What exactly is brand marketing? Where should the channel be in brand marketing? At the end of the year, Zhengxin Chicken Steak rushed to the hot search, and the hot search topic was that Zhengxin Chicken Chop was being abandoned by young people, and pointed out that more than 10,000 stores had fallen in 2 years. What happened to Zhengxin Chicken Cutlet? Is the Zhengxin chicken steak brand not "fragrant"?
According to the official data of Zhengxin Chicken Chop, as of January 2022, the number of Zhengxin Chicken Chop stores nationwide has reached 250,000. According to the latest data from Narrow Door Restaurant, as of December 1, 2023, the number of stores of Zhengxin Chicken Chop is only 11,619. Calculated according to 2 years, it is roughly equivalent to an average of more than 18 companies going out of business every day.
In this regard, Zhengxin Chicken Chop responded that store opening and closing are normal phenomena, and now "the catering industry is not easy to do." ”
But netizens didn't buy it, and many netizens complained that the flour wrapped in Zhengxin chicken steak was too thick, the meat was getting thinner and thinner, and the taste was getting worse and worse, so they still forgot their original intention. Some netizens said that in the past, you could buy a chicken steak and a cup of sour plum soup for 10 yuan, but now it is getting more and more expensive.
Don't treat "spitting" as a troll, "spitting" may tell part of the truth.
Zhuopu Consulting believes that more than 10,000 Zhengxin chicken steaks have fallen, and "the catering industry is not easy to do" cannot be blamed, and the root cause should be the poor management of Zhengxin chicken steak brand. Although the number of Zhengxin chicken steak stores once rushed to 22,030 at a small peak, which was 3 times that of KFC China and 7 times that of McDonald's China, but because each store did its own thing and went its own way, not only did not establish the brand effect brought by scale, but let the brand influence cancel each other out, and even sink collectively.
Unmanageable channels, but brand poison.
Why? From the perspective of growth history, it can be seen more clearly.
In 1995, the predecessor of Zhengxin Chicken Chop mainly produced and first-class quick-frozen food; In 2000, Zhengxin Chicken Chop began its business transformation and opened the first Zhengxin casual snack in Wenzhou, selling oden, grilled sausages, fried chicken and other snacks; In 2012, Zhengxin Chicken Chop cut 90% of its SKUs and officially focused on "Chicken Chops", which quickly became popular by virtue of the advantages of low cost of finished ingredients, small stores, and low rent.
In 2012, there were only 500 Zhengxin chicken steak stores, which is equivalent to an average of 42 stores a year in 12 years. With the opening of franchise in 2013, in 2017, in just over 4 years, Zhengxin Chicken Chop has achieved more than 10,000 stores, equivalent to about 2,300 stores in one year, and the store opening speed has increased by more than 55 times.
By the middle of 2020, the number of Zhengxin chicken steaks in the country once rushed to 22,030, which is three times that of KFC China and seven times that of McDonald's China. More than 12,000 stores have been opened in 3 years, and it is obvious that the speed of opening stores has increased again. By January 2022, the number of Zhengxin chicken steak stores nationwide has risen again, as high as 250,000. But as of December 1, 2023, the number of stores of Zhengxin Chicken Chop is only 11,619.
Obviously, in the early stage, Zhengxin Chicken Chop was an honest store, but with the deepening of the franchise, more and more people are letting go of the franchise.
It must be affirmed that the increase in the number of stores has made Zhengxin chicken steak appear on the streets and alleys, rapidly increasing the brand ** and enhancing the brand influence, but on the other hand, it is that there are too many franchisees, so it is becoming more and more difficult to manage.
Contact the safety problems that have been repeatedly exposed before: there are rats in the operation room of the store, the hamburger only has bread but no meat, and the employees step on the operating table to cut their nails. Employees are able to cut their toenails with their feet on the counter, and it's no surprise that the flour is too thick and the meat is getting thinner.
Having said so much, what I want to express is not "success and failure", joining is the only way to brand and scale. What I want to say is that in addition to making good use of the franchise, the brand must do a good job in brand management, otherwise the scale effect of the franchise may be the poison of brand building.
Zhengxin chicken steak enterprises, how to do brand management?
Two suggestions for Zhengxin Chicken Steak and other brands:
1. From the perspective of marketing planning, scientifically formulate development goals.
The reason for the poor channel management is that the development goals are not scientific in marketing planning. Zhuopu Consulting believes that scientific development goals need to be formulated according to brand instinct and formulate goals suitable for the brand itself.
The so-called brand instinct is the crystallization of the brand's history, geography, product background, resources and values. Because of the different history, geography, product background, resources and values, the brand instinct is different, and it is naturally suitable for the brand, and the goal of not "promoting the seedlings" is also different. Just like different people, different physical abilities have different exercise goals.
How? Through the best instinctive marketing strategy, we formulate development goals from brand instinct, so as to make the development goals of enterprises scientific from the root. From a small workshop to a national brand, Zhou Heiya uses the best instinctive marketing strategy method. The first step is to set development goals.
Second, from the perspective of brand growth, don't be greedy for a day's work, brand building is slow and meticulous.
Human nature seeks to be fast, and no one wants to be slow, especially in the current era of "fast fish eat slow fish", it is not possible to take a slow step. Zhuopu Consulting believes that on the one hand, the brand building of this era cannot be unhappy.
On the other hand, the more "fast" the era and the "impetuous" era, the more you must be patient with brand marketing, slow down, sink your steps, follow the law of growth, follow the law of time, and be steady and far-reaching. Because, the core and internal strength are always the background color of the brand. If you want the brand to be stable, strong, and far, it will always be the foundation of brand management.
On the one hand, it requires the strategic firmness of entrepreneurs, and on the other hand, it needs the assistance of "brand marketing, brand strategy and other external brains". Among them, the mission of strategic companies, marketing planning companies, brand consulting, and brand planning is to make an ingenious balance between "appropriately fast" and "appropriately slow".