The three enterprises of private enterprises to build cars: product planning channel construction and branding
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Recently, the rumors of the new Bird Mystery appeared in Beijing. After suspending cooperation with Nanjing Auto, Bird again entered the auto industry. Wuliangye, which made white spirits, has just completed the integration of a new automotive mold production workshop and has been confirmed to have entered the automotive industry. Correspondingly, in the first half of 2005, Oaks, who had high-profiled in the automotive industry, chose to retreat. BYD, Lifan, Midea and other private enterprises are still exploring the road to survival in difficult roads. In the test of national policy, it has aroused the attention of the Chinese people. As an emerging force in China's motor manufacturing industry, automotive private enterprises constitute an important part of China's domestic auto industry. The advances and retreats of many private enterprises in the motor vehicle construction industry mean that private enterprises face more difficulties and challenges in the automotive R&D. The author believes that for private automotive companies, product planning, channel construction, and brand building will be the three thresholds they need to leapfrog.
The open data of the “blowout†period in the auto market in 2003 showed that the average profit of the auto industry can range from 20% to 30%. During the same period, Midea, Fosun, Greencool, BYD, Oaks, Bird, Lifan, Private capital such as Huaxiang entered the auto industry in large numbers, and private capital was once the "third force" outside state-owned capital and foreign capital. These private enterprises entering the automotive sector almost all have the following characteristics:
1. Being in the leading position in the original field, but facing the challenge of saturation of the market in the industry and declining profit, the company seeks to diversify and hopes to enter a more profitable industry;
2, attracted by the high profits of the automotive sector, but at the same time subject to automobile industry policy restrictions, the general first entered the passenger car, SUV and other fields, and then entered the car field;
3. Except that Lifan, Huaxiang and other companies have the background of motorcycles and auto parts, most of the companies span a lot of industries and start from scratch in the automotive field.
Today, Oaks and Bird have already talked about people's vision. BYD, Lifan, Midea and other private enterprises are still exploring difficult ways to survive. According to the research of Xinhuaxin Market Research & Consulting Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Xinhuaxin), from 1999 to 2004, along with the rapid development, the Chinese car market has experienced two phases of “model era†and “channel eraâ€, and in 2005, Into the “brand competition eraâ€; the author believes that for private automotive companies, product planning, channel construction and brand building are three thresholds they urgently need to leapfrog.
I. Product R&D lacks long-term planning capabilities and threatens the sustainable development of private enterprises
When private enterprises enter the automotive industry, they first face the challenge of product research and development, and product development is the first difficult task that they need to overcome. At present, private enterprises are making unremitting efforts in product R&D, and Geely, Great Wall, etc. have achieved a good market effect in product R&D. However, the author believes that private companies still have a relatively large hidden danger in product R&D:
1. When some private enterprises conduct product R&D, they often habitually “learned†from the design of some popular models because of their own insufficiency in capacity. They are unavoidably guilty of the intellectual property rights of multinational companies. This kind of behavior may only be a short-term behavior for enterprises, but in today's business environment, the damage to the corporate image will be long-term;
2. Although a number of well-developed private enterprises have developed several models that are more popular, they have shown more on the product improvement level than the follow-up products, failing to achieve the level of product upgrading, resulting in products on the market. The decline in the best-selling status has greatly reduced consumer awareness of the company;
3. At present, the products of most private enterprises still remain at a certain level in a certain type of vehicle, which is far from the full series of product standards required by automobile companies. This situation is very unfavorable to the brand's expansion and improvement. When consumers update or upgrade the products they use, they cannot achieve the continuation of consumer satisfaction and brand loyalty. Therefore, private enterprises only achieve certain performance in a certain market segment and cannot achieve greater impact in the entire market.
In summary, the author believes that product R&D lacks long-term planning power, product development concept and product strategy view are incomplete, and it is the main problem faced by private enterprises in product R&D. The mature product planning model is based on the product values ​​accumulated by the company over a long period of time. Take the automotive companies with mature product planning as an example. Generally, the new product will be introduced in 3-5 years and each new model will be launched. The listing has a preparation period of 1-2 years. In contrast, the majority of private enterprises' time to enter the automotive industry is mainly concentrated in the 3-5 years, and they are in the stage of R&D and launch of the first generation of products. Their product planning capabilities also need to be updated and extended in 2-3 generations of products. To be promoted, this is undoubtedly a long process. In the product development phase, private enterprises need to actively build their own product development concepts and product strategy views, so that products gradually cover more levels in the automotive market. It is impractical to rely on a product, rather than a full range of products, to enable companies to gain sustainable development momentum.
Second, channel upgrades lag behind product development, and private enterprises need to rebuild their marketing management capabilities.
In many cases, the significance of channels for the automotive industry is greater than the significance of channels for other industries. The establishment of consumer satisfaction and loyalty for auto companies depends largely on the capabilities of the channels. Because, after the manufacturer sells the products, consumers have very close contact with the channels during the years of car use. This closeness greatly exceeds the service process of other material products after they are sold. It is also one of the important reasons why the development of automobile sales channels still needs to be dominated by automobile manufacturers.
1. At present, the channel management mode and operation level of private enterprises actually only make their sellers behave as “sold up placesâ€. This situation differs from the rich connotations and corresponding roles that should be assumed by the auto channels. Far away. Selling a product does not necessarily mean the end of the channel function, but rather the beginning of the channel function. The consumer's perception and experience of car manufacturers is achieved through the numerous functions such as maintenance, maintenance, and claims undertaken by the channel;
2. The advantages of the past resources are not in the auto industry. Private enterprises have little channel resources and must build their own channels according to their own situation and the actual situation of the target consumer groups. From the planning, selection and construction to management, training, channel construction is actually a relatively complicated process. From the actual situation, private enterprises in the process of self-built channels, not only face the lack of resources, but also lack of excellent channel management personnel. At present, the channel level of private enterprises lags behind state-owned enterprises and joint ventures in terms of channel layout, channel efficiency, channel development, and individual channel abilities, and an effective channel system has not yet been formed;
3. In the early stage of development, private enterprises started from relatively low-end products due to restrictions on funds, technology, and talents. However, when enterprises develop high-level products and invest in higher-level markets by investing a lot of material resources, human resources, and financial resources, they do not pay attention to the simultaneous improvement of channels. The author believes that using the same channel system to serve different products is a very dangerous arrangement for high-level products. The target users of high-level products have higher requirements for the services provided by the channels, and the original channel standards can no longer meet their needs. Therefore, the improvement of channels and the development of new products should maintain a consistent pace, so that the advantages of high-level products can be fully reflected in the market, so as to achieve the purpose of the company's desire to enhance corporate image through the development of new products.
Channel construction plays an important strategic role in the automotive industry. In fact, the role of channels in the automotive sector has undergone further changes. It has shifted from a relatively simple single price transmission model to a value transmission model centered on corporate philosophy and brand connotation.
Third, brand competition has begun, private enterprises urgently need to develop the second battlefield as soon as possible
Xinhuaxin research shows that as China’s auto market enters the “Brand Ageâ€, Chinese consumers’ car purchase models have also undergone corresponding changes. Because there are relatively few models that can be selected in the past, the consumer’s thinking model is: First, start with the model, The configuration and price of different models are compared, and one of the models that they are satisfied with is selected. With the abundance of models in recent years and the increasing homogeneity of cars in the same class, it has been difficult for consumers to effectively select the models on the current market. New thinking modes have begun to emerge: A brand that is more liked, trusted, and consistent with their own personality, and then selected the appropriate models from these brands. The consumer then compares the model's style, configuration and price, and selects the car he wants to buy. The major change in this mode of thinking is that the purchase process of consumers is changed from the “product alternative list†to the “brand candidate list†and then to the “model candidate listâ€. Differentiating through branding is becoming a new means for automotive manufacturers to conduct marketing.
However, the current private enterprises are still blank in the creation of car brands, and most of them still focus on product development. Some companies still have deeper “cross-industry†branding. With the beginning of brand competition, private enterprises need to pay attention to brand building work and develop the second battlefield of brand competition as soon as possible.
1. In the “brand competition eraâ€, it is simply not feasible to perceive corporate brands through consumer use of their products, and the formation of corporate brand loyalty does not work. In fact, products and brands are likely to deviate from development. Good products may not naturally have good brands. For example, cooperation with world-class companies in OEM production indicates that the quality of Chinese companies' products may even reach the world standard; but they use their own brands. After that, the sales volume of the products was not satisfactory. Therefore, the author believes that the product is the basis for the formation of the brand, the brand instead of acting on the product, after the product manufacturing reaches a certain level, the private enterprise needs to spend a lot of energy to consider the creation and promotion of the brand, and take the initiative to attach to the advantages of the product The connotation of the brand and the concept of the company manage the dissemination, thereby effectively shortening the brand establishment cycle, and forming a positive interaction between the product and the brand. Therefore, brand building must keep pace with product development, brand building is lagging behind, and it is not conducive to product sales.
2. Automobiles are different from other industries, from vehicle design to sales, use, maintenance, repairs, spare parts, to residual value processing (used car prices). The value chain of the automobile is relatively long, so consumers have a concept of branding for auto companies. The formation will not be formed at a certain point in the value chain, but will be based on each link of the entire value chain. This will undoubtedly increase the difficulty of the formation of a car brand. The author believes that the use cycle of a car is about 5 years. During this period of 5 years, consumers can finally establish the degree of satisfaction, reputation, and loyalty of the enterprise through experience in the entire value chain. . In this sense, if auto companies want to continue to grow, they will need to continuously adjust and improve their own standards in all aspects of the entire automobile value chain. Through the experience of consumers in the entire process, they will gradually form and enhance consumer-to-consumer brands. Awareness. Although private enterprises have a weak ability to control the entire automobile value chain, as the automobile industry, it is necessary to pay attention to the entire link of the automobile value chain, manage the standards to the utmost in all aspects of the value chain, and convey the corporate philosophy and brand value.
Fourth, summary
The advent of the "Brand Age" means that the Chinese auto industry has already entered the full range of competition for products, channels, and brands. However, unfortunately, except for the individual automotive private enterprises that have just crossed the product R&D threshold, most companies still remain in the “model eraâ€. They are still focusing on the development of certain models, and the expansion of channels and Brand building has not really begun. In fact, when some private enterprises chose to withdraw from the auto industry, they insisted that private enterprises remaining in the automotive sector have a clear understanding of the current market. They are still in the “model era†and they are unable to pass the product in the “brand eraâ€. Gradual competition in channels and brands to achieve progressive cumulative advantages, product planning and channel construction need to be synchronized, using newly developed upgraded products and enhanced channel capabilities to start branding as soon as possible in order to maintain the survival in the Chinese automotive market and sustainable development. (Lin Lei, President, Xinhuaxin Market Research & Consulting Co., Ltd.)