From Chinese fast food to IKEA contract factory, Chinese enterprises stage a "loser counterattack".

Over the past 30 years, many world-renowned multinational giants have come to the Chinese market. At the same time of China's "gold rush", these leaders have directly or indirectly become teachers of local enterprises, bringing not only knowledge and technology, but also rich and mature management experience and ideas.

However, thirty years east, thirty years west. At that time, local enterprises, which could only act as followers, began to change their roles with the enrichment of information, the expansion of vision, the proficiency of technology and the further maturity of local consumer markets. In 2012, some Chinese companies that were originally at the end of the industrial chain made a "revolution": on the one hand, IKEA, the world's largest chain of household goods retailers, collectively defected due to dissatisfaction with squeezed profits; on the other hand, Yunnan coffee farmers fell again and again due to the purchase price of coffee beans given by international coffee giants such as Nestle and Starbucks, and also wanted to seize market pricing power by themselves. Looking at the fast food market occupied by McDonald's, KFC and other foreign giants for a long time, there have already been Chinese fast food such as real kung fu, Yonghe soybean milk, aunt dumplings and so on.

In fact, according to the "New Global Challenger" report released by Boston Consulting Company in 2011, Chinese enterprises occupy 33 seats among the 100 developing country enterprises most likely to challenge established multinational companies in the world, ranking first in number. It can be imagined that this wave of "diaosi counterattack" initiated by local enterprises to foreign teachers has only just begun.

IKEA China foundry collective defection

Heilongjiang Province Endurance Wood Industry Group, former IKEA blind supplier; Qing 'an Houcheng Wood Industry Co., Ltd., Suihua City, Heilongjiang Province, former IKEA step stool supplier; Yichun Friendly Gorgeous Wood Industry, former IKEA stretch table supplier... In 2012, these factories, which once relied on IKEA OEM and grew rapidly, announced in a high-profile group that they would challenge IKEA as "traitors" and launch "replica IKEA" Jiayimei Home Furnishing Chain Supermarket.

Rebellion begins when profits are squeezed

According to Cao Yuewei, chairman of the board of directors of Endurance Group and former president of IKEA Supplier Alliance, the defection was mainly due to the long-term pressure of IKEA, a "cost killer."

In fact, OEM cooperation was indeed a win-win situation at first. The foundry not only saw a surge in business volume, but also developed its technology and quality control under IKEA's strict monitoring. However, since last year, due to the continuous fermentation of the European debt crisis, the depreciation of the renminbi internally and the rising cost of raw materials, the meager profits of the foundry have been quickly eroded, while the pressure from IKEA to cut prices has not changed.

Take Endurance Wood as an example. In the nearly 15 years from 1997 to 2011, IKEA's purchase price for one of Endurance Wood's curtains dropped from US $10 per square meter to US $8, and raw materials rose by 40% in 2010 alone. Many foundries with the same experience spontaneously formed an IKEA supplier alliance to communicate with IKEA, hoping to increase the purchase price by 5%, but never agreed.

The purchase price cannot be raised, and there is no profit to be made. At the beginning of 2011, Cao Yuewei ended his 16-year cooperation with IKEA in anger.

From replication to development of e-commerce platform

The original intention of Jia Yimei was to replicate IKEA. "Since we are from a foundry, we know the cost very well, so the price of each model is slightly lower than IKEA." A Jiayimei related responsible person told Yangcheng Evening News reporter.

However, this direction has now been adjusted. During last year's "Double Eleven" period, e-commerce crazy promotion made the home market, which was originally weak in consumption, shine brilliantly. One of the six enterprises with sales of more than 100 million yuan a day was a furniture enterprise. This also makes Jiayimei start thinking about moving from a simple copy of IKEA to a dual combination of online and offline businesses.

"We are talking about online cooperation with Tmall." A person in charge of Jiayimei revealed that 200 to 300 experience stores will be opened nationwide in the next year, with about 500 square meters as product display, and sales can be completed online. With IKEA's reputation as a "traitor", Jiayimei's brand has been recognized to a certain extent, but it is far from the original IKEA model.

Can the IKEA model really be copied easily?

In the face of the challenge posed by Jiayi Hairdressing, Gillian, president of IKEA China Retail, told the media in October last year about his view of "copying IKEA":"When we see that the whole store and even the product line are trying to copy IKEA, we are still a little happy in our hearts, which shows that we are doing well."

But is the IKEA model really that easy to replicate? In fact, as early as before Jiayimei, there have been many home stores imitating IKEA, such as Kunming's "Eleven Furniture", Guangzhou's Baishi Home, etc. From the product composition, store layout and even appearance, it looks like IKEA. However, Jiang Jian, a special commentator of Shenzhen Furniture, believes that "learning IKEA model does not lie in how similar it looks to IKEA, but the real essence is the research on consumer shopping psychology, the control of upstream and downstream industrial chain operations, and the construction of product service system."

In a word, IKEA always knows who consumers are, what they want and what prices they can afford, but these experiences cannot be learned simply by years of simple OEM. "The thinking of domestic home manufacturers and stores is still based on the" landlord model ", which determines that although they care about channels, they do not care about consumer demand. Business models that are divorced from consumer value will face serious challenges." Jiang Jian said.

Yunnan Coffee Self-established Door Wants to Seize Pricing Power

From 390,000 mu five years ago to 1.3 million mu in 2012, the rapidly expanding coffee planting industry in Yunnan suffered a cold market last year. First, at the beginning of last year, the international giant Nestle announced that it would stop the acquisition and triggered a panic selling of coffee farmers. At the end of last year, the purchase price of coffee beans fell to a five-year low, approaching the planting cost line. Yangcheng Evening News reporter for days in Yunnan investigation found that under many challenges, Yunnan coffee is brewing a reverse storm.

The purchase price fell close to the cost line, and farmers waited and saw

At present, Yunnan Province, where raw bean cultivation accounts for more than 98% of the domestic industry, is ushering in coffee harvest season. But the farmers couldn't be happy.

Pu 'er City Dalin Wo coffee cooperative responsible person told Yangcheng Evening News reporter, The club at present planting area nearly 500 acres, The main buyers of products Nestle and Starbucks offer lower prices, Coffee farmers are still waiting to see. However, the prices of pesticides and fertilizers continue to rise, and the planting cost is close to 16 yuan/kg. If the prices continue to fall, farmers may choose other ways out. In Ximeng County, Pu 'er City, a village cadre told reporters that nearly 200 mu of land in the village was replanted into coffee five years ago due to the bullish coffee market in recent years. Last year was the second year when coffee trees began to bear fruit, and the enthusiasm of coffee farmers was frustrated.

Hu Lu, deputy secretary-general of Yunnan Province Coffee Industry Association, said that the current planting cost of leased land is about 15-16 yuan/kg. If the price falls below this price, Yunnan coffee industry will be severely hit.

Yunnan Coffee Wants to Fight for Pricing Power

The reporter's investigation found that Nestle's current pricing is based on the latest New York coffee futures price and lowered by a few cents. The scattered coffee farmers have no say.

"The price is based on the New York Coffee Exchange. It's just the price of ordinary coffee beans. It's very unfair to us." Peng Yuanguo, vice mayor of Pu 'er City, said in an exclusive interview with Yangcheng Evening News recently that Pu' er City is currently committed to building a local coffee brand and plans to support a number of large-scale enterprises with pricing power to form a whole industrial chain. And plans to formulate industrial technical regulations and standards, apply for origin protection, and strive to regain international pricing power.

Hougu Coffee, the largest local coffee enterprise, used to be Nestle's largest raw material supplier in China. In recent years, it began to set up its own door, taking the road of deep processing and industrial chain to build its own brand. Xiong Xiangjin, chairman of the board, said that if the purchase price of international buyers falls below the cost price, protective price collection and storage will be started to help farmers tide over difficulties.

Coffee giant changes strategy

Faced with the challenges of local partners, some "foreign teachers" have begun to change the original simple procurement strategy and strengthen cooperation with local enterprises. Starbucks told reporters that the company introduced four new coffee varieties three years ago for adaptability testing. After the five-year trial period, the four coffee varieties will be planted on a large scale. At that time, its first coffee planting base in the world will be settled in Yunnan, and its first coffee grower support center in Asia in Pu 'er has been put into operation recently.

In fact, Starbucks is already changing its strategy in the face of the rise of Yunnan's local enterprises. Its joint venture with Aini Group, Pu 'er's largest local coffee company, was officially put into operation in December last year. The joint venture's coffee primary processing plant has an annual production capacity of 20,000 tons of raw beans. reporter Liu Yong

Chinese fast food competes with foreign fast food

The homegrown backlash against foreign giants seems to have come earlier in the fast-food business. Although the domestic fast food market is still the world of McDonald's, KFC and other foreign giants, it is not difficult to find that in recent years, Chinese fast food has already changed from the original copycat imitation of "local students" to a challenger, and the team is growing stronger and stronger.

In fact, in recent years, some food safety incidents in the presence of foreign fast food, but also make some consumers began to invest in Chinese fast food camp.

From copycat imitation to direct challenge

As McDonald's and KFC entered the Chinese market in the 1980s and 1990s, they also attracted many followers when they captured the appetite of the Chinese people. All kinds of similar "Kenteji","Kende Xiang","Mai Dang" and other suspected copycat shops also blossomed everywhere like spring shoots.

However, there are also unwilling to copy the local enterprises began to concentrate on learning. "In 1997, Zhenkung Fu, which started in Guangdong, successfully independently developed computer program-controlled steam cabinet, taking the lead in overcoming the standardization problem of Chinese food." Subsequently, more and more Chinese fast food chain brands emerged everywhere.

According to incomplete statistics, there are currently more than 450 real kung fu stores;"Yonghe Soybean Milk" restaurants have nearly 500 stores nationwide; Southwest fast-food industry brother "Village Base" now has more than 200 direct-sale chain restaurants, and in 2010 became the first Chinese fast-food chain enterprise listed in the United States; Anhui Province's largest chain fast-food enterprise "Laoxiang Chicken" has 219 restaurants; Auntie Dumpling, founded in Changzhou in April 1996, has opened more than 300 chain stores in hundreds of cities such as Nanjing, Shanghai and Beijing.

Foreign fast food halo gradually dissipated

For a long time, one of the important reasons why foreign fast food attracts a large number of Chinese consumers is consumers 'expectation of food safety under the influence of their brands. However, in recent years, some food safety incidents and there is no lack of foreign fast food figure. For example, the recent "quick chicken" incident, which is still fermenting, will involve foreign fast food brands such as KFC in the whirlpool of public opinion.

Chinese fast food, on the other hand, has taken advantage of the opportunity to triumph. For example,"Laoxiang Chicken," the largest chain fast food enterprise in Anhui Province, is said to have increased significantly in sales after the "Quick Chicken" incident due to its main chicken products raised by the enterprise itself. It is understood that due to the rapid expansion of foreign fast food brands in China, almost all of their chicken raw materials are purchased from outside, and there is no self-supporting model at all. Perhaps to a certain extent, the Chinese fast food enterprises that used to be "apprentices" can now provide some reference for "foreign teachers".

(Editor: Leo)