Two years ago, when considering launching this business, I had a basic consideration: we must have our own brand. Otherwise, this business would not be launched. Pure trading, earning a price difference, can never build an enterprise's core competitiveness!
So, I negotiated with the American supplier. On one hand, we would act as an agent for several of their brands; on the other hand, I required that one series must be replaced with our own trademark and label, i.e., reverse OEM. If they didn't agree, I wouldn't bother. Of course, I've heard many people in the industry have mixed opinions on wine OEM. That's normal. But in my view, for consumer goods, where technology doesn't advance quickly, brand is very, very important. Since foreigners can come to China for OEM production, why can't we have foreigners produce for us? Aren't companies as awesome as Nike and Apple not producing themselves? It seems the fault is not with OEM, but with brand operation capability!
In the Internet era, a marketer who doesn't share and spread is not a qualified marketer.
Weibo and WeChat should become the "two guns" of marketing personnel in the new era.
Weibo and WeChat: first, they intrude into employees' private lives; second, there's no time limit; third, content may not all be work-related. So, many traditional enterprise bosses don't allow employees to play with Weibo and WeChat. Our company is the opposite: I require everyone, regardless of whether they are in marketing positions, to be proficient in Weibo and WeChat and participate in social dissemination. Employee entrepreneurship also needs to solve two problems: interest and capability.
Our company, when recruiting, places great emphasis on basic abilities in "listening, speaking, reading, and writing," requiring a balance.
Second, increase profit sharing. Share 30% of annual profits, give equity to some outstanding employees, etc. Form a community of interests and a community of destiny.
From talent philosophy, work tools and methods, and profit-sharing mechanisms, I personally think adjustments are needed to adapt to the Internet era.
Without these adjustments and changes, a simple Internet+ won't be able to add up. In the final analysis, an enterprise's core competitiveness can only come from within!
Strategy, culture, mechanisms, skills, etc., must be integrated into an efficient system. Strive to achieve "force out of one hole, profit out of one hole," and adapt to changes as needed! On this basis, issues like how to add Internet+ and how to execute will flow smoothly.
What many enterprises are troubled by is probably the entire organization's inability to adapt to the changes of the Internet era; bosses and senior management want to mobilize but can't.
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