Zou Yanjian: A Game Of Chase

Zou Yanjian, general manager of Haixin steel information network, is facing a huge challenge: in front of him, there is a forerunner with great disparity in strength. It has been established for 10 years, and the annual turnover of my steel network has exceeded 100 billion yuan, and the net profit is nearly forty million, far higher than the annual turnover of the general industry website by about 10 million.

But Haixin steel information network is only 2 years old.

"Haixin steel information network price information is completely free, and even the home page advertising is also free of charge."

The volume of iron and steel trade is large, and prices and prices are closely related to the profit space. Many steel industry websites rely on the sale of market prices and market forecast reports, but Zou Yanjian has drawn a "no money". Obviously, for him, it is important to consider collecting money to attract businesses.

Create by accident

"The establishment of Haixin steel information network is really unintentional, otherwise, in accordance with rational thinking will not be so reckless."

"In Haixin steel information network, all employees call me Xiao Zou."

Zou Yanjian's age is very small. He was born in Jiangxi in 1983 and has never left Jiangxi province. In 2008, he came to Sanming City, Jiangxi to make Haixin steel information network.

In fact, the timing of B2B entry into the steel industry in 2008 is not good: the number of B2B websites in the iron and steel industry has exceeded 10. Among them, "my steel network", "steel house", "IDA" and "steel enterprise" are well known by the industry, that is to say, the market is hard to allow the latecomers to come in again.

"The establishment of Haixin steel information network is really unintentional, otherwise, in accordance with rational thinking will not be so reckless."

In 2008, Haixin steel information network is only an enterprise website of Fujian Haixin metal market. Only 1 people are maintaining it.

But what I did not expect was that the click volume of the website increased exponentially every month.

At that time, Gao Meijian, chairman of Fujian Haixin metal market, who had been in the iron and steel industry for 10 years, saw the opportunity: Why did he not make the Haixin steel information network a national industry website?

So Gao Mei Jian began to recruit troops, and finding Zou Yanjian was just like a coincidence.

A staff member of Gao Meijian has an affinity with Zou Yanjian. He thinks he is a talented person and recommends it to Gao Meijian. He did not expect Gao Meijian, aged more than 40, and Zou Yanjian, more than 20 years old to get along with each other. Zou Yanjian resigned from the second-hand equipment trading network and formally joined Haixin steel information network.

After four months of careful planning, two months of design and development.

In October 2008, the new version of Haixin steel information network was formally launched. It was not thought that the number of hits on the website increased every month. In less than 3 months, the daily clicks of the website reached forty thousand or fifty thousand.

Free attracting enterprises

Zou Yanjian also wants to attract steel buyers with free information and the most affordable purchase information.

Sanming City is a mountain city. The whole city is built on the Minjiang River. It is narrow and beautiful, and there are not many iron and steel enterprises.

Some people say that there is a strange phenomenon in the steel industry. Most of the owners of steel trade are Fukien, but most of the steel trading enterprises and B2B industry websites are concentrated in Shanghai, because Shanghai is the convergence place of iron and steel information.

"Although the number of websites in the steel industry is large, there are probably seven or eight of them having their own content, and even some websites spend 1 yuan as a member of my steel network in 1 years. They copied and published information from my steel and then sold them through their own platforms. A member would receive 800 yuan a year, and thirteen members would return it."

Zou Yanjian first analyzed the market situation. In his view, the market was not as bad as imagined, and later there was still a chance to break through.

He first gave Haixin steel information network the direction of its development: to develop its own information channels and teams, free to provide steel market information, and at the same time, free to help members of the website to do SEO.

My steel network took about 10 years to build a call center for more than 300 people to collect price information from steel traders and producers everywhere.

It took years to persuade traders and producers to quote.

For the later Zou Yanjian, it is more convenient that steel traders and manufacturers everywhere have no objection to the price information reported to the B2B industry website, he just give them enough return.

Fortunately, chairman Gao Meijian is a famous steel trader who has accumulated resources for many iron and steel enterprises in the past 10 years.

Zou Yanjian has saved a lot of iron and steel enterprises, more than a dozen employees collect information every day to get a lot of information.

Correspondingly, Zou Yanjian rewarded the important iron and steel enterprises with the reward of free page advertisement, and helped the enterprises to publish information in Haixin steel information network to do SEO.

"Price information collection mode, Haixin steel information network and my steel is almost the same.

But the only difference is that my steel focuses only on key areas. In some remote areas, prices are rarely collected, basically once a week, sometimes even once a month.

What we have adopted is the market price collected through different economic and trade dealers across the country.

At present, many buyers are directly quoted on the price quoted on our website, while the small steel traders take the price above my steel as a reference price.

Zou Yanjian said.

And Zou Yanjian did not directly say that the biggest difference between Haixin steel information network and its peers is that it is a market quotation for small and medium-sized buyers, and the profits of traders are scraped out, and the factory price of steel is reported.

Taobao has made the price of products pparent, even if consumers who buy things online will be on the Taobao reference price.

In the same way, Zou Yanjian did the same in the steel industry.

The attractiveness of free to small and medium enterprises has always been great. At the beginning, Taobao had defeated the powerful eBay network by free. Today, Zou Yanjian also wants to attract buyers of iron and steel by means of free information and the most affordable purchase information.

The road is still long.

Zou Yanjian took the first step in the long march: he gathered a certain popularity.

What to do next is still a long way.

It's all free. What does Haixin steel information network rely on?

Haixin steel information network in Fujian Haixin metal market building, backed by Castle Peak, the air is very good.

Zou Yanjian's office is very simple, with only a few desks and chairs. He seldom works in his office, and he often sits with his staff.

Gao Meijian, chairman of the board, basically did not interfere with Zou Yanjian's specific operation. However, he won favorable external conditions for Haixin steel information network: the Sanming City government granted 3 million subsidy every year for 3 consecutive years.

This 3 million has maintained the daily expenses of Haixin steel information network. After two years of Zou Yanjian's single handedly, it has developed to fifty or sixty employees and has more than 1 million 500 thousand hits per day.

"We plan to do some fees in May."

Zou Yanjian did not reveal much details, but it was obvious that he knew he must have a fist product that he could sell.

Some mature B2B in the industry also provide software services in addition to information services and market research reports.

In 2010, financial services will be launched, and will extend to the upstream and downstream of the steel industry chain.

Obviously, Haixin steel information network is still very thin at present.

Zou Yanjian took the first step in the long march: he gathered a certain popularity.

What to do next is still a long way.