Born in 1974, Li Weibo laughs at himself as an "old bacon," but he feels like a big boy.
Text | Pencil Road reporter Li Xiaomo
In 1998, Li Weibo spent two months of salary and bought a golden retriever. Since then, he has also begun to study dogs and things related to dogs. In 2004, he founded the pet products brand "touchdog it it". Li Weibo wants to make "it" into the "IKEA + Procter & Gamble" of the pet industry. He first started with the food category, and then gradually expanded to drawstrings, backpacks, clothes, nest mats, etc. At present, "others" have a total of 7 categories and more than 2,000 SKUs, covering entry-level, mid-range and high-end people. At the beginning of its establishment, "others" were first introduced from Hong Kong, Taiwan and overseas markets. In 2016, with the rise of the domestic pet market, Li Weibo also gradually entered the country and established wholesale channels. "It and others" now covers more than 10,000 stores. It has also opened flagship stores on Tmall and JD.com, becoming a supplier of platforms such as Vipshop and Amazon. This year, Li Weibo plans to create an offline space with pets and books as the highlights, and cooperate with celebrities to launch new brands. In December last year, "Others" received tens of millions of yuan of pre-a round of financing, including an industry resource party, ten-party venture capital, Shenzhen United Venture Capital, etc. In 2018, the overall revenue of "others" was nearly 50 million yuan, the average unit price of customers was 95 yuan, and the profit was millions of yuan.
Note: Li Weibo promises that the data in the article is correct and is responsible for the authenticity of the content. Pencil Road is an objective and true record, and the speed recording tone has been backed up.
Started with HK$50,000
"How do you see this flesh?"
"The product and price are good, but without packaging, who will buy?"
Li Weibo took out the packaging draft he designed and asked the other party: "How do you see this one?" ”
In the summer of 2004, "It Other" had just been established. At the Hong Kong Pet City chain store, Li Weibo knocked on the door of the purchasing director's office with a bag of nakedly wrapped pet snacks in his hand. After briefly introducing himself, he explained his intentions. The other party gave him 10 minutes.
After reading the design, they promised to purchase a batch of products to try. At this time, Li Weibo made a bold request.
"Can you give the money first?" Li Weibo explained to the other party that he could only produce and purchase goods if he got the money.
"Wait a minute." After thinking for a few seconds, the other person turned and went upstairs.
Li Weibo was so nervous that his head was full of sweat and his hands were sweaty. More than an hour later, the other party went downstairs, holding 50,000 Hong Kong dollars in his hand. After getting the money, because he was afraid of being stolen, he did not dare to stay in Hong Kong for a while, and directly took a black car back to Guangzhou.
"In hindsight, wouldn't it be safer to sit in a black car?" Li Weibo laughed and said that this was the first huge amount of money in his life.
After returning to Guangzhou, he first contacted the manufacturer of packaging and the pet food supplier. The first shipments of "others" were put into production in full swing.
With this 50,000 Hong Kong dollars, "others" are gradually on the right path.
Before founding "It And", Li Weibo had founded a pet forum - Pet Network. In the era of dial-up Internet access, its online rate can reach 10,000 people. Later, under the impact of the Internet, the forum was shelved because it did not find a clear monetization model.
After that, he went to work for a pet supplies company and a year later founded "IT-IT". At that time, the market around pets was still blank. Pet shops sell dogs as their main business, pet hospitals are small clinics, and dogs' food, clothing, and housing are not so exquisite. Li Weibo believes that as more and more people raise dogs, pet daily necessities will also be indispensable. "Spring in the pet market is sure to come."
For him, starting a business was just a thought. At that time, he just wanted to create his own brand, but he didn't know what to do in the future.
Li Weibo, who came from a design background, first cut from the packaging design of pet snacks, but he knows that "there is never a shortage of giants in the food field, unless it is a head enterprise at the beginning, otherwise it will go around." ”
So, two years later, he adjusted the bow and adopted a multi-category strategy, allowing the same customer to buy more categories of products. "It's so" begins to cut to the next product – the leash. Once launched, the leash was liked by users. "Whether their aesthetics conform to the aesthetics of the public is a question that every designer considers." Seeing the products he designed liked by users gave him a lot of confidence.
"It's it" pet costume
After that, he expanded to backpacks, clothing, nest mats and other categories around the needs of pets' food, clothing, housing and safety. In 2008, when pet clothing was first launched, the annual turnover of this part exceeded 1 million yuan, and all inventory was sold out.
The "IKEA + Procter & Gamble" of the pet world
In 2015, "ItA" applied its existing experience to cat products and launched touchcat. So far, "others" have been established for 15 years, with 6 original design brands such as touchdog, dogheilos, touchcat, etc., covering 7 categories such as pet nest mats, clothing, backpacks, drawstrings, snacks, toys, etc., with a total of more than 2,000 SKUs. Li Weibo introduced that in 2018, the overall revenue of "others" was nearly 50 million yuan, the average unit price of customers was 95 yuan, and the profit was millions of yuan.
Li Weibo admitted that he wants to make "others" into the "IKEA + Procter & Gamble" of the pet industry. As the main brand, the products of "Others" cover the mid-range and high-end pet user groups. Li Weibo wants to create different brands for different users, from low to high, and use the touchdog main brand to lead other sub-brands to slowly cover more people.
In the early years, the domestic pet market was not mature. Li Weibo felt that it was necessary to "eat enough and then consider development." Therefore, after the establishment of "others", he set the main battlefield in Hong Kong, Taiwan and overseas. "It"has a stable agency channel, and its products cover more than 20 countries.
In 2012, "other" products appeared on the global pet fair in Germany, becoming the first Chinese pet brand to walk on the catwalk at international exhibitions. In his eyes, "this feeling is higher than the honor brought by the listing." At that time, the turnover of "others" once exceeded 30 million yuan, and the profit was nearly 10 million yuan.
In the face of good results, Li Weibo's heart is a little inflated. Buying things and traveling abroad can be done without thinking, and when you buy a house, you can take a 10-minute shot. After a while, he found that his export growth rate was not fast, "the glory of the past does not mean that you can stop the pace." ”
Around 2016, the domestic pet market gradually emerged, attracting a large number of entrepreneurs to enter the track. Li Weibo realized that it was time to enter the domestic market. In China, he gradually established wholesale channels, covering more than 10,000 stores. In addition, he also opened flagship stores on Tmall and JD.com, becoming a supplier of platforms such as Vipshop and Amazon. In two years, the Tmall flagship store of "It And It" has accumulated more than 120,000 fans.
At this stage, Li Weibo is also preparing for an offline store. He plans to highlight pets and books and create an offline space where pet owners and non-pet owners can come in and buy things. There are pet books, pet supplies, and cultural and creative pet products in the store. "It"is talking about cooperation with Eslite Bookstore in Suzhou and plans to move in.
Li Weibo introduced that the offline store of "others" will open in the second half of this year, starting from Guangzhou, Shenzhen and other cities to expand.
In addition to landing in the offline space, Li Weibo also plans to cooperate with celebrities to create a new brand.
Last year, Li Weibo planned to start financing and use capital to open up the domestic market. "When I wanted to shake hands with capital, it was a cold winter." He was still full of confidence that "good projects are more likely to highlight their advantages in the cold winter of capital", and it took only three days for him to get the investment agreement of the leading investor. "For bad companies, winter can be a fatal blow, but for good companies, winter can mean harvest."
In December last year, "Others" received tens of millions of yuan of pre-a round of financing, including an industry resource party, ten-party venture capital, Shenzhen United Venture Capital, etc. Li Weibo will also launch a round of financing, he plans to raise 30 million yuan, mainly for category expansion and business expansion.