Cotton "Metamorphosis" -- The Innovation Road Of A Net Red Enterprise

Cotton is starting to create a new wave of the times.

Cotton napkin, cotton diaper, cosmetic cotton... Looking at all kinds of magic cotton products, Li Jianquan, the more than 60 year old cotton founder, is gratified. "We can go to this day by innovation." Under his leadership, the annual sales of cotton life articles from Shenzhen nearly 3 billion yuan, registered patents in more than 30 countries around the world, becoming a "hidden champion" in the field of maternal and infant segmentation.

Li Jianquan still remembers a long flight experience 10 years ago.

Li Jianquan, who has been financially free, is worried about the plane that goes to the us to negotiate business.

Starting in 1991, Li Jianquan founded the medical dressing export company's robust medical treatment and led the enterprise to be listed on Nasdaq, but the medical plate is mainly "to B" business. The idea of "to C" and "deeply rooted in the hearts of the people" brand has never been dissipated.

Another heavy worry is that "source innovation" is too late to land. Starting from the "imitative innovation" of robust medical treatment, the enterprise climbed up the slope to build a basic material problem. After several years, it developed "cotton spunlaced nonwovens" to solve the problem that medical gauze is easy to fall off and generate gauze when cutting, which may cause wound infection. However, this technology is constrained by the relevant regulations at that time and can not be opened up for the time being.

In my mind, there was a lot of thoughts, but the nose didn't listen to me. Li Jianquan, who had a cold attack, was very uncomfortable. He spent more than ten hours on the plane wiping and rubbing with a tissue. Suddenly, an idea sprouting up in his mind: can we make a more comfortable product than cotton paper with the new cotton technology?

With this idea, Li Jianquan would like to come down from the plane immediately.

In 2009, the cotton era was formally established. "We have ventured to try to replace the paper towel with" cotton spunlaced nonwovens ". This is also our first product, named" pure cotton soft towel ". Li Jianquan said that compared to traditional napkins, pure cotton napkin is softer and keeps strong after water absorption, and cotton can naturally degrade, which is more environmentally friendly than paper towels.

Ten years to wear a sword. "After the establishment of the company, we have been losing money for 4 consecutive years, but we are not discouraged. Finally, we are recognized by the market in the fields of hygiene, household care and other maternal and infant areas." Li Jianquan said that from 2014 340 million yuan battalion received nearly 3 billion yuan of revenue in 2018, and the secret to increase 8 times in 4 years lies in the efforts of enterprises to persist in innovation and the general trend of China's consumption upgrading. In 2018, the "double 11" sales volume exceeded 513 million yuan in online and offline sales, and total orders reached 2 million 580 thousand.

The old innovant, who is very persistent in innovation and quality, has scrapped 3 cotton diapers products for the first time. In order to develop baby cotton cotton pants with water absorption and dryness, the cotton era began to research and development in 2012, and invested tens of millions of yuan. With the user's trial put forward amendments, the company has scrapped the first 3 generations of products until the fourth generation listed in 2019.

The number of members exceeded 15 million, with about 400 invention patents. In the company in Longhua, Shenzhen, general manager Li Jianquan is full of confidence in the future. "In the past, some brands were not willing to fight the concept of cotton, but now many brands, especially in the mother and baby field, love to emphasize that their products are all cotton, which is the embodiment of cotton value."

In recent years, international trade disputes are frequent, and cotton upstream and downstream enterprises are also affected. But in the adverse external environment, the cotton era has achieved two digit growth in the first half of this year.

"A certain proportion of cotton used in the past was imported from the United States and Australia. Now, with the improvement of domestic planting technology, the proportion of domestic supply is also increasing." Li Jianquan said.

The upgrading of China's consumer brands also brings better international prospects. It is understood that the cotton era is also exported to overseas markets through cross-border e-commerce platforms such as Amazon. In the first half of this year, exports to the US on the Amazon platform grew by more than 50% over the same period last year.

"Even in saline alkali soil, cotton can break through the soil and grow vigorously." Li Jianquan said, "made in China not only has big powers, but also cotton. Through unremitting innovation, we must let warm and stubborn cotton produce new "Metamorphosis".