Chapter 1260 The War Expands (4k)

At ten o'clock in the morning on April 2, reporter Lu Cunliang of China Securities Journal walked into the conference room on the 23rd floor of Tesco, somewhat confused, preparing to conduct a Schrödinger's cat-style interview.

This interview was scheduled on the 31st. Originally, Sun Qi, the vice president of Tesco, was interviewed. This was good because Sun Qi was in charge of Tesco's supply chain and had seniority in the Yike department.

However, Tesco informed yesterday that President Su Wei will be interviewed.

This change made Lu Cunliang even happier. However, on the way here today, Tesco informed that Mr. Su would no longer be interviewed, and Mr. Sun was on a business trip, and the executives to be interviewed were yet to be determined.

When he sat on the chair in the conference room, Lu Cunliang didn't know who he was going to ask questions for today.

At 10:05, his eyes lit up when he saw Mr. Fang walking in.

Then, he saw Mr. Su walking behind.

"Otherwise, I'll do it."

"I'll come, it's okay."

When Lu Cunliang heard the brief conversation between the two and saw Mr. Su coming over to shake hands with him, he couldn't help but smile and said: "Mr. Su, Mr. Fang, our Securities News can interview them together."

Fang Zhuo also shook hands and said with suggestive eyes: "Who do you want to interview more?"

Su Wei said with a slightly straight face: "Don't make trouble."

Seeing Mr. Fang take two steps back, Lu Cunliang gave up what was in his throat and chose the best answer: "Yesterday, Suning and Tesco started a price war. Today, the stock market opened and Suning's stock price fell slightly. I still want to interview Tesco's iron Mrs. Su.”

Fang Zhuo smiled: "Then I have to say that Mr. Zhang misjudged Suning's development strategy."

Lu Cunliang became excited unconsciously. This sentence could be used as the headline of the report.

Then, when he saw Mr. Fang just saying this, he turned around and walked out.

"Hey, hey, Mr. Fang, tell me, how did Mr. Zhang misjudge? What's wrong with Suning's strategy? Mr. Fang, Mr. Fang..."

Lu Cunliang couldn't retain Mr. Fang. Seeing that he only smiled and didn't respond, he could only stop at the door angrily.

Unexpectedly, Mr. Fang turned around and said something again.

"Oh, yes, Mr. Su actually doesn't like the title 'Iron Lady'."

Lu Cunliang nodded and watched eagerly as Mr. Fang left completely. When he looked back, the Iron Lady had already sat down.

Regarding this title, the earliest one came from Dong Mingzhu from Gree.

Tesco is undoubtedly an important part of the entire Yike system. In addition to its own development in the field of e-commerce, it can not only undertake and digest traffic, but also has links with multiple businesses of Yike. For example, Tesco was the first to access Domestic customers of Yike Cloud business.

As the head of Tesco, Su Wei has an extremely low-key style. She rarely gives interviews and rarely attends public events. At the end of last month, even when she attended the "New Economic Era" business conference, she did not speak on stage.

However, despite being low-key, many people in the industry speak highly of her.

Gree is the No. 1 air conditioner brand. In the past two years, it had a conflict with Tesco, and the relationship was on the verge of breakdown. However, it eventually reconciled. It is said that Su Wei flew to Zhuhai to meet with Dong Mingzhu for an interview.

Since then, Dong Mingzhu has praised in interviews with the media, "Mr. Su is the iron lady in the e-commerce market."

"Mr. Su, Mr. Fang just said that Mr. Zhang made a strategic misjudgment. What does this mean?" Lu Cunliang's first question after sitting down changed as the situation changed.

Su Wei smiled and replied: "If I heard correctly, it should be literal."

"Then why do you think Suning has strategic problems?" Lu Cunliang wanted to dig into this matter carefully and turned on the interview recorder.

"Oh, Tesco is Tesco. If others don't know about Mr. Fang, don't you media know about it?" Su Wei said, "He speaks unscrupulously, and I have never discussed such matters in depth with him."

Lu Cunliang smiled and said, "Mr. Su, I don't believe this."

Regarding the relationship between Mr. Su and Mr. Fang, although they were not high-profile, they did not hide it. How could the two of them not discuss such a major competitive matter as Tesco?

"Really, the main reason is that we are just in a price war with Suning this time." Su Wei said half-truthfully, "I saw Suning's promotion yesterday, and it kept saying it was 'Suning Cloud Business'. But the size of ‘Suning Cloud Business’ is too small.”

She continued to preach: "Price competition is indeed an eternal theme in the market, but Tesco is more concerned about sustainable price advantages, and more about optimizing procurement scale and supply chain efficiency."

"Mr. Su thinks Suning's price war is just a hype?" Lu Cunliang grasped a meaning.

"The word hype may sound a bit derogatory. Publicity in competition is normal. As the old saying goes, lose money and make a profit." Su Wei said sincerely, "Tesco is willing to accompany Suning to make a fuss. However, we have to Make this shouting wider.”

Lu Cunliang naturally did his homework in advance for the interview. Hearing Mr. Su's euphemistic words, he smiled and said, "Is Tesco going to expand the scale of the price war?"

"What Tesco values ​​​​is long-term value, but how to realize long-term value?" Su Wei said bluntly, "Domestic e-commerce can never escape price wars. Why can't Amazon do it in China? Their domestic team has relatively limited authority. The price war is going on in full swing, and they are still applying, regardless of whether they can apply for it. Even if they apply, it will be leftovers. "

She continued: "Long-term value must also withstand the competition in the middle. This is just another competition in the development of Yiguo, but we go all out for every competition, because without such a spirit of going all out, we would not be here today."

Lu Cunliang thought this was very beautiful.

He thought about this and asked: "If Yiguo, who goes all out, meets Suning, who goes all out, who will win?"

"Consumers win first." Su Wei said without hesitation, "Then of course Yiguo, which has a better business model, wins."

Lu Cunliang asked for the reason.

Su Wei laughed first when answering this: "Yiguo has always been known for its heavy assets in the e-commerce field, but this time compared with the traditional home appliance chain operation model like Suning, we have become an Internet light asset e-commerce."

"Why can e-commerce develop? Isn't it because the cost of the middle link is eliminated?"

"Suning's physical stores across the country have become a huge burden for it. Compared with us, its high store rents, employee expenses and operating costs are very deep shackles."

She concluded calmly: "This is a price war, or it may be a PK between the traditional model and the Internet model. Whether it is me, Mr. Fang, or everyone in Yiguo, we are very confident in winning this game and the future."

Lu Cunliang found this statement very interesting. Heavy assets depend on who you are comparing with/Suning's proud stores are burdens/the essence is a competition of operating models...

He cheered up from the disappointment of missing Mr. Fang, and tried to show the ideas of the head of Yiguo and the original appearance of the parties involved in this price war conflict in a proper manner.

However, what impressed Lu Cunliang the most in this interview was not the development concept she expounded, but the smile on her face.

She is called the Iron Lady, but she always smiles, as if there is something happy. This demeanor in the face of Suning's attack... Otherwise, she can support the development of Yiguo for all these years.

The content of the interview in "Huaxia Securities News" was compiled quickly, but it was still published two days later, and then many portals reprinted it in different sections.

During these two days, Yiguo's publicity and promotion only focused on one point of Suning, that is, the inconsistency of online and offline prices, Suning's lack of sincerity to consumers, and the difference in treatment of online and offline customers.

Suning's response to this was ambiguous, and it continued the previous caliber and insisted on making efforts on "Suning Cloud Commerce".

This competitive posture is different from Suning's previous announcement, and it is reflected by the slight drop in stock prices.

The outbreak of the price war in April not only failed to stimulate Suning's stock price, but made people feel that Suning is incompatible with the Internet.

On April 6, Yiguo made a job adjustment, and Sun Qi, the vice president in charge of the supply chain, became the executive vice president.

This news was also interpreted as Yiguo will continue this price war and completely defeat Suning's strategy of relying on e-commerce.

That afternoon, Tmall held a high-level meeting to discuss the competition between Suning and Yiguo.

"Suning is not good either. If it continues like this, this wave of traffic will be eaten up by Yiguo. The most important thing is that it may come to us in June." Tmall Vice President Tan Yongqiang felt a little helpless, "Our Tmall's large-scale electricity traffic is also affected."

Tmall, which is independently operated, is highly expected by the group and wants to build it into the main force to fight against Yiguo's development.

Otherwise, Yiguo, which has developed in the B2C field, will not stop and will definitely make efforts in Taobao's C2C.

However, in this price war between Suning and Yiguo, Tmall, which is preparing for the 618 promotion, found that in addition to the reduction of user traffic, suppliers also expressed their withdrawal.

The latter will have a great impact on Tmall. There are only a few large home appliance brands. I am afraid that the entire large home appliance sector will be cold.

"Suning is not good. Mr. Zhang has been unable to make a decision." Tmall President Zhang Yong shook his head and said, "Their online and offline prices are not unified, and consumers are not happy. Offline stores have so much traffic, and everyone who has heard of it will have opinions."

"Then we still have to do it ourselves." Tan Yongqiang frowned and said, "I still suggest that we hold an April home appliance festival and share some traffic."

Suning is not a good thing. Although Alibaba has reached a certain cooperation with them, it is still not satisfied with the current situation.

"I agree that we still need to have our own home appliance traffic import. Suning is a giant crocodile's promotion this time. The paramecium-like confrontation is disappointing." Another vice president Sui Yuanwen also complained.

Suning started warming up for April in mid-March. As a result, Yiguo hit back, and Suning seemed to be confused. It seems that its decision-making path is as rigid as the traditional model.

How can you expand your territory on the Internet if you react so slowly?

"Okay, I'll study it again, Suning, maybe they are holding back." Zhang Yong still has hope for Suning.

But the Tmall Home Appliance Festival should still be launched.

That night, despite many complaints from Tmall and pessimism about Suning's performance in the past week, Suning's flagship store on Tmall was still launched as scheduled.

Suning Cloud Commerce opened a flagship store on Tmall Mall!

It sounds like the two sides have joined forces to compete with Yigoo in April.

The next day, when many media reported the news, Suning really started a new trick.

- Suning announced that it would acquire the largest maternal and infant e-commerce website in China, Redbaby, for US$66 million, and would retain the brand for independent operation.

There was no news about this acquisition beforehand, but it was suddenly released...

At least, Suning's stock price did rise.

Redbaby is a well-known brand in the domestic B2C segment, and Suning entered from this angle this time...

The next day, on May 8, Suning's stock price, which had just risen, fell back.

The reason was that a screenshot of Mr. Fang's circle of friends was circulated on the Internet.

--Fang Zhuo: Why is Suning desperate to try all kinds of methods? The online problems of its core business have not been solved, and the strategy has suddenly been diverted to maternal and child care. Mr. Zhang is confused.

This screenshot cannot be authenticated by the parties involved, but it seems that they have not come out to deny it.

Is Suning's acquisition of Redbaby a bad thing?

Perhaps noticing the relevant reactions and the spread of news, Zhang Jindong accepted the media interview for the first time since the price war broke out in April, and responded to market doubts optimistically.

"The domestic maternal and infant market is developing very fast and will be a dark horse in the future of e-commerce."

"Our Suning and Redbaby have joined forces this time to empower it and also serve as a fulcrum for our cloud business strategy."

Zhang Jindong also talked about the competition with Yigoo this month, and smiled: "Yigoo is a predecessor of e-commerce. Suning still has a lot to learn. We are studying the price issues online and offline, which will be solved soon. I also believe that we will have a good exchange with Yigoo."

The head of Suning has not forgotten the intention of exchange.

However, when Ma Dian and Zhang Yong discussed Tmall's actions this month, they couldn't help but slap their thighs when mentioning Suning's changes.

"Fang Zhuo is right. Why is Zhang Jindong distracted by Red Baby again!"

"What a leading brand for maternal and child care, with a revenue of 1 billion yuan a year. It sounds good, but the CEO is an investor who got the upper hand!"

"Besides telling stories and showing Suning's strategic problems, what use is there for the 1 billion yuan in revenue after the acquisition!"

Ma Dian was very dissatisfied with the strategic problems of Suning revealed by this acquisition. Just like Fang Zhuo said in his circle of friends, the core problem must be solved first.

He decided to join the battle proposed by Tmall. Instead of doing it in June, it would be better to take advantage of the public opinion dissemination effect this month to jump out and eat traffic, so that everyone can also know that Tmall can buy large appliances.

Two days later, on April 10, along with the slogan of "Home Appliance Festival" launched on Tmall Mall, many advertisements were also pushed out.

This is regarded as the entry of real players in the April price war.

Suning, with its traditional model, is not good enough. If it wants to do it, it still needs e-commerce veterans like Alibaba to take part in it.