Chapter 21 4. Gree smiles proudly

Dong Mingzhu is a person who can't stand standing still. She likes challenges and enjoys the happiness brought by success.Gree is not the first air conditioner brand to enter the market. On the contrary, Gree was just an unknown small company at first. The Gree brand was almost vulnerable under the impact of big brands such as Chunlan and Huabao. Decisive decision to rapidly expand production, successively defeated Chunlan and Huabao, and leaped to the ranks of domestic first-line brands. The period from 1991 to 1996 was the "six golden years" in the development history of China's air-conditioning industry, not only because of the rapid and rapid expansion of the market during these six years, but more importantly, it was the six years when the air-conditioning market was in short supply.After experiencing fierce brand competition and price competition, China's air-conditioning manufacturers have launched a more in-depth sales channel competition.After the long-term brand and price competition process in the air-conditioning market, the industry concentration has been significantly strengthened. Leading brands such as Gree, Haier, Midea, Oaks, etc. not only occupy more than half of the market share, but also in terms of brand awareness, product technology, quality, Performance, price, service and other aspects are increasingly homogeneous.Consumers are more concerned about the reputation of the shopping place, whether the purchase is convenient, and whether the service is perfect and timely.Guided by this consumer demand, the efficiency difference of various sales channels has become an important factor with decisive influence in the market.For production enterprises, whoever has a large-scale, high-efficiency, flexible operation, and low-cost sales channel will win the market and effectively defeat competitors.Haier Group, which was established later than Gree, has risen rapidly. Haier Air Conditioning Company is one of the pillar enterprises of Haier Group.Among them, Haier's small and medium-sized central air conditioners have a high market share, accounting for almost half of the industry.Facing such a highly competitive air-conditioning market and such strong competitors, Dong Mingzhu is always full of confidence.When someone asked Dong Mingzhu whether it was possible for Haier Company to surpass Gree, Dong Mingzhu replied firmly: "Haier can't surpass me, because it is improving, and I am also improving." This sentence makes us really feel Dong Mingzhu's overbearing And publicity, but we will also feel that she has a kind of self-confidence that can make people awe-inspiring.

This is the domineering and self-confidence possessed by successful entrepreneurs.Some people say that you can question Dong Mingzhu's marketing model, but you cannot deny her marketing results.I believe this is a very apt evaluation.When Dong Mingzhu said that Haier could not surpass her, she was not overconfident. She knew her strengths and weaknesses better than anyone else.She frankly admits that Haier's public relations are very good, and this is what she lacks.This is actually completely understandable. Zhang Ruimin, who was born as a civil servant, must have a unique experience in public relations. What's more, in terms of Dong Mingzhu's straightforward personality, this is really her weakness.As Dong Mingzhu said: Enterprises should never learn only one model, because the success of an enterprise must have many supporting points.An important job of a specialty store is after-sales service, but a truly great company cannot rely too much on after-sales service.Gree air conditioner has been used for 20 years without repair, can Haier do it?Products without after-sales service are the best.

Gree will never treat consumers as experimental products, because a one-ten-thousandth mistake is a 100% loss for consumers.my country's air-conditioning industry generally adopts three sales models: one is the key customer policy that has been followed for many years; the other is the regional agency system; the third is the flat agency model.At present, Gree, Haier, and Midea are all exploring the marketing strategies suitable for their own enterprises in the second and third modes.Compared with Haier's existing distribution channels, the investment in Gree's model is too small. Because the interests of dealers are bundled together, dealers in the market can establish a relatively long-term business philosophy, prompting dealers to also contribute to the promotion of Gree's brand image. put in effort.But the disadvantage is that there is always a greater investment in market management.Haier adopts a typical flat agency model, with the purpose of being truly market-oriented, directly contacting consumers, quickly grasping market information, and quickly formulating marketing strategies. This model has high management costs and is generally a burden for immature companies. Sorry.Haier has established more than 40 Haier industry and trade companies all over the country, that is, regional marketing centers.The supply and after-sales service of air conditioners are all in charge of the industry and trade company. Haier industry and trade company belongs to Haier Group in the air conditioner product department, but the two parties are in customer relationship. Haier air conditioner company provides products to Haier industry and trade company, and the business flow promotion department provides Haier Industry and Trade Co., Ltd. formulates marketing strategies, and Haier Industry and Trade Co., Ltd. is also responsible for the sales of all products of the Haier Group.The biggest difference between Haier and other air-conditioning manufacturers is that it does not adopt a regional agency system, but a direct sales model.

Haier Industry and Trade is responsible for the sales in the area under its jurisdiction, and delivers Haier air conditioners to the final consumers through the two major channels of authorized dealers and Haier exclusive stores.Haier has established more than 300 dealers across the country, which are divided into three levels: the first level is provincial capitals and cities directly under the Central Government; the second level is prefecture-level cities; the third level is county-level cities.Haier's main sales are completed through primary and secondary sales channels, accounting for more than 80%. Compared with Gree and Midea, Haier's sales channels are somewhat lacking in depth.Haier's establishment of a specialty store is the first in the industry and has attracted great attention.Haier’s investment is extremely huge. Brand stores have played an important role in promoting Haier’s products and brands. However, compared with the investment, the current role in sales is lower than expected, and the speed of opening stores has slowed down in the past two years. slow.Next, let's take Midea as an example.Midea Group is a large-scale comprehensive modern enterprise group focusing on home appliances and involved in real estate, logistics and other fields. It is one of the largest production bases and exporters of home appliances in China.

In 1980, Midea officially entered the home appliance industry; in 1981, it began to use the "Midea" brand.Compared with Gree and Haier, Midea's channel model is not dominant.However, in recent years, Midea has made some changes in channel transformation, and partly learned from the Gree channel model.The advantage of Midea is that its communication with channel members is benign.Among the three giants, Midea received the greatest support from distributors and the strongest main force.Midea's channel management has two main characteristics: one is to promote the "flat structure" of marketing channels nationwide; the other is to realize "intensive cultivation" of the market.Midea's direct communication with distributors and retailers in each link, dealers are more about providing goods and services, and Midea companies are directly involved in the assessment of lower levels, screening terminal promotion and other methods.Through the comparison of the channel models and business contents of the three giants, we can see that among the three companies, only Gree has used the most energy to make air conditioners, and the sales of Haier air conditioners only accounted for less than 20% of the company's total sales. That is to say, if Haier wants to compete with Gree in the air conditioner, Haier only punches one fist, while Gree fights with the strength of his whole body.Analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of all parties will reveal that the disadvantage of Haier is that its air-conditioning quality cannot be compared with that of Gree, and the disadvantage of Gree is that its service impact and brand influence are still not as good as that of Haier, while Midea’s products are more practical. But the quality is still slightly inferior to Gree, and its market operation tricks are more than Gree.Because of the advantages and disadvantages of all parties, the three major brands of Gree, Midea, and Haier are inseparable in the current market competition. From the perspective of future trends, Gree will maintain product quality and brand influence will become more and more popular among consumers. and recognition.Through such a comparison, we can see why Dong Mingzhu can so confidently say that Haier cannot surpass her.As Dong Mingzhu said, Haier is making progress, and Gree is also making progress.Compared with Haier, Gree has much more room for improvement.

In 2000, Galanz Group, which dominated the microwave oven market and was known as the "price butcher", announced that it would join hands with strategic investors and foreign-funded enterprises to invest 2 billion yuan to enter the field of air conditioners, and declared that Galanz would produce 8 million air conditioners within three years. The market price of air conditioners is cut in half. In 2002, when Yu Yaochang, the vice president of Galanz, was interviewed by the media, he once threatened to "be the first in the industry with a five-year price war", which was clearly a challenge to Gree, the industry leader.Galanz Group is a large-scale enterprise positioned as "a century-old enterprise, a world brand". It was founded in 1978 and began to produce home appliances in 1992.

In 1998, the production and sales of microwave ovens were "No. 1 in the world", and it has won the double title of the national microwave oven market sales and market share so far. In 2001, Galanz began to enter the field of air conditioners and small household appliances. By 2004, Galanz ranked first in the export of air conditioners and ranked among the world's major air conditioner manufacturers.In an interview, Yu Yaochang said: It is not advisable to sell products at a loss by sacrificing technology, quality and after-sales service at the expense of vicious price wars, and normal price wars are inevitable in China because more than a dozen The vast majority of the 100 million people are middle and low-end consumers.Regarding Galanz's plan, Dong Mingzhu thinks they can't do it.Dong Mingzhu believes that Gree air-conditioning belongs to the first-tier air-conditioning manufacturers in China. Gree's main competitors are first-tier manufacturers such as Midea and Haier, while Galanz mainly targets the low-price market and has little influence on Gree.The ambitious Galanz still underestimated the depth of the pool of water in the air-conditioning market.

From 2002 to 2003, Galanz products were put on the market, and the sales volume once ranked among the top five in the industry, and became the "export champion" of China's air-conditioning exports in 2004.However, in the decisive freezing year of 2006, Galanz was defeated, and the sales volume of air conditioners fell out of the top ten, and it operated at a loss for more than two consecutive years.For Galanz, although it has invested a huge amount of money to build an air-conditioning base with a production capacity of 6.5 million units in Zhongshan, it is still difficult to achieve huge growth in the domestic market due to its late entry into the market and insufficient channel construction.After defeating the price war, Galanz could only start playing the technology card, and even began to actively raise prices to maintain profits.In order to open up the situation, Galanz has been painstakingly working hard, and has repeatedly made strange moves: In 2007, Galanz Air Conditioning announced that Galanz light wave adjustment machines would implement the "limit" of 12-year free warranty, far exceeding the "1-year warranty for the whole machine and three-year warranty for main spare parts". The six-year warranty of GB and Gree has become the air-conditioning company with the highest after-sales service standard in the world.However, the distance between Galanz and Gree is still far away.In the increasingly fierce competition in the home appliance industry, Gree, the "single champion", has the "alternative" channel as his trump card.

Since 1997, Gree has created the core sales system of "centering on large distributors", and based on this, it has launched the "regional sales company" model in various places.Advocates called it "the new marketing model in the 21st century".It is precisely because of this reassurance of channel layout that at the beginning of 2004, in a contest between Gree and Gome, which was highly concerned by the industry, Gree publicly challenged the distribution giant.When Gome unilaterally lowered prices and the two failed to reach a consensus on the sales policy of air conditioners in 2004, facing the power of distribution channels, Dong Mingzhu adopted a completely different approach from other power plants that silently endured: the nationwide withdrawal Behind courage is strategy and strength. "We are all looking for common rules of the game, looking forward to the 'positive sum game' - not you eat me, nor I eat you." Dong Mingzhu's iron-fisted approach has caused public opinion to raise a lot of doubts about the "Gree model" However, Gree has become the undisputed winner of "Settlement after Autumn".Gree is really a proud swordsman in the air-conditioning industry.In today's free competitive commercial market, major brands are competing to catch up and constantly want to surpass others.Only when there is competition in the market can there be vitality. Only by constantly innovating and advancing with the times can enterprises remain young forever.Gree has maintained the number one sales in China for decades and the number one in the world for several years, but there is still a long way to go to become an international famous brand, and it must constantly surpass itself and others.You must know that in China, not only Gree can "create good opportunities", nor can "good air conditioners" only be produced by Gree. "No. 1 in production and sales in China" is not all commercial success.From time to time, if the slogan "good air conditioner, made by Gree" is not supplemented with other elements in time, and further enriched, refined and highlighted in research and development, Gree air conditioner may fall behind others in the new century.Gree should not only continue to innovate in products, but also continue to improve its marketing model.As people often say, "Believe in friends and rely on yourself", only by doing a good job in product development, further cultivating the market, and cultivating both internal and external skills can we truly grasp the lifeline of marketing and continue to maintain good cooperation with dealers , to jointly develop new markets.