Li Rucheng, Chairman Of YOUNGOR Group: Focus On "Fashion" Business

Years are gentle with Li Rucheng. On the second day of the new year, when the reporter saw Li Rucheng at YOUNGOR headquarters in Haishu District of Ningbo, the nearly 70 year old Chinese clothing industry was full of joy and smiles.

Li Rucheng's smile seems to have told reporters: for most of the enterprises in 2019, YOUNGOR had a good time. The next interview with him also confirmed the reporter's judgement: in 2019, under the background of the overall downturn in the apparel industry, according to the data released in the first three quarters of YOUNGOR, sales revenue increased by 45% and net profit increased by 31%.
This also gave Li Rucheng the courage and confidence. In 2020, he put forward the goal of building YOUNGOR into a world-class fashion group. "My vision for future development has been clear, that is, the fashion industry. All other irrelevant businesses should be stopped and the collection will be collected. " Then he paused. "If you want to be clear, you will have fewer detours."
Keeping pace with the times YOUNGOR forty is not puzzled.
Reporter: what year was 2019 for YOUNGOR?
Li Rucheng: 2019 was the fortieth year of YOUNGOR's establishment and a key year for YOUNGOR's development. The biggest change of YOUNGOR this year is to return to the main garment industry.
Prior to this, YOUNGOR has major businesses such as clothing, real estate and equity investment. But a few years ago, YOUNGOR had proposed to return to the main garment industry, but now it is in order. YOUNGOR listed companies have begun to adjust the plate strategy, and the real estate sector is developing in the direction of Kang Yang, tourism and so on, and is no longer invested as an important industry.
As the saying goes, forty are not puzzled. This year, we have identified the next development goal - YOUNGOR will take 30 years to develop into a world-class fashion group.
Reporter: today's YOUNGOR is still full of momentum. Is YOUNGOR moving with the times to make some adjustments?
Li Rucheng: in May 2018, I announced the return to the main business at the shareholders' meeting. The United States has Nike, Germany has ADI, YOUNGOR also has the strength to become such a group. We are working with Ali to fully digitize transformation. On the first working day of 2020, I began to adjust the organizational structure of YOUNGOR. The slogan of "new retail, new life and new consumption" in the current market is loud and loud. I think enterprises need new organizational forms.
YOUNGOR is implementing the "four 1000 strategies": create 1000 self operated stores with annual turnover of more than 10 million yuan, and cultivate VIP customers who spend more than 1000 yuan over 10 million years.
In the past, enterprises only knew how to keep customers' pockets, but did not know how to serve customers. Service is also a discount for VIP, and now big data can provide better services. Through cooperation with ALI cloud, these 1000 stores will all become smart stores. The data will tell us what products sell well and what services are popular.
The cooperation between YOUNGOR and Alibaba can not be considered from the perspective of efficiency, but from a new perspective of exploration, what exactly can new retail be made?
Focus on yourself and outline world class fashion.
Reporter: in the face of the "uncertain" external environment, how does YOUNGOR "do its own thing"?
Li Rucheng: the ever-changing external environment is unknowable. What we can do is to do our job well. The pursuit of the ultimate product quality and the development opportunities of the digital age are all things YOUNGOR is doing.
We have never stopped pursuing the quality of products. In order to better control the stability of quality, YOUNGOR has completed the whole layout of fabric development, raw material planting, spinning and weaving, clothing design, garment making, and so on. This has also brought us the right to speak and the ability to resist risks.
In 2019, YOUNGOR's "hemp family" brand achieved its first profit. Now, on the basis of Xinjiang's "long staple cotton", YOUNGOR's "Yang Rong cotton" with better softness, color fastness, crease resistance and breathability will also come out soon. This cotton seed that we have been concentrating on research and development for 20 years will become the leader in the world's cotton market that is superior to or even superior to other high-quality cotton.
At present, the digital wave is sweeping the industrial field, and YOUNGOR will continue to step on the development of digital economy. Many customers visiting YOUNGOR headquarters in Ningbo will be attracted by the scenes in our smart suit production workshop: semi finished garments at different stages of production will automatically shuttle through the workshop to find processing workstations under the control of intelligent scheduling system. This intelligent manufacturing system is a set of truly designed YOUNGOR solutions, which has been designed independently by Germany, Japan and Italy. It has reduced the customizing time of suits by 70%, and has achieved 25% capacity growth.
Reporter: now YOUNGOR has the new goal of "world-class fashion group". Do you have confidence in achieving this goal in the next 30 years?
Li Rucheng: I am very confident. No matter how big the external environment is, YOUNGOR can respond to it if it focuses on doing its job well.
On the basis of nurturing and developing 5 brands such as YOUNGOR, YOUNGOR can form more influential brand matrix by acquiring some international brands.
In my opinion, to measure whether a company can become a world-class fashion group depends on the scale and the brand of the two. For example, do you have 5 to 10 international clothing brands? YOUNGOR will have a series of big moves this year to make a breakthrough.
People can keep up with the situation and keep up with the business.
Reporter: you once said that YOUNGOR will be built into a century old shop. Is it still a target?
Li Rucheng: our goal has not changed, creating an international brand, casting a hundred years of business.
In the past, YOUNGOR's main suit and other formal clothes will pay more attention to outdoor and leisure directions. Now our brands are undergoing transformation. This transformation takes time, and there will be more investment in the future.
YOUNGOR is still relatively stable. In the 80s of last century, we continued to absorb advanced manufacturing processes through "horizontal cooperation" and "borrowing stairs to go upstairs". In 90s, we made stock reform, completed the listing, and introduced foreign capital to practice Sino foreign joint ventures. At the beginning of twenty-first Century, we implemented the internationalization strategy and diversified development through overseas mergers and acquisitions. In recent years, we will focus our development on the main industry, embrace the fourth technological revolution, and gradually carry out the comprehensive digital transformation of "people, goods and fields".
In the past 40 years, YOUNGOR has trampled "every step" and "stepped steadily" on every step. It has never made any big mistakes in its development, and has been doing more steadily and safely in all aspects. Because of this, in 2019, the external environment was complex, and the whole garment industry was depressed, but YOUNGOR could grow against the trend. YOUNGOR not only does not pledge shares, but also has tens of billions of dollars in cash.
Reporter: what short board do you think exists in the development of YOUNGOR?
Li Rucheng: we have brand, reputation and capital. We should say that YOUNGOR's short board lies in team building and inheritance. I am now focusing my energies on training young teams. In my opinion, no one can be sure what changes will take place in the outside world in the future. However, no matter how it changes, an enterprise needs to achieve long-term development. In the final analysis, it needs people to realize and needs teamwork.
To become a world-class fashion group, YOUNGOR must develop endogenously, namely team building. I call it soft input. In the new year, YOUNGOR will have more "soft input", focusing on the reform of the system and mechanism inside the group.
In fact, many enterprises fail in competition and are dragged down by themselves. If the internal management is not strong enough, the physical strength will be poor and the chance of success will be very small. You see, I am almost 70 years old. I still insist on learning. In the two days, I want to keep up with the situation when I want to keep pace with the situation.