this WeChat public account: letter list (ID: wujicaijing) , author: Tan Xiao Han, the original title: “Chi-Chi Amoy bankruptcy, social electricity supplier avalanche? “, The title map comes From: Oriental IC
At 4 pm on November 19th, Wei Yibo, the co-founder of Mushroom Street and CEO of Weixuan, held the last meeting for Hangzhou employees. That night, employees signed an agreement with the company, and the company was dissolved on the spot.
After receiving the company’s dismissal notice, a former employee who participated in the meeting before the micro-election felt suddenly, he told the alphabet list, before that, he had never heard of rumors that the company was not operating smoothly, “pie brother (Wei Bo’s name is big cake) It took about 10 minutes to talk about Jingdong’s divestment and N + 2 compensation, which was considered a peaceful breakup. ”
Compared to other startups in the field of social e-commerce, micro-selection is lucky in the beginning stage. WeChat was a joint venture established by JD.com and Meili United Group in January last year. It was initially positioned on the WeChat social ecological e-commerce platform. In March of that year, WeChat was launched on the WeChat shopping portal.
However, after less than a year of operation, micro-elections have been strategically downgraded. In February of this year, the micro-selection was lowered at the entrance of JD Shopping Mini Program, and replaced by JD ’s own social e-commerce platform. On September 10th, the main business of micro-selection was adjusted to community group purchase, and the name was also changed to be rare.
Twenty days later, another social e-commerce platform Taojiji ushered in a similarfate. On December 9th, Taoji Ji ’s official Weibo issued a bankruptcy announcement, “Sorry, because the funds were not received on time, we had to declare that Taoji Ji ’s current merger and reorganization failed. The company will then seek Bankruptcy liquidation or bankruptcy reorganization. “
One
On the day when the announcement was issued, dozens of merchants gathered on the 26th floor where Taojiji headquarters was located to continue to ask for the money owed by Taojiji. In the morning, an official who called himself Taojiji came forward with a loud speaker and The merchant communicated. After the merchant asked the founder Zhang Zhengping to come forward, the staff member said, “I can only explain to you, if there is any dissatisfaction and doubt after the explanation, someone will answer it here, and there is a lawyer next to you. After reading the announcement, Do n’t say it, but some people do n’t understand it. If you have n’t seen the announcement, read it for you. You can read the announcement yourself. I ’ll read it for you. ”And read the above announcement.
The previous Taojiji office was located on the 26th and 27th floors of the office building where the headquarters is located. Liji, a merchant of Taojiji, said that the 26th floor had been emptied before and it was specially used to receive merchants who owed money.
Taoji employee Zhuo Jing told the alphabetical list before the company went bankrupt that the company rented a new office area in another location and moved some employees to the new office area, but it was not clear where it was. Colleagues have long been overtime. From December, at 16:30 every day, the company will clear the grounds to let employees leave collectively.
Li Bo said that at the end of October, Taojiji promised some merchants to send 50% of the payment and send a receipt, but he urged dozens of days later and the phone had been blackened by the docking staff. This afternoon, the staff member sent out a circle of friends who left the company, “say goodbye thoroughly! Thank you all the way for cultivation, change your mindset and change your goals.” There are business reviews under this circle of friends, “Harm others.”
Since August, Taojiji has been exposed to arrears of payment by merchants. It was once regarded as a dark horse in the field of social e-commerce. After launching in August 2018, 2The monthly DAU exceeded 5 million, and the number of users reached 100 million in 6 months. Rushing Taojiji fell to the cliff without warning. In September of this year, a number of Taojiji suppliers came to ask for payment, and the platform’s capital chain tended to break. In mid-October, Taojiji ’s official Weibo sent an apology letter signed as Zhang Zhengping, describing the beginning and end of the crisis of the capital chain. At that time, Taojiji gave the merchant an option: Taojiji would sell the company’s assets to a large group company. If it signed an agreement, it would pay the merchant 20% of the debt amount within one month after receiving the paid purchase price. When the remaining debt is postponed until the company’s valuation reaches US $ 2 billion or is listed, the founder Zhang Zhengping and his senior management team will repay it through equity pledge or transfer of equity.
Li Bo told the alphabetical list, Now that the merchants he knows have not received a penny from Taojiji, including those who are owed millions. Li Bo said that because of the money on the platform of Taoji Ji, his wife was near the due date and was not hospitalized, and his wife with a big belly tried to ask Taoji for some debts, but eventually also It failed, but it was treated slightly better than other businesses. There was a separate office and there was no need to be in the smoke-filled reception hall. “The building properties are afraid of pregnant women who have been following the pregnant woman, but Taojiji has no one to take care of her.” According to Li Bo, the pregnant woman couldn’t take it anymore and dared not take any more risks. “Seeing this, we also have to give up, no matter how noisy, it is impossible to get money.”
At the time, Taojiji had more than 700 employees. According to the alphabetical list, by the end of November, the company had less than 600 employees. Some of the resigned employees left on their own initiative and were also laid off. According to the labor contract signed by employees when they joined the company, wages are composed of basic wages, subsidies, and performance. However, in October, the company directly cut off performance wages that accounted for about 20-30% of wages. From beginning to end, the company did not communicate with employees, but just sent a notice saying that the performance pay was cut for the company’s current cash flow considerations, which will resume in November.
Zhuo Jing told the alphabetical list that the last working day of each month is the payday of Taojiji. The salary was delayed one day in October, and the payday is approaching November. The leader will temporarily notify on the afternoon of November 29. Finance When I was about to pay, I found that there was a problem with my account. I will issue it next Wednesday (December 4) , but so far, employees have not Wages to November. The bankruptcy announcement mentioned the treatment plan for November wages. “November wages are reserved, but due to the frozen account on November 28, it cannot be used. If the company is normally bankrupted and liquidated, the law will give priority to settlement of wages. “
Second
Social e-commerce that has fallen off the cliff is not just micro-selection and Tao Jiji. In January of this year, Kunlun Wanwei, a listed company, launched a social e-commerce platform for free goods, but only a few months later, there was no sound. During the Double Eleventh, Hangzhou social e-commerce company The global catcher of Zebra members was spread, and the company later clarified that the chief financial officer transferred the company’s assets, and the indictment alleges that “Zhou, while serving as the chief financial officer of a company in Hangzhou, used the position of comprehensive management of the company’s funds and financial work. The company has repeatedly occupied more than 260 million yuan of company funds for personal gambling. “
Social e-commerce “Head sheep” listed companies gathered in micro-shops, and their development was not smooth. The latest Q3 2019 financial report released by Yunji shows that its total GMV was 9.2 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 69.8%, and its net loss was 51.3 million yuan, a 4.3% year-on-year narrowing. However, this quarter’s total revenue showed a year-on-year decline of 10.1% to 2.7713 billion yuan.
Qiu Wei, a former employee of Yunji, told the alphabetical list that Yunji’s quarterly and half-year results did not meet expectations in the first half of this year, and the personal KPI was directly linked to the company’s GMV completion, which immediately affected the monthly HR mentioned in the recruitment process. Awards, quarterly awards, and salary shares.
Previously, “Zhejiang Business Reference” reported that Yunji was conducting large-scale layoffs, and the number of layoffs was around 20% -30%. A staff member from Yunji told Alphabetical List that recently R & D department in Shenzhen has been carrying out personnel optimization.
Responding to the letter list in terms of cloud gathering, the optimization and adjustment of normal personnel of enterprises is a common phenomenon in various companies, and it is also a normal flow of personnel. Recently, Yunji conducted a talent inventory based on employee performance, in order to provide better development space for outstanding employees, and at the same time made adjustments to non-compliant positions. “We will continue to increase investment in talent.”
“After Yunji went public, the financial requirements became more stringent, and many barbaric and extensive gameplays were not done.” Qiu Wei said, for example, if the salesman’s reward is continued if the previous extensive operation is continued, The investee questioned the flow of expenses.
Qiu Wei analysis, In the past, the core business logic of Yunji was to promote single products and explosion models through a top-down community. This year, Yunji made several adjustments at the strategic level. In the first half of the year, Yunji wanted to copy a Tmall, launch Yunji Mall, introduce many merchants and brands, and expand the product pool, but the model that Yunji used to push models could not keep up with this rhythm. Super Business in LayoutBusiness, launched a gathering of supermarkets.
However, Yunji’s implementation of this strategy is not very firm. After promoting for a period of time, it proactively weakened the supermarket and POP business and streamlined its suppliers. In the first half of this year, Yunji also tried to enter the community group purchase and launched the Yunji shop, but because it was late, it was not too loud.
Yunji said to the letter list that at the beginning of 2019, Yunji upgraded the organizational structure of commodity operations, opened the platform to third parties, launched a mall model, and further strengthened the supply chain through cooperation with more well-known brands. Diversity and improved operational efficiency.
Yunji is also trying to shift its focus to fresh products, especially fruits. An employee from Yunji told the Alphabetical List that in the first half of this year, the company paid special attention to the fruit category. “This year should be a year of stability. Fruit is a high-frequency consumer product. Although it is easy to lose money in fresh produce, customers will not only buy fruit. If they continue to buy cosmetics in the future, it will form a closed loop.”
Compared with Yunji, Taojiji has completely lost the opportunity to adjust trial and error. From the track black horse to the crash, Taojiji’s life cycle is only over one year. A former employee of Taojiji told the Alphabet List that the company’s predecessor, Lightning Price Reduction, was established in 2015, and it was taking the road of mad advertising. Now searching for information about Lightning price cuts, I still can find, “Online shopping APPs, which are mainly based on low price discounts, are madly advertising on Weibo, Today’s Headline, Tencent Video, UC and other mainstream platforms.” In 2018, the company launched Taojiji, a new project, and 90% of its employees went to Taojiji.
Taojiji’s marketing strategy continues the consistent operation of Lightning price reduction. Zhang Zhengping mentioned in the October apology letter, “Taojiji currently has more than 130 million registered users. It is not cheap to get a registered user in the market. Everyone knows that Taojiji does not charge commissions, and the actual loss is All the losses are on the customers. “
Previously reported by Caijing, todayFrom the beginning of the year to mid-October, Taojiji has lost nearly 1.2 billion yuan, with a net loss of 600 million yuan in the first half of the year, a net asset of negative 600 million yuan, and a monthly loss of more than 200 million yuan.
“I can feel that most of the company’s energy at that time was focused on pulling new, but not too much attention to repurchase. There is also a saying in the company, ‘As long as the data is good, money is not a problem.'” said the former employee. .
Three
Social e-commerce companies are collectively plunged into a crisis of operation and growth. This is because of the reasons for problems in their respective company strategies, and it cannot avoid the changes in the overall competition pattern and operating background.
In October of this year, WeChat announced the upgrade of the “WeChat External Link Content Management Specification”. On the 28th of the month, the first day of the formal implementation of the specification, WeChat announced a list of blocked links. The banned content included: Induced downloads / jumps, bargaining groups, paid voting, various forms of friend assistance, bean / chicken / pet breeding games, etc.
From this list, E-commerce platforms, especially social e-commerce, have become the hardest hit areas for WeChat’s external chain operations. Bao Sheng, a social e-commerce practitioner, told the Alphabet List that at present, he hasn’t seen much impact of this specification on the industry, and the chain is still being sent in the community. However, the emergence of this specification has undoubtedly increased the operational difficulty of the extensive WeChat marketing of social e-commerce platforms in the past. At present, the two e-commerce portals of Pinduoduo and Jingxi still occupy important entries in WeChat wallets and WeChat discovery pages. The new Sanctions on WeChat’s external chain are obviously not the target of sanctions. Some social e-commerce companies that do not have thighs are not so lucky. According to Lieyun.com, on July 1, 2019, the social marketplace e-commerce mobile terminal APP was officially launched in the future market, proclaiming “self-purchase to save money and share money”, but its operating model was questioned for suspected MLM behavior. Less than 10 days after going online, its official WeChat public platform was blocked by Tencent for alleged illegal distribution.
Bao Sheng believes that, in general, the end of the social e-commerce project can be divided into three situations, the national policy is greatly adjusted, the capital chain is broken, and the operation is not ideal. This year, the entire industry’s outbreak is still very fast. A lot of related and irrelevant funds are pouring in, and new projects are entering every month. Because of the large amount of capital and the entry of project parties, the industry’s competition is rapidly increasing.
“Multiple platforms and multiple team leaders around me have feedback to me. The project is much more difficult than last year. Some are platforms from the previous two years. It is more and more difficult to bring feedback to existing teams. It is difficult to keep existing team members. Increase, the difficulty of new market expansion is also increasing; some are new projects, customer acquisition growth