Chapter 26 Chapter 3 Take the lead in setting foot on the road of China's home appliance retail chain

On December 26, 1999, Nanjing Xinjiekou Suning Appliance Building was grandly opened. Suning expanded from traditional home appliances to a full range of integrated electrical appliances including home appliances, consumer electronics, computers, and communications. In 2000, Suning officially launched the second entrepreneurial strategy and began the nationwide chain operation of comprehensive home appliances. In March 2004, Premier Wen Jiabao met with Jiangsu entrepreneurs during his investigation in Wuxi.At that time, Suning's home appliance chain operation model had been successful, and it had been affirmed by all walks of life, and the company was in the stage of listing review.Zhang Jindong introduced the development history and future plan of Suning Appliance to Premier Wen: In 2004, 100 stores will be added, and sales will increase by 10 billion yuan. In 2009, the group's turnover is expected to exceed 100 billion yuan.Premier Wen was very happy to hear that, and said to Zhang Jindong: "We will actively support you just because you have solved the employment of more than 200,000 people." He also encouraged Zhang Jindong to make Suning "become China's Wal-Mart."

Suning has been moving towards this goal.Zhang Jindong, who has always been low-key, showed his ambition in front of the media: "There is a Wal-Mart in the United States, but there are only 300 million people, while China has 1.3 billion people. In the future, at least three Wal-Marts can be cultivated. Suning's goal is to become China's flagship store. Walmart." From short supply of products to oversupply, manufacturing companies, distributors, consumers, social organizations and other forces ebb and flow, causing the market environment to always be in dynamic changes.From the shortage of products to the oversupply, and the singleness and seasonality of air-conditioning products, Chinese air-conditioning manufacturers began to bear huge competitive pressure. In addition to suppressing other air-conditioning manufacturers by means of price, in order to control channels and markets, manufacturers pointed the finger at the channel provider.Where does Suning go from here?While Suning's sales of air conditioners were booming, Zhang Jindong, the leader, quietly decided to shift the company's future business strategy from the wholesale model to retail as the core.By 1999, after several trials, Suning had finally "abandoned wholesale and specialized in retail", reduced the proportion of wholesale channels in the secondary and tertiary markets that had been operating for many years, focused on strengthening the construction of self-operated retail terminals, and embarked on the road of chains.This is the self-revolution that Suning people took the initiative to jump out of the trap of success.

Throughout the development history of Chinese enterprises, all private enterprises will face turning points at different stages of development.In the process of entrepreneurship and development, enterprises are prone to path dependence psychology—once they enter a certain successful path, they will habitually rely on this path.Specifically, once an enterprise chooses a certain profit method, it is like embarking on a road of no return, and the force of inertia will continue to strengthen the enterprise's dependence on this profit model.The so-called authorities are obsessed, and it is difficult for enterprises to find their own problems, or find the problem but cannot find a solution, and cannot get out of the maze.

In fact, success is an ongoing process.If an enterprise fails to view success correctly, success may become an obstacle, obscure the vision of the enterprise, fail to realize the threat of competitors, and be subverted by new competitors and challengers. Richard Daveney, author of "Hypercompetition: Theory and Application of Dynamic Competition in the New Era", believes that companies cannot maintain their competitive advantages for a long time. As more companies implement subversive market strategies, technological and industry barriers disappear. Competitive advantage is constantly being created, eroded, destroyed, and then recreated.

If it is said that Richard Davini's views are just expert opinions, then John Brown, CEO of BP, summed up profoundly through his own business practice: "Abandoning those unpredictable things that can predict the future Practical fantasy. The only thing you can do is equip yourself to deal with uncertainty—the only certainty in life. The development of that capacity is what strategic planning is for.” Success is a trap because no pattern of experience is enough to guarantee permanent success.When the existing profit model cannot adapt to the changing objective reality, the enterprise must take the initiative to change its life and seek transformation in a timely manner.In order for the enterprise to continue to develop and achieve higher goals, only through fundamental transformation can it be possible for the enterprise to start developing again on a new level.

In September 1999, just after the air conditioner was busy, Zhang Jindong called nearly a hundred middle and high-level backbones from all over the country to the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum Nursing Home for a 10-day closed meeting.It was the decisions made at this meeting that made Suning what it is today. According to the memories of the participants, this closed meeting was unforgettable: the weather was extremely hot, and the participants had to go out for exercises and military training every morning. After being "tortured" and sweating profusely, they faced various themed meetings all day long. , to start a heated discussion.

The theme of this meeting can be summed up in two ways: to fully study the development of the chain business and the direction of network expansion; at the same time, it also summarizes some problems in the past exploration of air-conditioning chains, such as background management and information construction.During the period, Zhang Jindong also specially invited external experts to talk about the Internet and non-store sales. In fact, Zhang Jindong has long been keenly aware of and proposed that China's business is about to enter the era of "terminal network is king".He once said to his team more than once: "Whoever controls the retail channel will hold the throat of the market."

The 1980s was called the product era of China's home appliance industry, the 1990s was the marketing era led by manufacturers, and entering the 21st century, China's home appliance industry will usher in a new era of commercial circulation and manufacturers.In fact, by the end of the 1990s, the chain industry had developed into a new force that shocked the international economic circles and occupied a pivotal position in social and economic life.Its fierce momentum and strong limelight have aroused the in-depth discussion of experts and scholars and the attention of governments of various countries.

In the United States, Japan, Europe and other western developed countries and regions, the chain industry accounts for more than 50% of the total retail sales of commodities in the whole society.Chain operation is known as a major symbol of the "modern circulation revolution".According to a statistic from the U.S. Department of Commerce, the success rate of enterprises joining the chain operation is as high as 90%. The 21st century will be the century in which the chain industry dominates the business world.Zhang Jindong, who is always concerned about the dynamics of the chain industry, is encouraged by this information all the time.

It's not a day or two since he thought about retailing.In Zhang Jindong's mind, wholesale is a thing of the past, and selling air conditioners is also a thing of the past. What Suning faces is the chain operation of comprehensive electrical appliances. The air-conditioning monopoly at the beginning of the business has played a very important role in the start and rapid development of Suning, enabling Suning to concentrate all resources and energy on making the air-conditioning business bigger and stronger.The reason for turning to the comprehensive home appliance business is because Zhang Jindong saw that after the scale became larger, Suning exposed the defects of single product management: product sales are seasonal, which leads to greater risk and less stability for Suning.

In addition, the changes of Chinese consumers and manufacturers cannot fail to attract attention: home appliances are no longer big-ticket consumer goods as in the past, but have become daily necessities. Chinese people hope to buy all kinds of home appliances in one store.And more and more home appliance manufacturers in China have developed from the manufacture of individual products to the direction of comprehensive home appliances.Under such circumstances, commercial enterprises matching manufacturers must adapt to changes in upstream enterprises and pay attention to new trends emerging from consumers. The best way to adapt to market changes is to establish a large-scale retail terminal system, and the method to establish a large-scale retail terminal system is chains. "Only the high degree of unity of the chain can make this network unbreakable; only the high replicability of the chain can realize the rapid expansion of the network scale; only the uniqueness of the chain can ensure that no matter how large the network is, enterprises can control it Implement effective control and management." Suning's experience in trying chain operations in the past few years also verified Zhang Jindong's above-mentioned views. In a word, under the new situation, the best choice for Suning to become bigger and stronger is to fully develop chain operations. A single air-conditioning chain has just gained some experience, and will soon cancel wholesale and turn to retail; comprehensive home appliance retail is still in the making, and will turn to national chain operation non-stop.Not to mention that many people in the society are arguing about this, thinking that Suning is engaged in the "Great Leap Forward" and are hot-headed. Even many people in Suning do not understand or even doubt it.Some people are worried that Suning's launch of comprehensive home appliance retail operation lacks manpower, material resources, management system and experience, and lacks a basic foundation for large-scale nationwide promotion; With mature experience, Suning took the lead in doing it, the risk is too great, you should wait and take a look... The meeting on the last day was personally presided over by Zhang Jindong. In response to the many worries and discussions inside and outside the company, Zhang Jindong made a final decision: "The matter of building a chain is settled like this, and no further discussion is allowed. Anyone who talks about the necessity and feasibility of a chain, I'll 'kill' anyone!" In the end, he clearly announced two decisions: first, Suning will turn from a single air-conditioning operation to a comprehensive home appliance operation; second, Suning will enter a national chain operation. Zhang Jindong's resolute attitude made everyone finally understand that in the minds of Suning's family, wholesale has become a thing of the past. Suning must completely forget the honor of being a big wholesaler, bid farewell to the past, and open up a new and unknown world.This new world is a home appliance retail chain, and it is a comprehensive electrical appliance. A visionary can perceive the future development trend of things.For any enterprise, there are no more than three development paths and outcomes: those who see ahead lead the industry, those who know later are passively followed, and those who do not know it are eliminated.Zhang Jindong, who has a sense of crisis and foresight, chose the first path. The "Zunyi Conference" is a qualitative change for Suning's take-off, creating a new format in China's commercial field and making Suning a "leader" in China's distribution industry. On December 26, 1999, Suning fired the first shot of a comprehensive electrical appliance chain. In Xinjiekou, Nanjing, its self-built 18-story Suning Appliance Building opened, becoming the comprehensive electrical appliance retail mall with the largest single-store business area in China at that time.At 8 o'clock in the morning, the line of customers had already circled the building several times, bustling with people, Suning had to open the door early.The turnover of this day reached tens of millions of yuan, and Nanjing City was in an uproar for a while. It is said that everything is difficult at the beginning, but there is also a saying that a good start is half the battle. When playing Go, the first piece dropped is not for fighting for an inch of land, but for winning the position.Zhang Jindong is well aware of this truth, so when he opened the first comprehensive home appliance store, he put all his energy into it. From the perspective of Suning people today, the opening of the Xinjiekou store was not easy.At that time, Suning had to solve two major problems in order to open its business: one was to introduce the brand, and the other was to advertise it widely. When the news of Suning's decision to go into a comprehensive home appliance chain came out, many upstream manufacturers actually didn't care much.After all, Suning has specialized in the distribution of air conditioners for many years, and is not familiar with the black home appliances, computers, mobile phones, and kitchen and bathroom industries.Moreover, Suning has always been dominated by wholesale, but now it suddenly announces that it will set up a comprehensive electrical appliance store and concentrate on retailing. Moreover, it has opened such a large home appliance store as soon as it comes up. Many home appliance companies have doubts about how long Suning can last. Coupled with the desperate pressure of traditional retail channel operators, many manufacturers have refused to directly supply Suning because they see more risks of Suning's one-bitterness. "Our only idea is to open the business. To do so, our products must be enriched. We must face consumers directly and tell them that Suning will be operating a variety of products and brands from now on, which can meet their various needs. Our The goal is long-term, but the staged goal at that time was: we must have products. This problem cannot be avoided, and we must solve it!" Zhang Jindong said. At that time, in order to achieve the goal of brand introduction, Suning lobbied one company after another, and Zhang Jindong would often do it himself.Zhang Jindong personally paid a return visit to the AO Smith water heater factory in Nanjing, and gained the support of the other party, becoming the first non-air-conditioning company to enter the factory. However, when negotiating with Philips color TV, it was not so smooth, and the other party made it clear that it would not directly supply Suning. "In order to allow them to give us some space and achieve the success of brand procurement, we purchased Philips appliances worth 6 million yuan at one time and gave them more than 6 million yuan. There are no special discounts and no payment terms. Customer, why do you treat Suning like this? We put up with it. If we don’t make money, we also put up with it. At the beginning, I will sell it at whatever price the other party offers me. For example, if he offers me 3,000 yuan for one set, I will sell it for 3,000 yuan a piece. Taiwan. If we want to go chain, we can’t be disturbed by the price issue. At that time, I had already planned to lose money. Objectively speaking, I couldn’t afford to lose money, but I had to tell my team that I wanted them to have no worries. Now I’m losing money , we will find a way to make up for it in the future, but I will never stop, and I will never destroy the entire plan and goal because of this." Faced with the temptation of Suning's zero profit and "huge loss" to introduce brands, many manufacturers quickly changed their attitudes and rushed to negotiate.The problem of introducing brands has been solved.The next biggest problem is that if you want to open the business, you have to announce it to the world. Hearing the news that Suning was going to open a large-scale comprehensive electrical appliance store, Suning's old rivals——Xinjiekou Department Store, Central Shopping Center, and Nanjing Jiaojia Appliances Corporation once again felt the pressure.Although they have gone through the baptism of the market economy and won't repeat the 1993 eight-on-one battle, they still put in a lot of effort.In terms of supply of goods and sales promotion, they strictly guarded, chased and intercepted, and created obstacles; and in terms of media control, they were particularly strong. In order to confuse opponents and get things done ahead of time, Suning announced that it will open on December 18.The opponents bought out all the advertisements in advance.The opponent's attitude is obviously: no advertisement, let you be unknown, let's see how you open your business? ! At that time, the opponents used their strength to make Suning silent in the media.They bought out all the media space and advertised joint promotions with all suppliers, with the purpose of disrupting Suning's plans.When Suning is about to open, they cover all the advertisements and make Suning's prices completely transparent.For example, for a certain color TV or a certain refrigerator, Suning’s purchase price is 2,000 yuan, and they stated in the advertisement: Suning’s purchase price is 2,000 yuan per set, and we are now selling it for 1,700 yuan. Faced with this situation, how should Suning solve and deal with it? "Sun Tzu's Art of War: Virtuality and Reality" says: "To people but not to people." It means that in combat, if you want to be able to mobilize your opponents without being mobilized by them, the essence is to seize the initiative on the battlefield by mobilizing your opponents. "Baizhan Qilue Zhizhan Pian" further explains: "Whoever causes the enemy to fight, his power is always weak; if he cannot fight, then our power is always strong. When the enemy comes from many sides, I will treat him according to the situation. Invincible." That is to say, mobilizing the enemy to fight will put the enemy in a position of constant weakness and passive disadvantage; I will not be mobilized by the enemy, and our army will be in a position of constant strength and active advantage. .In combat, as long as you do everything possible to mobilize the enemy to submit, you can be invincible. Zhang Jindong is soberly aware that when the opponent's firepower is too strong, the most sensible measure is to do nothing, brake with stillness, and listen to the thunder in a silent place. "The advertisements they put out immediately attracted the attention of consumers and mobilized everyone's desire to buy. The battle of color TVs, air conditioners, and refrigerators undoubtedly paved the way for Suning's opening. We need to take the opportunity to launch our own advertisement when the other party stops. " At the beginning of December, several large shopping malls signed large-scale full-page or even cross-page advertisements, and launched a series of overwhelming and intense activities: some with low prices, some with random prices, and some with zero profit. Arrows are fired.When they exhausted all their advertising and promotional resources, they saw the opening notice published by Suning in "Modern Express" on December 18: "Come and have a look at Suning today——Suning Electronics Store will have a grand opening on December 26." , caught them off guard. The opponent's ad blocking was unsuccessful. On December 26, 1999, at Huaihai Road, Xinjiekou, Nanjing, Suning Appliance Plaza, which was independently developed by Suning, opened grandly. It was a huge success as soon as it opened.On that day, Xinjiekou in Nanjing was overcrowded, and the Suning Electronics Mall was so crowded that people couldn't breathe. The successful opening of Huaihai Road Electric Building, where Suning headquarters is located, marks the first victory of Suning's strategic transformation.In fact, this store still makes Suning people proud.The sales of more than one billion yuan a year make Suning Huaihai Road Electric Appliance Building a symbol and model of professional retail stores of home appliances in China. It is known as "the first store in China", and Xinjiekou, Nanjing is also known as "the first business district in China". ". Suning people called the opening of the first comprehensive electrical appliance store the "Battle of Huaihai".On the one hand, because this first comprehensive home appliance store is on Huaihai Road; on the other hand, it is so similar to the Huaihai Battle in history.We all know that the famous Battle of Huaihai was a decisive strategic decisive battle between the People's Liberation Army and the Kuomintang's heavy military group when it had no superiority in military strength and equipment, and finally ended with the People's Liberation Army's overall victory.Throughout the opening process, Suning was an out-and-out underdog.In the end, Suning "flicked a shot", circumvented the opponent's air blockade, and then leveraged its strength to successfully open the business. This is definitely a modern commercial war reappearance of the Huaihai Campaign. The successful opening of the first comprehensive home appliance store has strengthened Suning's belief in chaining.The big stone in Zhang Jindong's heart has finally landed, and the confidence of all Suning people has been strengthened. In 2000, Suning started its second venture.On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the company's establishment, Suning officially determined the national chain strategy, horizontal expansion and vertical penetration, and gradually established a network layout from municipalities directly under the central government to provincial capital cities, from prefecture-level cities to developed county-level cities, and built a flagship core business circle The chain network layout of stores, central stores in sub-business circles and community stores in regional business circles. In 2001, Suning completed the network layout of the secondary market in Jiangsu Province. In October 2000, on the eve of Suning's 10th anniversary celebration, Zhang Jindong announced: "Suning will build 1,500 stores in 3 to 5 years, achieve annual sales of 25 billion to 30 billion yuan, and build the best chain network service brand in the country. "Cross-Century Chain Plan"." In December 2000, Suning formally implemented the second entrepreneurial strategy to comprehensively promote the development of the national electrical chain. When a company starts in a city, it is a natural idea to pursue chain expansion.The question is, how to chain, how to expand?The development of an enterprise emphasizes fast and steady development, both tension and relaxation, and both offense and defense, but cannot be linked but not locked, large but not strong, and exhausted. Those who do not plan for the whole world are not enough to plan for a moment; those who do not plan for the overall situation are not enough to plan for a city.The development of the chain must first start with "seeking momentum" and "layout".After determining the new chain road, Suning began to consider the overall layout of the chain.The successful strategic planning and rapid layout make Suning's chain expansion step ahead of its counterparts in the industry. In terms of the strategic layout of the national chain, Suning is planning in accordance with the idea of ​​criss-cross and linkage development. In terms of the division of the target market, horizontally, Suning is divided into 8 areas according to the region: East China 1, East China 2, South China, Central China, North China, Southwest China, Northwest China and Northeast China.Vertically, the national market is divided into first, second, third, and fourth-tier markets according to the country's administrative divisions, and different chain expansion strategies are adopted for different market areas.The primary market includes municipalities directly under the central government, provincial capital cities, and sub-provincial cities; the secondary market is prefecture-level cities; the third-level market refers to county-level cities and counties; the fourth-level market is townships.At the same time, large regional management centers will be established in the primary market and some secondary markets, and companies will be established in other secondary, tertiary and quaternary markets to accept the management of the regional management centers. Specifically, in chain practice, Suning adopts a three-dimensional expansion model combining horizontal expansion and vertical penetration.This model can not only effectively avoid blind and disorderly expansion, but also realize effective expansion of the market in breadth and depth.Establish regional management centers first to achieve horizontal expansion, and then use these regional centers as organizational units and bases to vertically develop secondary, tertiary, and quaternary markets, thus achieving fission-style, geometric progression, stable and controllable expansion . Horizontal expansion means opening new stores in different cities.On the national network layout map of Suning, the 8 areas divided according to the natural geographical area are used as the basic expansion area, and then the vertical expansion area is subdivided for each area.In these primary and secondary markets, Suning's expansion model is to first seize a favorable location in the core business district, enter with high-quality single stores, and control the commanding heights of the market; then reintegrate the local electrical retail market and further expand its achievements through vertical penetration. The so-called vertical penetration is to open new stores in the market under the jurisdiction of the same city, especially in big cities to maximize market share through intensive distribution and improve the chain network layout of stores.Zhang Jindong said that this is like making a pot lid to cover the pot (city).The task of Suning's chain development is to further lay out the blank areas of the national chain on the basis of covering the existing store network. Suning's chain development route is to go to the national strategic cities first, then to the regional central cities, and then to the general large and medium-sized cities. In other words, it is a top-down strategy.Based on this, Suning also proposed the principle of block-by-block development, first to open flagship stores in the core business districts of each city, and then block-by-block development, that is, to seize the central city, lock the backbone cities and fulcrum cities, and control the satellite cities. In Suning's plan, it is not only necessary to quickly occupy central cities and backbone cities, but also to occupy fulcrum cities as soon as possible.From the perspective of developed regions such as East China and South China, Suning takes Nanjing as its base camp and radiates central cities in Jiangsu and Zhejiang as its strategic concept, and then captures first-tier core cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, etc., forming a national regional commanding height.At the same time, Suning extends to second-tier backbone cities such as Dongguan, Zhongshan, Foshan, Wenzhou, Ningbo, Yangzhou, Wuxi, Suzhou, etc.; it also needs to develop the developed third-tier and fourth-tier markets step by step, mainly by opening conventional electrical stores to form a network Coverage; aiming at the underdeveloped third and fourth tier markets, carry out the layout of township stores to obtain more shares. Under such a chain development model, Suning has established 38 regions (including Hong Kong) and more than 300 subsidiaries in the country, forming a national horizontal network extending from Heilongjiang in the north, Hainan in the south, Xinjiang in the west, and Shanghai in the east. Chain network layout; a complete vertical chain structure has been formed from municipalities directly under the Central Government to provincial capital cities, from prefecture-level cities to developed county-level cities and developed towns in terms of market categories; in different areas of the same city, a core business circle has been formed. The complete urban layout system of 3C+ flagship stores, central stores in urban sub-business circles, and community stores in regional business districts, so that the chain stores of the same chain brand but with different operating characteristics can basically meet the needs of different consumers. Differentiated needs formed by groups. From the perspective of competition, whoever takes a step behind may lose valuable resources and fall behind in the competition.The way to expand rapidly is to rapidly increase the number of chain stores.At the beginning of the chain, quantity is not everything, but without quantity is absolutely impossible.When racing against competitors, the competition is speed, which is the key to victory. "Quantity determines quality, speed determines height", this is the phased strategy of Suning's chain development. The following set of data is enough to illustrate the speed of Suning chain expansion: In 2001, it took an average of 28 days to open a store, and the net profit was 25.2529 million yuan. In 2002, Suning opened a store in an average of 30 days, with a net profit of 58.5631 million yuan. In 2003, Suning opened a store in an average of 17 days, with a net profit of 98.9019 million yuan. In 2004, Suning opened a store in an average of 9 days, with a net profit of 181 million yuan. In 2005, Suning opened a store in an average of 3 days, with a net profit of 351 million yuan. In 2006, Suning opened a store in an average of 3 days, with a net profit of 720 million yuan. From the perspective of time dimension, the chain layout of Suning basically unfolds along the following stages. From 2000 to 2001, penetrate Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui to consolidate the base camp. In 2000, it opened a flagship store in Xinjiekou, Nanjing, which is known as the "No. 1 business district in China", and carefully built it into the first store of Zhonghua Electric, occupying the commanding heights of the industry.Since 2001, Suning has begun to expand rapidly in the surrounding areas of Nanjing, entering cities such as Hefei, Yangzhou, Wuxi, Suzhou and Hangzhou, connecting Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui to form the national headquarters of Suning chain, marking the national chain of Suning The prototype of the network has begun to emerge. In 2002, it focused on attacking Beijing and Shanghai to establish a benchmark effect. On May 1, 2002, Suning Beijing Anzhen store opened; on the same day, Suning Shanghai North Sichuan Road store opened.The success of the deployment in Beijing and Shanghai has enabled Suning to occupy the strategic high ground of marketing and brand promotion, and established Suning's good image of a growing chain enterprise. From 2003 to 2005, as the construction of Suning's three-level chain management system of "headquarters-region-branches" was quite mature, Suning's national expansion accelerated. In 2003, Suning put forward the idea of ​​"chain chains entering the fast lane", successively entered Chengdu, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Shenyang, Jinan and other places, and built 64 large-scale chain stores nationwide, opening up the basic framework of Suning's "chain nationwide". 2004 was the year when Suning's chain business entered a qualitative change. It formulated a "double hundred" plan to add 100 chain stores and increase sales of 10 billion. On January 1, 2004, Suning’s 3C flagship store in South China—Guangzhou Suning Tianhe North Road store was successfully opened, marking the sublimation of the concept of “3C chain operation” initiated by Suning from initial exploration to mature operation within the Suning chain system model. In 2004, Suning quickly took root in first-tier cities such as Kunming, Fuzhou, Changchun, Harbin, Qingdao, and Changsha. In 2005, Suning put forward the idea of ​​"doubling the chain development" to speed up its industry peers. In the first half of 2005, Suning successfully opened stores in Taiyuan, Zhengzhou, Hohhot and Nanchang. On July 2nd and 9th, Suning opened two stores in Wuhan, which was a great success. Suning took the lead in China to successfully complete the home appliance chain network covering the first-level key cities in the country, and the goal of chaining the whole country was successfully realized. In 2002, Suning focused on Beijing and Shanghai. On May 1, Suning Beijing Anzhen store opened; on the same day, Suning Shanghai North Sichuan Road store opened.The success of the deployment in Beijing and Shanghai enabled Suning to occupy the strategic high ground of the national market and brand, established the image of Suning as a chain enterprise with healthy growth across regions, trained a large number of professionals, and tested the power of information, service, and logistics platforms.It means that in China, there is no market or region that Suning cannot enter. For a mountaineer, he either does not climb the mountain, or climbs the highest mountain, Mount Everest.It will be the top of the mountain, and you can see all the small mountains.Only by seizing the commanding heights can the follow-up momentum be in full swing. 2002 was the most important year in the development of Suning chain.At the beginning of this year, Suning first set its sights on the two most important markets: Beijing and Shanghai.In Suning's development strategy blueprint, Shanghai and Beijing are delineated as key national strategic markets. Entering these two major markets is equivalent to opening the prelude to occupying the national market, so Suning people attach great importance to it. In the process of Suning's chain expansion, entering Beijing is its most impressive stroke.After all, entering Beijing in a big way and participating in the integration process of Beijing's home appliance market can get a share of the reshuffle of the home appliance market in China's largest consumer city.For Suning, the meaning is more profound than this. As the capital, Beijing has special political significance. Entering Beijing is a rite of passage for Suning to become a national chain. Jin Ming, president of Suning Appliances, believes: "Beijing is the commanding height of the country, and winning Beijing means that Suning's national chain has entered a critical stage." As the political, economic, and cultural center of the country, Beijing is endowed with abundant market resources, and its strategic position is self-evident.At the same time, Beijing is also the base camp for the aggregation of peers in the industry. If Suning wins by storming Beijing at this time, it can create a strong offensive of public opinion across the country and the brand can take the lead. On April 16, 2002, Suning announced that "May Day" will open the first large-scale electrical appliance chain store in Beijing - Suning Anzhen store. After the announcement of Suning's move to the north, there was an uproar in the industry.Once Suning enters Beijing and collides with Gome, which is at home, what kind of market reaction will it trigger?At that time, Suning had two major peers in the industry in Beijing: one was Dazhong Electric, which was entrenched in the big Beijing. In 2003, the number of Dazhong Electric opened 32 stores, and its sales ranked first in Beijing's market share; Suning competes nationwide with Gome, which is different from Suning's low-key business strategy. Gome has attracted a large number of media attention in the process of advancing, and the chain has quickly spread across the country, surpassing Suning in terms of momentum, but the low-key Suning has taken the lead. Enter Beijing, the birthplace of Gome, and play away games three years in advance. One can imagine the difficulty for Suning to get a piece of cake from these two giant crocodiles and let them move their positions.The media with a keen sense of smell saw from the arrival of Suning that a wonderful market battle was about to be staged, and the local evening newspaper published such a headline-"Suning is really coming"! Not only the outside world is worried, but the Suning people themselves are also very careful.According to Jin Ming’s recollection: “The Anzhen store is the first comprehensive home appliance chain store we opened in Beijing. If this store fails to open, it will be difficult for us to gain a foothold in Beijing. Zhang Dong also attaches great importance to this, and will call us every night. Call for progress." Although the pressure is high, Suning has full confidence in winning Beijing on the whole.At the media meeting, the Suning people claimed: "Beijing is not only a market for Beijingers, but also a national market and even an international market. Since 2000, Beijing has seen an integrated pattern of comprehensive electrical appliances and chain stores, and the development momentum is relatively strong. Hurry up, we have also seen this kind of integration in the chain promotion across the country, and we want to enter the Beijing market this time to participate in the integration of the entire market." The backbone of Suning who marched into Beijing is even more confident, and their confidence is not groundless.In fact, it has not been a year or two for Suning to prepare to enter the Beijing market.After many years of understanding and investigation, it is just that the time is ripe, and it is a matter of course, and it is just a strong attack.As early as 1998, Suning had dispatched a "pioneering force" into the Beijing market to ask for directions, and opened a wholesale and retail air-conditioning specialty store.These specialty stores have been exploring the home appliance market in Beijing for several years, grasping the pulse of the market, accumulating certain experience, and cultivating a group of advanced talents, making full preparations for Suning to enter the comprehensive electrical appliance market in Beijing on a large scale. Moreover, Suning found through research that at that time, the home appliance business of traditional businesses in Beijing was gradually disintegrating, more and more professional stores were developing in the direction of scale, and various business formats entered a new period of integration.The data at that time showed that there were thousands of dealers in the Beijing market dealing in traditional home appliances, 3C, and IT, of various sizes, and the market was extremely fragmented.In the early years, the well-known Ultrasonic Electric Appliances and Guotong Electric Appliances, which were well-known in Beijing in the early years, stopped their expansion. A new round of integration is underway. In addition to the early stage of the chain, Suning made a detailed market research in the preparatory work in Beijing.During the on-the-spot investigation, Suning people found that their counterparts also had weak links in marketing planning and after-sales service.For example, in terms of promotional planning, the coupon system was relatively popular at that time, and merchants often returned thousands of yuan worth of shopping coupons. Although this move attracted customer traffic, it also caused "false" high commodity prices.In view of the fact that the opponent's marketing cost is high, Suning can gain the upper hand as long as it innovates in means and reduces the cost of promotion. During the preparation process of the Anzhen store, everyone was scattered on the site during the day and busy with various tasks. After returning to the dormitory at night, they held a meeting to discuss how to do it, research the market, research competitors, research products, research how to allocate resources, and research promotion innovation. In the advertising plan for the opening, Suning put forward the theme of "real profit, price in one step", and launched targeted measures, as long as consumers come to Suning, they will be given shopping coupons, and as long as they shop, they will be given a set of coupons. "The opponent is sending coupons after the sale, and we are giving coupons before the sale, tit for tat." This approach had not been seen in other markets across the country at that time.In addition, for its own services, Suning highlighted its advantages and proposed Suning's business strategy.During the period before the opening, Beijing Suning Company will hold a coordination meeting every night. On May 1, Suning Anzhen store officially opened. On the evening of April 30th, many people from around Beijing drove over to wait for the opening. There were about 400 to 500 people queuing up that night. None of them had eaten. Jin Ming organized the logistics staff to buy fast food and water, and gave each of them a boxed lunch. A bottle of mineral water. "The enthusiasm of these consumers is really touching! The night in Beijing was very cold at that time, and our executives stayed away all night to check the site. When we opened the door at 4:30 in the morning, it was dark outside the door, and there were more than 5,000 people around ，真可谓摩肩接踵，我们顿时为前一晚的不眠和辛苦准备备感欣慰。”金明至今记忆犹新，“这个8000平方米的店开业非常成功，也发生了很多出乎意料的感人场面。一连7天，我们都是早晨4点到5点开始营业，很多北京的员工由于住得比较远，一连几天他们都没有回家，就在现场席地而睡；我们原预测火暴场面将会持续3天，消费者的消费热情也会逐渐减退，于是3号晚我们就把玻璃门装了上去。没想到4号早晨商场门前的广场上依然围满了热情的消费者，刚装上的门居然都被挤断了……这样的火暴场景一直持续到7号为止。” 开业中北京消费者的极度热情也让金明记忆深刻：“制订开业计划时，销售目标我们的定的是800万元，最后以900多万元的成绩超额完成。这个数字刷新了北京单店开业当日营业额的历史最高纪录。”在当时的北京家电市场，苏宁创造了一个销售奇迹。 日出青山遮不住，大江东去入海流。苏宁进军北京大获全胜。此次成功，苏宁靠的固然有谋略的成分，但实际上，其成功的根源在于背后的实力——自营服务。进北京，苏宁带去了自营服务的理念和模式，这显然和以传统黑色家电起家、缺乏自营服务传统的当地业内同行形成巨大的差异。在店面正式运作之前，苏宁在北京市区已经建立起7个售后服务网点，分布在各区的“重点部位”，已经做到“销售未上，服务先行”。苏宁进军北京要的绝不是短期利益，而是长远发展，树立在北京家电市场的牢固地位。 随着安贞店的旗开得胜，苏宁一鼓作气，北京地安门店、联想桥店于当年6月和10月相继成功开业。2003年，北京苏宁荣膺北京市商委颁发的“北京电器连锁最佳成长奖”殊荣。到2004年12月，苏宁在北京已经拥有12家店面，经营面积近6万平方米，连锁网络覆盖了北京城区，并开设了通州、大兴、顺义3家京郊店面。进军北京为苏宁全国连锁树立了标杆，苏宁人更有信心了；同时，此举对于北京家电市场可谓一石激起千层浪，加速了行业内洗牌的格局。 2002年5月1日，在北京安贞桥店开业的同一天，苏宁的上海四川北路店同时开业。 在苏宁的战略布局中，上海可谓是苏宁家门前的战略据点。上海毕竟是中国经济的制高点，苏宁要在上海有一席之地。 上海和北京一样，是全国商业重地。业内人士都清楚，没有哪个商家会对上海家电每年400亿元的销售份额无动于衷。据有关统计，上海曲阳商务中心、上海华联、上海永乐等当时已占据了上海家电市场一半以上的份额。苏宁在上海面临的最大对手是永乐，2002年，永乐在苏浙沪已开设40家连锁店，占据上海市场主导地位。北京国美、北京国通在1999年进入上海，很快北京国通经营出现困难，被迫关店。国美虽然也开出十几家店，但一直到2002年，国美在上海的开拓仍属于破冰期。攻下上海，对于苏宁全国连锁的示范效应重大。从规模和意义上来说，这是苏宁连锁升级提速的重要一环。 苏宁对上海并不陌生，早在1998年苏宁就来沪设立了空调专营连锁店。2000年12月底，苏宁在共康路上开出一家空调为主兼营其他家电的连锁店。但在2002之前，苏宁进军上海综合家电市场的序幕一直没有拉开。 苏宁这次在店面装修上下了很大工夫，整个装修风格、档次是上海家电销售商场最好的；在营销准备上更是周密计划，前期宣传十分到位。 2002年5月1日早上，四川北路店正式开业。与北京安贞店一样，顾客像潮水一样涌进门来，当天该店的营业额将近800万元，也创下了上海单店销售的纪录。 众多的外来客进入上海，为什么是这一次，苏宁强势进军上海就成功了呢？按照苏宁人的总结，在“价格、管理、服务”这三张牌上打出自己的特色，坚决用“价值战”摒弃两败俱伤的“价格战”，是苏宁得以成功的奥秘。苏宁强调，真正制胜于市场的是包括价格、管理、服务、信誉等各方面的综合能力水平。 以服务为例，当时，苏宁在上海市区已经建立起近10个售后服务网点，分布在各区的“重点部位”。在2002年的“五一”到来之前，苏宁更是以实际行动将服务做在前面，让上海滩的广大消费者提前得到苏宁全新“阳光服务”的“普照”。 4月25日到29日之间，苏宁向上海空调消费者提供免费检修服务。即在该时段，上海凡是有空调的用户在试机时，如发现无法启动、制冷效果不好，甚至不制冷等问题，无论是在什么时候、在什么商家购买的空调，只要致电苏宁的24小时服务热线，苏宁在接到用户的报修信息后分配到就近网点，小区网点会像快速反应部队一样，及时落实到人，以最快的速度确保24小时服务到位。维修人员到位后，用娴熟标准的技术加以检修，并提出处理建议，供消费者选择。最后，苏宁将把接受服务的用户信息输入电脑，利用苏宁先进的ERP信息管理系统上传回苏宁服务管理中心的信息库，并将按严格的程序通过长途电话进行回访。此项服务足以展示苏宁的良好形象，再次提高其美誉度。 四川北路店的成功开业为苏宁人强势登陆上海滩树立了信心。苏宁决定在随后的两年内，加快抢占速度。按照张近东当时的规划，按每30万人口开一家店的标准，苏宁要在上海新开门店60家，包括在浦东、徐家汇、长宁地区建设2～3家3C旗舰店。 迈出了旗开得胜的第一步，接下去苏宁在上海的连锁拓展开始渐入佳境，2004年，苏宁一次开了6家店。不久，苏宁便成为上海家电零售市场举足轻重的角色，有效地支援了苏宁在全国的进军步伐。到2005年，苏宁在上海已经建立了包括旗舰店、中心店、社区店在内的三种模式，总计21家连锁店的销售网络，年营业额近30亿元。至此，苏宁在永乐的大本营上海牢牢站稳了脚跟，并在永乐、国美的一次又一次市场夹击中越战越强。 2005年盛夏，在南京外围盘桓已久的国美终于要进南京了。南京市场血拼的战略性绝不仅仅是两家全国连锁企业在最后一个一级市场布点的争夺，而是牵动行业终极对决的开始。根据测算，苏皖市场家电市场容量近千亿元，而苏宁销售业绩的25％恰恰来自于苏皖市场。面临对手血拼苏宁、三年不要利润、杀气腾腾的架势，苏宁从容笑对，运用内功，就是要和对手打阵地战、持久战。 21世纪最初的5年里，家电连锁零售业可能是中国发展最快的行业之一，整个行业处于群雄逐鹿的战国时代。一天天连锁壮大的苏宁，让竞争对手如芒在背、坐立不安，遭遇战打遍全国，却难阻苏宁高歌猛进。以往的小碰小撞终于发展成为南京市场大对决。2005年，国美不再隔靴搔痒，而是直接把店开到苏宁的“大本营”——南京，面对面高调施压，公然宣称：3年不赚钱，也要把苏宁的老巢端掉。南京家电市场容量为100亿，拥有“中华第一商圈”的新街口，而且南京是长江三角洲城市带的“桥头堡”，与上海各持一端，对华东区域主要省份有着强大的辐射。对于国美而言，进入苏皖市场是一场“核心利润之战”，更是名副其实的战略“收官”之战。2005年，南京正成为中国家电连锁巨头全国战略对决的最后一个高地。2005年7月23日，是一个南京乃至全国家电连锁卖场都难以忘记的日子。现场“战斗”的激烈程度超出一般人的想象，媒体称之为“南京大会战”、“美苏争霸战”。苏宁与国美两大商业巨头面对面短兵相接。 黄光裕亲临南京，声称国美在南京要超规格运作，3年内不要利润。国美在距离苏宁旗舰店东面和北面不足百米之处同时开了一大一小“双子星”卖场，对苏宁的“核心阵地”两面夹击。在国美南京开业前夕，国美史无前例地邀请召开全球家电总裁峰会“逼宫”上游厂商声援国美、站队国美。国美选择的开会时间也别具用心——7月19日，太平天国都城天京（南京）被攻克的日子。一时间，南京成了全国家电厂商的是非之地，家电大战的火药桶导火线。面对国美在南京摆下的鸿门宴，家电厂商的高层避之唯恐不及。面对名不副实的全球家电总裁峰会，黄光裕悻悻地说，不来的是朋友，来的是英雄。 2005年7月中旬，在国美南京“双子星”卖场开业的前一周，其五大中心总经理、总监级管理者悉数集结南京。与此同时，国美向南京1万名市民赠送了价值100元的购物券，准备了5000万元的特价机、1000万元的赠品、8000万元的让利，更绝的是，市民只要将报纸上的国美促销广告剪下，就可以在国美南京“双子星”卖场当现金使用…… 张近东的个性是“不惹事、不逞强，但也不怕事、不畏强，遇强更强。”。苏宁人从来都是欢迎竞争的，没有竞争就没有苏宁今天的发展。张近东曾语气轻松地对苏宁人说：“对手来了，这不是很好吗？这给了我们一个近距离观察了解他们的机会，看看他们到底怎么样，以前要看对手还得出差，现在他们送到门口来让我们看。” 巧合的是，国美进入南京的日子，正是苏宁上市一周年的纪念日。于是苏宁采取了以柔克刚的应对策略。一边是对手兵临城下，杀气腾腾，又是发宣言，又是下战书；一边是苏宁在打情感牌。 当时苏宁广告策略的重点是打亲和力品牌，在媒体上以整版整版的版面，诉求15年来消费者对苏宁的印象，苏宁全国各大区经理对于南京总部的信心，以及各个管理总部、员工终端体系对消费者的真实情感。用张近东的话，宣传不仅是给外面人看，其实对于员工也有很大的意义，能够把很多人说不出的话，通过一个很广泛的渠道告诉大家，表现出苏宁恢弘的气度。 在宣传方面是以柔克刚，但是在营销方面，苏宁却是绝对的硬碰硬。苏宁没有回避价格竞争这个敏感话题，因为消费者会比较价格。 张近东认为，苏宁要以服务营销创造价值，避免打价格战。但他同时认为，在特定的市场环境中，价格是一个关键的战略工具，在竞争中价格有很强大的杠杆效应。因此，在苏宁看来，自己在南京乃至江苏家电市场拥有绝对优势，家电厂家对苏宁的资源分配一直都有倾斜，在价格方面自己只会比同行更有优势，在关键时刻肯定会动用价格的杠杆效应。所以，在国美南京“双子星”卖场开业的晚上，“美苏”价格大战可谓是血流成河。 此次国美强攻南京市场颇有收获，据悉其“双子星”卖场开业当天营业额达4500万元，而苏宁当天的营业额也放量巨大，高达6000万元。 谈及苏宁应对国美的法宝，苏宁认为：“不管是连锁店面，还是服务、厂商支持，苏宁都具有其他家电连锁企业无法比拟的优势，外来家电要在南京立足，需要实力，也需要耐力。” 对于消费者而言，家电消费背后的服务是不可或缺的重要部分。苏宁一直有关注包括物流、售后、网点便利性等众多因素在内的整体价值意识。国美、永乐的物流和售后以外包为主，而苏宁扎根南京多年，物流、售后等服务均由苏宁自己的员工完成，服务网络遍布南京的大街小巷，这些都不是外来企业短期内能够复制和提供的。 进入南京的国美想方设法取悦南京消费者，不过要消除南京消费者的陌生感和种种疑虑，国美可能需要更长的时间、更多的耐心和付出。特别是南京的消费者并不特别看重一时的价格高低——对他们而言，能否“真诚到永远”是其评价商家们的终极依据。 在南京战役之前，两家家电连锁企业较量的可能是扩张的速度和发展的规模。在布局重合之处，双方偶尔爆发局部战争是在所难免的，没有谁主动地、有意识地组织过跨区域的集团攻坚战。在南京“七月流血战役”之后，以单店为单位的局部遭遇战不再重要，集合所有资源和智慧的、基于全局的战略对决却开始了。 苏宁连锁的最大特色就是标准化复制，先有标准，然后才是连锁的扩张。在连锁化之路上，有步骤有计划地稳步推进。制定和推行开店标准，加强执行力和控制力，成了日后苏宁之所以能够成功兼顾扩展速度与单店效益的基础。 2001年，苏宁平均40天新开1家店。2004年，苏宁集团制定了新增100家连锁店、新增100亿销售额的“双百”计划。到了2005年，苏宁开店年平均仅需2.2天。2005年“五一”，苏宁一天就在全国开了22家连锁店，创下了业界单日开店数量的最高纪录。 高速扩张的同时，苏宁亦有稳定的赢利。财务报表显示，2001年苏宁电器净利润2525万元，2002年为5856万元，2003年为9890万元。2004年销售业绩突破221亿元，名列商务部2004年全国商业连锁企业前三甲。 连锁速度不断提高，同时赢利水平同步上升，苏宁为什么能够“既快又好”？原因在于，苏宁逐渐形成了一套严格、科学的连锁标准。有了标准，连锁实质上就成了一项复制工作，速度就保证了；有了标准，开店就不会盲目，赢利也就有了保证。 苏宁认为，连锁的魅力在于通过标准化复制实现财富的倍增。连锁的实质就是一种店面的复制，而标准化是复制的必备前提。因为有自己的一套标准，肯德基、麦当劳、星巴克开遍全世界。张近东比谁都清楚，只有标准化的东西才有可能得到快速的复制和推广，中国连锁企业要想快速复制自己的连锁王国，就必须制定相应的标准。所以，在业内同行不惜一切代价疯狂扩张的时候，张近东要求自己的团队务必尽快形成自己的标准，宁缺毋滥。 有人曾用这样一个通俗的比喻来形容几家家电连锁企业的市场拓展：为了抢速度，有人光着脚就跑；有人随便穿上一双鞋就跑，鞋带都没系上；苏宁则是找了双合适的跑鞋，系紧鞋带再跑。 苏宁的开店有一套严格的程序和标准。 在确定一个市场是不是能进入的时候，苏宁的做法是先了解这个市场。苏宁根据国家行政区划确定该市场的级别，组织人员进行城市和商圈调研。 一级市场是直辖市、省会城市、副省级城市；二级市场是地级城市；三级市场是县级市和县；四级市场是乡镇。与此同时，在一级市场、部分二级市场设立大区管理中心，其他二、三、四级市场接受大区管理中心的管理。在确定一个空白市场是否可以进驻的时候，苏宁人先对这个城市的基本资料进行分析，如城市的人口数量、GDP发展水平、社会零售总额等数据，进行收集整理和研究分析，参照苏宁内部的开发标准，结合城市人口规模、经济发展潜力、家电市场容量等指标对该市场进行综合判断。 然后，苏宁组织人员对目标市场进行实地调研。GDP、人口等指标数据相同的城市，实地调研的结果可能差异很大，当地的商业发展水平也可能不尽相同，对于苏宁而言，选择进入的时间也会不一样。 在详细收集调研城市的城市发展规划、商圈分布、商圈级别等资料的基础上，确定商圈调研的先后顺序展开调研。 在进行商圈实地调研时，首先要明确商圈的辐射范围，对范围内各街道的商业物业、轨道交通站点等情况进行逐个排查，根据苏宁开发标准排查适合开店的商业物业。 在实地考察中，要求每一个规划调研员要把这个商圈内的每一条街和每一条街的人流聚合点找出来，这个聚合点可能有大、小之分，要区分出核心聚合点和核心商业物业。 苏宁要求规划人员把每一个商圈内的每一条街道、每一个聚合点里面的状况全部调研清楚。为什么这样做呢？主要是确定商圈内的人群流动线是什么样的。 苏宁还要求规划人员到当地进行实现调研时，要特别注意附近的公交车和地铁站点的数量与距离。在中国大多数市场，消费者以乘坐公共交通工具出行的比较多。公交车站、地铁站是一个大的人群流动线的起始点，可以看到人群具体会聚集到哪一块。如果公交显示人群流动线会到某广场，规划人员会画出一张图，描绘出人群具体从哪一条路、哪一个巷子穿过去到中心广场，然后调研团队按图索骥，要把这所有的线路都走一遍，以一个消费者的角度，亲身体验一下。一定要把每一条街道都体验清楚，看看消费者到底是不是这样走的，是不是走到某一条街道就拐弯了，再聚合到一个新的地方。 在对聚合点物业本身进行深入调研的时候，苏宁要求调研人员要带着两大任务。其一是看其商业的繁华程度。这个商圈内的聚合点、商业物业越多，就代表这个商圈越繁华。如一个只有一家超市的商圈，和另外一个有超市、百货、购物中心、餐饮汇集的商圈，这两个商业氛围肯定是不一样的。 接着就是详细的物业排查。苏宁要求调研每一个适合开店物业的所有楼层，仔细观察和记录该物业的业态和经营状况，包括记录商圈内所有商业的分布位置、名称、档次、经营品类、人群状况、物业状况、经营状况等。在选址这一方面，苏宁的宗旨是坚持核心商圈开大店的原则。苏宁的大店都建在核心商圈，每个城市都是首先进驻核心商圈。这是因为苏宁充分借鉴了自己的综合家电第一店南京新街口店的成功经验，从而奠定了这种模式。 一个城市要开多少家店，要考虑几方面因素。首先是该城市整体家电市场容量，然后是现有的家电销售渠道占比及苏宁在该城市的份额目标，再依据该城市商圈数量、等级及分布情况，确定苏宁开设的店面的数量和分布。比如，一个城市的家电市场容量经过具体测算是10亿元，苏宁要达到30%，就是销售要达到3亿元的规模。那具体这3亿元是开1家店，还是开5家店，就必须结合商圈大小、分布和竞争状况来确定。 通过商圈的调研，已经确定下来在哪里开、开几家店，接下来要确定的就是开什么类型的店，这也是根据商圈调研的结果。 当时，苏宁公司将连锁店分为旗舰店、中心店、社区店，这个划分主要依据店面的面积规模以及销售规模进行细分的。按照核心商圈旗舰店、区域商圈中心店、社区商圈社区店，以及乡镇连锁店来规划，分层次进行逐级连锁推广，不同性质的店有不同的定位。 旗舰店：一般位于一级市场的核心商圈和个别发达的二、三级市场的核心商圈核心位置，交通便利，让消费者购物来去无忧。作为家电与消费电子综合卖场，拥有8000～10000平方米的面积。 中心店：设在各级城市的二三级区域商圈、城郊交界商圈及特色商圈，与核心商圈大型旗舰