Chapter 14 Jiu Jiu singled out Bertelsmann

The domestic authoritative reading media "Reading News" began their report on Bertelsmann's 10-year commemoration of entering China with a somewhat sensational tone. "Ten years. What will ten years bring? Tall buildings will be uprooted on flat ground, and seedlings will grow into big trees. We never dare to doubt the power of time. In 1995, the one who walked in quietly, three people, one A desk, a chair, no air conditioner, no fax machine, Bertelsmann now has more than 10,000 square meters of office space in China. The distribution market of Chinese publications. And those flowery girls who have grown up with it for ten years, have they already had a trace of unnoticeable hair on their temples?"

Yes, it has been ten years. Bertelsmann has grown into a giant after entering China for ten years.This report describes the giant like this.Bertelsmann "today has 1.5 million book club members, 53 chain bookstores, and more than 30 bookstores are preparing to open". As the first foreign-funded book company to enter China, Bertelsmann chose a very low-key attitude after entering China.Beginning in 1997, Bertelsmann began to implement its book clubs in 22 countries around the world in China.Pan Yan, general manager of Bertelsmann China, said that Bertelsmann's book club is a direct sales model that includes mail order, retail, and online bookstores.It knows who is buying books, what kind of books to buy, and even which customer's last name, where they are, and how to contact them.

Up to now, Bertelsmann's book club already has a hotline center responsible for responding to calls and telephone services from members across the country, and now has more than 100 employees.There are also some value-added things. For example, last year they won an exclusive zip code, 209001, so that the period from sending a letter to being received by Bertelsmann and sending the package to him receiving the package can be reduced by three to four days. In addition, Bertelsmann's customer database has also reached an astonishing amount. It has very detailed records for all members who purchase products, including purchase preferences, reading preferences, and contact preferences (that is, when does he want you to use mobile phones or electronic devices? Contact him by email).Knowing "who" sold the book to, this is its powerful background behind the purchase of books.

Not only that, Bertelsmann also has a good countermeasure for the decline in the share of paper books in the future.Pan Yan said: "Our book publishing must consider serving the overall reading, rather than being stuck in print and expanding the ideas, because the reading demand of the whole society is still on the rise, but it is only circulated on different media. Now MP3 is very popular, and Bertelsmann has developed audiobooks for drivers to listen to in some countries, which are actually different presentation forms of content. Those who focus on a certain medium should pay attention to these changes, because the changes may be It is a new opportunity and challenge, but it depends on one's own ability. There can be new innovations in the form of product presentation, as well as in distribution channels. For example, people's buying habits today, compared to the few convenience stores ten years ago, There are very expensive convenience stores next to five-star hotels. Now that the convenience stores are blooming, and the grandpas and aunts go in, isn’t the channel created? Sometimes the channel is created, and the market is also cultivated. .”

Can local Chinese companies challenge such an opponent? "In the 1990s, when we went to any county in China, we could see three kinds of stores at the most prosperous intersections, one was a large department store, the other was the best pharmacy, and the other was Xinhua Bookstore. "In September this year, Huang Yuhai, the general manager of Shanghai Jiujiu Scholars Book Co., Ltd., which had just been established for one year, said, "After 2000, this situation began to change. Now when we go to any county, its Xinhua Bookstore is It is rarely at the most prosperous intersection. Why, because the price of paper is rising rapidly, much faster than the price of books, so the gross profit of books has dropped. So we launched such a way to Entering the book market, there are no stores for a long time. According to the characteristics of the Chinese market, we use two ways to enter this market: sending catalogs and ordering online. The reason for sending catalogs is that most Chinese readers are not used to ordering online now, but our The main driving force is the Internet, and now the Jiujiu website has more than 200,000 page views per day. We believe that if we continue to do so, it is possible to surpass Bertelsmann, because we know China better.”

Huang's understanding of China may also include the following levels: In Jiujiu's shareholder structure, the largest shareholdings are several large state-owned publishing organizations. "They provide the best sources of books and regular publishing channels, and they also give us the best sales discounts. So we have surpassed Bertelsmann in terms of operating costs." The large state-owned publishing organization in Jiujiu's shareholder structure is related to Huang's background.Huang Yuhai, who has white hair and poor eyesight, was the deputy editor-in-chief of Zhejiang People's Publishing House before he became the general manager of Jiujiu Company. He is an old publisher who has worked for a long time.

He spoke to reporters in a small office in Xujiahui, Shanghai.Compared to Huang Yuan's prestigious title, the current Jiu Jiu is really inconspicuous. Huang Yuan's office is opposite the most prosperous Wulin Square in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang Province, where Zhejiang People's Publishing House has a whole building.As for Jiujiu, although it is located in an office building in Xuhui District, Shanghai, its total area is only about 500 square meters. For a publishing organization that wants to challenge Bertelsmann, this can be regarded as a small one. area. But what Huang thinks about in such an organization is the following things: Dangdang has received new capital injection, Joyo has adopted a new online payment method, Bertelsmann has opened some more stores, and so on.

"Jiujiu has some advantages," Huang said. "We think the future is ours." Huang believes that the advantages lie in the following aspects: For Bertelsmann, Huang believes that Jiujiu’s advantage lies in the fact that we have a better understanding of China as we have said before; It is impossible for his Chinese managers to have such great decision-making power as ours." This sounded a little ridiculous, and Huang Zhi pointed to the office where he was talking with the reporter. "They have an office of 10,000 square meters, and we are still so small. But I mean the enterprise, Bertelsmann's Chinese managers can't get the mandate I got from the shareholders, they have to report, and there may be three or four Therefore, their response to the market will not be as fast as ours. In addition, the current era is changing too fast, and their investment in stores will become a huge burden for them in the future. Books will require stores in the future Is it? Amazon’s success tells us that books are the most suitable thing to sell online, and perhaps books in China will remain in the form of paper for a long time, because there are still considerable problems with the level of integrity in China. But paper Books don’t have to be sold through stores, because the rent of stores is too expensive, and it’s very difficult to make a profit. Why don’t we sell them online and through catalogs? So in fact, I think that Bertelsmann’s advantage, we have fallen behind us in the future competition. In the future, these stores that they have opened will become a heavy problem that needs to be dealt with.”

As for local Chinese online bookstores such as Dangdang and Joyo, Huang believes that Jiujiu also has some advantages. "They are too rigid about the Internet. In fact, because the online payment method has not been fully resolved, it will take some time for the real rise of online sales. The reason why they are rigid about the Internet is that all of their managers are from the Internet. , are not real professional publishers, they don’t understand that as a book company, publishing is the core, and sales are just a means. For this means, we can use online or offline. Now Chinese books are indeed moving towards online sales. However, the method of cataloging under the Internet is the most suitable for the national conditions. In addition, the shareholders and executives of Jiujiu are all publishers. Long-term experience allows us to know which books will sell well and which books may not be so good. This kind of experience It is what Dangdang and its excellent executives and shareholders lack, and this little difference will be revealed in a relatively long-term process, as long as we don’t make big mistakes, Jiujiu will win.”

In fact, Jiujiu's advantages are gradually unfolding.At the 2005 Shanghai Book Fair, this seemingly small company has already shown itself.A Shanghai media reported it this way: "Shanghai Jiujiu Scholars Company, established less than a year ago, is particularly eye-catching. It is reported that the company invited the famous actor Chen Hong to participate in the event during the book fair, and Yu Hua also visited 99 Online Bookstore to chat with netizens about him. The novel "Brothers" has just been published. At this book fair, the company has carefully prepared more than 200 high-quality books for readers to sell at low discounts. Among them, there is Xia Zhiqing's just-published academic masterpiece "History of Modern Chinese Fiction", which is listed in the domestic market. The original novel of the same name of the popular Korean TV series that started airing, the American suspense novel King Dan Brown that ranks at the top of the domestic bestseller list, the masterpiece "Doctor's Love Calculation" by the famous Japanese female writer Yoko Ogawa, and the original novel of the Taiwan idol drama "God of War" Wait."

Experienced publishers will be surprised when they read such a list, because this list includes the best publications of this year, and all of them have had quite deep connections with Jiujiu. "In the final analysis, books will become a kind of fishing in the future." Huang Yuhai described it this way. "Why do readers read books? It's because they want to get the ideas and information in books. Does it have anything to do with paper? No. But most of the cost of books now is made up of paper, and we also know that paper production means logging Trees means less green. We had no way before, because printing on paper is the most economical means. But now it is different, we now have computers, and screen reading only needs some electricity, so it is more economical than paper way, and people can get richer information from it than paper printing, and ideas will be expressed more vividly. In this case, we can already see that in the foreseeable future, paper-printed publications will gradually The new generation of electronic publications will undoubtedly take over." "However, for China, this process may be slower. I used to observe such a phenomenon when I went abroad. After the professors in foreign universities finished their lectures, they would send the reference list in his courseware to the students and ask them to go to the bookstore. In China, professors will directly copy their own reference books to students. What is the difference between these two behaviors? Undoubtedly, foreign professors respect authors’ copyrights more, while China is now cultivating this habit Not good enough. This determines that Chinese authors will have to publish their information and ideas through paper publishing, which is more difficult to imitate, for a period of time. Because electronic publications will undoubtedly be easier to be illegally seized.” "However, when electronic publications are popular in the future, will there be no market for paper publications? I don't think so, just like we now have the way of fishing with nets, but the way of fishing will still exist .Maybe most people will use computers to read books in the future, but there will still be many people who like paper publications. They like the rustling sound when turning the pages of books, and the texture of good paper in their hands. It’s like fishing People like the feeling when fish bite bait. This will be a personal preference, and no one can change it." Huang Yuhai said. Now, who else said that Jiujiu can't challenge Bertelsmann?