In the past, as the actual controller, I may not have been meticulous and comprehensive enough about the standards and requirements of the team. Whether it's from the financial dimension, or from the business dimension, it's not so detailed. ”
On February 2, at the headquarters of Metersbonwe (hereinafter referred to as "Meibang" or "Meibang Apparel") in Pudong New Area, Shanghai, Zhou Chengjian, the founder of the company, was interviewed by **Times E Company.
Unexpectedly, Zhou Chengjian first apologized for the current situation of Meibang. "I want to apologize to the society, that is, the risk control has not been done well, whether I have served as the legal representative and chairman of the board of directors in the past, from the legal relationship, the actual controller will bear the risk responsibility of the enterprise. ”
In the next nearly 2 hours of communication, Zhou Chengjian "did not refuse to come" to the questions thrown by **. He responded to his daughter's resignation and his comeback, to Meibang's frequent assets**, to the mistakes made by Meibang in the past ten years, and to Meibang's next development plan.
Even to the question "Is there still salvation for Meibang?" With such a straightforward question, Zhou Chengjian also responded with a sense of humor, "Of course there is salvation, if Meibang doesn't save you, will you still come?" ”
Zhou Chengjian, founder of Metersbonwe).
Talking about comeback: I know more about the ** chain
Zhou Chengjian is the founder of Metersbonwe. In 2016, Zhou Chengjian resigned as chairman and president of the company, and was succeeded by his daughter Hu Jiajia. Seven years later, in the midst of the crisis in the United States, Zhou Chengjian chose to stand in front of the stage again.
In January this year, Meibang Apparel (002269) announced that Zhou Chengjian took over the position of chairman and president of the company, and Hu Jiajia, the former chairman and president, resigned. Before this announcement, Zhou Chengjian has returned to the front line in 2023 and participated in the work of Metersbonwe.
Zhou Chengjian explained why he chose to return at this time around the problems of Metersbonwe in the first chain and products.
After all, my daughter is a young man, and he must understand the new era better than me, but he may not have enough experience in the industry and the ** chain. The industrial chain is a very important, even very critical link in the next step to deal with new retail. Zhou Chengjian said.
To make a good product, it requires not only standardized and planned management, but also professional practical experience to manage. Based on this underlying logic, after thinking about it, I discussed it with my daughter and didn't embarrass her. The company was facing such a big challenge at the moment, so she came behind the scenes to help me, and I rushed to the front desk. Zhou Chengjian said that he may not be able to do better than his daughter, but he will do his best.
Zhou Chengjian was born as a tailor, "I also told the team that we should reawaken the same entrepreneurial spirit as 30 years ago, and sew every piece of clothing with a needle and a thread." Focus on consumer demands to do a good job of products, good quality, and good experience. As for the result, do your best to obey the destiny of heaven. ”
Assets are just an emergency
In the past period, one of the important initiatives of Metersbonwe has been to recoup funds through asset disposal.
In November 2023, Metersbonwe disclosed that the amount of liabilities such as loans, notes payable, and loans due to operating pressure in the past few years exceeded 10 billion yuan, and the group alleviated the debt pressure through asset realization and equity realization, and achieved a significant reduction in debt.
Relying on assets ** is certainly not a long-term solution, this is an emergency. Zhou Chengjian said frankly that at present, the core of the company is still to grasp the problem of risk control, how to use the original construction of the digital underlying system capabilities, the basic risk control, this is the current requirements, is also gradually implemented.
Metersbonwe's new headquarters).
Zhou Chengjian said that the company has also raised a certain amount of funds through the disposal of assets some time ago, and hopes to use the existing funds to support future development.
Metersbonwe's most recent asset** disclosure announcement was on December 29, 2023. The company intends to take 1700 million yuan of **, the store held in the middle of Times Square, Shengli Road, Donghu District, Nanchang, Jiangxi Province; With 60 million yuan of **, the shop held by it is located at No. 48, Kangjian Middle Road, Xinzhou District, Shangrao, Jiangxi.
We don't have so many assets, so I hope to keep the assets that we don't have, and use the assets that have been used to do a good job in the future. I hope so, of course, if someone makes a good **, it can still be sold, and it can be bought back if it is sold. Zhou Chengjian said.
In the past, Metersbonwe attracted market attention to some first-class shops and star stores.
Zhou Chengjian said that it was difficult to turn cash into assets in the past, but now it is not easy to realize assets, so it is really possible for someone to make a good **, "We don't want to be based on feelings, feelings have to pay huge costs, we (assets) have commercial value, why don't people sell them if they are reasonable?" ”
Meibang Apparel recently announced its 2023 annual performance forecast, and it is expected that the company will achieve a profit of 59 million yuan to 85 million yuan, a year-on-year turnaround. However, due to the importance of its profits, the company expects to deduct non-net profit losses of more than 3500 million yuan.
Right now, the transformation of the company requires a lot of capital, and the ** assets are not sustainable. Zhou Chengjian told reporters that the company has contracted its organization, market and business for more than three years, and this year it should enter the business system that generates a positive cash flow cycle after the contraction, and use the business cycle to solve the cash problem, "This is our better idea and willingness, and we will work hard in this direction." ”
Reflection: In the past, not enough style innovation has been done
As a former national brand, Metersbonwe once had a high reputation and recognition among young consumers. After the comeback, how to win back the former consumers is a difficult problem in front of Zhou Chengjian.
It's hard to reawaken consumers. Zhou Chengjian said. But he also believes that through the analysis of market data, Meibang still has a competitive advantage in the market, that is, brand awareness. "Everyone's awareness of the five words of Metersbonwe is very high. This is an advantage that is definitely different from the white card today. ”
In an interview with reporters, although Zhou Chengjian said many times, "Don't mention historical things", he still summed up what Meibang has done wrong and what has done right in the past ten years.
For example, for stores, Zhou Chengjian said that the past 5,000 offline stores are actually the core competitiveness of Meibang, "but unfortunately, at that time, we attached too much importance to direct sales and converted some franchise stores into direct sales, which is actually very bad, and we are destroying ourselves." ”
Referring to the company's clothing style, Zhou Chengjian said, "Looking back, we have not done enough innovation in style, and the change in product style is very prominent. ”
Zhou Chengjian mentioned some mistakes in the past in jackets, down jackets, jeans and other categories. "For example, last year's hottest jacket, Meibang was originally called windproof clothing, and it sold windproof clothing in the fall. In the past two years, there have been several white labels that have been very successful, and Meibang has them, and even our historical data has sold relatively well. But we haven't done it for the last 10 years. ”
There are also down jackets that haven't been done in the past 10 years. When Meibang's sales of more than 10 billion yuan in 2012 (the financial report showed that the revenue of that year was about 9.5 billion yuan), 40% of the revenue came from down jackets, and the recognition of Meibang's down jackets was very high. But in the past 10 years, we haven't done much in the down jacket category, and the proportion is getting lower and lower, so we haven't studied it seriously. Zhou Chengjian sighed.
Based on the reflection and combing of past problems, Zhou Chengjian concluded that in the future, Meibang should return to function, diversity and comfort, and open up these dimensions. "The next step for the Meibang brand is to create functional (referring to functional products), diversified and comfortable trendy products, comfortable trendy lifestyles, and reshape the brand based on the underlying logic. ”
Refactoring the chain
Since his comeback, Zhou Chengjian has mentioned the most about the company's ** chain problem. On January 29, Zhou Chengjian issued an open letter to all the company's top businessmen, in which he mentioned that although the company has invested about 3 billion yuan in the past three years, consumers still evaluate the company's products as ugly and expensive. Abnormal product quality, abnormal cost, and abnormal delivery time are the core reasons for the company's losses over the years. Zhou Chengjian mentioned that Meibang will reintegrate ** resources.
As for why there is such a reflection, Zhou Chengjian said that the reason is that the company missed the traffic brought by the national tide in October last year, "In October last year, we did a Douyin live broadcast in Hangzhou, and the number of people in the live broadcast room was very small at the beginning, but then the national tide rose, and it went up all of a sudden, and the live broadcast room was 40,000 to 50,000 people during the peak period." ”
But unfortunately, Meibang's ** chain did not keep up with this wave of craze in time. "At that time, all of our ** chain solutions were based on a single offline consumption scenario, and when they arrived online, they were sold out in one minute as soon as they were loaded. Zhou Chengjian said regretfully, "That wave (traffic) conversion did not reach (expectations), if there was a prior understanding at that time, and the first chain of new retail was prepared, I think the performance may explode." ”
In the face of the first-class chain problem, Zhou Chengjian proposed to use digital management to ensure quality, cost and efficiency. But in the short term, it is not easy to achieve the desired results.
In response to the question of "what is the biggest difficulty that the company is still facing", Zhou Chengjian once again said that the current reconstruction of the company's new retail capabilities and the capacity reconstruction of the new retail chain is a very difficult thing.
This year, we will introduce more professional training companies and professional consulting management companies to help us and let us get into the state faster, which is the direction we are actively working towards. Zhou Chengjian said.
Interview Notes: Metersbonwe in the spotlight
The interview took place at Metersbonwe's new headquarters. Before Zhou Chengjian arrived, the company's employees first put a huge fill light on him. This owner, like the Metersbonwe brand, is always in the spotlight.
Metersbonwe is a brand with a high profile. The company used to be brilliant, with an annual revenue of about 10 billion yuan at its peak, but now Meibang is in a crisis. It takes courage to speak out in such a situation. But Zhou Chengjian did not shy away from the questions thrown by reporters.
The survival of Meibang** assets has been widely reported. Although Zhou Chengjian hoped to keep the remaining assets, he also responded with a smile that he could sell at the right price. Meibang's clothing style and ** were complained about, Zhou Chengjian reflected, there was little style innovation, but the style changed a lot, and the company's path was reversed.
The market for jackets and down jackets is on fire, and Meibang has had advantages in these categories, but it has not been sustained. Zhou Chengjian reflected on the wasted opportunities on jackets and down jackets, and there was no lack of regret in his words.
In the past few years, the industry has developed with each passing day, new sales methods, sales channels, and consumer preferences have changed rapidly, which is a test for Metersbonwe, and it is a challenge for Zhou Chengjian, who has re-emerged.
Zhou Chengjian, who is nearly 60 years old, admitted that he doesn't understand a lot of words such as new retail, live broadcast e-commerce, and content e-commerce. Listening to the live broadcast by yourself is also "two eyes and one black", which is the same as young people doing ** chains, which is very challenging. But he signed up for the training course, took the training class, and "learned a lot".
The process of a brand's decline is painful, especially when there are contrasts. Some people mentioned their peers such as Shein and Anta. Zhou Chengjian said that Meibang is not Shein, nor is it Anta. "More than ten years ago, Meibang may have a higher status than Anta today, but now we see Anta as a high-end company, and I am also very envious, but I am not jealous at all. I also hope that Meibang will have the opportunity to achieve the good of that stage again. ”
In recent years, a number of domestic clothing brands have declined, and some have completely disappeared. But there are also some brands that rely on solid quality, design, and embrace emerging sales channels to win the favor of consumers. Metersbonwe's "give it a go" is also worth looking forward to.
Editor-in-charge: Zhang Qianyao Proofreader: Gao Yuan.
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