Shi Zhicheng: One Shoe, One World Experience

Even though SM has become the world's third largest business group in Asia, it is still the abbreviation of SHOEMART.

Philippines's richest man, retail magnate, financial giant...

Shi Zhicheng, 90, has too much reputation to be seen.

Looking at the commercial kingdom at the foot of this wealthy businessman, the largest commercial bank in Philippines, the largest listed company in Manila, and the largest shopping mall in Asia, all originated from the little shoe store several decades ago.

His whole life is a legendary play about the constant ploughing and unfolding.

Immigrants in the "vegetable shop"

"Many years ago, a strange little boy came from far away.

He came here without a penny, nor did he know anything about English or his language (one of the main languages of Philippines).

This is the opening speech of Shi Zhi Cheng in 2002 at the University of Lhasa in Philippines.

It was in 1936. At the age of 12, Shi Zhicheng carried a cloth bag with only a few pieces of dry food on his back, and set foot on the merchant ship from Hongxi, Jinjiang, Fujian to Manila, Philippines.

He traveled all the way to Manila to go to his parents.

At that time, the family was very tired. Their parents used all their savings to open a small grocery store, selling vegetables, dry goods and daily necessities.

This kind of grocery store is called "dish shop" by local Chinese, which is very narrow.

Every evening, Shi Cheng must clean up the counter before making room for sleep.

When he first arrived in Philippines, Shi Cheng learned English while helping in his father's shop. He spent 12 hours in the shop every day.

At the same time, Shi Cheng is also learning sales skills in a market called Quiapo in Manila.

This kind of life lasted for 5 years.

Then, when World War II broke out, it destroyed Manila. Shijia's grocery store did not escape the bad luck of being robbed and shoveled.

In desperation, Shi Zhi Cheng's father chose to return home. Shi Cheng chose to stay in Philippines and still do small business in a dangerous environment.

In order to make a living, Shi Shi became an apprentice in the shoe store besides selling food, and even made shoemaker for a while.

SM name comes from

complex

It should be said that this experience of apprenticeship is not only a matter of solving livelihood for Shi Zhi Cheng, but also delineating his life trajectory.

After the ceasing of the world war's fire, material life was very scarce. Shi noted that many Filipinos did not have slippers, and many people did not even have shoes.

So, Shi Cheng Cheng consulted with the owner of the shoe shop, and he worked for free. In exchange, the boss allowed him to sell his shoes from the American soldiers or other places in the shoe store.

The boss agreed readily.

In this way, Shi Cheng has taken up two jobs for people to work and sell shoes.

At that time, because of the war, Shi Cheng Cheng had to drop out of school in high school.

With courage and initiative, the young man applied for and took part in the entrance examination for Far East University.

Although he did not graduate from high school, he passed the exam and studied in the Far East University for two years.

The sale is better than expected.

In the year of graduating from college, Shi Zhi Cheng had already made some savings.

In 1948, Shi Zhi opened the first shoe store in his life.

That year, he was just 24 years old.

It is very interesting and emotional to pair shoes business, which is one of the reasons why his later shopping center has always been called abbreviation for SM (SHOEMART).

In the early days of his career, Shi Zhi Cheng looked for goods everywhere and spread all over Europe and America.

In 1950s, only propeller aircraft went to the United States for a bumpy 40 hours. Shi Cheng often flew to Boston and New York to learn how to raise shoes output, design better styles, and observe how local people do business.

In 1958, Shi Zhi Cheng opened the first "shoe village" in Manila, capital of Philippines.

The pformation of "shoe village" occurred after Shi Cheng married his wife.

In addition to selling the shoes to customers, the newly married wives placed their children's clothing on the counter.

Gradually, women's clothing came in, and men's wear and accessories were added.

During this period, the United States began to appear as a super shopping mall with shopping, dining and entertainment as a whole. This new form of operation has greatly inspired Shi Shi Cheng, and he has gradually become interested in retailing.

In 1972, after many years of shoemaker business, Shi Chi Cheng expanded on the original basis and opened his first department store in Manila.

Changing Filipinos

With shopping malls, Shi Cheng also wants to open a comprehensive shopping mall.

In 1985, his first shoe store was finally opened.

It covers an area of 17 hectares and has an area of 260 thousand square meters.

However, this huge monster was then questioned in the industry.

Because it is located in Kui song city in the northern suburb of Manila, it was a depression.

Many people think that the mall is doomed, but the result is unexpected.

Shi TiSi, daughter of Shi Cheng, later recalled: "at first, customers in twos and threes, soon came rushing like water, and we were accepted."

The success of the first large shopping mall pushed the development of Shi Cheng into a high-speed expansion period, and also changed the retail business in Philippines in 1980s.

Not long ago, greater opportunities followed.

In 1986, Philippines's former president Marcos stepped down after nearly 20 years of military control. The Philippines regime was separated and the economy was in turmoil.

For most people, this is no doubt a loss of hope.

However, Shi Cheng feels that with the gradual opening of social life, the retail industry will face an unprecedented development opportunity.

He resolutely purchased large tracts of land in the capital area and set up shopping centers one after another.

His peers thought he was crazy.

His business began to shift from simple retailing to real estate development and shopping center management.

Chain Moore

At the same time, a new concept of shopping malls (the industry called chain Moore shopping center development and management mode) has been popularized in Philippines, namely the "one-stop shopping experience": new ice skating rink, cinemas and other entertainment places in the mall.

Here, during holidays, customers can eat, play and play together, and return home happily for two days.

SM shopping center has even changed the way of life of Filipinos to some extent.

In the past, Filipinos went to church every weekend, and then went to parks or seaside. With SM shopping centers, they could go to summer shopping centers with central air-conditioning and enjoy the full range of shopping, and shopping centers became places for people to gather.

Today's SM is the world's third largest and largest business development group in Asia. Its business scope includes Moore Shopping Center Development Management (SM MALL), retail (SM department store, SM large supermarket, SM toy store, etc.), entertainment (SM cinema, SM Food City, SM bowling hall, etc.), banks, real estate, manufacturing and other fields.

Shi Zhi Cheng is also known as "the king of Asian department stores".

Transformation of "super landlord"

At that time, Shi Zhi Cheng realized that if the business area of the shopping center was leased to other businesses, the profits would be much greater than that of selling products on the same area, and the rent source would be stable, and there would be little need for complicated investment.

Philippines's constitution forbids foreign enterprises to own land and other real estate in Philippines. In the past 40 years, no matter how the government has changed, this law has not changed at all.

Therefore, a large number of overseas enterprises have been coveted for a long time in Philippines market but have no chance.

Shi Zhicheng fully grasped this point and provided business opportunities for foreign enterprises through his shopping center, and he also made a lot of money.

Doing things slowly

The biggest characteristic of Shi Zhi Cheng is "doing things slowly and half."

What he often said is: "we must stop at work for three times, not fast and steady."

Before each decision, he has to listen to multiple reports and carefully ponder.

It has been questioned: stop three stops, are not afraid to lose a lot of opportunities? Shi Zhi answer: if a thing can withstand the "stop three stop" pressure, then the success of this matter is no problem.

Under the guidance of "stop three stops" plus "slow half beat", Shi Zhi Cheng owns 36 chain shopping centers, 111 supermarkets, home appliance centers, hardware stores, toy shops and furniture stores. Its group also owns the second largest bank of Philippines, "financial bank".