Open more than 1,400 stores with annual sales of 10 billion yuan. How do you achieve a new product every week?

From the height of the industrial chain, Mingchuang's products integrate resources in the world, reconstruct production relations, and use innovative business models to make this possible.

MINISO famous products have been established for only 3 years, and in 2015, the revenue exceeded 5 billion yuan, and this year is expected to hit 10 billion yuan. Its founder, Ye Guofu, was also named a 2016 entrepreneur and was hailed as a representative of new retail. At the 2016 Entrepreneurship Dark Horse Community Conference on December 14th, Ye Guofu recommended a new book on the famous creations, "There is no secret of famous creations" to the majority of entrepreneurs. This new book summarizes the success of Mingchuang's products, and today we extract some of them for readers.

Providing quality products with reasonable prices and simple design to consumers around the world is not a slogan. From the height of the industrial chain, Mingchuang's products integrate resources in the world, reconstruct production relations, and use innovative business models to make this possible.

Who is the core consumer - aiming at 18~28 year olds

In the interview, many customers said that they had such an experience: at first they were only attracted by one or two products, and they went into the store of Mingchuang's excellent products. "I saw things cheap and have a sense of design. I found myself wanting to buy this too. I want to buy it, and finally I bought it a lot."

This is in line with the original intention of the creation of the famous creation - "lifestyle collection store." The products of Mingchuang Premium are kept at around 3,000. “The market is very well controlled, it is 3,000 kinds, and there are not too many small stores. It focuses on daily necessities and others do not.” The product line covers ten categories of lifestyle department stores, health and beauty, creative home, food, jewelry, textiles, cultural and sports gifts, digital accessories, boutique packaging and seasonal products. We hope to provide one-stop shopping service to meet the diverse needs of customers.

Shanghai No. 152 Nanjing East Road, No. 1 Beijing Road, Guangzhou, Qianmen Street, Beijing is the three benchmarking stores in China. It is also known as the “A+ store”. From the site selection point of view, these three stores are located in China's premier pedestrian street, customers mainly mainly tourists from all over the country, almost regardless of age, regardless of gender. At 152 Nanjing East Road, Shanghai, I even saw two white-haired couples buying laundry detergent together, which is different from other cities. Take the Yan'an Road store in Hangzhou as an example. The location is also located in the bustling commercial street. The customers who enter the famous and excellent products are mainly young people.

Mingchuang's positioning is “fast fashion department store brand”, and the core consumers are locked into young people aged 18-28. Why is the age of 18 to 28? What are the characteristics of consumers of this age? What is the brand planning of Mingchuang Premium?

Many years of business experience tells Ye Guofu, "must lock young people." Brands that grow with young people often have the most vitality because they carry a common memory. For example, Disney, which was founded in 1926, has a history of 90 years. Its classic cartoon characters such as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck have been growing up with generations of young people, and they have built up lingering memories in the hearts of consumers around the world. The brand itself is endless, and although it has been more than 90 years, it still has the appeal of transcending time.

Ye Guofu once bluntly said to a man: "People over the age of 28 are generally difficult to make changes, not the target consumers of famous products." The nearly 40-year-old man admits that he has rarely gone shopping. I am busy with my work all day, and my household items are basically taken care of by my wife.

In the winter of 2015, Ye Guofu shared his entrepreneurial experience at the Bingo Cafe in Zhongguancun, Beijing. One listener threw a rather sharp question: “Ming Chuangyou is committed to providing high-quality and low-priced goods to young people, but young people will always grow up when they no longer choose famous products. Can Mingchuang's products become a century-old store?"

Ye Guofu did not answer directly, but used Forever 21 as an example. "There is a Korean who is starting a business in the United States. Why should he be forever 21? He wants to be young forever, with the growth of young people from generation to generation." "Not every day, you can make a hundred-year-old shop and make a good product. The service of the 80s and 90s of each era is good. It is a natural process to become a century-old store, not a deliberate pursuit."

This reminds me of the situation when I first entered the famous product. I asked Ye Guofu: "What is the vision of Mingchuang's excellent products?"

Ye Guofu replied without hesitation: "Now the young people are living too hard, the pace of life is fast, the work pressure is high, and they are squeezed by high prices. Mingchuangyou hopes to provide consumers with design, high-quality goods at reasonable prices. , liberating young people from generation to generation."

The product development mechanism behind the “7-day new cycle”

Fast-paced market competition requires companies to continue to innovate and meet the fast-changing needs of consumers with more advanced products and services, so speed has become an important competitive factor. To some extent, who can perceive market changes more quickly, more acutely capture and grasp consumer demand, and more quickly launch marketable products, who can take the lead in the competition.

Based on this understanding, Mingchuang Premium will shorten the new cycle to 7 days, requiring new products to be launched every week.

In order to facilitate management, since the beginning of the establishment, the number of famous products has been controlled at around 3,000 pieces, and has continued to this day, becoming a standard. Each product has its own life cycle and goes through the process of development, testing, growth, maturity and decline. How does Chuangchuang Premium roll the product on a weekly basis while ensuring that the number of SKUs remains largely unchanged?

Chuangchuang has established an international team of designers, in addition to Miyake Shun, as well as Swedish designer Ola Giertz, Danish designer Philip Bro and good at furniture and The Norma PermafROST design team for toy design checks the product design. In addition, more than 200 buyers in the commodity center scan the global market around the clock, capture the latest consumer trends and popular elements from Europe, the United States, Japan and South Korea, and develop new product development proposals based on the customer positioning and supply capabilities of Mingchuang.

The commodity center holds a sample selection meeting every week. Ye Guofu, Miyazawa, Ada and other relevant personnel attend the meeting to review the buyer's proposal. The first question is: “Is there a market for this product?” Initially selected for development After the new product, the second question came one after another: "Is there a good supply chain?" At this time, the buyer began to search and contact the supplier resources to develop a specific product development plan. Then, the third question surfaced: "Can you turn a famous product into a 'explosive'?"

Under normal circumstances, new products are first trial-produced in small batches and placed in several stores for a one-week trial sale. Based on the results of the trial sales, it is decided whether to introduce them to the market on a large scale. The results of the test sale did not reach the expected product, and the meeting decided whether to eliminate it or further optimize it.

Ada firmly believes in this view: "The person who makes the product must first understand the feeling and have the ability to perceive the temperature of the product. If this is not the case, it is not suitable for developing the product." In order to enhance the buyer's perception and judgment of the product. Force, more than 200 buyers in the Commodity Center have become internal "product experience officers", free to use the products provided by the company. According to the ranks of the position, gender and department, the experiential officers of different grades try different products and issue experience reports within the specified time, explain in detail the feelings of using the products, analyze the advantages and disadvantages of the products, find the problems, and Propose solutions.

The internal “product experience officer mechanism” stimulated the enthusiasm of the buyers and the efficiency of product development was significantly improved. On this basis, in 2015, Mingchuang Premium launched the “Product Experience Officer System” for the society, recruiting 5,000 product experience officers from 11 million WeChat public fans, and providing products for free trial use. Kevin Luk Kelly believes that sharing and participation will become the new law of the new economy, net worth, and the new law of the information age. "Customers are involved in the manufacture of some products, and they are more likely to be satisfied from the final product." Mingchuang Premium not only encourages fans to share the feelings of using products, but also hopes that they will participate in the product development process and propose product improvement suggestions from the customer's point of view. If the proposal is adopted, you will receive a certain reward. This further stimulated the enthusiasm of the fans to participate.

The product experience officer system allows Mingchuang products to gain the following experience: Once customers get good products and services, they will get used to it quickly and hope to get better products and services. Therefore, it is important to upgrade product quality and service in a timely manner.

One of the daily tasks of a commodity center is to review existing products and propose upgrades. Every 6 months, Mingchuang Youpin systematically reassembles all products, sorts out the product line according to market demand, repositions 3000 SKUs, and adjusts the appearance, structure and items.

Ada uses wet paper towels as an example: “Initially planning the product line, locking the three concepts of children, adults and nature. A box of 80 pumping wet wipes, the market retail price of 15 yuan, the name of the excellent products sold 10 yuan, sales Very good." After a while, the market has seen new changes. “For example, children's wet wipes, all the best-selling items are packed with the word 'hands', which means they can wipe their mouths.” In this case, safety has become a new theme. “For example, now the wet tissue is not made of pure cotton, and the cross cotton is used. The cross cotton is more elastic. Have we done this update?” In combination with this demand point, Mingchuang products immediately started to upgrade the original children's wet. Paper towels. Mingchuang's products continue to promote product upgrades and upgrades through non-stop resumption, rather than staying in the past products.

"The performance of the store is very good and has a lot to do with our products. Whether the products are forward-looking development, whether the data has been sorted out and adjusted in time." Yan Haiming, manager of the commodity center information department, believes that the back-end data can be reflected to some extent. The direction of category optimization, for example, by comparing the business area occupied by different commodities and the sales performance created, can find many problems. "If the area of ​​goods is relatively large, and the sales volume is low, then we will find the reason, is there any problem with the product, or is this category not suitable for us?" In this way, the category structure is continuously optimized to create explosive products. .

If the best-selling product is replenished, it is very important that the supplier is ready to be in place, because the supplier will be able to supply the product immediately after the order is placed, and the supplier must be stocked in the early stage. Now there are more than 1,000 stores, the supply is very large, and the stocking must be three months in advance or half a year. In this regard, the store's sales data can provide a certain reference.

Commodity development is a creative work for the future, including many uncertain factors, such as fluctuations in market conditions and changes in consumption habits. “The data of the store can only reflect some real problems, and it can't be used as a reference data for forward-looking, and it can't represent the future.” Ada hopes to correct this misunderstanding. “We must look to the future and look farther than others. The data of the store will never have a burst." The data is dead, and the people are alive. Can you look farther than others, of course, can not be separated from the understanding and analysis of the data, more importantly, the ability to perceive subtle changes, that is, soft power.

Forward-looking usually implies certain risks. In order to spread the risk, we created three products at the same time, which were priced at 39 yuan, 49 yuan and 59 yuan. The difference is that "59 yuan is the LED light, 39 yuan is the small light bulb, 49 yuan is the ordinary light." Pushed to the store for trial sales, the customer saw the most 59 yuan, 39 yuan, 49 yuan that almost no one cares, the final sales data reflects that the three products are not ideal. The question that comes with it is: "Do you want to do this in this case?"

“Why do you see more people and buy fewer people?” Ada focused her attention on the 59-yuan product. The result of the analysis was: “The 59-yuan table lamp is higher than 39 yuan and 49 yuan, compared with the similar products on the outside. It's cheap, but it's not enough to impress customers.” Ada cut off the 39 yuan and 49 yuan products, and added a display that can display the calendar and temperature on the back of the price of the 59 yuan lamp. The price remains the same. Red, "The first batch of 100,000 baht, if it is sent down, it will be gone, and the suppliers will not produce it."

Do a good job of making people's products

What do consumers buy when they pay for a product? Is it a convenient function, good performance, comfortable experience, or a moving design, a pure shopping mood, or a brand value that is “invisible and intangible”?

How many people will be willing to pay for attachments other than products, such as a certain kind of wonderful brand based on the brand, even if paying a higher premium for this? In the era of excess supplies, personalized consumption and popular consumption go hand in hand, what is the mainstream of the future?

These puzzling problems drove Ye Guofu to go abroad for study. His shopping experience in the Japanese Aoyama clothes inspired him.

When I was shopping in Tokyo, Ye Guofu was attracted by the Qingshan clothing and walked into the store, and soon saw a shoe. “From style, design to materials are first-class standards.” Although it is not an expert in the footwear industry, but many years of retail experience has spurred a unique perception, Ye Guofu instinctively judged “it must not be cheap”, take a look at the label The figure above, 12,000 yen, is converted into RMB, about 600 yuan. "It's too cheap, you know that this is a handmade Italian shoe!" Ye Guofu continued to emphasize. The result of the try-on is “more comfortable” than the Ferragamo shoes on the feet. At that time, there was an event of buying two get one free, so he bought three pairs at a time, and everyone said, "This is the most comfortable shoes that are currently worn."

Founded in 1964, Qingshan Yangfu mainly sells suits, and also engages in shirts, shoes, ties, bags, and other items. The target customers are professionals. Suits are imported and not suitable for Asians. Aoyama clothes combined with Asian body shape to improve the design of a more iron plate type, coupled with solid materials, rich texture, very popular with the Japanese, became Japan's largest suit manufacturer, with an average annual sales of 2.8 million sets, One out of every three Japanese men wears a green dress.

Qingshan Yangfu puts people at the forefront and is committed to producing high-quality products at reasonable prices on the premise of wearing comfort, for decades. This makes Ye Guofu associate with the ancient teachings of Tong Ren Tang: Although the processing will not dare to save labor, the taste will not be reduced.

Ye Guofu’s inspiration is: “Chinese people want to change their consumption concept. Don’t think that tens of thousands of suits are put on. Good clothes have nothing to do with clothing. They have something to do with people. What do we have to do? We should step Do a good job of making people's products."

As Lewis Lumanford said: "The primary goal of a company is not to increase consumption, but to make consumption consistent with healthy living standards." He believes that counterfeit and shoddy products reflect the impulse of companies to increase consumption, which is the pursuit of immediate interests. The performance may ruin the future of a business. Moderate rational consumption is in line with healthy life, love, net worth, and information standards, which are not inconsistent with the long-term value of the company. Products should be based on people, maximize the convenience of people's lives, and enhance the feelings of a happy life, not the other way around. Those companies that truly respect consumers will eventually be respected and favored by consumers.

For this reason, Mingchuang Youpin has chosen a boutique low-cost route, locking in the two keywords of “quality” and “price”, and pursuing the unification of quality and low price. It hopes to convey the belief of loving life through the design of “simple, natural and texture”, satisfying the diversified needs of the daily life of mass consumers with cost-effective products, freeing consumers from high price pressure and making life easier. happy.

This process will not be smooth sailing. After the creation of a famous product into a pedestrian street in Shenzhen, the property management office on the opening day received a collective complaint from the surrounding merchants. "Say we disturb the price order - it is too cheap to sell, this price should be the ex-factory price, why is it sold as a retail price?" Ye Guofu reluctantly explained, "The product itself is not expensive, but others sell it expensive."

The distorted market environment has caused many unreasonable phenomena, such as blind pursuit of counterfeiting caused by high-end and luxury, and the hot e-commerce is inevitably involved. An obvious fact is that the popularity of any type of product is based on the premise of mass consumption, blind pursuit of the brand and high prices may go to the other extreme. In the words of Lewis Lumanford, a series of short-term behaviors in pursuit of consumption have hindered mass consumption.

Chinese people do not use perfume very often. It is not so much a lack of use environment, no habits are cultivated, it is better to fear the price.

There are hundreds of thousands of perfumes on the market. "Ordinary people are reluctant to buy, can't afford to buy them, buy a bottle of perfume, and spray at the meeting or party, the quality of life is much lower." Ye Guofu believes that such goods are not in line with human nature in terms of price - people have the nature of loving beauty, but because of the price factor, they cannot fully appreciate the joy of using perfume. Mingchuang Premium launched a perfume of 39 yuan, and perfume became one of the best-selling products. "Hong Kong people buy famous perfumes, buy 10 bottles, 20 bottles. Use in the morning, at noon, at night, spray three times a day. Use a bottle in the previous three months, and now basically use one bottle a month."

“I hope that young people will not have any pressure to buy perfumes in the future.”