Lead
Introduction
Hundreds of boats compete for the current, and those who strive are the first.
Author 丨 Cao Jiadong
Responsible editor 丨 Cui Liwen
Editor 丨Zhu Jinbin
When the time comes to 2022, we deeply feel that the acceleration of market change has brought violent shocks to the entire Chinese auto market. The increasingly stringent demands of consumers have directly shattered the pattern that has been solidified for nearly 20 years; the open struggle of the new forces of car manufacturing has destroyed a set of survival rules. In the competition, almost everyone in the changing situation has to face this dark war of life and death.
Some people are struggling with where the inflection point of the industry change is, and whether the channel change will become the criterion for the entire industry to enter a new stage. But the good side is that with the beginning of the great changes, there are still people who have long been laying out channels and changing marketing models, and have circled a new way of playing for everyone.
To be precise, from Tesla, Weilai and other new car manufacturers, to a series of traditional car companies, whether it is to enter the business circle to build a brand experience store, or to combine the direct sales and 4S store models in an orderly manner, it is to show us that under the frequent acceleration of the iteration of the car market, the evolutionary logic of the Chinese car market has begun to reshape and change.
At the end of 2021, Volvo was located in the brand experience center of iapm, the golden landmark of Modu, and officially opened after a comprehensive renovation and upgrade. At the beginning of this year, Volvo's first city center store in China was also opened in Shanghai Jingyao Qiantan with the help of Yongda Automobile.
Next, no matter what kind of solution Volvo will come up with in channel innovation with dealers, in the wave of industry transformation, everything will become a profound brushstroke of traditional luxury car companies represented by Volvo and self-reinvention.
Pictured| Volvo's first city center store in China settled in Shanghai Jingyao Qiantan
Strivers, change according to the situation
In a conversation with Xu Yue, vice chairman and president of Yongda Group, we clearly know that "since 2015, when the outside world questioned the differences in channel configuration such as 4S stores, the first wave of shocks brought about by the Internet has arrived as scheduled." At that time, there was no trend of new energy, nor was there a trend of intelligence, but the quiet arrival of change still made the people in the bureau have some new thinking. ”
Perhaps as a dealer group with a huge traditional sales network in East China, the difficulty of elephant turning around will also exist in the development trajectory of Yongda Automobile. And Volvo, which has worked with it for more than a decade to complete the market precipitation, has repeatedly struggled in the environment of high-speed market fission. Whether it is to settle for the status quo, continue to enjoy the dividends of the times, or boldly seek change and accumulate experience before the BBA, it will become an urgent problem to be solved.
Of course, from dealers to OEMs, no one will deny the positive significance of the 4S store model for the development of the entire industry chain in the nearly 20 years rooted in China. Even as Xu Yue admitted, "from the introduction of joint venture brands, the distribution system with 4S stores as the core allows dealers to jointly build a network, spread the brand, and provide proper after-sales service in the whole process of helping the main engine factory." ”
Pictured| Xu Yue, vice chairman and president of Yongda Group
It is only to say that when the consumer trend is deeply transformed by the Internet, under the directional thinking of the past, a large number of car companies such as Volvo that are willing to face difficulties need to find a new way out, a way out that can compete with the new forces of car manufacturing.
We all think that the increasing momentum of the luxury car market will not have an excessive impact on self-development in the short term. Luxury brands like Volvo, as long as they maintain the existing momentum, are enough to continue to grow steadily after brands such as Infiniti and Jaguar Land Rover fade.
However, under the influence of Tesla and Wei Xiaoli's direct operation model, when the new model of "online drainage, offline transactions" has become a new format that consumers like to see, according to the "2021 Blue Book of the Automobile Circulation Industry" released by the China Automobile Dealers Association, as early as 2020, the number of authorized 4S dealers in the country showed negative growth for the first time. By the end of the year, the growth rate of the national passenger car dealer network had declined by 5.3%. By 2021, this data will continue unabated.
Whatever Volvo can do, channel innovation is necessary and sufficient for it. Volvo needs to use a closer approach to consumers, and establish a faster and warmer mode of communication with consumers before the arrival of the new era.
Of course, Xu Yue also said, "Compared with the traditional 4S store business layout and the direct operation model dominated by the new car-making forces, this kind of sales and invoicing by the main engine factory directly to end users." However, in the service link, the new model led by dealers, including test drive, delivery and after-sales service, does have certain advantages. ”
For example, in the Volvo City Center store, users enjoy making test drives, placing orders online, and unifying prices; no need to negotiate prices to get a better full-process service experience; manufacturer pricing, solving dealer price monopoly, closer to users; secondly, because Volvo has a perfect dealer system, in addition to buying a car, users' other product choices, after-sales service and other needs can be quickly undertaken by the nearest 4S store.
In a sense, whether such a channel expansion initiative can bring any changes to Volvo is still unknown in the short term. However, as Xu Yue firmly believes, "as long as this model is helpful to the business and helpful to every link in the world, we are willing to do pioneering and trying in this regard." And this in turn represents the needs of the market. ”
At this time, the linkage between Volvo and dealers seems to show a completely different business philosophy, but as Xu Yue quoted the economist Xue Zhaofeng said, "Whoever can use the resource efficiency best will eventually fall into the hands of whom." ”
After entering the new year, looking at most of the stronger car companies are actively exploring the industry development sales model plan, Volvo in addition to more betting on the future development of the Chinese car market, is the need to show an active exploration and breakthrough attitude in the business model. In the face of the sudden changes in the whole industry, Volvo and the dealer groups must not be limited to protecting their own acres and three points of land.
Changing the original mode of cooperation is ultimately the meaning of the times, and it is the trend of the times.
Volvo, looking ahead to the future
In fact, since the global automotive industry entered a new transformation cycle, the entire Volvo Car Group is sending a signal to the outside world: to continue to maintain its market leadership, Volvo, as a market leader committed to becoming a luxury brand pure electric segment, must increase investment in electrified models and new business models.
In the past year, in order to fill the future or upcoming sales gap in advance, or to make a vow for itself, Volvo regards China as a strategic place to deepen the EV, and has taken the initiative to increase the launch of new models, so how to use this series of new means to establish a first-mover advantage in China and even the global market has become the top priority.
Figure| Volvo Cars' annual sales exceeded 170,000 units in Chinese mainland in 2021, and recharge model sales increased by 96% year-on-year.
In other words, if after so many years of cultivating the East China market, it can still use the hand of Yongda Automobile to meet the market's demand for channel change step by step, then in the next market expansion, Volvo will use electrification to complete the reshaping of the pattern of the market segment, and it will be a matter of course.
In particular, with the traditional retail process can not achieve the end-to-end experience expected by customers alone, customer data storage mode hinders a certain customer interaction, large inventory capital investment increases the risk of dealers, dealer-centric price war makes the market have no transparency to speak of, and other issues emerge in an endless stream, no matter how much Volvo and its major dealers have concerns about the pros and cons of change, narrowing the distance with users, improving user experience and communication efficiency, will make breakthroughs in this change.
Taking Volvo's recent promotion of channel expansion in Shanghai as an example, Xu Yue, as the management of Yongda Automobile, told us very firmly: "As a dealer, one is to choose a brand, the second is to look at the product, and the third is to look at the team." "From the standpoint of dealers, the reason why they can choose to carry out such bold business expansion with Volvo again after more than ten years of cooperation is nothing more than three points."
"From the perspective of the brand, Volvo has always focused on the themes of safe luxury, environmental protection luxury, and healthy luxury, and put forward the brand theme of 'only love and life cannot be disappointed', which is enough to cut the inner needs of most potential luxury consumers." The brand positioning can be recognized by the mainstream market, which means that cooperation with it is bound to incubate more possibilities.
Falling back on the product, from paying attention to safety to passing on youthfulness, Volvo's products seem to show a brand independence and market penetration. Since entering the era of electrification, from XC40 pure electricity to the latest model C40 pure electric SUV, it has really made the outside world feel Volvo's sincerity in deepening the Chinese car market.
Pictured| Volvo's new pure electric coupe SUV model C40
The most important and convincing thing is the demonstration of Volvo's ability to empathize with the market. The rapid growth above the industry average is the result of Volvo's judgment on the direction of the car market, but it is also due to the mission of Volvo (China) to actively adjust its market strategy and deployment. Whether it is to build a communication bridge with dealers, or to expect to provide consumers with more infectious services, in fact, they can correspond to it one by one. ”
Yes, before Volvo chose to carry out channel reform, it was not uncommon for car companies from emerging forces to traditional giants who hoped to defend their dignity in the new round of market competition. However, compared with most of the channels that rely on high-cost inputs, the interaction between Volvo and Yongda seems to be a similar expansion.
In fact, such asset-light operations such as downsizing the scale and streamlining of the product line have landed, not only focusing on the needs of users, but also accelerating the urgent mood of transforming to new consumption habits and service experiences. It also gives Volvo's vision of creating a "multi-dimensional touchpoint" sales model an anchor for development.
In short, the turning of the times will always bring some new challenges to all people with hearts, and give some contradictions and hopes for the development direction. As a deep plowing of China's auto market for 20 years, Volvo has its own ideas, and it cannot escape the stage of eliminating the development resistance brought by the new trend.
Perhaps, in the next development, the exploration of business models between traditional car companies and new car-making forces will gradually converge. The former to the data through, direct sales and user economic development, and the new forces will also choose to cooperate with dealers, establish a wider coverage of the sales network, the same destination, but in this process, as Volvo has made in the sales channels for several months to make changes and innovations, in the push of the new four modernizations, to provide peers with a new way of thinking to break the game.
| Cao Jiadong |
Gasoline running in the blood,
Only fast is not broken!