In 1936, when Shi was only 12 years old, he said goodbye to his relatives and embarked on a merchant ship bound for the Philippines with a few dried buns on his back, although his heart was full of fear and helplessness, after all, he was still a child, but he still firmly embarked on this road, because he knew that the purpose of this trip was to join his parents who had worked hard in the Philippines in his early years, and he had the ambition to carve out a world of his own in a foreign land.
After Shi Zhicheng arrived in Manila, life was still difficult. His father opened a small shop here, ** daily necessities, and due to the meager profits, he could barely make ends meet.
However, two events shook him deeply. His mother was not well-educated, and after buying a shipment, an accounting error meant that the hard work of the next three months would be in vain, and worse, they would have to pay high rent.
Compared to the Chinese shop next door that sells fruit, he was deeply puzzled. Their store is in full swing and always attracts repeat customers through various ** activities. Why did his shop suffer losses while others were thriving?
All this made him realize that running a store requires culture and business acumen.
Although Shi Zhicheng did not have much formal education, two experiences made him realize the importance of knowledge. So he made up his mind to overcome the difficulties and learn.
In order to pass the test of English and Filipino first, he helped out in the store during the day and went to a Chinese night school at night. Although the learning process was very difficult, Shi Zhicheng made rapid progress in his language ability with clear learning goals, and in only half a year, he was able to communicate in English and Filipino at a basic level.
Next, Shi Zhicheng began to learn sales skills. However, due to the high cost of the course, he had to choose to work part-time at the dock after 6 p.m., working for two hours for two full years.
During this period, Shi Zhicheng encountered many difficulties, including hunger, fatigue and even the boss running away, which did not let him give up. On the contrary, he sees these difficulties as an opportunity to learn and accumulate, and his business mind is becoming clearer and clearer.
These experiences strengthened his belief in learning and eventually became a successful entrepreneur.
Shi Zhicheng's struggle was not duly rewarded, and the disaster struck suddenly, Manila was frantically invaded by Japanese invaders, and his family's shop was in great danger. But life could not be stopped, and they tried their best to find a way to purchase goods in the blockade of the Japanese army, keep in touch with the supplier, and insist on maintaining the store.
However, less than a month later, the shop was ransacked again. To make matters worse, the entire street of shops was burned down by the Japanese army, and business could barely continue.
At this time, Shi Zhicheng's father proposed to return to China. However, Shi Zhicheng has become accustomed to this place and has also learned to operate. Although the Japanese occupied the place, ordinary people still needed to survive and there was still a way out for business.
Therefore, despite his father's insistence on returning home, he was determined not to leave. Eventually, his father agreed to work there. This year, he was only 17 years old.
His tenacity allowed him to persevere in the midst of adversity. He moved to a new place and opened a shop, but instead of running it himself, he entrusted the operation of the shop to others and collected the rent himself.
At the same time, he found a job as a salesman in a shoe store, where he learned shoemaking and sales skills, and his life gradually stabilized. Thanks to his ingenuity, he was able to come up with activities to sell shoes, which gained the trust of the shoe store owner and his job gradually stabilized.
During this time, he chose to further his studies and entered Far Eastern University, where he studied while working, and his thinking level and business ability were improved again.
Three years have passed in a flash. In that year, the Allies liberated Manila, which had been occupied by the Japanese, and announced the return of its freedom. Although the city was dilapidated, Shi Zhicheng saw a business opportunity in it.
Early one morning, as soon as he opened the door of his shop, an American GI came up to him with a couple of pairs of shoes and asked if he needed them.
Shi Zhicheng noticed that a number of American soldiers had recently come to his shoe store one after another, intending to ** their extra shoes. A bold thought popped into his head.
He pitched the idea to his boss, who readily agreed. The boss thinks that Shi Zhicheng and they can't leave the shoe store, and he thinks that Shi Zhicheng works for the shoe store for free, and he earns it himself.
After getting the boss's consent, Shi Zhicheng began to reach out to American soldiers, hoping to buy their surplus and unworn shoes, and then sell them in shoe stores.
Because of the citizens' gratitude for the liberation of Manila by the American army, many young people were envious of the military uniform of the American army. Therefore, people began to rush to buy, and Shi Zhicheng seized this opportunity, earned the first pot of gold in his life, and opened his first store.
He was only 23 years old.
In our conversations with American GIs, we found out that they have a unique concept of shoe design, which can be said to be quite advanced. Once, an American GI complained about the hot weather in Manila and he couldn't even wear slippers on weekends.
He keenly grasped the business opportunity and used all his savings to bring in a batch of slippers from Singapore, which resulted in booming sales and short supply. Not only American GIs, but also Filipino citizens have bought them, which has accumulated more capital for Shi Zhicheng's entrepreneurial road.
Shi Zhicheng crossed the ocean and sea, lasted more than 40 hours, and finally set foot on American soil. This is a pure land that has not experienced the baptism of war, and the streets and alleys are full of prosperity.
He came here to learn advanced shoemaking techniques and fashion design. However, when he saw the bustling scenes of Boston and New York with his own eyes, he felt his vision open up like never before.
His train of thought was still stuck in the early days of Manila's liberation, when people's desire for a better life was like hunger. However, now that the people of Manila have entered the stage of enjoying life, Manila has a very different way of life than New York.
What struck him the most was the department stores in the United States, where a building is a store, and all kinds of products are available, both hot and mundane.
This amazed him, and at the same time he was deeply absorbed in thought. When he returned to Manila, he immediately made adjustments to the way he did business.
In the face of opposition, they insisted on constantly expanding the range of goods, expanding from the shoe industry to daily necessities such as **, skin care products and pots and bowls, and their business philosophy gradually took shape in continuous innovation and attempts.
However, at first, their friends and some customers were kept, fearing that they would distract from the shoe business as their main business, which would affect the stability of the business.
Shi Zhicheng is well aware that it may not be easy to change his mindset, but the current path is undoubtedly in line with the needs of the times, and his prediction has been verified. After the introduction of the new business model, not only did the number of customers increase instead of decreasing, but the business was booming.
It is widely believed that the store has a wide range of products, and it only takes one purchase to buy all the items you need. Later, he invested further and founded Manila's first major department store, named "SM", which is the English abbreviation of his shoe store, Shoemart.
Since then, the "SM" brand, which will be famous all over the world in the future, was officially born.
Shi Zhicheng's business empire continues to expand. In 1985, he opened a large shopping mall in Quezon, north of Manila, which attracted a large number of customers on its opening day, who were curious about this new way of shopping, sightseeing and entertainment.
Shi began to plan his future business plan, acquiring a large amount of land in Manila and steadily advancing project after project. He firmly believes that the business model of the future will be a chain shopping mall, where customers can experience "one-stop" services in the same place, which is also the trend of future business development.
He is passionate about conveying the idea of providing customers with a place to escape the heat on a hot summer day, a place to rest when they are tired, and a place ......to dine when they gatherSince then, his business has expanded to include real estate, banking, manufacturing, etc., covering other countries in Asia and even the rest of the world.
Today, he is firmly on the throne of "the king of Asian department stores". By 2001, his business had spread all over the world, and Forbes magazine estimated that he had accumulated a net worth of $2.7 billion, making him one of the world's leading business groups.
In 2013, he reached a net worth of $12 billion, becoming the richest man in the Philippines and earning the reputation of "the king of retail in the Philippines."
Although Shi Zhicheng has a successful career, he has always been concerned about his parents and fellow villagers in his hometown. He taught the children that they were the descendants of Yan and Huang, with roots in China. As a result, his children learn Hokkien from an early age and gain an in-depth understanding of Chinese culture.
In 1992, Shi Zhicheng returned to Jinjiang, Fujian Province, and in order to give back to his hometown, he invested in the construction of the first "SM" shopping center.
Shi Zhicheng's shopping mall has invested billions of yuan, covering an area of 1670,000 square meters, but he has not been able to open it due to the restrictions on foreign investment in the Chinese retail market at that time.
However, Shi Zhicheng did not feel any complaints about this, but provided the mall to Jinjiang City for free, and held shoe expos continuously, showing his firm confidence and support for the local economic development.
He told city leaders that he believes that over time, China's retail market will become more open and his malls will be able to realize their commercial value.
After the approval of the policy, major cities across the country have owned large shopping malls - SM. In 2019, Shi Zhicheng, the founder of SM, left us in his sleep at the age of 95.
He has made great contributions to the development of the Philippine economy, and when he heard of his passing, he made a special trip to wake his soul in recognition of his contribution to the Philippines. For this Chinese-American business leader, this is perhaps his best compliment.