Mcglaughlin CEO Gu Beichun: "Soil Onion"

"In retail and service industries, the more successful and stronger companies are, the worse they do in China.

Look at Carrefour and WAL-MART, Carrefour is almost bankrupt in France, so it will not enforce the French standard as a standard.

WAL-MART was so successful that it took the copy of the United States to China, copied it to Japan, died, copied it to South Korea and died, and copied it to China.

If it remains the same, I have seen its future ".

At 9:30,

A man who was combing back and forth with meticulous hair was in his line of vision. Shen Napeng is the founder and partner of Sequoia China foundation.

A few hours later, the "Godfather" of China's venture capital from Pudong airport will cast the biggest note so far.

On the night of September 2007, two Shanghai men began their first long conversation face to face.

When learned

He began to have a strong interest in the people sitting opposite.

While drinking coffee, two people talked about business models, cash flow, advantages, business risks and other topics.

Gu Beichun is also looking at the mysterious Chinese venture capital "brother".

Mcglaughlin is his child, and now the largest shareholder, Hua Ping fund, has invested in Mcglaughlin for 12 years, and is looking for buyers who are willing to take over.

As CEO, he also has his own killer -- if people are not so pleasing to the eye, "thank you for your recognition of Mcglaughlin."

However, I have a request - it must be a wholly-owned acquisition.

He also has some managerial shareholding in his hands.

The stall of the stall has scared away four or five venture capitalists. 7 years ago, the only successful mail order company with foreign investment was brought back to life under the leadership of Gu Bei Chun.

A Japanese company's representative waved his hand, struggling with Chinese, "you can't do that."

This time, the two men looked at each other's eyes. One said, please rest assured that I will not go. I have this commitment. This is my prediction of Mcglaughlin's performance in the next four or five years.

Another said, you need not worry, this investment project has a long life span, even if the company is listed, we will not sell it.

In the eyes of Gu Bei Chun, Shen is always a smart person who likes to work with people who are smart.

He knows everything about the capital market, and will not interfere with our previous business strategy. I do not need to explain and adjust it any more.

Among all possible partners, Sequoia Capital gives us a higher degree of flexibility and strategic recognition.

"Shen Napeng and I agree very well: once agreement is reached, everyone will keep his promise -- I will achieve the freedom of management before I fulfill the promise I promised him.

People will not go back and forth and stick to the bottom line.

Gu Beichun also left a heart: the Sequoia Capital has spread so many stalls throughout the country, there is no time and energy to interfere with Mcglaughlin's management.

In February 28, 2008, Redwood capital announced a $80 million acquisition of huapin and the Mcglaughlin shares held by a few other minority shareholders.

This is the first time that Sequoia Capital is invested in an enterprise by means of controlling, and it is also the largest single investment of redwood in China.

In more than two years, Mcglaughlin, in the two storey office area of the Caohejing Development Zone in southwest Shanghai, will break into a group of personages of extraordinary style and western suit. They are in a hurry and mysterious, and they will close the door to the meeting.

In a corner of an open office, another group of seemingly unfamiliar financial personnel is as busy as ants.

A private fund trader told the reporters privately that Mcglaughlin would be Shen Napeng's most important service in 2010: according to the news circulated, Mcglaughlin is likely to go to the US market in the three or four quarter of 2010.

In this regard, Gu's attitude has always been uncomment.

But, "this is definitely a win-win cooperation.

The key to working well with financial investors is to make money and earn a lot of money.

I think Shen is very happy now that they have made a lot of money in Mcglaughlin.

"However, everything must be proved by the market at last."

Subverting foreign rules

When he first met Sun Qiang, chairman of Huaping, chairman of the United States, Gu Bei Chun gave Mcglaughlin's "stupidity" all over.

At that time, he was 30 and was preparing to start his own business.

Gu Beichun, Alfred, is a native Shanghai native.

"Like our Baoshan, Jiading and Songjiang cities and towns, they are the rural people in the eyes of Shanghai people.

In fact, we are the authentic Shanghai people.

In 2001, Mcglaughlin mail order company became a joke in the industry.

For the international financial and industrial giants who are trying to rush to China, Mcglaughlin's failure has some symbolic significance. This is the first private equity firms in China, the first investment project of the United States Huaping fund in China.

In order to occupy the seemingly vast Chinese market, in 1996, the ambitious Huaping investment of 30 million US dollars set up Mcglaughlin mail order company, equipped with a multinational elites management team, and a large amount of money to publicize the momentum, once stirred up the Chinese magazine advertising industry, "Luoyang paper expensive."

"I can see where their problems are at first glance."

Prior to the experience of another retail direct selling giant, he made it clear how much foreigners were doing business in China.

"It's not that this industry can't do it, but they don't understand China's market, do not understand China's consumers, do not know how to do this market."

Mcglaughlin, the "Shanghai country man", has hurt the Huaping fund which is not allowed to go back and forth. The loss of the former year is as high as 60 million yuan, with only 2 million dollars left in the account. The warehouse is full of clothes that have been laughed at by European mothers, and the staff are in a lax mood, waiting for the company to go bankrupt at any time to get a generous compensation.

Nearly second of the foreign mail giants who entered China at the same time have closed down one after another in China, including the world's largest mail order company, Germany OTTO, the largest mail order company Quelle, Germany, and so on.

The French 3suisses company, which has not yet been closed, is also living on the edge.

Sun Qiang proposed that he should manage Mcglaughlin and take some shares as a condition.

"It's not so easy for you to start a business.

It's better to treat this dead horse alive.

Holding the "full responsibility" of the Shang Fang sword, as a shareholder and CEO identity, Gu Bei Chun, with his own understanding of the direct mail order, started a "localized" rescue operation.

First, he completely replaced Mcglaughlin's market strategy, adjusting the target customers from rural and small cities to higher income and fashion oriented urban women, from "rural encircling the city" to "urban centers, and opening up the first and second tier urban markets".

Just like the Chinese Marx who has just begun to revolutionism nearly 100 years ago, he is intent on teaching China what modern business foreigners are, and knows nothing about China's national conditions.

In Europe and the United States, there are more than 300 years of mail order retail business. It is the preferred shopping mode for wealthy European and American townspeople to pursue metropolitan lifestyle.

However, China's urban and rural income gap is very large, coupled with the lack of smooth logistics system and payment of credit, there is no such thing as a target market.

After cutting half of the staff, Gu decided to close the clothing product line temporarily, selling small metal ornaments "hematopoiesis": he found that these trinkets were popular among girls, but the retail prices were high, while Mcglaughlin, who took the direct selling, had a natural price advantage.

At that time, he organized a group of 925 silver necklaces.

Soon, orders for silver ornaments were explode.

By the four quarter of 2001, Mcglaughlin's cash flow was flat.

By the end of the year, cash flow also attracted nearly 200 thousand of white-collar workers in cities like Shanghai and Beijing.

At that time, a girl from a university dormitory organized a classmate's meeting after graduation. 7 of the 8 girls wore Mcglaughlin's 12 constellation pendant necklace.

Mcglaughlin, who did not add one more investment, gradually realized hemostasis, recovery and growth.

Under the pformation of Gu Bei Chun, the original one hundred percent copy of the European and American mail order business mode of foreign enterprises, gradually pformed from the operation mode to the execution of the soil company.

Mcglaughlin's position is to become a leading local fast fashion company like ZARA. Through its own design, production, stocking, sales and circulation, it integrates the back-end production plant, warehousing logistics and Information Center, relying on the low cost advantages of direct selling and fast product turnover cycle, to provide consumers with the international fashion experience at a lower price.

Mcglaughlin's core resource is a huge customer database built through membership system.

According to the customers' age, area, marriage and childbirth, consumption preferences, etc., we send a specific advertisement catalogue to the target customers in a quarterly basis, and provide a decision-making basis for the next quarter's products to target more accurately by tracking the return of the catalogue in various channels.

Today, Mcglaughlin's product line extends from women's clothing to underwear, children's wear, men's wear, jewelry, bags, home, health and beauty.

"Just like Tencent QQ, we hope that every time we enter a new field, we must make our competitors feel scared."

When PPG, VANCl, red children and other "light assets" concept of the network direct selling brand rapidly red, Gu Bei Chun began to create the "three in one" channel model - in addition to the traditional mail order and network sales channels, from the end of 2006 to open offline stores.

Today, Mcglaughlin has nearly 400 stores in the country, according to the plan, this number should be expanded to 2000, and will increase the proportion of franchisees quickly.

Wheat net has become the largest B2C website in China after Dangdang, excellence and Jingdong.

The retail mode that combines the foreign soil and the "seemingly not like" model caters to the complex and diversified consumption demand of the Chinese market as much as possible. In addition, it needs strong call center and supply chain management capabilities. If there is no mature experience and substantial capital support, it is difficult for the follow up to imitate success. This is also a place for Shen Napeng to take heart.

After the success of "surrounding the first tier cities", the local revolutionary of the retail direct sales industry decided to return to the two or three line market.

More than 10 years later, this huge consumer market is also growing rapidly.

At present, the company has increased investment in call centers, warehouses, logistics and so on, and has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in network publicity.

In March 8th, Gu Bei Chun had just passed his 40 birthday.

He said to himself, "it seems that I am destined to eat by the girls". "My career in life is to serve the girls like you."

When ZARA, H&M, UNIQLO and other foreign fast fashion giants are facing a major challenge, Gu is very calm.

"I am not afraid of these foreign competitors. These 500 strong ones are coming out of this camp and I know what kind of goods they are!"

In 80s and 90s, when the peasants of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Wenzhou began to run small businesses all over the country, Gu Bei Chun, who was in a desperate situation, was taught by his teachers, parents and contemporaries. He was most impressed by the world's top 500 companies as a white-collar worker in a foreign company.

Around the world's top 500 companies, sitting in the most upscale office buildings in Shanghai, "every week I would like to report a work report to Hongkong boss in Shanghai every month."

It was really stuffy. He jumped to another 500 world top, Bertelsmann, from Portman hotel in Nanjing road to a small broken building in Fuzhou Road.

The first task of going to work is to run a street, to sell a book about birds.

According to Bertelsmann's model in Germany, he went to the family to sell, but he went to the office to sell.

When other colleagues came back empty handed, the introvert, who was so uncomfortable with strangers, sold five or six books.

Gu Bei Chun, who has been bumping for many years in the workplace, has discovered one of his strengths: "I find myself quite able to figure out the mentality of the customer. What is his need? Is it easier for me to accept it if I do so? Is he excited? Does it feel that it is a good thing for him?"

At that time, Bertelsmann began recruiting Book associations in China, and smashed a lot of advertising fees in magazines. The result was not ideal, and only 8 to 100 thousand members were developed in six months.

"I said I'd like to give a gift to the customer.

It was in the middle of 90s that people thought the watch was a valuable thing.

I understand that a Japanese import strategy is also a few yuan, plus a shell, the cost is not expensive.

I made an advertisement on a TV weekly in Shanghai, saying that we would send a watch to our book club.

When he went to class on Monday, all the roads in Nanjing were blocked up. A large crowd of people held the advertisement at the door of the office building to queue up the watch, and finally they even dispatched the police.

At one time, nearly one hundred thousand of the customers in Shanghai developed.

In just two or three years, Bertelsmann developed about 1500000 members.

When business is booming, the German boss is laughing, Gu Bejing is beginning to worry.

"At that time, it was not supposed to be successful if the business was to be successful.

I told my boss, "we have to find a way. There is a lot of crisis now, and then you see that the rate of customer turnover is very fast."

After several heated arguments, Gu began to ask himself: why should I continue to work for those cowboys who do not understand or dislike the Chinese market? "At that time, I had no interest in what the top 500 and what senior managers were."

"In retail and service industries, the more successful and stronger companies are, the worse they do in China.

Look at Carrefour and WAL-MART, Carrefour is almost bankrupt in France, so it will not enforce the French standard as a standard.

WAL-MART was so successful that it took the copy of the United States to China, copied it to Japan, died, copied it to South Korea and died, and copied it to China.

If it remains the same, I have seen its future. "

In 2004, Bertelsmann announced that it would close its stores and withdraw from China.

"The ending, I guess before I left."

Inside Mcglaughlin, Gu Bei Chun tried to eliminate all kinds of formalistic foreign enterprise diseases.

He hated the PPT syndrome that prevailed in multinational companies. "It was a tool for doing things, but it wasted a lot of time on it. It was beautifully done, hundreds of pages in the air, and everyone applauded after reading it. They didn't remember what you were going to say.

I want you to tell me your results in the simplest and clearest way.

When all Chinese enterprises are calling professional managers, Gu is reluctant to be labelled, and hates the KPI performance management system of big companies.

Now that business has gone from "1 billion to 10 billion", Gu decided to eliminate those who only regarded themselves as professional managers and only stared at KPI.

"If you can't change your role, then I'm sorry. I have to let someone else take your place."

Quotations from Earth onion

About professional managers: a multinational restaurant with the top 500, one year, the performance appraisal added a paction volume.

As a result, management has come up with a good idea to sell a dollar cone, and the cost is a dollar.

He is sure that he can finish his KPI, but is this good for business? When business arrives, from 1 billion to 10 billion, it is necessary to get rid of such people.

About localization: KFC did not succeed in the United States, so its arrival in China will give the Chinese team a great degree of freedom. How much authority does CEO have in 16 years of unification in China? It can sell soya bean milk and sell porridge. Now it also sells fried dough sticks, and can also make an east side white.

McDonald's is so successful in the world, how can it change its standard in China? Sell soya bean milk to sell fried bread sticks and so on. So, in China, it doesn't do KFC.

In some industries, I have seen their day of death.

In the United States, it must be dead in China. EBAY is already a typical case. It is in the ascendant in the United States, so it must be dead in China.