The e-commerce retail market is on the rise again.
In recent days, behind the uproarious renaming incident of Gome, it is actually the moment when Gome "let go" to hit the e-commerce industry.
However, how does the former retail hegemon return to the top of the market? Can this ambition become a reality, or is it a foolish dream? But what can be known is that when the offline retail industry is declining, time is running out for this backward retail overlord.
"Innocence" and "Fantasy" of Gome
Behind the name change of Gome is full of innocence and fantasy.
Recently, the biggest "melon" in the e-commerce retail industry, it should belong to the event that Gome announced that it was renamed "Really Happy". According to Tech Planet, on January 11, the "Gome" App was renamed "True Happy", and the product changed from the past e-commerce app to an entertainment and social shopping app.
Regarding the name change of Gome APP, many netizens complained, "Gome is really happy to be renamed, but is it really happy?" But no matter what, the change of Gome is actually a new starting point for the company and a marketing strategy of Gome. , In order to help attract new products after earning enough public opinion hot spots.
In addition, apart from this name change, Gome has also recently registered a series of new companies full of "naive", such as Lehe Box (Ningbo) Technology Co., Ltd., Aiyo (Hainan) Technology Co., Ltd., True Tesco (Ningbo) Technology Co., Ltd. Company and so on. These "local" but "smooth" names also reveal a message that Gome is focusing its attention on the younger generation.
However, why is Gome naive?
First, Gome has a heart to start again, but the track where Gome started again is unpredictable and strong enemies are waiting around. For example, in the social e-commerce track of Really Happiness, who doesn't know that Internet giants such as Ali and Tencent are competing with red ears. However, there are too many uncertain factors whether Gome, the former retail overlord, can play in the e-commerce industry.
Second, from the changed name to "True Happiness", it can also prove that Gome has a "naive" heart.
So, what is the logic behind Gome's name change to "True Happiness"?
It was Gome and Huang Guangyu, who was recently released on parole. They were not reconciled to Gome's desolate status as a loser, hoping that the company could rise again. At this time, Gome’s ambitions were also revealed. However, what is this ambition? What should Gome do to make its ambitions a reality?
"Loneliness" and "Ambition" of Gome
Gome has experienced the most glorious moment, but also missed the best era. Behind the change of name actually indicates that Gome will say goodbye to the old and welcome the new. This is the time for Gome to "let go".
Gome, which has been ups and downs in the retail industry for 34 years, has experienced the development history of the entire retail industry's creation, ups and downs. From the establishment of Gome in 1987; to the listing in Hong Kong in 2004, founder Huang Guangyu became the richest man in the Hurun Report; after 2005, he began to annex large and small rival companies, including Harbin Black Swan, Yongle Electric and Jiangsu Golden Sun. ; In 2008, Chairman Huang Guangyu was imprisoned on charges of financial manipulation.
Gome has gradually evolved from a small company to a national chain home appliance retail giant. Huang Guangyu has been on the Hurun Report three times, and his personal wealth reached 45 billion yuan at its peak.
It is such a dominant retail company, but because of a fuse, it is on the path of decline and retreat-"Huang Guangyu goes to jail."
In 2008, Huang Guangyu was suddenly taken away for investigation by the police for manipulating stock prices. So far, the former retail hegemon has fallen into a crisis of no one. Although Huang Guangyu's wife worked hard to run the company, Gome ended up losing everything. ending.
The stock price is reflected in the decline of Gome's stock price after its listing. After 2009, the stock price dropped to a trough without rising.
Screenshot from: Xueball
However, apart from the negative news of the founder, what is it that makes Gome become "a stranger"?
First, we missed the e-commerce development period, and the maturity period was unable to regain attention. In fact, Gome is the first retail company to enter the e-commerce industry compared to e-commerce giants such as Taobao and JD.com. It had an e-commerce department in 2002, and launched Gome online mall in 2003.
However, Gome is a company that "enters early and pays attention to late". Although it has developed online business, it has not paid enough attention to it, and it is still deeply involved in the offline retail track. When the e-commerce trend surged in 2008, after Huang Guangyu was imprisoned, Gome had no intention of being an e-commerce company. At this time, Taobao and JD.com had already laid the cornerstones, laying the groundwork for the two to seize the e-commerce world. .
To say that Gome attaches great importance to the e-commerce track, that was the period when e-commerce entered a period of rapid development in 2010, and it was also the period when its old rival Suning officially launched Suning.com. At this time, the Gome people were panic. The executives changed frequently. Huang Guangyu's wife Du Juan repeatedly proposed the e-commerce transformation strategy but failed in practice. After all, Gome missed the gold mine of e-commerce and became a marginal man on the Internet.
Second, multiple failures in transformation and frequent management changes have caused the company to lose its market position under panic, with poor revenue growth and several cuts in net profit. From the observation chart, it can be seen that in the ten years from 2010 to 2020, the growth rate of Gome’s revenue was not high, from 43.381 billion yuan to 59.47 billion yuan, an increase of only 37%; while the net profit declined sharply in 2011, and it has changed since 2016. No signs of climbing.
Image source: YY rating
Behind this is the reason that Gome has lost its backbone and management has changed many times, and the strategy implementation has been unstable. According to observations, in 2011, Gome’s former executive Chen Xiao resigned; in 2012, Gome adjusted its executive structure on a large scale; in 2013, Gome executive Peng Liang joined 360 and so on.
However, the frequent changes in the company's management are obviously not friendly to a company that is undergoing transformation. When the relatively conservative Cuckoo took control of Gome, a series of transformation strategies formulated did not help, and the company gradually withdrew from the center of the market. Among them, Dujuan launched the Gome online mall in 2011, and then proposed the new retail concept of "6+1" omni-channel retailers in 2017, and the "shared retail" strategy in 2018.
However, 2020 is the most critical year for Gome to turn. This year, many media have frequently reported that Huang Guangyu will be released on parole, which is also regarded as the key to the revival of Gome. And in May of this year, Gome also hired the former Baidu vice president Xiang Hailong to serve as the CEO of Gome Online, and then appointed Zhang Deju as the CEO of Gome Electric Co., Ltd., and Lin Chao as the CEO of Gome. In addition, Gome also held hands in 2020. E-commerce giants such as Pinduoduo and JD.com; and Huang Guangyu is not idle, selling houses in many places to raise funds.
Behind so many things, there seems to be a signal: "Gome must work hard to get out of Xishan."
Now, with the return of the leading figure Huang Guangyu, behind the unabated renaming incident is the ambition of Gome's "sword finger" e-commerce.
According to Gome’s official introduction, the Real Happy App focuses on entertainment-oriented social shopping, adding new ways to play such as panic buying and group joining. It can be seen that Gome will focus on the two tracks of social e-commerce and live e-commerce.
However, how can Gome, which has been slowing down others by a big step, make a new look through this transformation, and can it have a good future in the future? Which direction is the export of Gome?
There is not much time left for Gome
Today, Gome has bet the opportunity to reverse the trend on the youth track, aiming at the two major outlets of e-commerce in recent years: social e-commerce and live e-commerce. However, can Gome really find a way out?
According to data from the China Internet Network Information Center, the overall scale of live e-commerce in 2020 is initially estimated to exceed one trillion; it is predicted that the scale of live e-commerce will expand to 2.0 trillion in 2021, continuing to maintain a rapid growth trend, and the penetration rate will reach 14.3%.
According to the "Social E-commerce Industry Development White Paper (2020)" compiled by the China Electronics Chamber of Commerce, the scale of social e-commerce transactions in 2019 accounted for nearly 20% (19.4%) of the total national online retail scale. It is expected that social e-commerce transactions in 2020 The amount will reach 3.54 trillion yuan, accounting for up to 30% of the national online retail transactions.
It can be seen that these two e-commerce fields are booming and the market potential is huge. This has also intensified the fierce competition. Under the live e-commerce track, apart from the three e-commerce giants Ali, JD and Pinduoduo, the strength of short video giants such as Douyin and Huya is also not to be underestimated.
In addition, competition in the social e-commerce industry is as fierce as the live-stream e-commerce industry. There are not only the three e-commerce giants, but also Tencent, one of the Internet giants, who has entered the game for many years. In this comparison, Gome, the former Zero Overlord, seems to be powerless and has no time to enter the game.
It is foreseeable that the realization of Gome's e-commerce ambitions will ultimately be very difficult and bumpy.
However, the online transformation is the only opportunity for Gome to survive in the future, and Gome is not without advantages and achievements in the field of social networking and live broadcast e-commerce. Nowadays, "Xin Gome" is betting heavily on community e-commerce, can "True Happiness" APP really break through the market?
First of all, in community e-commerce, apart from Pinduoduo, the king who relies on group social gameplay to play in the sinking market, there is also the social platform WeChat with 1.2 billion monthly live counts. As the largest social platform in China, WeChat has increased the field of e-commerce for many years, but the dream has not yet been realized. Therefore, this author cannot help but wonder what Gome relies on to play social e-commerce.
However, I believe that Gome may have these two possibilities for playing social e-commerce.
First, gradually penetrate the field of social e-commerce through omni-channel layout. Fang Weicheng, CFO of Gome Retail, said, "Gome's future is to build a two-axis drive and four-wheel interaction "social + business + sharing" based on online platforms, online and offline dual platforms + self-operated, and third-party external supply chains. Gome Ecosphere."
It can be seen that the omni-channel layout is the future strategic direction of Gome, and the focus is on online social e-commerce. In this Gome's new ecosystem, it has gradually gained recognition from the capital market. According to the CICC research report, in the second half of 2020, Gome will focus on building a "new Gome" driven by both online and offline platforms. On the one hand, it will sink channels and strengthen third-party platform cooperation and community operations.
In the future, when the traditional e-commerce industry peaks, building an omni-channel ecosystem is the key strategy of all e-commerce platforms. Therefore, it is understandable that Gome entered the field of e-commerce through omni-channels. What Gome will do in the future is to penetrate the sinking market one by one and accelerate the online process.
Second, Gome can take advantage of the sinking market to enhance its core competitiveness in the e-commerce industry. As the leader of retail home appliances in the past, Gome has dig deep into the sinking market and has a reputation and number of users in the sinking market. This is its advantage and confidence. At the same time, under the two major e-commerce giants, Pinduoduo and JD.com, buying the convertible bonds of Gome, it shows that Gome has already clinched the two major e-commerce giants, which has helped its development.
However, Gome will also lose the opportunity to compete with JD and Pinduoduo in the future. The two major e-commerce giants purchasing Gome’s convertible bonds are actually a test of the latter’s future development potential. If Gome’s development is unfavorable, Pinduoduo and JD.com can choose to charge principal and interest when the bond repayment period expires to achieve a guarantee. Therefore, in cooperation with the two giants, Gome has opportunities and risks.
From the current point of view, Gome’s behavior after changing its name to "True Happiness" has actually contributed to the drainage of the new APP. In the future, whether Gome can successfully transform online is yet to be determined by playing social e-commerce.
Conclusion:
In summary, under the social e-commerce track where powerful enemies are waiting, Gome wants to return to the top of the market, and the success of the transformation is still unknown. However, it can be known that although Gome has the help of the two e-commerce giants, Pinduoduo and JD.com, it has failed many times in its transformation and switched to the e-commerce outlet track. The chance of trying to fight for a good future is slim.
After all, Gome has missed the ten years of e-commerce development, and it has also missed a lot of outlets. It has also lost more than once. Now it is the time for Gome to "gamble" and there is not much time left for it.
Author: Yexiao An.
Article source: Songguo Finance, please indicate the copyright for reprinting.