"I want to talk to you about the potential you have in the French market and we can carry out some very interesting projects." About ten years ago, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, USA (CES),Remy Journe, a senior practitioner in the home appliance industry, was touched by the design of Hisense TV,Took the initiative to contact Hisense。 Today, ten years later, Remy Journe, who is already the deputy general manager of Hisense France, and his partners have turned one "very interesting project" from idea to reality, and the Hisense brand in France has been pushed from "starting from scratch and starting from scratch" to "top three in the market".
This market development story with a touch of romanticism seems to have a high "fit" with the country of France. But far from being romantic, the laws of competition in the business world are brutal. Especially in a very typical global high-end market like France, the winners all stand out from the fierce competition of top international brands.
May 10 is the annual China Brand Day. Haixin has made such a breakthrough in the French market in just ten years, which is the epitome of Chinese enterprises accelerating their "going global", constantly breaking through in the global industrial chain value chain, and building a world-class brand. From "going out" to "going up",Hisense relies on continuous technological innovation and independent brand building,Break out of a new paradigm of high-quality Chinese brands going overseas。
01
Break the doubts with the best quality products
In the high-end market represented by Europe, Chinese home appliance brands are out-and-out market "challengers". This is the base camp of many of the world's old home appliance brands, some of which were even the "teachers" of Chinese companies, and at the same time, there are consumers who are accustomed to high-end products and are very picky, and the difficulty of Chinese companies to "grab a position" can be imagined.
When I first made a Hisense brand in France, Remy Journe often heard a sentence: "We don't need any cheap brands anymore". This reflects a preconceived notion of Chinese brands in the high-end market. "In a mature market like France, if you start from scratch, you need to have a very strong advantage, otherwise there will be no chance of success." Remy Journe said.
Those who are familiar with business management know that there are many factors that affect consumers' perception of brands, such as products, advertising, and channels. But in any case, the product itself is always the most basic and fundamental element. Hisense is also product-oriented,Break the market doubts with the best quality products that meet the needs of the local market,Build a strong enough brand advantage。
French consumers experience Hisense laser TV in the store。
Take Hisense's key product refrigerator to establish and develop brand influence in France as an example,French consumers like emerging high-tech products,Hisense set up a product development team composed of local sales、Product line and product managers of the international marketing headquarters,In-depth study of the characteristics of different channels together,Targeted planning of product lineup。 At the same time, relying on a more agile and efficient technology research and development system than European local home appliance brands, product iteration is carried out quickly.
In 2015, Hisense cleverly used its technical advantages in multi-door and side-by-side refrigerators, relying on these two types of refrigerator products to successfully knock on the door of the French market. Since then, Hisense has continued to develop a series of new products for the French market and successfully broke through. In 2023, Hisense's smart large-screen cross refrigerator listed in Boulanger (one of the three major appliance chain stores in France) uses dark antibacterial liner and 21-inch smart large-screen technology innovation to attract consumers, raising the price ceiling to 3000 euros. At present,Hisense refrigerator market share in France has reached8%,Rank among the top three in the industry,Cold products have entered all mainstream home appliance channels in France。
In fact, the more you work hard in the high-end market, the more you can deeply understand the significance of the company's long-term commitment to technological innovation and product development. Laser TV, which has been developed for many years,Now it has become Hisense's "hot model" in the overseas high-end market。 As a representative of the next generation of display products,Laser TV has successfully "gone out of the circle" in the high-end market with the two attributes of display technology innovation and green and low-carbon。 "The recycling rate of laser TV parts reaches 92%, and the energy consumption is 1/3 of that of LCD TVs of the same size. Liu Tao, general manager of Hisense France, said.
With excellent products, Hisense has opened up a new world of development in the European market. Today,Hisense TV in Germany、Italy、The market share of the United Kingdom ranks third; Hisense refrigerator has the largest market share in the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovenia.
02
"Exploiting" the top events
In a month's time, Euro 2024 will kick off. And at Hisense, the busyness surrounding this European Cup began more than a year ago. This is Hisense's third sponsorship of the European Cup after 2016 and 2020. From "newcomer" to "senior player",This time Hisense hopes to use the European Cup,Hisense's performance in the European market has been raised to a new height。
The development of an enterprise must not only have its own "momentum", but also fully "take advantage of it". If focusing on technological innovation and product development is Hisense's self-development of the high-end market"Momentum",Then sponsoring the world's top sports events,Developing sports marketing is Hisense's key"Exploitation"Move。
Hisense sponsors the 2022 Qatar World Cup, playing the slogan "Made in China and working together".
The aroma of wine is also afraid of deep alleys. Making the brand "widely known" is the premise of developing the brand. As the world's common language, sports is one of the best mediums for the global development of brands. In the World Cup, brands such as Budweiser, Philips, Mastercard, McDonald's, and Canon have appeared many times. In a sense, sports marketing is a "shortcut" for brands to increase their visibility at a specific stage of globalization. Even today, with the emergence of various Internet marketing methods, the influence of sports marketing still cannot be replaced. According to FIFA data, the 2022 Qatar World Cup, which lasted for 28 days, attracted more than 3.4 million on-site viewers, attracting a total of 5 billion people to participate, watch and follow, and its influence can be seen.
According to Liu Tao, Hisense's sponsorship of the 2016 European Cup and the 2020 European Cup has greatly shortened the process of local consumers' recognition and acceptance of the Hisense brand. "By around 2020,Hisense has entered the vast majority of mainstream channels in France,Basically completed the channel development work。 Liu Tao said.
Euro 2024 in Germany is the first fully equipped European Championship after the epidemic has dissipated, and the number of fans watching the game in person is expected to increase tenfold compared to Euro 2020. For Hisense,This is also a "key battle" in the process of high-end market development。 From not being recognized by European consumers before 2016, to the European market share exceeding 5% after the 2020 European Cup, and then to 8% in 2023, it means that Hisense will accelerate to become a mainstream brand in this high-end market. At present,Hisense has determined2024The marketing theme of the European Cup is"Letter,It is the champion",A series of landing marketing activities have also been closely arranged。
03
Co-prosperity and symbiosis with the local community
Brand globalization is not just about "selling" goods in the world, but also a transnational and cross-cultural brand operation process. Whether we can deal with cultural differences and better co-prosperity and symbiosis with the local society will be directly related to the success or failure of brand globalization. In the process of Chinese enterprises going overseas, the word "localization" often talked about points to this point at a deeper level.
The process of Hisense's brand going all the way in the global market,It is also Hisense's increasingly deep integration into the global market、The process of close symbiosis with markets around the world。
International M&A is an excellent window to watch. In 2018, Slovenia's largest manufacturing company, the European-renowned company Coloni, was on the verge of bankruptcy. After Hisense completed the acquisition of Guloni, it adhered to the concept of "respecting local culture and transplanting Hisense management", and revitalized Guloni. At first, some local employees were not only skeptical about whether a Chinese company could save the 70-year-old Coloni, but also objected to the measures that Hisense would take after taking over to optimize production capacity, reduce costs and increase efficiency.
But soon, the reversal happened. When Hisense turned Gloni into a profit in just 18 months, local employees were convinced. Since then, Hisense has invested another 300 million euros to introduce large refrigerators, TVs and other production lines that were not previously available in the local area, which has further improved the operating level of Guloni and increased the income of local employees. Hisense insists on adapting measures to local conditions、Full respect、Learn from each other、Learn from each other's strengths,Won trust again and again。
Hisense Guloni plant in Slovenia.
On the other hand, Hisense's success also shows the importance of oriental management for Chinese enterprises to go overseas. Modern management was born in the West and is therefore generally considered to be more effective than Chinese management. But in fact, over the years, Chinese management has learned a lot of experience from Western management, and integrated the characteristics of China's Eastern thinking, and has unique effects and charm in enterprise management. The increasingly mature Oriental management will inject a steady stream of vitality into the high-quality overseas of Chinese brands.
In the past two years, the outside world has begun to use ESG to measure a company's contribution to the economy and society in addition to profitability indicators. Hisense insists on science and technology for good, business for good. According to Liu Tao, during the new crown epidemic, many channel providers in France encountered operational difficulties, and some core channel providers even faced the risk of capital chain breakage. Hisense actively extends a helping hand to channel providers, shares risks, and further establishes trust. Due to the active practice of green manufacturing and social responsibility, Hisense Europe won the silver medal in the rating initiated by EcoVadis, the world's authoritative corporate social responsibility evaluation agency, with a ranking higher than 83% of the participating companies.
From "hard connectivity" to "soft connectivity", and then to "heart-to-heart connectivity" with overseas people, Chinese enterprises are accelerating their overseas expansion while winning the recognition and trust of the world in a diversified way.
At present, "if you don't go to sea, you will be out" has become the consensus of Chinese manufacturing enterprises. As a pioneer, Hisense will unswervingly ride the wind and waves on the road of high-end going to sea, move forward bravely, and constantly show the "new temperament" of China's manufacturing quality upgrading.
Author|Sun Xin