Alibaba Zhang Jianfeng: The First Story About Eating Crab

　　 Online retailers Industry surging, B2C field confrontation, facing challengers counterattack, Ali can be calm? Tencent shares Jingdong, e-commerce docking social network, mobile Internet era, Ali how to face challenges? Alibaba B2B business again force, what is behind the "blowout" growth? In the face of Ali's complete ecological chain, the small survival of the small business, how will it highlight the tight encirclement?

Zhang Jianfeng went to Alibaba to become an architect of Taobao technology department in July 2004. He later held many positions in Alibaba, and now he is vice president of Alibaba group.

Ali's ecological chain is not perfect.

"Double eleven" has been cultivated for three years, and has become the carnival of electronic business people. In November 12, 2013, Alibaba announced that Tmall's "double eleven" all day trading volume exceeded 35 billion, setting a new record for China's electricity supplier's daily trading. Coincidentally, Jingdong (rolling information) mall on the same day trading volume is also broken ten billion. Since its involvement in e-commerce in 2004, the average annual growth rate of Jingdong has exceeded 200%. Despite the market share, Alibaba is still sitting on the top of the comprehensive electricity supplier, but the gap between Jingdong and its business is shrinking.

Reporter: what do you think of the external competition faced by Tmall? Liu Qiangdong concluded that for the first tier cities, the Jingdong has taken Beijing. This year it is likely to win Shanghai, facing a situation in which the latecomers are living. What is your sense of pressure or crisis?

Zhang Jianfeng: we have a lot of innovative products today. You say we have a sense of crisis and pressure. In fact, whatever you do, you have a sense of crisis, pressure and a sense of crisis. This sense of crisis does not come from competitors. It comes from our ability to serve the market, whether it is in line with the needs of consumers, and whether it meets the needs of the market. We are not in comparison with them. We are growing more than a comprehensive service capability, the whole Taobao, Alibaba or Tmall as well. There are no competitors before, and now we do not think there are competitors.

I think the development of Tmall is certainly very important for us Tmall itself. We have the advantage of first out. We should not only serve a good second tier city, but also have the ability to serve three or four line cities and rural areas, enjoying the same commodities and services as a second tier city.

Reporter: This is the advantage of Tmall Taobao relative to Jingdong.

Zhang Jianfeng: its service capability, there is no way to serve the users in all areas like ours. If we give the three or four tier cities, or a second tier city, we will provide the same services. It may only serve Shanghai well, but only serve Beijing well. In Shanghai and Beijing, is it better than Tmall?

Reporter: This is its disadvantage, not bad, but it is also an opportunity for it.

Zhang Jianfeng: This is not its opportunity, this is its mode, because our mode is to build a big ecological chain, including our partners in this ecological chain, especially express delivery and distribution. Now we also see our rookie and we are making the layout. We cooperate with Haier day by day. We may build more partners into the ecological circle, provide more diverse, more detailed, more valuable and efficient services, and install and distribute our home appliances. After our investment with Japan, our cooperation ability is absolutely the most advanced in the industry.

We have no difference. I want to provide the same level of service to Shanghai, to Beijing and to the group that we can serve. This mode provides services for itself, so it may selectively provide specialized services to some areas, not to say that it is its opportunity. If it does not change, I do not think it is an opportunity for it.

Mobile Internet era to give users a sense of continued freshness

Competition between Alibaba and Jingdong is officially upgraded with Tencent. In March 2014, Tencent invested 15% stake in Jingdong and provided WeChat and mobile QQ first level entry. Market analysis, Tencent and Jingdong alliance will form a strong check and balance for Alibaba. Jingdong can expand its scale with the help of user resources, and it can also make up for its short business. "Tencent alliance Jingdong" also marks the beginning of the duopoly of China's electricity supplier "Tencent plus Jingdong to fight Ali".

Reporter: we have the electricity supplier of the Internet gene. Now it has a new challenge, that is, the mobile Internet. How do you deal with it?

Zhang Jianfeng: in the era of mobile Internet, the crisis of Ali always exists. Nobody knows what the next wave of revolution is. The example of WeChat and QQ is obvious. The mobile Internet has opened up a broader space. The connection between me and your product or your company has become more likely to happen. This brings more opportunities. This is the first aspect.

On the second hand, it is more likely to happen on this platform, which means that opportunities on another platform will be reduced. From this point of view, we need to meet more and more needs of him. I have relations with you every day, but there is no fresh content between us and connections. Then the user will lose interest to you soon. This is a problem to consider in the mobile Internet era.

Second, through frequent connections, how can he provide more diverse choices and products, especially with services, every day you can push out my new product on my platform every day, can you see, for example, better discount discounts or marketing activities, or some business opportunities, can I share with you at any time, Touch can arrive at you, this is the mobile Internet which is different from the previous PC thinking way.

On the other hand, when the mobile Internet takes so much time, PC Internet time will definitely drop, and you have a choice and adjustment.

Reporter: so Ma also attaches great importance to the development of Alibaba in the mobile terminal.

Zhang Jianfeng: This is inevitable. If we do not grasp the end of the mobile Internet, we will lose a very important channel to communicate with customers and enterprises. Then how can our products help our enterprises to help our consumers, which will lose a great channel, which is not good enough for our platform, but it is also not enough.

Ali B2B services small and micro businesses annual turnover of over 100 billion

When the outside world paid attention to the price war between Tmall and Jingdong, and was dazzled by the dispute of Ali Tencent's mobile electricity supplier, 1688 low profile and strong growth. As a Alibaba B2B business platform, 1688 has undergone three years of gorgeous transformation, from information interaction to online transactions, and rapidly multiplying growth. In the past year, the average daily turnover has increased by ten times. In the field of B2B, Alibaba has left second far behind.

Reporter: what is the fundamental reason behind the explosive growth? Is it technology transformation or is our growth demand for domestic trade leading to the trend?

A big manufacturing country, the transaction between enterprises is sure to need a platform to develop. With the development of the Internet, information itself is not a scarce resource. Providing information service is a primary service. It has played a great role in the past. With the development of the whole technology and the development of the Internet, many small and medium enterprises may need to face a new upgrading service. We do not emphasize its transformation much more. We think more of it is an upgrade, and it is not completely creating a new mode or a new product. This is not the case. We can better stimulate the potential demand through the adjustment of products, and in fact prove that these needs are also able to meet the current situation of small and medium-sized enterprises. Zhang Jianfeng: more or more, the entire B2B market share or this demand has always existed, especially in China.

Reporter: how much is the market share of Alibaba B2B?

Zhang Jianfeng: in recent years, the speed of development should be much faster than that of some B2B platforms outside the country. Especially after the transformation of transactions and the provision of more diversified products and services, our growth rate is much faster than our own growth rate. We may achieve a growth rate of more than 300%. We have nearly four hundred million of the daily turnover from 230 million to 2012, which is a very fast growth rate. This growth rate is faster than the current C2C and B2C platforms. Now explicit trading scale is about one hundred billion, hidden is hard to estimate, competitors such as fine products do better, we may rely on Taobao, Tmall and so on, fast food products, they have no way to compete with us, they have no upstream and downstream environment, our 80% wholesale business to Taobao, Tmall business services.

Reporter: is this the second place far behind?

Zhang Jianfeng: this distance must be far away.

Reporter: what are the advantages?

Zhang Jianfeng: on the data we have ten million UV per day. As a B2B website, ten million UV is very rare. Many of the websites they talked to us were not talking about the average daily UV, maybe one million UV. I asked him one million UV a day.

He said month UV. It is difficult to see this indicator, because our business structure is not the same. Businessmen see that we are very good at serving small and micro enterprises, especially small ones. Traditional B2B is more inclined to serve some relatively large and medium-sized enterprises. China is different from the United States. China has a large number of small and micro enterprises, which is the most important productivity of the national economy.

Reporter: you just mentioned the United States, the United States in 2013 its B2B transaction volume is two times the amount of B2C transactions, how do you see the future development potential of B2B business?

Zhang Jianfeng: B2B is the mainstream of the future. There is no doubt about it. Because most of the enterprises are still in the stage of e-commerce before purchasing, and no matter whether he is purchasing or wholesale, he takes the lead in the traditional trade way. The United States is ahead of us for a year. China is a big manufacturing country, such as white power or automobile industry. E-commerce has not provided such a mature network. 1688, we are also doing some purchasing network. We have purchase platform, and introduce the world's top five hundred famous enterprises to purchase, this procurement is in the initial stage. China is a big manufacturing country, such as white power or automobile industry. E-commerce has not provided such a mature network. 1688, we are also doing some purchasing networks. We have procurement platforms, which are imported from the world's top five hundred well-known enterprises. This procurement is in the initial stage. If a large number of enterprises or a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises produce raw materials without a platform product, as a support, its B2B dominant trade volume can hardly become an e-commerce volume at once. But it does not mean that the volume of B2B transaction in China is smaller than that in the United States, and may be much larger than that in the US. But this part of the volume of transactions is not fully inadequate now. This is a huge potential.

Reporter: Ali has previously disclosed that this year's target is to hit one hundred billion. Has this goal been achieved yet?

Zhang Jianfeng: it is no problem to accomplish this goal.

Reporter: is it possible to exceed 1688 in the future? TaoBao Tmall?

Zhang Jianfeng: from end to end, because the share of the purchase side, the share of the transaction between enterprises, from the perspective of market capacity, may be ten times twenty times that of the consumer market, depending on the products we provide today, can we really make the traditional B2B scattered and unified, and the line can be electronically. If this work is done effectively enough, we really create the value for the customers, this must be more than C2C, the original two cardinal numbers are not the same. {page_break}

Small business opportunities for mobile terminals, vertical field can create special value

Looking at the pattern of China's electricity supplier, B2B business has 1688 lead all the way, B2C field is Tmall, Jingdong (rolling information) opposite situation, Internet platform has Alibaba and Tencent two strong contend for hegemony. The strong are contending for each other, but the small business people who live in the cracks are struggling to get a share.

We will be concerned about these places, otherwise we will not have the chance to do so. They will not have the chance. Such a large platform, we must have done a perfect job. Let us analyze it. If it competes with Ali in the same way, I think it is very difficult to get the chance, because many countless facts have been proved, but today, the subdivision of vertical field has special value. It has done very meticulous. I think there are many opportunities. In the United States, for example, a company that makes mother and baby market, it has been listed in the Ebay monopoly market, and it has been very successful. With special service, special value, it can still impress some consumers, or be able to make a large scale market. Zhang Jianfeng: we do not think that e-commerce is a monopoly market for Ali. This is not the case. Countless small and medium-sized enterprises and entrepreneurs have their chances. Their opportunities may not be enough for us.

Reporter: but now Ali business is so thin, from the previous single product, now is a combination of products, Tmall, Juhuasuan, 1688, Taobao, covering all, it has been improving its business layout, at all levels to occupy the market, if so, how can these SMEs find opportunities?

Zhang Jianfeng: the diversity of consumers always exists. The opportunity of mobile Internet may be more than that of PC. Now there are more opportunities for mobile Internet to become a vertical provider of electricity providers. Then consumers still have the ability to visit you, because the handover of wireless terminals is not as high as the cost of PC terminals. Your product can continue to serve him well, his repeat purchase rate is good, we say that the sticky is good, there is still a certain guarantee, not that there is no opportunity.

Reporter: before Liu Qiangdong also said, he certainly does not favor the overwhelming majority vertical electricity supplier, he thought that will certainly die, if wants to survive, only then the resources conformity, only then attaches to other big brands.

Zhang Jianfeng: I don't think so. Let's see whether it's China or the United States. From the point of view of Internet development, many new enterprises are growing very fast. As I said just now, like WeChat, like some products, the speed is very fast. We think it has a strong impact on other traditional patterns and destructive ability, so we can't look at this problem from the perspective of today. We just think that innovation and innovation is very difficult, big enterprises are also difficult, small enterprises are also difficult, and we are also hard to find. We find that the next opportunity will be very difficult to make a very good product. On this innovative ability, I think the opportunity is equal, not that big companies have strong innovation ability.

Ali listing rules can be discussed in a rational range.

On the evening of May 10, 2013, at the Huanglong Sports Center in Hangzhou, Ali people were holding a grand "ecommerce ecosphere night and Taobao 10th anniversary evening", which founded Ma Yun, China's almost most profitable Internet Co, but chose to quit CEO on this day, hoping to do more interested in education and environmental protection. However, the Internet industry is changing rapidly. Although Ma Yun is stepping down, he and the Alibaba coming to the US are still the focus of attention.

Reporter: Ma Yun, as a well deserved spiritual leader, now stepping down as CEO, what changes do you think will happen to Ali's internal structure and core team?

Zhang Jianfeng: we haven't had much change in operation for so long. Ma has done a lot of work before, so that we can carry out a relatively quiet environment on the top and concentrate more on business. This is his great contribution and his great sacrifice.

Reporter: indeed, there are many examples at home and abroad. When the founder leaves office, sometimes there will be some serious injuries and losses to the enterprises. What has been done in this transitional period to tide over this smooth transition period?

Zhang Jianfeng: if we say what we have done, what is inherited from Ali culture.

Reporter: what kind of culture is it, so that the founder even resigned from CEO, is also very stable?

Zhang Jianfeng: our culture and values, similar to these things, are radical in everyone's mind, and will not cause drastic changes because of the changes of individuals.

Reporter: we chatted about the corporate culture and Ali ecosystem. The outside world has been giving special attention to this. It has always been felt that other people are very low-key besides Ma Yun. Other people are very low-key, including you, your resume, you were in charge of technical work before, and later because of high-level rotation, and then in charge of the 1688 division and B2C business group, how do you view this rotation system? What kind of corporate culture is behind Alibaba's rotation system?

　　 Jian Feng Zhang For those who are being rotates, it is a very good opportunity for the company to give you the opportunity to get to know new things and to meet new things. This is a very good opportunity. For example, I didn't know about B2B before. Now I have the opportunity to understand B2B and understand the comparison between the two industries. Then these two departments know which one is better and better efficiency. Of course, it helps individuals grow and has greater value for the company. This is my view on job rotation, and it is also expected that different people will be exposed to different businesses, broaden their knowledge, widen the depth of business understanding and accumulate more experience.

Reporter: in your heart of hearts, what kind of Alibaba Alibaba culture do you most agree with and maintain most?

Zhang Jianfeng: the culture of Alibaba may be misunderstood. The culture of Alibaba is very popular. For example, Alibaba attaches importance to customer first and integrity. This is the whole culture of Alibaba. We all think that this is the most important and special stress, rather than that you have created a more distinctive culture, and put it on the outside to talk about customer first and integrity. You think it is very common. We have poured a lot of effort and enthusiasm into these two cultures, and no one can infringe on such an atmosphere. This is my understanding of culture.

Reporter: Ali's corporate culture, integrity, values, positive, and also associated with the recent listing turmoil, many people commented that this listing is a challenge to business rules, or do not respect the commercial contract, do you think there is any contradiction with the companies advocated by Ali.

Zhang Jianfeng: I am not particularly clear about the listing rules. Everyone is talking and discussing in an open platform. It does not mean that we should do anything we want to do. We all discuss this rule in the rational scope, including the reports on the outside. The rule is something that can be explored. I personally think that this thing has not changed.

Reporter: so Ali Why do we do the first thing to eat crab?

Zhang Jianfeng: Ali has done many first things to eat crabs before, and become a Alibaba and a Alipay.

Reporter: is it because Alibaba has absolute advantages in many respects and has the right to speak after having absolute advantages?

Zhang Jianfeng: Alibaba basically does not have a lot of business under the absolute superiority of the environment to do it. From Alibaba, starting from Taobao, starting from Alipay, are in a very harsh environment to survive today.

Reporter: what do you think of Ma Yun? Jack Ma ?

Zhang Jianfeng: actually, it's not easy to evaluate the boss. It's not easy because our environment is hard to be objective. Ma's impression of the outside world is that Ma always speaks highly outside the company. In fact, Ma is always a very good person in my mind, who is very understanding of business and has a deep understanding of products.