Gree embraces Ali: It is difficult to succeed if there is a way out

Ever since Dong Mingzhu and Lei Jun made a 1 billion bet, the outside world has been looking forward to the day when Gree will go the e-commerce route. Finally, after nearly a year of thinking, Gree is going to embrace e-commerce. However, this belated embrace of e-commerce, taking advantage of the Double Eleven promotion, is greatly discounted by Gree. In other words, Gree's embrace of e-commerce appears to be going all out, but in fact it leaves room for maneuver, and ultimately it is difficult to achieve.

It is difficult for local companies to carry the banner of e-commerce

The most bizarre thing about Gree's cooperation with Tmall this time is that the matter was handed over to Gree Zhejiang Sales Company. The official statement was that it was to facilitate communication with Alibaba Group, which is also in Hangzhou.

This made Tiege even more puzzled. Before, countless Tmall merchants had never heard of any company moving its e-commerce business to Hangzhou for the convenience of communication, nor had they even seen any company setting up a Hangzhou branch for the convenience of meeting Jack Ma. With the rapid development of office communication and transportation, it is really hard to explain why the e-commerce business that should have been the responsibility of the group was handed over to a local company for the convenience of communication.

I don't underestimate the ability of local companies. I believe that Gree Hangzhou must have many talents. But "if the name is not right, the words will not flow". If a local branch is to take charge of the e-commerce business of the entire group, it is obviously not the best choice from the perspective of resource allocation ability and vision.

But it is also very simple to do this for Dong Mingzhu. This time, Dong Mingzhu is just testing the waters of e-commerce with Tmall, or hoping to get better data in the test, and to use data to appease the vested interests of the traditional offline channels that Gree needs to directly face in e-commerce, and even those within the group who are still skeptical about the offline-to-online model. Therefore, before Gree decides to completely switch to e-commerce, it is not convenient for the group to organize an e-commerce department, which may directly touch the sensitive nerves of offline channels and cause relatively greater resistance.

But can such a reserved e-commerce decision really produce good data?

Local companies have poor resource mobilization capabilities

According to the published e-commerce plan of Gree, after the customer's order information enters the backend system, it will be transferred to the Gree regional sales branch corresponding to the customer's location. The local branches will supply goods to Tmall's local warehouse according to the order, and the delivery will be completed by Tmall. After the customer receives the goods, the installation will be completed by the Gree sales branch.

From this, we can basically see that the focus of this e-commerce planning is not online but offline. For large appliances such as air conditioners, the requirements for transportation and installation are very high. In addition to the product itself, users' recognition of Gree's quality lies in installation and after-sales service. This is completely different from the dependence of lightweight products such as clothing on online customer service.

Then it is not difficult for us to find the problem. When users find installation and after-sales problems and complain to Gree Tmall, Gree Mall is obviously in a headache. On the surface, Tmall Mall is the official mall of Gree Group, but the operation team is just a sales company in a region. It is difficult to command and control offline teams in other regions at the administrative level.

Some friends may say that the group can issue administrative orders to intervene, etc., but no matter how the administration authorizes local branches, it is difficult to constrain other branches at the same level. Moreover, online sales are essentially stealing jobs from offline branches. Gree announced that it would reasonably distribute online and offline profits, but it is clear that in the past, one bowl of rice was eaten by one person offline, but now it is eaten by two people. Is it really that simple to let offline branches cooperate willingly?

Offline interests are too deeply tied to each other to break out

The reason why Dong Mingzhu was reluctant to completely switch to e-commerce was not only because of offline interests, but also because she was originally an offline salesperson and was too obsessed with the peak moment brought by the expansion of offline channels. It is extremely difficult for a person who has made extraordinary achievements in this field to give up this field and turn to e-commerce channels that he does not fully control. Gree has also tied offline channels to Gree for many years, forming a situation where everyone loses together, that is, if one more order is sold online, one less order is sold offline, and everyone loses together. For example, in 2007, in order to further strengthen the interest binding between Gree Electric and dealers, 10 sales companies in Hebei, Shandong, Chongqing and other countries jointly established Hebei Jinghai Guarantee Investment Co., Ltd. and invested in Gree Electric, becoming the second largest shareholder after Gree Group. This may be the most difficult thing for Dong Mingzhu to deal with.

However, with the increasing development of the e-commerce industry, it is definitely not good news for Gree to postpone the e-commerce process. Last year, its old rival Midea achieved an annual growth rate of 18% with an e-commerce growth rate of 160%, which was completely defeated by Gree's 8.33%. At this critical moment, Gree did not think about how to quickly e-commerce, but instead launched a very mediocre e-commerce plan full of retreats, which really made passers-by anxious.

Perhaps we all don’t really understand Dong Mingzhu’s difficulties, or perhaps Gree is really old.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.