In the past two years, if you pay attention to the new energy field, or have already had the intention of buying new energy vehicles, you will find a very obvious trend.
Consumer attention has begun to shift from Tesla and several emerging new forces of head car manufacturing.
Some new energy models of traditional fuel manufacturers under the golden sign of their own enterprises, as well as new energy sub-brands born from traditional car companies, have quietly become the first choice of consumers.
The data on the sales charts is enough to prove this.
According to the retail sales ranking of new energy manufacturers in 2021 released by the Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the 6 car companies with sales of 10W+ have traditional car company backgrounds except Tesla. The 15 car companies on the list, in addition to Wei Xiaoli and Tesla, are all traditional car companies.
You know, in 2020, there are few traditional car companies that can be on this list, and even the traditional car companies that can mass-produce new energy vehicles at that time are not many.
Undoubtedly, as a latecomer in the field of new energy, traditional car companies have successfully overtaken these new power players and once again become the main force in the automotive market.
This article will take Euler, a new energy brand of Great Wall Motor, as an example, from the three points of brand value, sales channels and awareness of change, to analyze why traditional car companies can quickly catch up with and surpass new power car companies.
Contrarian to the trend to show brand value
The stock market has such a saying, desperate to find a good company. That is to say, in the case of a good market environment, it is difficult to see what a good company is, and only in the case of a bad market environment can we find valuable companies.
This theory works equally well in the automotive market.
In 2021, the entire new energy automobile industry is tenaciously moving forward. In the absence of getting rid of the impact of the epidemic, it has encountered multiple challenges such as lack of cores, production cuts, and major enterprises competing for cross-border car manufacturing; after entering 2022, the situation has not improved, but it has suffered a huge blow such as the decline of new energy subsidies and the rise in raw material prices.
In this case, these new energy brands represented by Euler, who have the background of traditional car companies, can buck the trend and stabilize the high growth of the new energy vehicle market, which is enough to prove the brand value of the contrarian.
However, what is the value of Euler and these new energy brands from traditional car companies?
The first is positioning within the group. Wei Jianjun once said that promoting the development of new energy vehicles has always been the established strategy of the Great Wall, and the "leading" that the Great Wall should do is not to launch products first, but to create a world-leading new energy brand. Euler is exactly such an execution idea - since we do new energy vehicles, we will do valuable products.
To put it simply, Wei Jianjun's order to Euler is to be the world's leading new energy brand, and is willing to provide a solid backing for Euler. This means that Euler has the capital to "turn the river upside down" in the new energy market.
After the birth of Euler, the biggest advantage that distinguishes it from the "Internet car manufacturing company" is that Euler has the Great Wall Motor as a strength endorsement, not only has technical reserves, has ready-made factories, has abundant capital resources, has sufficient human resources, not to mention the long-term accumulation of industrial chain integration resources and sales network resources.
However, even if there is a Great Wall Motor behind it, Euler Automobile did not blindly launch products, but after a long period of observation and thinking about market trends, it launched boutique products that consumers could not refuse.
And from good cats to ballet cats, lightning cats, punk cats and other cat products, Euler has unreservedly rooted in the female market, focusing on the female car segment market without any previous lessons and intensifying competition in the industry, creating a unique brand.
There are authoritative research data show that a large number of new generation of female users will be concentrated in the next few years to enter the car market, their contribution to the sales of china's car market, accounting for more than 35%, sales or will exceed 7 million vehicles per year.
It is the sufficient market demand and insufficient market supply that have laid a huge user base for the rapid growth of Euler, and also made Euler more firmly focus on the female population.
Moreover, after determining the positioning of women's car brands, Euler was able to start according to women's needs and preferences in the product planning and design stage, especially the application of retroism, so that Euler's several new products completely captured the hearts of thousands of female consumers.
Not only that, Euler has a deep insight into the pain points of women's cars, and changes around the demand for women's cars, such as making the intimate function of reversing images standard. As a result, Euler's success rate in creating blockbuster models has increased dramatically.
It is worth mentioning that under the strong offensive of Euler's preconceived notions, Euler quickly occupied the concept of female exclusiveness. Although some newly launched models have also tried to follow the trend and try to play the concept of women's cars, consumer perception has been preemptively occupied by Euler's powerful offensive, and the degree of acceptance of other brands is far less than that of Euler.
This is also the value of Euler.
It is said that the advent of the new energy era has pulled new forces and traditional car companies to the same running line, but this is not the case, these new energy brands with the background of traditional car companies represented by Euler are more like Bolt on the track, whether it is resources or funds, they have innate advantages, and they can surpass these new power brands in the short term, which is enough to prove their brand value.
Channel is the life of car companies?
If brand value is the blood of automobile companies, then sales channels are the lifeblood of enterprise survival.
In recent years, China's auto market has shown a downward trend in recent years, in this context, the overall market from incremental to stock, the auto consumer market inflection point to come.
Coupled with the ongoing outbreak of the epidemic, the tight global supply chain and the era of mobile Internet, the consumer behavior path, crowd structure, automobile consumption preferences and car purchase demand have brought continuous changes.
Driven by changes in demand, the operation mode of automobile companies needs to change from "extensive" to "refined". Major car brand brands have also embraced new communication methods such as digital marketing.
That is to say, the traditional automobile sales model is facing an unprecedented test, automotive products and technologies are changing, the market structure is changing, consumer demand is changing, and channels are bound to change. The model of OEMs just making cars and then distributing them to dealers is being subverted.
According to the China Automobile Dealers Association's "2020-2021 China Automobile Circulation Channel Development Report", the number of authorized 4S dealers in China in 2020 showed negative growth for the first time in history, and the number of 4S store networks fell to 28,000.
Nowadays, whether it is the new car-making forces represented by Tesla and "Wei Xiaoli", or the electric vehicles of traditional car brands, or the fuel vehicles of traditional car brands, they are innovating channels, testing the sales models such as direct operation, agency, and e-commerce, exploring multi-channel marketing, and finding a balance between user experience and cost efficiency, and Euler is no exception.
However, Euler's sales channel is more special, it not only relies on the huge sales network of Great Wall Motors, but also has a new channel created according to the trend of automobile consumption, and builds a unique 4-wheel drive channel ecology.
The first is the terminal sales store. According to the data, at present, Euler's terminal sales stores have exceeded 300, covering the main new energy vehicle market in the country, forming a basic network to reach users, and constituting the main scenario for Euler to achieve user delivery and user car purchase.
In addition, Euler distribution stores have also formed three store forms, such as franchise stores, supermarket stores, and delivery centers, which provide comprehensive coverage of the BEV main sales market.
It is worth mentioning that on March 5 this year, Euler held the opening ceremony of the new store in Baicheng, which not only created a light and shadow show, Latin, ballet, water shadow painting, sand painting, fancy bartending, string performance and other performances, but also prepared exclusive experiences such as nail art and handmade DIY.
Behind it can be glimpsed that Euler can use the strong number of dealers and hold different theme activities to achieve the most cross-border, most dimensional user reach, and complete the conversion of fans.
In terms of brand direct sales stores, Euler intends to create a cultural landmark in the city. In 2021, Euler created the first brand direct experience store in Beijing , Beijing Euler Experience Space.
Different from the pursuit of "ping effect" and "human effect" in the new retail of FMCG e-commerce, Beijing Euler Experience Space pays more attention to the improvement of user value perception efficiency under the guidance of the user-centered C2B model. From the decoration style to the experience link setting, the Beijing Euler experience space reflects the retro, national trend, fashion style and so on that women prefer.
In addition, Euler also pioneered the car shop cat picking model, setting up an exclusive space for cat picking, so that women who love cats can pick up cats and play cats here; at the same time, nail art, floral art, baking and other activities that girls like are readily available.
The destination of women's shopping is directly set in the store, and watching the car has become a matter of convenience, so Euler has attracted a large number of users, forming a women-specific urban cultural circle, and sales will naturally come up.
A digital channel that goes with the flow. A report in the "2021 McKinsey AutoMotive Consumer Insights" shows that consumers are more willing to try to buy cars directly in the car purchase process, including online car booking and offline car pickup, and consumers have also put forward higher requirements for the digital experience of car purchase channels, which is also an inflection point from a marketing point.
Euler also followed the general trend, embraced the digital sales channel for the first time, and linked with stars, TV stations, etc., from 618 to double 11, double 12, all of which were broadcast live on the whole network, and achieved excellent results.
In 2020, it became the first new energy brand with single-day sales of Double 11 to exceed 10,000; in February 2021, Li Sidani participated in euler live broadcast and won 4314 orders; in March, Yu Kewei participated in euler live broadcast and obtained 6281 orders...
Nowadays, live broadcasting has become the norm for Euler, selling cars, selling peripheral goodies, selling customized gifts, so that there is live broadcast every week, the venue has a theme, and Euler has created his own live IP - Euler Meow Night.
Euler online and offline, working together to gather traffic, through the star + executive live broadcast model, greatly shortened the transaction chain and improved efficiency. The two actions of "manufacturing sound" and "volume conversion and sales volume" are aggregated in an activity of live streaming with goods, so that live streaming with goods is not only a public relations activity that can be disseminated, but also a sales behavior that can be linked online and offline.
Of course, Euler's live streaming is not only to increase sales, but also to turn fans into users, turn passers-by into fans, and hatch more content through the fan effect to bring greater voice to the brand.
Unlike most car companies, Euler's biggest innovation in channels is the theme exhibition. This way of jointly organizing exhibitions and shows with the head enterprises of major circles not only penetrates the various user circles, enhances brand exposure, but also realizes the channel sinking network to cover blind spots and hot spots, expand the scope of offline radiation, and empower drainage for dealerships.
In addition, Euler's official direct store + live broadcast + theme exhibition created by combining the characteristics of users has further expanded the channel boundary. This realizes the sinking of the channel while maintaining the original brand image and helping the brand to rise.
The effect achieved by Euler's channel model is obvious. In 2021, the cumulative sales volume reached 135,000 vehicles, far surpassing the new power brands of "Wei Xiaoli" and ranking first in the domestic new energy vehicle market.
In this channel change, for car companies, who can lead in speed, "quickly build" the future, create transformation opportunities, who has the opportunity to become a winner. Euler's channel model has been proven in this channel revolution.
Traditional car companies are actively seeking change
The direction can only be seen in the crisis.
Entering 2022, the new energy automobile industry has to bear the impact of the decline of subsidies for new energy vehicles while facing the tight supply problems caused by the shortage of chips and batteries.
According to the mileage and other related requirements, the subsidy for pure electric models will be reduced by 3900 or 5400 yuan, and the plug-in hybrid model will be reduced by 2040 yuan. According to the plan, this year is the final year of subsidies for new energy vehicles, and car companies have begun to prepare for the full withdrawal of subsidies.
Under the market atmosphere of gradually stripping away new energy subsidies and the overall rise in raw material prices, a number of new energy vehicle companies have felt pressure and announced price increases.
According to incomplete statistics, in the more than three months from the end of 2021 to March 15, 2022, no less than 16 car companies announced price increases, and the price increases of each model ranged from 1,000 to 21,088 yuan, mainly concentrated between 3,000 and 6,000 yuan.
Undoubtedly, this is a huge negative for the entire industry, and major car companies are also trying to digest this problem. At present, there are no more than two common operations, mark-up and down-allocation.
The impact of these two methods is obvious, the price increase affects sales, and the allocation reduction affects the brand reputation. It seems difficult for car companies to strike a balance with consumers until they see Euler's response.
Euler previously announced the price increase of the 2022 good cat launched, and began to receive orders from 00:00 on March 1, but compared with the products of other car companies, Euler is not a price increase.
According to Euler's official news, although the price of the 4 models provided by the 2022 Euler Good Cat has been raised, it has added 18-inch aluminum alloy wheels, body stability control system, fixed speed endurance, 360 ° panoramic fusion image, keyless entry system and other functional configurations with higher user demand, and all series are standard.
The 2022 Euler Good Cat 400km and 500km endurance versions of the premium model also added a panoramic sunroof, inductive electric rear tailgate, comfort mode, and more advanced configurations such as front power seats with ventilation, heating and massage functions, and the details are full of care and consideration for female users.
In addition, Euler also launched a "1+N" customized model to cater to the personalized car needs of more users. Among them, "1" represents the basic version of the good cat model, while the "N" is an optional bag that users can customize according to their own needs and preferences, including intelligent driving assistance and Morandi color optional bags.
It is worth mentioning that some changes in Euler's details can also be seen on Euler's next model, the Ballet Cat. According to the official disclosure, the interior of the ballet cat has been customized for women on the basis of warmth and luxury, including the size of the steering wheel, the width of the seat, etc., which are customized and developed from the female body characteristics.
For Euler, although the price has been increased, the comprehensive upgrade of the comfort configuration and some details of the intention can win the market's favor compared with the practice of other car companies without increasing the price and reducing the price. It also provides opportunities for Euler in the development of the middle and high-end, and raises the user's sense of experience.
It cannot be denied that in this wave of price increases, Euler's approach is like a clear stream, finding a way for car companies to achieve balance with consumers and make the industry develop for good.
In addition, the "1+N" model also provides consumers with a more personalized new way to buy a car, providing new ideas for other car companies to sell cars, which is worth learning from other car companies.
At the beginning of the new energy era, there are endless voices on the market about traditional car companies to be replaced, but from Euler Automobile, it can be seen that the new energy brands launched by traditional car companies or traditional car companies are not the "abandoners" of the times, but have the strength to become "leaders".
Therefore, after the traditional car companies have made efforts to develop the new energy market, we can deeply perceive that an era of "electrification" that is developing faster and faster and better has arrived.
This article comes from: Financial New Knowledge, Author: Wang Siyuan, Editor: Yi Page