Reporter Sun Jizheng reports from Beijing.
On February 25, 2024, Zong Qinghou, the founder and chairman of Wahaha, the godfather of China's beverage industry, passed away at the age of 79 due to ineffective medical treatment. According to the announcement of Wahaha Group, Zong Qinghou's farewell ceremony is scheduled to be held at 10 a.m. on February 28 at the Xiasha Industrial Base of Hangzhou Wahaha Group.
From a middle-aged entrepreneur to becoming the richest man in China, Zong Qinghou has left a strong mark in China's FMCG industry, from the establishment of the joint sales body to the victory of Danone to win the Wahaha lawsuit, Zong Qinghou's entrepreneurial experience has become a legend and classic case of Chinese business.
Zong Qinghou's pioneering marketing system has also cultivated a group of outstanding entrepreneurs for China's FMCG, such as Zhong Sui, the richest man in China and chairman of Nongfu Spring, and Bao Xiufei, who has served as the general manager of Wyeth China, Meiso Jiaer, Beinmei, etc., have all worked and tempered in the Wahaha system, so Zong Qinghou can be called the godfather of China's beverage industry.
According to the memories of people who have been in contact with Zong Qinghou, Zong Qinghou always greets anyone with a smile, and it is almost difficult to feel bad emotions from this old man.
Zong Qinghou has repeatedly said that he is an entrepreneur who believes in the best ideas, and Zong Qinghou relies on his own beliefs to create a fast-moving consumer goods era that belongs to him and the masses. "I am an ordinary person, a mortal who has risen from the bottom. Luckily, I was born in a big time; Fortunately, I got an opportunity to create a company, and because of it, I became the 'richest man in China', and my value was realized and recognized. Zong Qinghou wrote such a preface in his biography.
Innovation gave birth to the godfather of Chinese beverages
In the turbulent 80s of the 20th century, countless young people went to the sea to do business, trying to obtain the foundation of settling down in the huge market economy. And the 42-year-old Zong Qinghou does not seem young in this group of people, judging from the ** that Zong Qinghou rode a tricycle alone to sell goods at the gate of the primary school, Zong Qinghou who is middle-aged does not have a shortcut far beyond others on the road to entrepreneurship.
An article has pointed out: "Private enterprises, mostly starting with family workshops, have formed a family management model integrating management rights and ownership, which is headed by the family patriarch and family members as the backbone, which is generally seen in a number of excellent enterprises with strong cohesion, high efficiency and rapid development that have emerged in the tide of reform and opening up." There is no doubt that Zong Qinghou's Wahaha is a typical representative of this phenomenon.
As the "paternalistic" leader of Wahaha, all affairs, no matter how big or small, are ultimately decided by Zong Qinghou, who is undoubtedly the core pillar of Wahaha in the long development of Wahaha. During an interview with Zong Qinghou and his daughter Zong Fuli, the host asked Zong Fuli: "What is Wahaha minus Zong Qinghou?" "" is equal to zero. Zong Fuli replied.
People who have been in contact with Zong Qinghou in the entrepreneurial stage believe that Zong Qinghou has the courage to be higher than others when he starts his business, and at many crossroads that determine the fate of Wahaha, Zong Qinghou will always make decisions against public opinion. These include terminating the ** pollen oral liquid with previous partners, independently establishing an oral liquid brand, naming the Wahaha brand, and even borrowing money to advertise for Wahaha. Whether it is the oral account of the witnesses or the biography of Zong Qinghou, it is recorded that the company's insiders clearly objected, but Zong Qinghou was still unmoved. Facts have proved that it is the persistence and implementation of these measures that have laid the foundation for the rise of Wahaha.
And the rise of Wahaha is inseparable from Zong Qinghou's innovative marketing methods.
In the first ten years, the concept of nutrition products in the domestic market began to rise, and nutrition companies such as Sun God and Sanzhu rose rapidly, although Zong Qinghou's Baoling company's products won the first pot of gold, but after the breakdown of cooperation with Baoling Company, the new Wahaha brand is facing a game with many well-known brands, which is a huge test for Zong Qinghou.
The background of Zong Qinghou's establishment of the joint sales system was after the 90s, with the collapse of state-run channels, market-oriented farmers' markets and wholesale markets were gradually established. As the market economy in the country has just started, many manufacturers and dealers trading relations are still in the original stage of handing over money and delivering a hand, manufacturers for dealers lack of restraint and communication, dealers at will, random price adjustment, sales in various regions manufacturers are difficult to get accurate feedback, some dealers dump goods in densely populated large cities, which makes the distribution between regions out of balance, seriously affecting the brand image of manufacturers and the best system.
In Zong Qinghou's marketing methods, the establishment of the joint sales model is undoubtedly the cornerstone of the entire sales network, and it has also become a template that has been studied and discussed in China's FMCG industry. According to Zong Qinghou's biography, the measures of the joint sales body are mainly divided into: 1. At the beginning of each year, the dealer must first give Wahaha a "deposit", and the amount of payment is 11 of the estimated sales amount of the year7%γThe money can be returned at the end of the year with interest at an interest rate equal to or higher than that of the bank deposit; Second, before each purchase, the dealer shall pay the payment first, and Wahaha will deliver the goods; Third, in accordance with the first wholesale, strict pricing, and each dealer demarcated the area, it is strictly forbidden to cross-sell, once violated, cancel the dealer qualifications, deduct the deposit; Fourth, each dealer needs to carry the sales target, and if the target cannot be completed, it will be dynamically cleaned up and eliminated.
The biggest feature of the joint sales body is that it has transformed from the previous dominant large-scale circulation and large-scale wholesale model to the intensive cultivation of channels that demarcate regions and demarcate channel classifications. In this system, dealers at all levels can only sell goods in accordance with the guidance of the manufacturer in the demarcated area, which limits the problem of cross-selling between regions, and dealers can only expand to the sinking market in the region for performance. Xiao Zhuqing, an independent FMCG commentator, told reporters that Wahaha's channels have precipitated to each small region and market in the shortest possible time, and Wahaha has also obtained the real market situation in each region, and Wahaha will soon have more than 10,000 terminal systems.
When Wahaha entered the beverage industry, the products of Robust, Wahaha's largest competitor, competed with Wahaha. From AD calcium milk to purified water, the competition between Wahaha and Robust is all-round. As the inventor of AD calcium milk, Robust also relied on strong advertising at that time to appear in major shopping malls and supermarkets, and Wahaha was facing a close hand-to-hand fight with its opponents at this time.
In the 90s, most FMCG companies' channels and marketing were limited to large and medium-sized cities, and in fact, it was difficult to reach remote areas and rural markets, while rural areas were the main body of the Chinese market in terms of population and market size at that time, but Wahaha, as a FMCG company, was the first to touch the sales channels to the rural market. With the development of China's commercial economy, the rural market has burst out with strong consumption power, which has also laid the foundation for Wahaha in the domestic market. Zhu Danpeng, an analyst of China's food industry, said that Zong Qinghou's vision and judgment at that time were ahead of the industry, and the precedent of "rural areas surrounding cities" was achieved in the beverage industry.
This sales system is very common now, and it is the basis for cooperation between many manufacturers and dealers, but it was an extremely innovative and bold system at that time, which means that dealers need to "share weal and woe" with manufacturers. In Zong Qinghou's biography, he recalled that at that time, this system was also opposed within the company, and some dealers withdrew. But Zong Qinghou still has enough confidence in his own products and will implement the system to the end.
Zong Qinghou relied on the innovative dealer system to allow Wahaha to establish a stable and huge channel network. On the other hand, Zong Qinghou realized the huge advantages brought by advertising at that time, so Zong Qinghou spared no effort to advertise.
Among the many business cases, almost all of the successful business cases in the 10s had bold advertising, such as Qinchi Wine, Confucian Wine, Brain Platinum, etc., and Wahaha, as one of the earliest FMCG companies to advertise on CCTV, Wahaha has obviously become one of the leaders.
Zong Qinghou attaches great importance to CCTV and provincial satellite TV advertising, and perfectly realizes the promotion of shops and displays through channels, and through celebrity endorsements and CCTV advertisements and provincial satellite TV advertisements to form a popular and drive Wahaha beverage consumption. Xiao Zhuqing told reporters.
Fu Huayang, the founder of Shenbing Tianjiang, who has had business cooperation with Wahaha, told reporters that the marketing basis set by Zong Qinghou for Wahaha is "joy", and all advertising and marketing also revolve around this, and on the basis of this marketing, Wahaha has also established its own position in the industry. "In the 90s, we produced an advertisement with rap, at that time rap was still a very niche form of ** expression in China, but Mr. Zong agreed with it after watching it, thinking that this advertisement was very lively, and young people and children might like it. β
The innovation of the marketing system and bold marketing methods eventually promoted the rapid growth of Wahaha, and in the 90s, it became the only beverage and nutrition company in China, and Wahaha also became a pivotal enterprise in China's FMCG industry.
Win the battle for Dawa - Wahaha's thrilling moment
It is easy to fight the world, but it is difficult to defend the world". Among the enterprises that soared in the first ten years, many companies eventually quickly fell silent, falling from the peak of the year, such as Qinchi Wine, Confucian Wine, Jianlibao, etc., due to the many reasons why these companies fell from the peak, but the reason why Wahaha has always insisted on being at the top is inseparable from Zong Qinghou's persistence and game.
In Zong Qinghou's memories and the summary of the outside world, the most critical incident for Wahaha was the disturbance with Danone. In 1996, Wahaha reached a joint venture agreement with Danone, a Fortune 500 company and a giant in the food industry, and Peregrine and Danone jointly invested 4306US$950,000 and acquired a 51% stake in Wahaha. Subsequently, Peregrine sold its stake to Danone, and Danone instantly became the majority shareholder of Wahaha Holdings, at that time, Danone, as a major shareholder, could directly intervene and decide on Wahaha's development and decision-making through the board of directors, and Danone also held shares in Chinese companies such as Robust, Guangming, Mengniu, and Huiyuan.
At that time, Robust's AD calcium milk and Huiyuan's juice were competing with Wahaha for the market. This means that, to a large extent, these companies, and even the Chinese FMCG industry, have no trade secrets about Danone and its controlled companies. In this regard, Zong Qinghou has repeatedly publicly expressed his dissatisfaction with Danone's move, and the relationship between the two sides has deteriorated rapidly.
In 2006, Fan Yimou, Danone's new chairman of the joint venture, discovered that Zong Qinghou had established a series of non-joint ventures outside the joint ventures owned by state-owned enterprises and employees, which also brought huge profits to Wahaha every year. In April 2007, Danone wanted to forcibly acquire Hangzhou Wahaha Group at a low price of 4 billion yuan, with total assets of 5.6 billion yuan and a profit of 10 percent in 2006400 million yuan of 51% equity interest in other non-joint ventures. In this regard, Zong Qinghou resolutely opposed it.
When the contradictions between the two parties could not be reconciled, the litigation between the two parties was also in full swing. Danone has sued Zong Qinghou and Wahaha in China, the United States, Europe and other places. In the end, in 2009, Danone sold its 51% stake in the joint venture to Wahaha for 3 billion yuan.
It is worth mentioning that at that time, "China Business Daily" had a comprehensive investigation and in-depth excavation of the brand dispute between Danone and Wahaha, in which Zong Qinghou and Fan Yimou, then president of Danone Asia, were interviewed by the reporter of "China Business Daily" and expounded their respective positions. In the end, this newspaper exclusively announced the ins and outs of this dispute and the light and dark transactions. In 2007, Southern Weekly listed this series as its annual economic report.
What is touching is that in this turmoil, Wahaha's partners and employees have always advanced and retreated with Zong Qinghou. Even in the biography of Zong Qinghou and the memories of the above-mentioned people in the article, when Zong Qinghou was prepared for the worst and ready to start anew at any time, most of the employees and dealers were willing to advance and retreat with Zong Qinghou.
This is not unrelated to Zong Qinghou's "paternalistic" care, whether it is a partner or an employee, Zong Qinghou always gets along as an "elder and friend", and finally gets everyone's support and support. "Although I was Party B at the time, and I was also the younger generation of Mr. Zong, Mr. Zong often used words of encouragement to motivate us, and he often said that it doesn't matter if an advertisement is broken, we always need to give people the opportunity to try and make mistakes. Fu Huayang told reporters.
Xiao Zhuqing, who once served as the planning director of Wahaha, said: "As a 'parent', Zong Qinghou is a very humane leader, and if the employees who have worked for more than ten years cannot keep up with the requirements of the company's development position, they will also arrange for the transfer of security guards or warehouse keepers to provide for the elderly. Xiao Zhuqing believes that Zong Qinghou understands that the development of enterprises needs to rely on employees, so he has formulated policies and mechanisms to encourage key employees to invest in new projects or supporting projects of the main business, so that the achievements of Wahaha's development can be shared with employees.
In the 21st century, competition in the beverage industry has intensified. Nongfu Spring, Tong.
1. Yangyuan and other enterprises have risen rapidly to seize the market in various subdivisions such as beverages and packaged water. And Wahaha began to develop more rapidly after this major turmoil, from 88 in 2008400 million yuan, soaring to 327 in 2009700 million yuan. In 2010, Zong Qinghou's wealth rose to 53.4 billion yuan, becoming the richest man in China on the Forbes list, and in 2012, he once again became the first with a wealth of 63 billion yuan.
The spiritual leader of Wahaha
In the early years, Zong Qinghou was a guest on the program of the famous host Lu Yu, and when Lu Yu proposed to Zong Qinghou that "American eggnog can be produced", Zong Qinghou immediately retorted: "That's Australian eggnog, I've drunk it a few times." "People all over the country don't necessarily like it", which is also considered to be Zong Qinghou's very keen insight into the entire beverage industry.
In December 2016, some netizens posted that after meeting Zong Qing in the second-class carriage of the high-speed rail, he was amused by the children in the same carriage; In 2017, some netizens photographed Zong Qing at Wuhan Tianhe International Airport waiting for the plane alone with his suitcase. According to the above-mentioned people and Wahaha's confirmation, Zong Qinghou often goes to various places to investigate the market in person.
In fact, whether it is product or enterprise management, Zong Qinghou personally ended up in the company in every detail. "From the 90s of the 20th century to the beginning of the 21st century, TV advertising is the most important marketing method, although Wahaha has many products, Zongzong will personally control the advertising of each product, and often ask each product to shoot five or six ** for comparison, and personally discuss with Party B how to present TV advertising. Fu Huayang told reporters that every time Zong Qinghou personally discussed the content of the advertisement with the team, and was very patient.
I've never seen Mr. Zong get angry with his employees and partners, and he smiles at everyone. Fu Huayang said, "In my impression, Zong Qinghou is the most typical Confucian businessman. β
According to previous reports, when Zong Qinghou was both chairman and general manager, there was no deputy general manager for a long time, and the "general manager's office" managed the group's functional departments and subordinate branches (provincial branches). This shows that only Zong Qinghou is the decision-maker, and the others are the executors. More than 30 provincial managers in Wahaha's sales network, more than 2,500 first-level wholesalers in the marketing network, and more than 70 branch directors in the production network all report directly to Zong Qinghou.
Zong Fuli once publicly said: "My father has always preferred to go it alone and take charge of the company's affairs like a big parent. At that time, Wahaha had neither a strategy department nor a deputy general manager, and Zong Qinghou served as the chairman and general manager all the year round, and basically all market decisions needed his own board. And the management is also quite dependent on my father, and every day they only wait for the boss to assign tasks to know who is doing what and what should be done. β
In recent years, Wahaha has also continued to launch new products and cross-borders, including children's clothing, milk powder, liquor, shopping malls, etc., but many have not yet made too many waves. "With the progress of China's urbanization, it is difficult for Wahaha's joint sales body to continue to play its advantages. Zhu Danpeng said that the current channel sales system requires the company to provide dealers with a more detailed marketing system and services, so the limitations of the joint sales system began to slowly revealed.
In addition, when the first channel emerged, Nongfu Spring quickly seized the window period and vigorously developed e-commerce channels, creating prerequisites for the emergence of its own large single products. Zong Qinghou once said that for the benefit of dealers, he would not shift the main channel to online.
However, FMCG is an industry where new and old products are rapidly alternating, and most companies in terms of products are made up of the younger generation** to better capture market trends and consumer changes. Sun Wei, a brand marketing consultant at Tsinghua University, believes.
At that time, Zong Qinghou also realized that Wahaha had a lack of innovation ability, and repeatedly told the outside world that Wahaha lacked new main products at this stage. In the 20s of the 21st century, with the rise of Yuanqi Forest, Nongfu Spring has bloomed in many categories, and Wahaha's voice and status in the beverage market have been shaken. Under the wave of sugar-free and low-sugar industries that have emerged in recent years, Wahaha has not yet created a new 10 billion single product.
In this period of twists and turns, Zong Fuli, who has been tempering at the grassroots level for a long time and starting her own business, stood up, walked to the front of the stage, entered the management of Wahaha, and emerged to plan and innovate. In 2018, Zong Fuli served as the head of the brand public relations department of Wahaha Group, and in 2020, Zong Fuli also served as the deputy general manager of Wahaha Group Sales Company. In 2021, Wahaha officially announced that Zong Fuli, the daughter of Zong Qinghou, will be the vice chairman and general manager of Wahaha Group, responsible for daily work.
According to relevant sources, after Zong Fuli took over as general manager, although Zong Qinghou still served as the chairman of Wahaha Group, Zong Qinghou's guidance and participation in the company gradually decreased. In the eyes of the outside world, although Zong Qinghou was still the highest power in Wahaha at that time, as early as when Zong Fuli entered the management of Wahaha, Zong Qinghou was already making preparations for Zong Fuli to take over Wahaha.
The success of the start-up company is inseparable from the courage and persistence of the founder, and the transition of the start-up company to a modern enterprise requires a supporting management system. Brand marketing expert Lu Shengzhen said.
As a pioneer in China's FMCG industry, Zong Qinghou boldly adopted innovative marketing thinking at the beginning of the market economy, created a marketing system that quickly occupied the sinking market, created a number of national-level beverage brands from scratch, and cultivated a group of outstanding entrepreneurs and managers in the FMCG industry. Wahaha has thus become the "Whampoa Military Academy" of Chinese beverages, and Zong Qinghou is a well-deserved godfather of Chinese beverages.
Editor: Li Lin Proofreader: Yan Jingning).