Preface
To be honest, Jingdong was quite majestic a few years ago. At that time, although Liu Qiangdong, the big boss of Jingdong, was short-tempered and choked people, no one dared to underestimate him. After all, the market value of people is as high as 100 billion US dollars, and they are thriving in the e-commerce industry. But in recent years, Jingdong's gas has not been smooth.
The traditional e-commerce model has been eliminated, and the subsidized shopping platform occupies the market
As we all know, the e-commerce industry has undergone drastic changes in the past two years. Traditional e-commerce models have long been ineffective, and young people tend to prefer those emerging shopping platforms. For example, Pinduoduo, which is now in the limelight, quickly snatched up a large number of young consumer groups by relying on social groups and large subsidies. For an established e-commerce company like JD.com, this is undoubtedly a heavy blow.
Seeing the declining performance, Liu Qiangdong, the big boss of JD.com, is also in a hurry. In order to reverse the declining trend, he did everything he could to vigorously grasp reform both internally and externally.
For example, two years ago, he made a drastic change of high-level management, throwing the position of CEO to a female assistant Xu Ran. It's a pity that Xu Ran is from a financial background after all, and he is not very proficient in the actual business, so this reform measure fell into the dilemma of giving up halfway.
Not only is the internal reform difficult, but JD.com is also overstretched in external marketing and publicity, and has repeatedly hit a wall. Some time ago, in order to regain his prestige, Liu Qiangdong personally controlled it and sounded the horn of the "Double 11 Price War".
At that time, he scored a brace, proudly declaring that "low prices are our only secret". For this reason, Jingdong can be said to be doing its best to show its price advantage, such as issuing tens of billions of coupons, hundreds of billions of subsidies and other blockbuster activities are blooming everywhere.
But it was such a fierce move, but it did not bring a substantial turn for JD.com. After Double 11, the performance data of other e-commerce platforms came out one by one, and rising stars such as Pinduoduo still continued their rapid growth, but JD.com's performance data was dwarfed, and even only a meager increase in single digits.
Sincere and humorous internal complaints
Of course, there is also a commotion within JD.com. Some people believe that even though Liu Qiangdong is known as the "master of low prices", he is actually just repeating the old tricks of a few years ago, and there is not much new. After all, in the current era of mobile Internet, relying solely on low-cost killers is inevitably a bit outdated.
Some people are more straightforward in their comments on Liu Qiangdong's management methods. Some people say that Liu Qiangdong is indeed a veteran of e-commerce, but his style is too conservative and he is used to holding power in person. This may have been okay back then, but in today's era, this management model is inflexible and innovative.
From the inside out, JD.com can be said to be troubled. Liu Qiangdong is not only facing a strong squeeze from competitors, but also an undercurrent within the company. For a time, there were rivals on the outside, and there were endless fights on the inside, and Jingdong could be said to have fallen into an unprecedented embarrassment.
For Liu Qiangdong, the current situation can be described as an urgent need. As the founder and head of JD.com, the company's prospects have a direct impact on his personal status and family wealth. And now, JD.com's performance in the capital market can be said to have fallen all the way, and its market value has shrunk to the point of only a quarter of Pinduoduo. This is undoubtedly worse for Liu Qiangdong's money bag.
JD.com's stock reached an all-time high of more than $120 per share that year, when Liu Qiangdong was in the top 10 of the Hurun Report. But in recent years, JD.com's stock price has been declining, and now it has fallen below the $20 mark.
As a result, Liu Qiangdong and his wife, Zhang Zetian, also fell in the rankings of the Hurun rich list. For him, who has always been ambitious, this is undoubtedly a heavy blow.
Lessons from the past should be used as a reference Group shopping is more affordable
In fact, Liu Qiangdong is not the only one facing difficulties in the e-commerce industry. Alibaba's Mr. Ma Yun, also relied on the slogan of "is carnival" to attack the price war, and finally occupied the e-commerce country.
However, after all, Ma Yun is an old scholar with rich experience, and later saw the limitations of the price war, adjusted his strategy in time, and took product and technological innovation as the core competitiveness, and finally made Ali a well-deserved e-commerce boss.
The current Liu Qiangdong may also learn from the past. Relying solely on low-cost killer features may not be able to occupy an advantage for a long time in the mobile Internet era.
After all, today's consumers are no longer only looking for low prices and high cost performance as in the past, they value a personalized and social shopping experience. JD.com's traditional online platform model seems to be less and less in line with young people's consumption concepts.
Another amazing example is Pinduoduo, which is now in the limelight. Huang Zheng, the founder of Pinduoduo, was also an unknown small role at the beginning, but later quickly broke through with the innovative model of social grouping, and now has become a dark horse challenging traditional giants.
The success of Pinduoduo is largely due to Huang Zheng's flexible and open management ideas. Unlike Liu Qiangdong, who personally controls power, Huang Zheng prefers to delegate power and give his employees the greatest freedom to innovate.
It is precisely because of this culture of "decentralization" that the group model of Pinduoduoduo and Kuaihao Province was born, and countless innovative operating concepts were born, thus defeating a number of conservative and cautious old giants.
It is the best strategy to break the game
Looking at the successful example of Pinduoduo, it is not difficult to find that if you want to be invincible in the ever-changing tide of e-commerce, low prices alone are far from enough, and enterprises must adjust their business strategies in a timely manner, and flexible innovation is the best policy.
Take Liu Qiangdong as an example, if he rests on his laurels and insists on the old way of low prices, he will be completely overtaken by competitors. Instead of blindly relying on the subsidy war, he should think more about how to use JD.com's existing supply chain and logistics advantages to provide consumers with more personalized and high-quality services.
After all, today's young people are no longer those price-sensitive "price households", they want a comprehensive experience. Only by adapting to the torrent of the times and innovating business philosophy can JD finally reverse its passivity and regain the throne of the e-commerce boss. Otherwise, Jingdong is destined to be thrown farther and farther away by the rolling wheels of the times.
In general, JD.com's current situation is really precarious. As a former e-commerce giant, it is now losing in the torrent of the industry, which is simply useless for the heroes of the past. However, I think Jingdong's dilemma is still solved, and the key depends on whether Liu Qiangdong, the head of the company, is determined to really reform his life.
Let's take a look back at JD.com's previous experience. At that time, Alibaba's Ma Yun relied on the low-price move of "is carnival" to win the e-commerce track in one fell swoop. However, later he wittily saw the limitations of the low-price war and transformed and innovated in time. Today's Ali has paid equal attention to product technology, and various intelligent applications have emerged in an endless stream, which shows the wisdom of Ma Yun riding the wind and waves.
On the other hand, Liu Qiangdong of JD.com has become narrower and narrower in recent years, and is still entangled in the stereotypical habit of low-price war. Seeing that a rising star like Pinduoduo swept thousands of troops by relying on social group play, he still rested on his laurels and blindly repeated those old gimmicks. It's no wonder that in the Double 11 team, JD.com's performance can't even talk about single-digit growth.
In fact, Liu Qiangdong is not without opportunities to evolve. As a traditional e-commerce company, JD.com has the best time and place in the logistics supply chain, which should be its biggest advantage. It's a pity that Liu Qiangdong didn't make full use of this trump card, but let the upstarts take the lead in seizing the commanding heights of the market.
end
I think the way out for JD is to innovate its marketing concept and conform to the tide of the times. In addition to low prices, it is also necessary to provide consumers with a more personalized and experiential shopping model.
In short, we can no longer rest on our laurels and stick to the old rules, otherwise we will only be completely washed away by the torrent of the times. This is a lesson that Liu Qiangdong must introspect and adjust in time. I hope he can come to his senses and let JD.com regain its former glory.