China Business Daily (reporter Ran Longnan) is born with a smiling face, which is the first impression given by Zhang Li, chairman of Jianfu, but in the conversation, Zhang Li shows a shrewd and wise side everywhere. Looking back at his entrepreneurial history, from the beginning of making beer bottles, to beer production, to selling beer in the sea, and finally to operating a sales terminal convenience store for fifteen years, and ranking among the first echelon of domestic convenience store enterprises... Along the way, Zhang Li went through several twists and turns, and finally persevered.
"An immature idealist will die tragically for the ideal, while a mature idealist is willing to live humbly for the ideal." Perhaps, it is appropriate to use this sentence in "The Catcher of the Rye" to describe Zhang Li. Zhang Li is a mature idealist who came to Fujian from Tianjin and then met Happiness.
From making beer bottles to opening convenience stores
"This year is the Year of the Tiger." At the beginning of the conversation, Zhang Li "exposed" his age. "I graduated from a college in 1984 and was assigned to the Yinchuan Sugar Factory in Ningxia to make beer bottles in a subordinate beer bottle factory." Zhang Li was a little proud: "I can't imagine it, I was studying daily glass at that time, and I was an engineering student of the Eight Classics." ”
In 1991, Ningxia and Xiamen joint ventured to open Xiamen Tong'an Yincheng United Brewery, Zhang Li, as the representative of Party B, came to work in this brewery in Xiamen from Ningxia, and then served as an executive director and deputy general manager. From making beer bottles to producing beer. "I was not yet thirty years old, and the supply of beer in our brewery was in short supply, so who would have thought that I would go to sea later?" Talking about the past, Zhang Li still has some feelings.
In 1997, Zhang Li left yincheng united brewery and began to start a business in the sea. This time, he still chose the familiar beer industry, but his role became a wholesaler. Xuejin Brewery has become the biggest boost for Zhang Li's entrepreneurship. Starting from the initial 5,000 cases of Xuejin beer, Zhang Li became the Xiamen distributor of Xuejin Beer.
However, Zhang Li's first "huge gain" did not come from selling beer, but from the original shares of Xuejin Beer he held. In 2003, when the Then Xuejin Brewery was restructured and gave up its original shares for the public to choose to buy, Zhang Li did not hesitate, but bought all the money he had earned in the past few years to buy the shares of the Xuejin Brewery that no one wanted. Three years later, Xuejin Brewery was acquired by the world's largest beer company - Belgium Inbev Beer Company at a premium of 49 times, Zhang Li also won the first pot of gold in his life, for the use of this money, Zhang Li is still a bit "grumpy": "I knew that the store was so difficult to open, I took this money to buy a house, may have been 'developed' long ago." ”
In fact, Zhang Li also did some research when he devoted himself to the convenience store industry. In 2003, Zhang Li studied the EMBA of Xiamen University and learned the smile curve theory of corporate growth. "I did some research and found that in the beer industry, from making beer bottles, to beer production, to beer wholesalers, the only thing that 'Smile' can do is retail. At that time, Wal-Mart was not long into China, and it was very popular, but I didn't dare to open such a big one if I wanted to open a store, and I felt that I couldn't do it. Later, when I went to Japan, I occasionally saw a convenience store, and I felt that we might as well open a small store if we couldn't open a big store, so I got hot and came back to open a convenience store. ”
Zhang Li's "hot head" led him to lead the team and start a new journey called Jianfu Convenience Store in the summer of 2006. In this "first year of seeing fuku", the first mifu convenience store was opened.
This is the starting point of the largest convenience store brand in Xiamen.
"The convenience store is a huge pit"
As the boss, Zhang Li can be described as "deeply in love" with Jianfu: dial Zhang Li's mobile phone and hear the theme song of The Seefu Convenience Store; Zhang Li, who speaks in public, can see the frog badge of the Mascot image of "Fu Ge" pinned to the neckline of the Jianfu Convenience Store; look over Zhang Li's circle of friends, and from time to time you can see the various posters of the Promotions of the Seefu Convenience Store that he forwards.
But zhang Li, who is like this, does not think that it was a wise choice to open a convenience store in the first place: "Who would have thought that this industry was so bitter?" I really didn't know anything before I dared to rush in. "At that time, the convenience store industry in Xiamen was actually full of smoke. Brands have American-funded, Taiwan-funded, and Xiamen local, there are dozens of stores each forming a trend of separation, each other has been 'at war for many years', for the fledgling Jianfu, they are the big brother of Xiamen, and they are a little brother who is not put in the eyes at all.
The "bitterness" of seeing the blessing of starting is reflected in many aspects: fierce market competition, blank management experience, lack of talent reserves... But the most intuitive thing is that he has lost money for many years. In 2006, Jianfu opened 5 convenience stores, which were profitable. But at the size of 200 stores, Jianfu has been losing money.
"I lost money for seven years, and I couldn't stand it several times in between." Zhang Li said: "I have a friend in Taiwan who told me that I had long known that I would lose seven years to 200 stores, and at this scale, I could breathe. But who would have known how sad these seven years have been? ”
Zhang Li admitted that when he saw Fu Kai in the third year, he almost didn't want to do it. "The damn thing is that opening the first store makes money, which is a huge pit. What is called 'carefully entering the big pit', this is it. If the first store and the second store don't make money, I won't open 10 stores. It is because the front shops have earned money, going deeper and deeper, and the result cannot come out. Zhang Li smiled bitterly: "Although the store makes money, the company has been losing money, and the more it opens, the more it loses." At that time, I had been using the economy of scale to fool myself, and when I opened more than 100 stores, it was simply 'unbearable to die'. ”
Seeing fu to the fifth year, it is the time when Zhang Li said that it was "unbearable to die". At that time, the company's losses were relatively serious, but there was no hope, and the store was not easy to open. "At this time, your shops are better, and 5% to 10% of the stores are serious losses, and they are reluctant to close and cannot be opened." At that time, there was no concept of capital operation, I didn't know to sell the company or introduce investment, I only knew that I was going to buy someone else. Just stay up. ”
As for where the money has gone, Zhang Li said that almost everywhere is losing. "For example, we have moved seven times to this day, and logistics alone has moved three times. By the time I got to 200 stores, I lost millions of dollars in logistics. There is also the system, the system we used at first was cheap, but we have been patching it, more than two hundred thousand yuan to buy the system, seven years spent millions to patch it, until the back of the new system. These are all necessary expenses. Zhang Li sighed: "In seven years, I have thrown more than a hundred million into it." "Organizational transformation, logistics transformation, system transformation, this is Zhang Li believes that the three most painful points of the development of Jianfu convenience stores in recent years."
After surviving to the seventh year, Zhang Li finally "survived": Jianfu finally stopped losing money, and the profit and loss were flat. After that, seeing that Fu began to make money, Zhang Li breathed a sigh of relief, but he had a new goal and confusion.
Convenience store access to deep water
Entering the fifteenth year, Jianfu Convenience Store became a "teenager". But for Zhang Li, this does not mean that the development of Seeing Happiness will be a smooth road.
"To be honest, at this scale today, we can't see the way forward." Zhang Li said frankly that he believes that not only is it a blessing, but the entire Convenience Store industry in China has entered the "deep water area". "What I said is not necessarily correct, but I think the current development of the convenience store industry will go through three stages. First in the sea or in the shallow sea, anyone can play; in the middle water area, you can drive a sailboat or a fishing boat; and finally in the deep water area, you must drive an ocean-going freighter, but you can't see the border of the sea. Most of the domestic convenience store companies are sailing ships or fishing boats, but we see that the blessing is now entering the deep water area, that is, the painful period of not being able to see the edge. ”
Leading The Fortune Convenience Store for fifteen years, from the initial 5 stores to more than 2,000 stores today, Zhang Li has the joy of success and his own confusion. "The biggest confusion is how to go for our convenience stores in China, both have their own characteristics, but the underlying logic of standard convenience stores must also be clear." We will not jump out of the underlying business logic of convenience stores, but the way of display and the era of display are different, and it is certainly impossible to surpass others by completely copying other people's models. Zhang Li said that finding a unique way of survival in Chinese convenience stores is the goal of their efforts now.
"For example, Japanese convenience stores are not very good at taking the route of community stores, and business is already very good." But the place where our convenience store location in China is the most is the community, so how to open the community store may be different. "Zhang Li believes that compared with Japanese convenience stores, the foundation of Chinese convenience stores is different, the genes are also different, and copying will not get the same result." We have to recognize the gap between ourselves and excellent convenience store brands, Japan's 7-11 has been doing 50 years, we are only 15 years, how dare we say that we know more about convenience stores? Although we all know the structure of the commodity structure, how to achieve a complete commodity structure in a space of 100 square meters, there are too many doorways inside. ”
In addition to the confusion of the store business model, Zhang Li also faces the confusion of enterprise management. "Take the talent reserve, many of our talents are systematic talents, just like the U disk, what is needed to recruit what kind of people." But I've found that there is a need for structural talent more now, a need for them to have a systematic vision than a flat one. This is what we need to achieve profitability in the future. ”
The future of multi-point profitability
Today's scale of more than 2,000 stores, Jianfu convenience store is no longer the "little brother" who recklessly broke into the convenience store market, and began to give convenience stores more connotations, and also wanted to make convenience store companies go better and smoother, how to make profits is a key task that must be overcome.
There is a saying in the retail industry that people generally believe that convenience stores are a business of "bending over and picking up steel hammers", that is to say, convenience stores actually rely on selling goods, and it is very difficult to make a profit. Seeing fu lost money for seven years also proves this. With the scale of stores reaching 2,000, and the official operation of the Mifu Industrial Park in 2021, Mifu is trying to make more profits.
Two important points in multi-point profitability, See Fu mainly focuses on IP strategy and close franchise model. For the power IP, Zhang Li believes that it will be a new profit growth point for Seefu. "We don't just do IP, we also try to explore the value behind it, maybe in the future we will even do related animation." In addition, another "sword" of Jianfu convenience store is to "move the knife" to the franchise system, upgrading the past loose franchise system to a close franchise system. For the difference between the two, Zhang Li is very frank: "The most fundamental difference is whether we need to pay money when we see happiness." ”
Zhang Li further explained: "In addition to the core logo of whether to invest money in Jianfu, whether to share the interests and risks with franchisees, and whether we have unique products to attract franchisees to join closely, these are the three elements of the close franchise model. He told reporters that the money mentioned in it refers to the stores for the close-knit franchise model, and each store will have a certain proportion of capital investment. According to Zhang Li's vision, in the next 2-3 years, the franchise stores of Jianfu convenience stores will basically be upgraded to close franchise stores, "they will not be any different from direct stores, or it can simply be said that they are half direct stores." ”
It is reported that at present, among the more than 2,000 stores of Jianfu convenience store, about 80% of the stores are franchise stores. If each franchise store invests a sum of money, the Jianfu convenience store will fiercely "bleed once". Is this money worth it? "See Fu now has the money to do this." Zhang Li believes that this is a necessary investment.
However, Zhang Li also said bluntly that at present, not all franchise stores will be upgraded to close franchise stores, and franchise owners are enthusiastically registering, but Jianfu convenience stores will carry out corresponding screening. "We have to see if the store can increase sales by more than 30% after the upgrade before we invest." Zhang Li revealed that after the completion of the overall upgrade of the closely joined stores of Jianfu Convenience Store in the next 2-3 years, Jianfu Convenience Store will open the road to IPO.
Zhang Li believes that now Jianfu is upgrading from "wholesale retail" to "manufacturing retail industry" driven by science and technology. Entering the fifteenth year, The Jianfu convenience store, which has opened more than 2,000 stores, is facing a new fork in the road. The full completion of the Jianfu Industrial Park gave the Jianfu convenience store the confidence to "do things".
"We have an industrial park, and our own product research and development, logistics and supply chain capabilities have been greatly upgraded, which is the biggest reliance on close joining." In the past, we had no money, no unique goods, the business model was immature, and no franchisee would be willing to share our interests and risks. But close joining is the only way for convenience store companies, sooner or later it will have to be done, and now it is time to do it. Zhang Li said that he hopes that in the future, there will no longer be relatively low-end stores in Jianfu convenience stores, but "a thousand stores", that is, all stores look like the quality of direct stores. "It should be said that the core 'a thousand stores and one side', the form of expression can be 'a thousand stores and a thousand faces'."
For other points of multi-point profitability, Zhang Li said that the three major private brands owned by Jianfu, Meizhijia, Caboo, and Envy Life, will also be an important source of profit, but he said that there are still two profit points that cannot be revealed for the time being: "It can be expected." ”
After another five years of work, he retired
"I'm an optimistic pessimist." Zhang Li described his personality this way.
Zhang Li, who has been a convenience store for fifteen years, still dare not say that he understands the convenience store industry very well. "I'm not necessarily right." This is a sentence that he always emphasizes. As a convenience store veteran, Zhang Li believes that China's convenience store market has entered a period of integration, "three to five years can definitely produce results, I don't know who will laugh to the end, and even dare not say whether the blessing will stay until the end, but it is certain that the domestic convenience store market has reached this stage." ”
From the initial convenience store "little brother" to today's first echelon of domestic convenience stores, Zhang Li does not think that the living conditions of Jianfu have improved. "There are many dangers, and they have always been in a state of danger." Zhang Li said: "When the scale of our stores has risen, the supply chain has become stronger, and the brand awareness has also been enhanced, but the requirements of competitors and customers for us, and even the social environment are different from that year." Along the way, we have seen how many convenience store brands have disappeared into the market, and it can be said that they have never let go of their hearts. ”
In the face of competitive relations, Zhang Li is not shy about it. "Take our 'base camp' Xiamen, for example, in the recent period alone, many brands have come in to compete with us on the same stage. I've always had a welcoming attitude, the market is open and we're growing in the competition. I've always believed that customers are the ones we need to focus on, not competitors. Zhang Li was very frank: "We often forget the people who give us our rice bowls, and pay attention to the people who rob our rice bowls every day, which is something we have to avoid." We should pay more attention to our customers, including our suppliers, franchisees, and consumers. The point is, whoever gives us a job, we pay attention to whom. ”
The "pessimistic" Zhang Li also has his own things that he cares about very much. "I can't say anything big as a person, if I can create a little value for customers, then I feel that what I do is meaningful." If I can't create value for the customer, the customer will abandon me. Whether or not I can create value for customers is a point that I personally care about. ”
For the future development plan, Zhang Li, who is 60 years old, has set a retirement age for himself. "Work for another five years, and by the time I'm 65, I'll retire too." Zhang Li also played his own "pessimistic" characteristics, and did not expect Jianfu to become the number one convenience store brand in China. "I only hope that when I retire, See Fu can always maintain the first echelon of the domestic convenience store industry, as for what will happen to See Fu after I retire, then I don't know, and I dare not say." However, I hope that Jianfu can leave its own strong mark in the history of the development of China's convenience store industry, and can make its own contribution to the development of China's convenience store industry. ”
"Never do it." In front of the reporter, "If you go back in time, would you still open a convenience store?" Zhang Li answered the question categorically." Maybe retire early, with the money earned from the original shares of the brewery, is it not good to buy some houses and rent them out? Zhang Li smiled and said, "But it's no use saying that." Or a word, do things well and steadily, there is no remorse, go your own way, try to do it, and do your best to follow Providence. ”