Stormwind is coming soon Haier accelerates Internet layout

Haier is a household electrical appliance company that is transforming itself. The storm is a typical Internet company. Haier’s day-to-day channels and services, and storm users, what kind of spark can these two wipe out?


Storm TV wants to create entertainment ecosystem

According to the agreement, the four parties will join forces to create the commander-in-chid Wisdom Company to create Internet TV Storm TV by linking resources in content production, content playback, hardware development, and logistics services.

According to the announcement, Storm Technology and Stormwind Holdings will jointly hold 50% of the shares of the Chief Executive Zhizhizhi, 21% of Shunchi Daily Shares, and 10% of Aofei Animation’s 50 million shares. Holds shares for the joint venture team.

According to reports, Storm Ventures will establish a joint venture with Sunshun. It will operate according to the Internet company model and is expected to have two operation centers in Qingdao and Shenzhen. Among them, the Qingdao Operations Center is responsible for logistics distribution and after-sales services; the Shenzhen Operations Center is responsible for content operations and communication marketing.

In April 2015, the joint venture company was transferred from the vice president of the color TV division of the Skyworth Group to the “transfer”, and the current CEO of the color TV CEO Liu Yaoping leads the way. "A new team is responsible for the manufacture, sales, and operation of Storm TV." Zhou Yunjie, CEO of Haier Group, told the China Business Daily that the daily junshun is an open platform to welcome all brands. The cooperation with Storm is a strong one. User base. The most important thing for Internet brands is users. The number of active users of Storm Video has exceeded 50 million and registered users of 300 million. This is the strong user stickiness of Storm TV.

Why did you choose Sunshun? Feng Xin said that it mainly focused on the daily circulation of more than 10,000 outlets and 17,000 community service centers throughout the country. "Now Internet TV brands are actually many. Manufacturing is not a problem, but channels and services It is a big problem. It is difficult for latecomers who have accumulated advantages over the years in traditional enterprises to catch up in a short time."

According to the cooperation expectation, Storm Media's "Storm Video" is one of the mainstream video players in China. Storm Technology itself also has certain content resources; Ao Fei Animation has animation resources; Haier Electronics will use the advantages of Riy Shun's channels to assist in sales. "TV. In this way, a complete industrial chain of content production, content playback, production and manufacturing, sales and distribution, and after-sales services is formed to create an entertainment ecosystem.

"From cooperation to a joint venture, this became a distinctive feature of this year's Internet TV industry," said Dong Min, general manager of AVC's Black Power Division. The cooperation is based on the demands of both parties: On the one hand, as the domestic color TV market enters a downturn The sales and profits of traditional TV makers have been growing more difficult. On the other hand, Internet companies have been inspired by LeTV to use their own advantages to cut into color TV terminals to better grasp the entrance of user traffic.

In the past two years, cooperation in the field of smart TV has been frequent, for example, TCL has joined hands with iQiyi to launch TV+, Skyworth Cool Open and Ali to build Ali TV. Dong Min believes that traditional TV plants are pursuing direct sales growth; while Internet companies are concerned about traffic imports, not TV sales, there will be differences in cooperation. Therefore, the search for deep-seated capital cooperation has become a priority. Once joint ventures, television plants and Internet companies will form a true community of interests.

Or into the pattern of three countries

The news of cooperation has surprised many people in the industry. Millet and LeTV may not just be accidents. The two companies are facing fierce battles and suddenly storm the storm TV. Will the stage of the three countries fight for hegemony?

Feng Xin also generously acknowledged that the benchmark brand of Stormwind TV is LeTV and Xiaomi. "I believe that every TV is an Internet TV soon, but at present, there is no one leading brand, and it can represent an industry like Coca-Cola. The brand has not yet emerged and the storm still has a chance."

The launch of LeTV and Xiaomi TV is to take advantage of the general trend of the Internet and quickly launch the new darling of the market in the difficult time of the transformation of traditional household appliances. But still far from success.

According to the data, in 2014, the sales volume of smart TVs from Chinese TV manufacturers was 31.1 million units, which was deemed as 1.5 million units, and millet only had 300,000 units, which was in stark contrast to the explosion of Xiaomi's mobile phones.

For LeTV, the sales volume is also not satisfactory, after the traditional household electrical appliance enterprises Hisense, TCL, Skyworth, Changhong, etc., the sales volume is less than one-fifth of Hisense, and even more critical is that LeTV is still losing money to earn money. stage. According to estimates by industry insiders, LeTV sells a loss of about RMB 400 per unit, and last year its loss from the Tianjin production plant reached more than RMB 300 million. This year it is expected to lose more.

For Xiaomi, “The positioning of Xiaomi’s mobile phones is mainly for young people under 25 years of age. Generally speaking, it is necessary to buy TV for wedding decoration and house decoration. The customer population of Xiaomi’s mobile phone cannot be effectively converted”, analyst of home appliance industry Liang Zhenpeng believes, Xiaomi Mobile By EMS, express can be, but different televisions need delivery, installation, need to establish their own logistics, after sales and other channels.

It is fancy to these millet, music, as these soft underbelly, Storm TV is coming. Compared to millet and LeTV channels, Storm TV is undoubtedly more superior.

"Although millet and LeTV have their first-mover advantage, their TV business is relatively independent and their strength is not strong. On the contrary, the storm has a late-stage advantage, and through cooperation with traditional household appliance giants, it has significant competitive advantages in logistics, channels, etc." An analysis of a person of the Wanwei home network said.

According to public information, the daily Sunsun Store Marketing Network boasts 30,000 experience stores and 17,000 community service centers in the community service network, which clearly exceed LePar's existing 500 experience stores and Xiaomi's existing 100-plus experience stores.

According to Liu Yaoping, the new helm, there will not be more than 5 Internet TV brands in the future. The conditions for real Internet TV companies should be "3+2 model", 3 namely, supply chain, logistics services, and experience stores; 2 Massive Internet users and Internet brands. The front "3" is exactly the advantage of Storm TV.

From the perspective of the future strategic layout, LeTV will use television as the starting point, and the hardware will be extended to mobile phones, televisions, and automobiles to create closed loops in the ecological chain. Xiaomi extends from the mobile phone to the overall layout of the smart home industry chain such as TVs, air purifiers, and smart air conditioners. Stormwind TV is a complete industrial chain combining four corporate resources in content production, content playback, production and manufacturing, sales and distribution, and after-sales services, creating entertainment ecosystems in different ways, but without exception, all through their own networks. The platform sells TVs at a low price, and subsequent revenues come from content and services.

LeTV video is unique in content, and Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun also stated that it will use $1 billion to complete the content shortcomings. The content and procurement of copyright are not dominant in the storm. Therefore, at the press conference, Liu Yaoping also mentioned Hua Dian, Galaxy and other licensees arrived.

"It is obviously not enough to rely on the licensee to complete the content short board." Liang Zhenpeng bluntly stated that storm technology belongs to the second-line video site. There is still a clear gap between Youku and iQiyi. The future is not very optimistic.

It is understood that before the storm, LeTV, Youku, Iqiyi and PPTV, PPS and other video sites have long been involved in the Internet TV field, storm technology is regarded as the last "incoming" of the mainstream video site. In other words, when Storm TV is released, it will face strong pressure from Xiaomi and LeTV. "Internet TV was a blue ocean before 2013. Two years later, Storm TV has actually missed the best chance to enter the military." Liang Zhenpeng told reporters , And Internet TV did not reach the industry outbreak period, the market growth in the next two years is limited.

In any case, the birth of Storm TV, household appliances market will inevitably lead to a new round of bloody hurricane, of course, whether the storm Haier can break the existing smart home appliance field, in the contest with Xiaomi, Leshi, etc. can account for Excellent, it still takes time to verify.

Haier's "black power" ambition

For Haier to enter the Internet TV industry through Stormwind TV, it is not only an extension of Haier's Internet distribution strategy, but also a breakthrough for its black-box industry.

An industry insider familiar with Haier revealed to reporters that the cooperation with Storm Science and Technology is Haier’s daily merchandise, not Haier’s entire television business. He told reporters that Haier Electric Appliances holds only the Haier’s commander’s name in its hands, positioning itself at the low end. The Haier brand is still in the hands of Qingdao Haier.

It is understood that "the commander-in-chief zhizhijia" is Haier's new company established for the cooperation in June and has taken over the entire business, assets and personnel of the "commander" of the Haier sub-brand.

CICC analyst He Wei told reporters that through the transfer of a controlling interest in the "commander-chief zhijia", Haier is expected to receive an investment income of 230 million yuan, after Haier also sold a 10% stake in the water purification company. The act of transferring control of emerging businesses shows Haier’s strategic thinking in seeking value cooperation and cultivating emerging businesses. "This will also maximize the company's daily advantage of channeling and promote the growth of the participating shares in emerging businesses." He Wei said.

The reporter’s review of Haier’s 2014 annual report shows that Haier’s main “commander” and “Haier” TV business is under the banner of Haier’s commander-in-chief Wisdom, who is responsible for Haier’s “commander” brand television business. In 2014, it sold 410,000 units, belonging to the third line. Brand; Haier Group's "Haier" brand TV sold 3.51 million units in 2014. It belongs to the second-tier brand and is currently working closely with Ali to promote Alibaba Cloud TV.

The above-mentioned industry sources told reporters that both parties will also set up a joint venture company to do television in the future. "In the future, Haier will focus on Alibaba Cloud TV. Ali will give it more resources and form a joint force."

Haier’s recent action in the TV industry does not stop there. On June 18th, Qingdao Haier and the Oriental Pearl [0.00% Capital Research] new media participated in the private placement of Zhaochi Co., Ltd. [0.00% Funds Research Report] to subscribe for 371 million yuan. , which accounted for 1.58% of the shares. Siu Chi shares are well-known color TV OEM companies in the industry and Haier's major suppliers. Oriental Pearl New Media has a wealth of license resources and is a first-line video company. Qingdao Haier will use its own daily channel to assist in the promotion of TV joint ventures.

"This shows that Haier has increasingly recognized its unique logistics and channel advantages, and maximized its effectiveness, and in the field of Internet TV before a good game." He Wei said.

In fact, Haishun’s channel integration service providers have a clear advantage in Japan and Japan, especially in the third and fourth-tier markets that are difficult for traditional e-commerce companies to reach. In 19 years, Haier has 32,000 stores at all levels. Among them, there are more than 9,000 counties and more than 20,000 townships. In addition, there are more than 3,000 daily merchandise stores.

Sunshun also brought huge income to Haier. Haier’s financial report shows that its 2014 revenue was 67.13 billion yuan. Of which, the revenue from channel integrated service business reached 62.233 billion yuan, accounting for 92.7% of the total.

However, in Haier with obvious advantages in channel construction, there are still obvious shortcomings. One thing that has to be admitted is that although Haier has repeatedly deployed gold, such as mobile phones, computers, color TVs, etc., for many years, Haier is still a white person. enterprise.

In Liang Zhenpeng's view, Haier's advantages and disadvantages are very obvious: the advantages in the channel construction, after-sales service, brand building and other aspects, the disadvantages are in technology research and development, user deep experience and so on.

"Such as white areas such as refrigerators and air conditioners, the technological innovation has been unhappy for many years, and more changes in appearance, style, etc.; while the color TV industry has experienced the replacement of 2K-4K-8K, CRT-plasmon-OLED, etc. Such changes are more than a year," Liang Zhenpeng said, the field of white electricity is more like a traditional machinery manufacturing industry, and mobile phones, computers and even television are more like IT products. After building a brand, building a good channel, and doing a good job of after-sales, you will find that Haier's thinking is still the thinking of traditional machine manufacturing.

This kind of thinking has not only made Haier's channel a success, but also has become a major cause of the collapse of mobile phones, computers, and televisions. "Haier Commander and Storm Technology are not the first-line brands in their field. If we do not fundamentally change this traditional thinking, it will be difficult for Haier TV and even the black-box industry to make big breakthroughs," said Liang Zhenpeng.