作者：江山Johnson（【PR人】创始人）
来源：PR人（ID：PublicRelationship）和PRREN（ID：PRREN）
Moral purists are defeated in the end, and the scripts of history usually "don't survive more than three episodes", such as Liu Yu and Liu Zhang during the Three Kingdoms period, while moral instrumentalists, or moral uselessists, have achieved greater or lesser success, the former such as Liu Bei, the latter such as Cao Cao......
As the old saying goes, mercy is not in charge of soldiers, and righteousness is not business.
Or back to today's topic Lei Jun and Xiaomi SU7 strategy, one way is that Xiaomi Auto chooses the original model, but the road is farther, the risk is greater, the return cycle is longer, and there is no "reputation flaw";
In the end, Lei Jun chose the second path.
(a)
On April 14, Sun Shaojun, a well-known car blogger, revealed the latest situation of Xiaomi Auto SU7: Up to now, the number of locked orders of Xiaomi Auto SU7 has exceeded 60,000, and the large order refund rate is about 55%. This means that while sales orders are still growing strongly, there are also more unsubscribes.
Xiaomi Auto introduced new regulations on April 14, and will start a 24-hour time-limited change at 9 a.m. on April 19. Non-founding users who have locked the order can make changes during this period, including the model and so on, but the order will be locked immediately after the change is successful, and there is no hesitation period.
Judging from the official statement given by Xiaomi Auto, even if you have paid a deposit but do not change the configuration, the previous 5000 deposit will not be refunded.
Therefore, if the lock order of 60,000 is broken, even if it is discounted by 95%, the sales volume of about 57,000 has stabilized.
Compared with the strongest sales model of China's new car-making force "Wei Xiaoli" in 2023: Xiaomi SU7 in about half a month, it has basically completed the surpassing of Weilai and Xiaopeng throughout the year. (NIO's best-selling model, the ES6, with annual sales of 5.6w; Xpeng's best-selling model, P7, with annual sales of 4.5W).
Obviously, Xiaomi Auto has officially entered the hot sales camp of new energy vehicles, Lei Jun 15~20 years to make Xiaomi Auto the world's fifth grand goal, at least the first step has been very successful
(b)
The pricing range of the Xiaomi SU7 is 20W+, focusing on value for money, and obviously, this is a positioning for 300 million new middle-class users.
But at the same time, Xiaomi cars also have the biggest "label" - "Baoshi Mi". In other words, the appearance of the copycat "Porsche" is the biggest shortcoming that Xiaomi is most unwilling to face and has to face
As a result, it has been criticized by celebrities, including Jia Yueting—— 。
More is the widespread criticism and ridicule of users such as the "new middle class".
After all, a budget of 20W+ is also a large expense, and a considerable proportion of new middle-class users will still be more mindful of the label of "copycat", as well as the possible reduction of "social currency".
Perhaps,55%Large order refund rate,Basically7.3W people choose a large order refund,It may be more a reflection of the new middle-class users to the XiaomiSU7 choice of swaying and entanglement。
(c)
Business has always been pragmatic
Obviously, if one road is that Xiaomi Auto chooses the original model, but the road is farther, the risk is greater, the return cycle is longer, and there is no "reputation flaw", and the other road is a copycat Porsche, but the product risk is smaller, the return cycle is shorter, but there are "reputation flaws" (three years to complete the car, you must choose a mature model that has been verified by the mature market, otherwise, with the complexity of the car manufacturing process, the design of the model is likely to be a huge risk in actual combat).
Obviously, as smart as Lei Jun will choose the second path.
The second way is precisely the "category strategy" that has been verified and many enterprises have chosen in China - the category strategy of "big brand replacement".
As we have said before, there are currently three main categories of strategies in the field of consumer goods in China:
1. White label: the product power is about 80 points, the price is 40-50 points, and there is no brand equity. As mentioned earlier, it's very hard at the moment.
2. Luxury: 90-95 points for product power, 300 points for price, and rich brand equity. But it's clear that the road is difficult.
3. Big-name replacement: product power is 85-90 points, price is 65-70 points, there is a certain brand equity, and there are a lot of dividends on this road.
White label (too hard), luxury (too hard), and there is "big brand replacement" (with dividends).
The same applies in the automotive sector.
For example, if we regard JAC, which is used for NIO, and BAIC Manufacturing, which is OEM for Xiaomi SU7, as white cards, there is no doubt that they are in the lower reaches of the profit chain and are struggling.
And it is undoubtedly too difficult to take the car-making route like Apple, with a product power of 90-95, the pursuit of originality, a price of 300 points, and rich brand equity, so that even Apple has given up (Jia Yueting's car-making is also this model in a certain sense, so 11 cars were built in 10 years and recalled).
And XiaomiSU7Although there are various evaluation bloggers' complaints on the Internet,But basically they are some harmless problems,After all,The production team of BAIC manufacturing,Plus Lei Jun's team to build the strongest "product manager" team in China,At present, there is a product power of 80-85 points。
The pricing of Xiaomi SU7 is undoubtedly the same as the standard luxury car configuration, but it is very "involuted" pricing
Lei Jun's marketing ability can be called China's top stream, therefore, Xiaomi SU7 comes with a certain brand aura after it is listed, and there will even be users who rely on Xiaomi cars to force it, obviously, there is also a certain brand equity
Therefore, the competitive strategy of Xiaomi Auto is a typical "big name replacement" strategy
In the current domestic market, N more "big-name replacement" brands are also being proven, and there are still many dividends in this direction—— 。
For example, Dyson's pantilafen -
Moncler's replacement for Gofan –
and the replacement of various big names "zara" -
Including the customers we are serving, they are doing the replacement of "Archaeopteryx", and they have already received a good bonus - interested students, you can chat in detail in the live broadcast room of the "PR person" video account on April 18 from 3 pm to 5 pm (search for the "PR" person video number to make an appointment).
We have seen the common ground, "big brand replacement" has a common point, we must "pay tribute" to the big brand, otherwise, what to talk about "replacement"? and then through the "fast and low-cost brand" model ([PR people] 8 years of experience in serving thousands of brands, there is a domestic exclusive "fast and low-cost brand building" methodology system), do a certain amount of brand equity, and then, it is relatively easy to get market dividends
(iv)
As for the new middle class who are still scolding Xiaomi cars as "copycats", there is no need to worry, a considerable proportion of them will eventually be converted into fans of Xiaomi cars, and even customers. There are three reasons for this:
1. The composition of the new middle class comes from the white-collar and middle class, in fact, the petty bourgeoisie and the middle class, the teacher had insight into the essence of this class 100 years ago, and the biggest characteristic is - wavering, now scolding, when the cost performance of Xiaomi cars is higher, and there are more people around to buy, most of them will gradually transform. Because, the 300 million new middle-class users have basically bought Zara, Laifen or Gaofan... Aren't they "copycats"?
2. We have talked about a point of view before: the volume of sound has a blessing effect on the content or product, and the volume of Xiaomi cars will become bigger and bigger according to this momentum, naturally, the product power will become stronger and stronger, the price is very affordable, and the temptation to the new middle class will naturally become greater and greater
3. There is a point of view in "The Rabble" that the public is often the "group unconscious" - a person in the collective, will follow the collective to make some behaviors, and these behaviors are often not controlled by the active consciousness, and are unconscious behaviors. Now there are only 60,000 people who buy Xiaomi SU7, and Xiaomi cars will sell more and more, and when the people around them buy more, the so-called "standing guard for feelings" bottom limit will most likely gradually melt
Business is actually like this, pragmatism is always the first principle, Lei Jun can give in, you are a little white-collar worker, what else is there to be reserved?