Chapter 8 Section 2 How to Realize the Nature of the Industry

stop producing?That's right!The first step is to stop production.Only production has always been the biggest problem for Chinese companies.What is the most powerful thing about Chinese people?It is manufactured at very low cost.What is the worst thing the Chinese do is that they are too diligent and have no time to think!This is not to ask everyone to close the factories, but to ask everyone to stop, think about the changes in the market, and think about the long-term strategy of the company. Because of the low cost, most of China's manufacturing industry started with OEM (OEM), that is, to obtain orders from other places, obtain raw materials from foreign companies and then be responsible for production, and finally deliver the goods to customers for sale.Although this sales method brought huge sales to China in the early years, it has now become an obstacle to further economic development!

Figure 2-3 depicts the relationship among OEM manufacturers, distributors and customers. The OEM manufacturer will sell the goods to the seller according to the order, and then resell it to the customer.Since sellers have close contact with customers, they can better understand market trends through customers' opinions.However, this important market information often fails to reach the hands of manufacturers.Focusing on being a manufacturer not only cannot control pricing power (because material costs or sales prices are not within your control), but also cannot accurately receive the end of the industrial chain, that is, customer demand information and product opinions.We do what foreigners tell us to do, and we have to work diligently and diligently. As a result, we have been making wedding dresses for foreigners all our lives. Do you feel the same?

What is the significance of OEM in stationery enterprises?Remember that 70% of the manufacturers who produced a single stationery just now?They are the representatives of the OEM dilemma we mentioned. The three English letters of OEM are a sad fact of the Chinese stationery industry today. It is that Chinese stationery companies cannot think of what customers like when they are producing. .They work hard like cows, and the result is that they get little rewards. I believe everyone can see it.Because of the lack of brand relationship, the profits of stationery OEM factories in China are very low, because stationery manufacturing has always been the least profitable link in the entire industrial chain.It is said that stationery produced by Chinese OEMs can have a premium of more than 300% when they are branded by other foreign companies (such as 3M)!On the contrary, the Chinese OEM manufacturer who actually produced the goods only got a very small part of the gross profit, which proves that relying solely on OEM cannot survive.So what do our stationery companies need?All we need is to stop and learn about business avenues other than OEM.

Sticking to the rules, slow response to the market, failure to achieve the essence of the industry, etc. are the fatal injuries of stationery OEMs, and they are also problems that entrepreneurs need to avoid.It is still possible for us to engage in production in China, but we really need to learn a lot to do business.We all know that doing OEM alone is doomed, and cannot achieve the essence of the industry we are talking about, so what methods should be used? As mentioned above, the essence of the industry has three levels. It seems that the theory is relatively strong, so what should be done in practice?Let's first show you a picture, which is a summary of all the following pages (see Figure 2-4).

Figure 2-4 is very interesting. This is the relationship between the time cost and gross profit of customers purchasing stationery. It points out the living space of stationery suppliers.The relationship between the two forms an oblique triangle, which is pointed at the front and wide at the back.Why does such a relationship exist?Remember just now we have discussed that at least 70% of stationery suppliers in China cannot be successful?Their target customers are people who have no requirements for stationery. Although the source of customers is wide enough, due to the lack of innovation and product homogeneity, they all stand at the tip of the triangle at the bottom left. If they want to compete with their peers, they must lower their prices. Try to keep it as low as possible, and the price difference between them and their peers cannot be too far, otherwise, customers will be lost.

The more you go to the right of the triangle, the greater the difference between the highest and the lowest gross profit, because when stationery companies know how to go to the right of the triangle, the comparison is not whose cost is lower, but product differentiation, service and How close to the nature of the industry.Therefore, the difference in gross profit of different stationery companies is gradually widening.This results in a triangle with a wider back. Different stationery merchants provide different values ​​to customers, but they must not be ambiguous.The part inside the triangle is the only viable living space.The price of the space above the triangle is too high, which is unaffordable for most companies. There are many companies with similar products and services and lower prices, and those stationery companies will naturally be eliminated.The space under the triangle is also impossible to survive, because the gross profit margin is too low to pay back the cost, and it cannot cope with customers who have complicated requirements for stationery, and because the gross profit is too low, it cannot support the company's scale and services, and even employees cannot be supported. What is based on the stationery industry?

The only thing that works is the part inside the triangle.Focus not only on the big customers on the right (because the customers on the far right are most willing to spend money to solve office problems, so the gross profit margin is the highest), but also take different measures to reduce costs.It's a pity that there are not too many Chinese companies that can achieve that level, and there is relatively little competition, so we think it must be a battleground for future military strategists. For stationery companies at the tip of the lower left triangle in Figure 2-4, if you want to break through, you must go to the right. The target customers here have relatively high time costs for purchasing stationery, so they are willing to pay a higher price.But this means that you need to provide them with more valuable and better services and solve their problems.How to go to the right?Now, let us share with you a few different methods for your reference.

Let's take the first step to the right together now.Dear stationery suppliers, have you ever tried to think from the perspective of customers when you are concentrating on production?Chinese manufacturers often forget to grasp the real needs of customers. Entrepreneurs who make stationery, please think about the status of documents in the office.In fact, the documents in the office are like the energy and blood of the human body, flowing in the office.Like human beings, if the blood and qi flow smoothly, people are healthy.If all work can be carried out in an orderly manner in the company, the company will develop better.Therefore, good office stationery is to make all kinds of work go smoothly, let the blood of the enterprise flow to different organs, and then provide them with nutrients, so that the organs can do the important things of sustaining life.

Therefore, what the enterprise buys is not a piece of stationery, but a facilitator to make various tasks go smoothly.As long as it can help the enterprise to manage its various tasks, save time and provide convenience, it is like opening up the "two veins of Ren and Du" of the human body, and "learning martial arts" will get twice the result with half the effort. 1. What is the life cycle of a file We who make stationery have never thought of systematically classifying stationery.In fact, everything in the world has its life cycle.Birth, old age, sickness and death are the life cycle of a person, and the same is true for documents, which also have their life cycle, and office stationery dealers must take good care of the "birth, old age, sickness and death" of files.Let us first discuss what is the life cycle of the file.The process of documents being written and produced is the "birth" of documents.After the file is "born", it must be maintained, that is, storage and classification.Finally, when it comes time to discard a file, that's when it reaches the end of its life.Therefore, in the life cycle of each document, if there are corresponding office stationery to take care of, it can be said that the documents are taken care of.This is the concept of "big office".

Table 2-1 below briefly explains the concept of big office. The stationery life cycle can be divided into four stages, which are document generation, document storage, document classification and document disposal. The stationery required for "document generation" includes pens, copiers and printers.A document is created when a document is written or printed by a person.And stationery such as pen holders are also classified as document generation because they also assist in document generation.And "document storage" includes stationery such as folders, laminating machines and binding machines.Because these stationery are the documents bound and preserved.When saving, you can’t save it casually, you must classify and save it, otherwise it will take a lot of time to find it.Therefore, file boxes, file organizers, or CD bags with classification functions are very important.Because these stationery can neatly store files in categories, it will be much more convenient to find them.But the file is also out of date. When the life cycle of the file reaches this point, it will be discarded.At this time, stationery such as paper shredders, scissors and trash cans will come in handy.Therefore, these are stationery belonging to "document disposal".We will discuss specific examples in the section of Qixin Stationery.

Since documents are as important as the blood of an enterprise, to take good care of documents, the most basic condition is to provide corresponding stationery in every link of its life cycle.Because a one-stop stationery set can provide a lot of convenience for enterprises, the manufacturing and development of office stationery products should focus on the life cycle of archives.Imagine that when you buy things, you also like to go to a large supermarket.Because you can buy all the daily necessities, dishes, snacks, and entertainment products you need in one go.In fact, enterprises also need this kind of convenience.If you provide convenience, your bargaining power will be higher.Just as things in the supermarket are never the cheapest.But you will find that when you want to buy something, you will still naturally think of "supermarket". The same is true for office stationery. Only by doing this can we be considered successful.You may think in your heart: Oh, then if I package my stationery store like a supermarket, will I be able to succeed if I grasp the essence of the industry?The answer is no.While this is important, it's not enough if you just do it.The people you think of will not be unexpected.If so, wouldn't it be possible to combine several manufacturers specializing in different stationery into one?In the following case, the protagonist Dudu Stationery also took care of the complete file life cycle mentioned above, but it still failed in the end. Why? 2. Case: Dudu Stationery's exploration of the concept of "big office" Like other entrepreneurs, Qiu Wenqin, the founder of Dudu Stationery, has gone through all kinds of difficulties and obstacles to make Dudu Stationery on the track. The road he traveled should be very similar to everyone else. In 1992, Chairman Qiu Wenqin started with 7,000 yuan and established Dudu Stationery in Shenzhen.Later, Dudu Stationery developed into a nationwide chain of office supplies distribution enterprises, and became a well-known enterprise in Shenzhen, selling stationery in the form of chain stores and consignment. We analyzed the products of Dudu Stationery.Due to economies of scale, its product range is diverse and covers the various life cycles of documents.Its marketing products are even more diverse, whether it is pencils, file boxes or file folders, etc. are for sale.Dudu stationery can be regarded as comprehensive in terms of hardware. The stationery needed by enterprises can be found in chain stores in Dudu, which can be regarded as a supermarket in the stationery industry.It is because Dudu Stationery can provide diversified and comprehensive services that it is better than ordinary stationery suppliers.In Figures 2-4 we just looked at, it's a little bit to the right of them.But that's not an ideal position. Dudu stationery has developed rapidly on the express train of China's reform and opening up. In December 2008, Dudu Stationery had 47 chain stores in Shenzhen alone, and franchise stores in more than a dozen large and medium-sized cities across the country. In 2008, the sales of Dudu stationery exceeded 100 million yuan, and its total assets reached 46.76 million yuan, ranking eighth among the top ten stationery brands in China.The founder Qiu Wenqin was even known as "the pride of Chaozhou people" at that time, and became a smashing entrepreneur.Based on the above discussion, everything seemed to be done right, but this entrepreneurial myth collapsed after a month. When the business slowly got on track, they all officially declared bankruptcy on January 15, 2009.The media were very surprised by the sudden closure of this stationery dealer. Articles such as "Dudu Stationery Collapsed Within One Month!" and "Did Dudu Stationery Really Close Down?" appeared in the online discussion forum.What was even more dramatic was that the founder, Qiu Wenqin, disappeared without a trace. Not only did he not explain the reason for his graduation, but he was also exposed that he was heavily in debt due to business problems.Once dubbed "the pride of Chaozhou people" by netizens, he suddenly became a "rat crossing the street" and became the object of everyone's pursuit. The death of Dudu Stationery is worthy of our deep thinking, because many stationery suppliers are going in the direction of Dudu Stationery.The story of Dudu Stationery conveys an important message: it is in line with the concept of a large office to only cover the various life cycles of documents, but this is not enough to capture the essence of the industry.Of course, the product category needs to cover the various life cycles of documents, but only doing this is not enough to become a working partner of the enterprise.If you can only do this level, then you have to work harder.Go further to the right of the triangle in Figure 1-4, because there is a wider world and less competition.You may ask: what is the second step? Remember Figure 2-4?We are one step closer to the far right.It was mentioned just now that only 30% of stationery companies think that they cannot survive on a single product, and only they are qualified to take a share of China's huge office stationery market.But it takes more than simply offering a variety of stationery to tell the difference and ensure you don't get knocked out.Instead, take the initiative and put yourself in the customer's shoes.Whoever is more active can think more comprehensively for the enterprise and win! Some innovative stationery companies began to appear.They have moved away from the traditional model of just opening the door and waiting for customers to come to them, and instead proactively think about other channels that are more convenient for customers, such as accepting Internet, phone orders, etc.The stationery market has shifted from comprehensive elimination to incomplete elimination to active elimination of passive ones. In the past, some passive companies that occupied a leading position in the stationery market began to be eliminated by active stationery companies. This principle is actually the simplest. If you think about it, if there are two stationery companies now.If you want to go to A stationery company to buy stationery, you have to go to its branch stores to buy slowly. After looking at the stationery for a long time, you also need to look at the face of the salesperson.The other company, B Stationery Company, doesn't need you to bother at all, as long as you make a phone call, everything will be done for you!If it were you, I don't think you would be so stupid to go to A stationery company to buy stationery! Let's take a look at how Staples defeated Dudu Stationery, which has been working hard for more than ten years, with a slogan: Case: Staples’ slogan “We make office easier” eliminated Dudu Stationery. Founded in 1986, Staples is an American company headquartered in Framingham, Massachusetts. It is currently the world’s leading retailer of office supplies. and distributors. In 2004, Staples came to China and its headquarters took root in Shanghai.Staples adheres to the business philosophy of "we make office easier", and enriches the service content in combination with Chinese characteristics. In 2007, Staples established the contract enterprise customer department to serve large customers; in April of the same year, it officially became the exclusive supplier of office furniture for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. The level of Staples is different. From the very beginning, it compares with Chinese stationery companies, and what they bring is technology.It will introduce the concept of office service integrating advanced technology, environmental protection spirit and humanistic care to China. With advanced supply chain management and global procurement system, Staples will create a wide range of office stationery, office consumables, office equipment, office furniture, business gifts, etc. for customers. A procurement platform for more than one commodity.When we analyzed Staples, we found that its victory stems from a slogan: "We make office easier" (That was easy).This kind of slogan clearly expresses the determination to help enterprises solve problems. You may wish to imitate it.But slogans don't make things happen when they are shouted, they must be actually implemented.If you log on to Staples' website, you will know how it provides convenience, especially in the purchasing process.The website is simple and easy to use, which solves the difficulties that enterprises may encounter in the process of purchasing stationery: such as unclear ordering or wanting to modify order data, etc. Staples introduced the concept of e-commerce to improve its sales channels. The most powerful thing about Staples is that it does not have a physical store.Most of the buying and selling is done online, which saves even the rent on the storefront.Taking advantage of the general trend of the Internet, it further popularizes online ordering services, allowing companies to complete the order work with a few simple operations on the website. What is the level of others, what is our level?While most Chinese stationery companies use manual processing of order data, Staples customers can already preview orders unlimited times for 24 hours, and can provide free delivery service, so companies can complete the entire process of purchasing stationery without leaving home.This kind of convenience alone is enough to eliminate all the hard-working stationery. Staples uses e-commerce methods to perfectly solve the mentality of large organizations that are afraid of trouble.In 2005, just one year after its launch in the Chinese market, their sales in China reached 500 million yuan, and they even snatched away the customers of Huawei, Konka and other large high-end companies in Shenzhen from the hands of Dudu Stationery. You must know how important these large high-end customers are to the company!Some reports pointed out that Staples was the murderer who killed Dudu Stationery. Is Staples working hard?Possibly, but certainly not in the lead in production.I bet people must have spent a long time thinking about how to implement the concept of "we make the office easier", and finally came up with the concept of an online procurement platform. It can not only provide comprehensive stationery for enterprises, but also put themselves in the shoes of enterprises, so that enterprises can solve the difficulties of purchasing stationery without leaving home.Whether it is using telephone sales or network sales, these are just means, and reducing the procurement cost of enterprises is the ultimate goal.Compared with Dudu Stationery, Staples can better achieve the industry essence of "work partner".This is also the main reason why Staples can be in the leading position in the industry and eliminate Dudu stationery. Staples and UPS are now cooperating, and there are Staples office supplies UPS Express stores in Shanghai and Beijing.Provide commercial customers and ordinary customers with a wide range of business services, including various office supplies, file processing, international parcel transportation, and packaging and labeling.Within 30 minutes of receiving a customer call for service, UPS will come to pick up the package that needs to be delivered.You see how convenient this is, it greatly reduces the time cost of the enterprise.You don't need to buy stationery first, and then contact the courier company, they will do it for you in one go.It meets the needs of enterprises to replenish office stationery quickly and frequently.Every step considers the problem from the perspective of the company's working partners, helping the company reduce time costs and help the company solve problems.It is precisely because of this that Staples is located on the right side of the capital. If Chinese stationery companies do not want to repeat the mistakes of Dudu stationery, they must stop and think, and stop working hard there, because they have already started to solve problems for the company during the procurement process.To put it simply, the competition in today's stationery market lies in who can give full play to the spirit of "working partner" and become the best working partner of the enterprise.But Chinese entrepreneurs have been lacking in creativity. Do we have a chance to do better than Staples? Seeing this, you will find that the stationery industry is still full of challenges.Is it that the stationery products are complete and the procurement method is very convenient, is this all that the enterprise requires?Can this solve all the difficulties for the enterprise?Can this become a working partner of the enterprise?Are you ready to take the last step to the right? Foreign companies use intelligence to facilitate customers, so they can become business partners of enterprises. If we Chinese are not as smart as others, then we should do a better job in details. If you still remember the example of comparing stationery to meridians, you will know that meridians need to be "opened up".If you practice kung fu without getting through your meridians, you will easily become obsessed like the western poison Ouyang Feng in the novel because of disordered meridians.The uncoordinated stationery system will also cause some troubles that could have been avoided.Therefore, the interaction between hardware and system must be carefully considered. Just imagine, when using a computer, what we need and use are not only hardware such as display screens, keyboards, and wires, but also a set of software. Only when the hardware and the system cooperate with each other can we effectively use the computer and give full play to its capabilities. maximum functionality.Similarly, when managing office files, stationery is the hardware of the computer. So, what software system should be used to cooperate with it, so as to give full play to the maximum function of stationery in office file management?This application stationery system is the office solution. The software system of a computer is composed of one program after another. When they are started in an orderly manner, the computer can operate smoothly, and the solutions are similar.The solution is a set of steps and methods to use stationery to process documents in the office in a systematic and orderly manner. We use computers, and most of the software systems are either Microsoft or Apple. That is to say, when doing office work, the solution we can use is either solution A or solution B?of course not!Because different enterprises have different scales and cultures, the types and quantities of work to be handled are also different, and the difficulties they face are also different. Therefore, a good solution must be carefully observed after the operation of the enterprise. Enterprise tailor-made.If the stationery company can provide a unique solution for the enterprise and solve the troubles for the enterprise, it is a working partner. 1. Case: Qixin——systematic solution, brand establishment Qixin Stationery is a relatively successful company in China's office stationery industry.Why can it break through in this chaotic stationery market?We found that its success has a deep relationship with the nature of the office stationery industry.It implements the concept of "big office" and provides more than 1,000 kinds of stationery to take care of the life cycle of documents; it provides convenient purchasing methods for corporate customers and actively develops customer sources; in addition, it develops and promotes the standard of document management system, Establish your own brand.Next, we will discuss how Qixin Stationery conforms to the nature of the industry, and how it can be practiced through the integration of the industrial chain and become a working partner of the enterprise. 2. Take care of the file life cycle Remember the concept of a lifecycle?The products of Qixin Stationery include document management supplies (file folders, file boxes, report folders, data management books, file bags, etc.), office equipment supplies (shredders, binding machines, etc.) and desktop stationery supplies (staplers, printers, etc.) hole machine, scissors, etc.).They provide stationery required from "document generation" to "document disposal", and the "breadth" of products covers all aspects of the life cycle of documents. So, how does Qixin Stationery carry out the concept of "big office"? The answer lies in the combined manufacturer and integrated supplier model it adopts in China. Qixin Stationery has its own factory to directly produce document management supplies, such as binders , paper shredders and other stationery products with higher profit margins, thus increasing its own profits. In addition, Qixin is also an integrated supplier of stationery, placing orders with OEMs and ODMs to purchase other stationery that it does not produce and has low profits. Then do brand integration, the purpose is to expand the "breadth" of its products, so that the products cover the life cycle of documents, improve Qixin's "full product line" and implement the concept of "big office". This model not only allows Qixin to implement the "big office" "office" concept, to establish the foundation of becoming a business partner, and at the same time, it can also allow Qixin to earn profits from mid-to-high-end document products such as office binders, shredders, etc. On the other hand, this model also increases the "depth" of the product, that is, the quality of the product.In order to build a brand, it is very important to provide high-quality products. Qixin must pay more attention to the quality and function of the products it directly produces. Therefore, Qixin has set up a research and development department for document management products. According to market research, research and development of products, use technology for Businesses solve problems and continually introduce products that respond to consumer needs.For example, Qixin invests in research and development to improve the design, function and quality of its multi-functional shredder, which has become one of its core products. It responds to the needs of enterprises, that is, they need to destroy many objects at the same time: waste paper of different thicknesses, cardboard , CD and credit card, etc., so we continue to improve the paper shredder to solve the problem for the enterprise. 3. Provide convenient purchasing channels Enterprises who want to purchase Qixin stationery, in addition to directly going to the branches and service outlets set up by Qixin Stationery to explain their needs for office supplies, enterprises can also purchase stationery products through phone calls and websites, which can make it easier for enterprises to go to Purchasing stationery saves a lot of time and cost.In addition, Qixin introduces door-to-door sales service, and enterprises can purchase Qixin stationery without going out of the house. Another advantage of door-to-door sales is that it can better understand the actual needs of enterprises, facilitate tailor-made document management systems, and provide enterprises with the best product portfolio solutions according to requirements.The sales method of Qixin Stationery is closely related to providing convenient purchasing channels for enterprises. We will discuss it in detail in the following sales method of Qixin. 4. Provide solutions When enterprises manage files, they often encounter: a large number of files, which are difficult to sort out; searching for files is very slow and inefficient; file storage methods are confusing, etc.What does the business need?Not only stationery, but to solve "how to manage files effectively". Since 1997, Qixin has started to develop the standard of B-EFS (Business-Effective Filing System) business efficient file management system to promote the improvement of the office environment and efficiency of domestic enterprises.So what is B-EFS? In fact, B-EFS is not a complicated program.It covers the whole process of file management and is a system.It is a standard that integrates product quality and usage methods.To put it simply, it is a method of managing files.In fact, many enterprises, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, have no concept of document management. They have never thought about how to manage documents more efficiently. They do not think this is a problem, or even feel that it is necessary to solve this problem.The B-EFS developed by Qixin is to let them know that this system standard allows them to manage their files more effectively and concentrate more on their major tasks. The import procedure of B-EFS is carried out according to the five process links of preparation-investigation-organization-formation-maintenance.Its application range includes: management of public documents, personal desk management, family information management, OA data management (OA, office automation, which means office automation).It is characterized by being easy to maintain, easy to retrieve, easy to find, and to improve the environment. It forms a document management standard and achieves a smooth enterprise business resource sharing and storage system.Therefore, the biggest purpose of B-EFS is to improve the efficiency of users' business operations.When the concerted sales staff come to sell, the sales staff will understand the needs of the enterprise.In addition to selling the whole set of office stationery around the large office, they will also introduce this set of management methods to enterprises.When necessary, we can provide enterprises with tailor-made office supplies professional services to assist enterprises to import B-EFS suitable for them. If you still don't understand, let me make a simple analogy.Everyone imagines the office as a library, and all documents are books in the library.The librarians had to sort the new books they had just bought into proper categories, with novels in fiction and science books in science.Then, they have to be affixed with a number, usually the book number and the year of publication.When finished, put them on the bookcase according to their numbers.When you want to find a book, you will go to the shelf to find it according to the category, number, and publication year of the book you want. You won’t be so stupid as to look through every shelf to find the book you want!It is of course much faster to find books according to category, serial number, and publication year.As for some old and outdated books, the librarian will discard them to free up space and save the effort of managing these books.In fact, librarians and people who look for books are enterprises, and their method of managing books is the B-EFS proposed by Qixin. When people who manage books and people who look for books follow this standard, it will be much more convenient to find books up. Of course, the actual classification operation depends on the operation of the company.And how a company operates can vary greatly by industry.Therefore, if we want to fully meet the needs of customers, we can only tailor a management method for them.Taking the auditing industry as an example, every accountant must refer to a large number of audit work files of previous financial years before auditing the client's financial statements, so as to determine the audit method suitable for this year's financial year.In the accounting industry, customers are accustomed to patronizing the same accounting firm, and the law also requires that audit work files need to be kept for many years. Therefore, a large amount of data must be preserved in each accounting firm.If this batch of documents is not handled properly, the consequences will be very serious.If the files are lost, the firm may have legal liability; if there are loopholes in the storage method, employees can easily take them out of the company, which will also involve privacy issues.Even just prolonging the search time can hurt the company's bottom line!Why?For example, in an audit activity, the client pays for the service based only on financial file analysis, and finding files in the company is obviously not the purpose of the client's payment.The hourly wages of accountants are not cheap, and the service fees for audit activities are generally pre-determined.Therefore, the more man-hours are wasted, the lower the profitability of the company. So, what can an office stationer do?It is to assist in the establishment of a new storage system!A stationer can advise an accounting firm to set up a central document processing system and study the stationery required.For example, provide special computers for searching documents, data racks classified by customer type, centrally processed document lending and exchange system, binders with barcodes, etc.In this way, the stationery company can assist customers to quickly retrieve documents, and let them know which employee has borrowed which documents to avoid loss.Expired documents can also be cleared regularly to avoid increasing storage costs and thereby saving management costs. This is the basis of B-EFS. Therefore, the salesperson recommends the appropriate stationery with the appropriate method to the enterprise, just like some ingredients will be sold together with brochures of different cooking methods.After Qixin Stationery developed the B-EFS document management standard, it advocated and promoted it in the industry, and established its own brand in the stationery industry, because whoever sets the standard first will have a leading position. It can be seen that Qixin Stationery has broken away from the background of a "stationery manufacturer" and has further become a partner in the work of enterprises. Qixin's office B-EFS provides enterprises with document management solutions, enabling enterprises to use stationery to manage office documents more effectively , after the enterprise returns from purchasing stationery, and with the cooperation of appropriate solutions, it fully solves the enterprise's troubles in handling documents in the office. Method 1, method 2, and method 3 have all been completed, and the role of a working partner has been fulfilled, so is this considered a success?not yet!It is of course good to provide high-quality products, of course it is good to tailor-made, and of course it is good to optimize the shopping process. However, how can we deal with the problem of rising costs while improving performance?You must know that no matter how perfect the product is, if you cannot control the cost well, your cost will continue to rise, your price competitiveness will not be enough, and you may not escape the fate of losing money in the end.There will be specific examples below, let's discuss together. From Figure 2-5, we can see that the industrial chain of the stationery industry can be roughly divided into three parts: stationery manufacturing, stationery distribution, and stationery retail.From the examples of developed countries such as Europe and the United States, stationery manufacturers can get about 30%-50% of the value chain profits, and stationery distribution can get 10%-20%.As for retailers, they get the remaining 50%.As mentioned earlier, most stationery manufacturers in China focus on manufacturing. That is to say, if you are only a manufacturer, half of the stationery profits will be distributed to retailers, and half of your stationery profits will need to be shared with your wholesalers or distributors. Divide again!Therefore, to find a way out, on the one hand, they need to consolidate their brand, and on the other hand, they need to develop downstream, and combine the share of stationery distribution and stationery retail—————————————————————— 5. Qixin's method 1: control the cost of stationery manufacturing The first step in selling stationery is of course to produce stationery.Let's think about what factors can affect the price of production?If you produce by yourself, the first thing to consider is the price of the raw material itself, and the second is the bargaining power with the raw material supplier when purchasing. Let’s talk about raw material prices first.I believe everyone knows that the main raw materials needed by the stationery industry include PVC plastic particles, ink, toner, printing ink, fluorescent materials, dyes, pigments, etc.These materials are actually derived from different chemical raw materials, and the prices of these chemical materials are affected by changes in international crude oil prices.换句话说，原油价格变动会首先影响化工行业，再传播到文具制造业，时间上虽然会有一定的延迟，但生产塑料档案夹、画笔、彩笔、荧光笔等等的文具企业一定会受影响。 塑料文具企业所需要的车要原材料为PVC塑料粒子，是从原油中提炼而成。由于我国原油价格形成机制、国家宏观调控、供求关系等诸多原因，PVC塑料粒子的价格其实并不完全随国际原油价格波动。 图2-6是生产原料PVC和新兴原料聚丙烯（PP）的价格走势。特别值得大家留意的是有时候PP的价格会比PVC高（例如2006年1月至2007年9月）；有时候PVC的价格就会比PP高（例如2008年9月至2009年7月）。What does this mean?我们想说的是如果文具生产商的生产线能够弹性地因应不同原材料成本高低而转用不同的原料的话，生产的成本就能降低了。我们一起看看齐心在这一方面做了什么功课。 齐心生产的活页夹面料一直都是PVC材质，因为它的密度比较高，所以不易变形。但齐心却一直希望能找寻到能与PVC作替代品的原料，PP是一个好选择，但由于PP的密度比PVC小，所以比较容易变形。直到2007年，齐心的研发队伍终于研究到利用PP来生产活页夹的技术，这种技术叫“三折式活页夹”，即是把活页夹分为三个较细小的部分分别用PP来造，由于每件部件的面积细了，所以不容易变形。这种活页夹在国内注册了专利（国内专利号为200720121123.6），不论用PP或是PVC来做都可以。所以齐心在不同时间可以用不同物料生产这种活页夹，例如在PP比较贵时转用PVC生产。这样就可以控制产品的原料成本了。 2005年1月至2008年7月，国际原油价格从45.68美元/桶上涨到137.62美元/桶，上涨幅度超过200%。但齐心文件管理用品的毛利在同一时期却由2006年的19.42%增长到2009年的27.54%！这就证明齐心在控制成本方面是成功了。 我们看过齐心如何控制原料的供应价格。现在我们进一步看看如何才能提高自己和上游原料供货商的议价能力，从而让自己的生产成本降低。齐心在国内有两大生产基地，一个在仙头（名为讪头齐心），一个在深圳（名为齐心商用设备）。以前这两家工厂是各自为政的，什么意思？就是各自找寻适合自己的原料供货商。这样做有什么不好？当然就是议价能力的问题了。这是再简单不过的道理：两个人把订单集中到一起才去买，获得的购买条件肯定比自己一个人去议价好。知道这个道理之后你会怎样做？ 齐心就选择了将采购的流程从工厂中剥离出来。在2007年中，齐心把各个工厂的采购部分整合给旗下的深圳总部观澜文具厂。从此采购与生产部分作出了分工：由观澜文具厂设计研发和接受客户订单，在总部规定的营销政策和价格体系之下，根据订单情况安排采购计划和生产计划，对汕头齐心和齐心商用设备下达委托加工订单。即是汕头齐心和齐心商用设备现在已经变成齐心整个产业链中内部的OEM，只负责生产，接订单和采购原料都由观澜总部一手包办。 这样做好处就大了，总部不但整合了订单处理的环节，还可以中央处理采购的过程，一次购买两家工厂所需要的物料，数量大的时候自然就有更大的议价能力了。集体采购是齐心控制采购成本的第一个方法。当然这样做是有代价的，因为采购和生产两部分分开了，采购总部必须要密切留意工厂是否有足够的原料，所以工厂与总部之间的信息互通就变得很重要了。就此，齐心在2010年1月21日正式宣布斥资500万成立“上海齐心信息科技有限公司”，务求巩固内部的信息科技的互通。 为了进一步控制和原料采购商的议价能力，齐心也尝试过更多不同的原料供货商取货，不让一两家供货商垄断齐心的原料供应。措施实施后，公司最大五名（以采购金额排行）供货商占全公司采购额的比重由2008年的38.67%大幅降至2009年的25.39%。 6.齐心的方法二：品牌的研发制造和集成供应的结合 让我们先看看齐心如何在文具制造环节巩固自己的品牌。记得齐心怎样照顾文件生命周期，怎样实践大办公吗？就是向客户提供文件生命周期中所有要用的文具产品。这就代表齐心要一手包办所有的文具生产吗？答案当然不是。因为这样做不但需要更大的工厂和更多的人手，更重要的是不是每一种文具毛利率都高。 由此可见，齐心首先专注研发并直接生产文件管理用品例如活页夹、碎纸机这些比较高端而且在市场占有率较高的文具产品。从2006年至2008年的数据可见，齐心的文件管理用品分别为11%、12%、13.1%，市场占有率居国内同行前列，其中，高档文件夹市场占有率约30%，居行业第一名。专注发展这些产品，能逐渐扩大市场占有率，更能巩固品牌。 因此，齐心投入每年大约占主营业务收入1.3%的研发费用于产品研发上，用于改良产品的设计、质量、功能，并设立了文件管理用品、OA设备、综合产品研发部门，围绕“大办公”不断推出新产品，在2006年、2007年、2008年分别推出119、138、178个新项目。研发保障了公司产品不断地推陈出新，品牌价值则成为公司持续发展的内在动力。同时，制造这些核心产品为齐心带来了丰厚的利润，从制造品牌核心产品所得之收入占齐心总收入超过一半，而且这项收入从2006年约2000万元升至2008年约3400万元，毛利从2006年只有23%升至2008年30%。利润的提升有助于平衡公司不断发展而日益增加的成本。 另一方面，齐心釆取集成供货商模式向OEM、ODM下达订单采购其他自己没有生产的、利润不高的、比较低端的文具，然后再做品牌整合；目的就是扩大它的产品的“广度”，使产品涵盖文件的生命周期，完善齐心的“全产品线”及贯彻“大办公”理念。我们可以看到从2006年的14.14%、2007年的19.68%到2008年的25.03%，集成供应所得之收入占总体收入不断上升，可见齐心这种模式所占的份额正在逐年提高。这种集成供应的模式节省了为了生产较低端的文具的资源，更能把资源分配到研发核心产品。另外，齐心文具的品牌规模及销售渠道（我们会随后再讨论）使齐心增加了谈判筹码，提高了议价能力，节约了采购的成本。集成供应的毛利率从2006年的16.61%增至2008年的19.51%，盈利水平不断上升。 从齐心在文具制造中不断整合，由文具制造企业，通过研发、制造较高端的产品，又向OEM/ODM采购自己没有生产的低端的文具，变成一家品牌制造商和集成供货商的结合文具企业，不但让自己利润增加、成本减少，而且更完善自己大办公的理念，为企业客户提供一站式的文具产品供应。 7.齐心的方法三：营销渠道扁平化 看完了齐心如何在生产文具的环节节省成本之后，我们再来看看齐心在分销网络如何节省成本。齐心的分销网络大概可以分成两级（见图2-7）。 图左边的渠道是不是很眼熟？因为它是70%文具企业会做的事，也就是自己生产，然后把文具卖给批发商、零售商，最终到顾客的手中。这种手法不但是与批发商及零售商分摊了利润，顾客的意见及市场动向（例如哪种文具最受欢迎）你更不会知道，只能靠评估。运气不好的文具企业更会遇上一些强如沃尔玛或家乐福的大型零售连锁店。它们“天天低价”的背后其实就是借它的影响力把你们文具生产商的利润都压到最低。要避免这些情况发生，就必须开辟另外的销售渠道。 那齐心在做什么呢，它早在2005年已经开始减少分销商的数目，使分销渠道占总销售额的比例由2006年的74.07%降至2009年的57.33%。分销商减少了，那业务增长的推动力在哪里？就是在于增加第二级渠道的营销份额。 二级渠道就是直销，你看图右边的渠道就会明白扁平化是什么意思。其实就是把会将利润吸干的中间人都消灭掉，这条渠道比第一级的就扁平好多了。从齐心文具的销售费用我们可以看到营销代表差旅费在三年内增加了170%，是因为他们很注重上门直销的概念，上门直销多了，差旅费自然就会多。这就是转用直销的代价。但这样的好处是不用给下游的分销商压价，分摊自己利润。从齐心的财政报表，我们可以看到显著的成效。2006年的财政年度，齐心的整体营业利润为3700多万元（毛利率为16.61%），但是，单单是2009年度的上半年，齐心的整体营业利润已超过4000万元（毛利率为19.71%）。办公室是直销的最大客户，其毛利率亦由2006年的18.30%增加到2009年的23.63%。除了利润增加以外，顾客的要求也可以让你更清楚把握，从而更有效地创造品牌。 8.齐心的方法四：无缝营销策略 无缝营销策略其实是营销渠道扁平化的进一步体现，以减少中间人为大前提。大家想过如何与外国客户保持关系吗？齐心最初在这一方面遇到过不少困难。在2005年前它是依靠一家叫“香港新荣”的公司代理齐心文具的出口业务。为什么用香港公司？当然就是借助香港的自由经商环境、金融背景及地理位置吧。但这种关系是有代价的，又是回到中间人的问题，利润给这个中间人瓜分了。如果你是齐心你会怎样做？ 没错，聪明的你一定猜得到它把这位中间人干掉了。根据扁平化的概念，齐心文具从2005年开始减少各香港新荣销售产品的金额，2007年的财政报告已再找不到经由香港新荣代理出口的数据了。 中间人消灭了，当然不代表要放弃海外市场。香港新荣没有了，取而代之的是齐心文具全资拥有的子公司，叫做“齐心亚洲”。在2007年6月正式在香港注册成立的齐心亚洲成为齐心对外国客户的“窗口”，它承接了香港新荣在外销业务中的全部职能，出口业务不再需要通过“中间人香港新荣”，利润不用给它分摊，又不会失去香港对海外营销的优势。在运输成本上升的情况下，齐心对外销售的毛利率由2006年的15.27%增加到2009年的21.58%，这就是消灭中间人的后果。 当然，除了成立子公司之外，全面收购“香港新荣”也是当时齐心文具的一个选择。但你知道境内公司收购境外公司需要办多少手续吗？你又知不知道在香港成立一家新公司平均只需大约20天时间？基于外汇管制等等明文法律上的复杂性，收购香港新荣的股权比直接在香港设立新公司复杂，所以齐心文具当时就选择了在香港另外设立齐心亚洲。 这种消灭中间人的举措在对国内的营销都可以找到。你们现在在上海会找到一家叫“上海新通文具有限公司”的，其前身叫“上海齐心有限公司”，在2005年以前是齐心文具在上海的经销商，负责齐心产品在上海及周边市场的销售，这也就是另一个站在齐心和最终客户之间的中间人，齐心文具当然不会坐视不理。所以齐心在2004年12月31日正式在上海成立全资拥有的分公司，负责公司产品在上海市场的销售，2008年的财务报告已再也找不到齐心文具与上海新通文具有限公司有任何生意往来。 销售网进行了扁平化不但使工作伙伴的概念变得可行，降低成本，增强价格的竞争力，对文具供货商要成为企业的工作伙伴也有密切关系，主要是在沟通方面，一般的文具公司都是把自己的产品交给特卖场或零售商去卖，令文具公司和客户隔了一重又一重的经销商。客户对产品的意见根本回不到文具公司。齐心的销售网扁平化后客户（即是企业）与齐心文具的距离近了很多。齐心文具不但可以从销售额的数据中得到所需数据，更可以绕过中间人直接了解顾客的需要；顾客对产品有什么意见，也可以直接与齐心文具沟通。有效的沟通令企业能买到它最想要买的东西，因为最清楚企业的就是企业自己！这种直接简单的沟通促成了企业与齐心文具工作伙伴的关系。 各位文具企业请记住，知道要成为企业工作伙伴只是成功的第一步，只是臝了70%的人。余下的30%就在于谁比谁想得更周到。齐心比大部分文具企业做得比较好的地方是它不仅走对了第一步，还通过对产业链的控制，当中包括消灭营销渠道的中间人等方法来达到整合产业链的目的，而这种产业链的整合拉近了文具供货商与企业的距离，更能成为称职的企业工作伙伴，达到办公文具的行业本质。