New Gaode seeks change in "slimming down" by going O2O and commercializing

After the much-hyped "Lin Chiling and Yu Yongfu" hype, at the AutoNavi Maps launch conference on September 23, Yu Yongfu, accompanied by the still beautiful Sister Chiling, announced AutoNavi Maps' strategic goal of no commercialization in the next three years and its product policy of "You dare to use it, I dare to compensate." He also clarified that the relationship between him and Lin Chiling was pure and that the "marriage" incident was pure hype.

It is necessary to explain to the readers here why it was Yu Yongfu and not someone else who "held hands" with Sister Zhiling this time.

After AutoNavi was acquired by Alibaba, Lu Zhaoxi became the CEO and AutoNavi was divided into two parts: the mobile internet division and the traditional business division. The former was led by Yu Yongfu, the current president of Alibaba Mobile Business Group, who was mainly responsible for making AutoNavi Internet-oriented; the latter was led by Zhang Qin, the former COO of AutoNavi, who was mainly responsible for technology and Internet of Vehicles business; Cheng Congwu, the former CEO of AutoNavi, served as a special advisor. Therefore, it was Yu Yongfu, who has a strong Internet mindset, who held hands with Lin Chiling at the press conference of the "New AutoNavi".

Yu Yongfu, who appeared this time with the new identity of "AutoNavi", has formulated a "slimming" plan for the "new AutoNavi".

When AutoNavi was first acquired by Alibaba, almost everyone imagined that the cooperation between the giants would enrich and improve the O2O industry chain of "entry + service + payment". AutoNavi has a large number of users and map resources, and Alibaba has rich life services. With the help of Alibaba's resources, AutoNavi can fully participate in O2O market areas such as shopping, leisure and entertainment, life services, and event discounts.

But Yu Yongfu's words almost made all the outside world's speculations come to nothing: "Others' goal is O2O, and AutoNavi's goal is LBS!"

Yu Yongfu gave a simple reason for AutoNavi's de-commercialization: "With the strong support of Alibaba Group, AutoNavi no longer needs to worry about commercial issues and can focus more on operating the map product itself."

Yu Yongfu believes that LBS and O2O are two different businesses. He personally prefers to let AutoNavi develop in the direction of LBS instead of letting AutoNavi's services become too O2O-oriented. In Yongfu's opinion, LBS is a business that everyone needs in the mobile Internet era. It is an incremental business and an entry-level business, while O2O is obviously not an entry-level business.

Prior to this, business models such as O2O were highly sought after in the Internet map industry and were considered the only way out for the map industry. Based on free map products, some Internet map manufacturers pushed profitable business advertisements to users in the name of O2O, such as group purchase navigation. However, this practice was not recognized by most users. The most basic demand of users for maps is still how to reach the destination correctly and conveniently.

"Maps should return to their basics and become the best map navigation products. Functional extensions on maps should be based on user needs rather than commercial purposes." Yu Yongfu said that Amap will never destroy user experience for commercial interests.

Based on this, the "New AutoNavi" strategy proposes "three major focuses": focus on user needs, focus on making the best map navigation products, and focus on the technical research and development of map navigation products.

Traditionally, users' understanding of maps may be limited to navigation and route guidance. In addition to providing surrounding services, many map functions need to be further developed. Yu Yongfu gave such an example, "When people go out together, the more people there are, the more troublesome it is to gather together. Just call, where are you? Where am I? This is a very typical group navigation travel. In the future, several people will be added to a group, and they will know where we are going to place A, where everyone is, and whether they will be late or not." Group navigation is also an important function that Amap will create in the future.

"If errors occur when using AutoNavi Maps for navigation, AutoNavi will compensate users." Yu Yongfu believes that this policy is a concentrated reflection of AutoNavi Maps' return to professionalism and technical advantages. He believes that this new policy will allow users to pay more attention to the navigation function of map products, and at the same time, it will allow users to participate more thoroughly in the process of continuous product optimization and improvement.

“You can’t bother 99.9% of users just to satisfy 1% of users.”

This should be the starting point for Yu Yongfu to "slim down" AutoNavi. Making maps more like maps, making travel more convenient for users, and making navigation more accurate may be the things that the "New AutoNavi" will focus on doing in the future.

At this stage, most Internet companies are eager to find a business outlet for themselves, which has caused many good products to get lost in the process of finding an outlet, while ignoring issues such as what the basic needs of users are and how to improve the user experience. Endlessly "adding" to products eventually becomes a kind of service "kidnapping" for users.

If the de-commercialization strategy of "New AutoNavi" is successful, it will become another new model for the Internet industry.

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.