From the nine square meters store to the first share of children's wear, see how the grassroots chairman makes the reality surpass the dream.

An Nai's Chairman Cao Yu accepts an interview with Panorama Business School

In 1993, when Cao Yu went to Shenzhen to find a job, only a friend who helped the stock earned 2000 yuan. Since then, he has barely conducted stock operations.

In Bagua Ling, sweeping the floor and posting resumes, often being driven out by a family; for a two-dollar lunch, add up to a few peppers and eggs. In the days when I couldn't find a job, Cao Yu also felt that Shenzhen, a big one, couldn't accommodate such a small self.

"After a college student arrives here, you find that you are not awkward. You are looking for a job like a beggar. I feel very good and mature slowly."

At that time, because there was no money, Cao Yu did not dare to return to his hometown for several years. The biggest dream at the time was to earn millions, buy a house, and have a car. However, after more than 20 years, Cao Yu achieved far more than the original dream.

On June 1, 2017, Cao Yu and his founder, Wang Jianqing, officially landed in the Chinese capital market with Annai Children's Wear. The first Chinese children's wear was born on the day of Children's Day, and everything seems coincidental but it seems quite meaningful.

Cao Yu (first from left) is listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange

At present, many of the first-line children's wear brands in the Chinese market are children's wear series of adult brands and sports brands. Many children's wear groups also have many fine molecular brands. Annel is one of the few companies that focus on children's wear and is only a single brand.

"To achieve today, the heart is still relatively simple. I think that this piece of children is my position, I will not go to women's clothing, I will not go to stocks, nor do real estate. I feel more fulfilled and The thing that is satisfied is that I will always do one thing, do it very well, and have been doing it for a long time."

Annai spokesperson Jia Nailiang attended the listing ceremony

Imitating the business world, running the sales of the couple's shop, and accumulating the first pot of gold

Cao Yu’s first job in Shenzhen was at an electronics factory in Nanyou. At the beginning, the monthly salary was only 600 yuan. Every day, testing products on the processing line, writing reports, and doing quality management, Cao Yu feels very fulfilled.

"I feel that it is a process of being settled. I want to survive. I can at least fall down here. Which company can give me a salary, even 600 yuan, 800 yuan, 1,000 yuan, give me a place to live."

In 1994, Cao Yu’s university teacher Wang Jianqing also graduated from Shenzhen to Shenzhen to do fashion design. Wang Jianqing came with the Shenzhen Hukou indicator, which was a very bad thing in the 1990s. Although Cao Yu’s monthly salary had already reached 1,000 yuan, his career had not really started, and his girlfriend’s excellent conditions and conditions made him feel pressured.

Photo of Cao Yu’s working hours in Shenzhen

At that time, Cao Yu’s favorite reading was inspirational books. Through reading, he cheered himself and found his way in confusion.

"Li Ka-shing and Zeng Xian-yin have the greatest influence on me. After I saw these books, I began to analyze. I said that I should start to contact the market from sales, because I saw that they all do this. (Zeng Xianyu) is selling clothes and selling ties along the street. Dry up, Li Ka-shing is doing plastic flowers. I will discuss with my wife, I will definitely not be able to earn a thousand dollars to do so. She said that we graduated from the predecessor of Donghua University, we started from clothing, clothing The basis is relatively low, it is easier to get up, I can say it, but I don't understand clothing at all."

If you don't understand, everything starts from scratch. Cao Yu found a men's shirt company. On the night before the interview, under the guidance of Wang Jianqing, he temporarily hugged the cotton, cotton, hemp, wool, 21 yarns, 32 yarns and other textile professional terms, and finally failed because of lack of experience.

"I am not willing, call again, and ran over to say if I can give me a chance. I said that I don't understand much, but I will learn it with my heart. He was moved by my sincerity, the male shirt company, look. You are quite honest."

In this way, Cao Yu obtained the access permit for the apparel industry. Subsequently, he went to the underwear company to make purchases. In 1996, Cao Yu worked as a sales manager in a women's wear company, while Wang Jianqing did design in a children's wear business. At this time, a relative of Cao Yu decided to invest in entrepreneurship and found Cao Yu and his wife who had experience in clothing industry.

"My wife suggested to do women's clothing. I analyzed it. The women's clothing competition is too big. At that time, the children's clothing was completely blank. There was no brand. At that time, the brand only had Mickey Mouse. I think this is a good market. You can try to enter, then just The world of women opened the first, others invested, we have no money, and 20,000 yuan is our original capital."

The world of women is located in the prosperous Huaqiang North Commercial Street in Shenzhen. The children's clothing store of Cao Yu and Wang Jianqing is on the second floor. There are only nine square meters of storefronts, and the rent for the shop is five or six thousand dollars per month. At the beginning, they only had 20,000 yuan in liquidity and had to deal with purchases, rents and other daily expenses. Despite the pressure on the capital, Cao Yu decided to set up the shop in the women's world from the very beginning. What he saw was the huge consumption power brought by the crowds here.

“I sold seven or eight hundred dollars on the first day of opening. At the most, I didn’t expect that a small shop would sell one or two thousand dollars a day. When I was busy, I didn’t eat from morning till night.”

Cao Yu’s first store in the women’s world

Catch up with the gap in the development of the domestic children's wear market, coupled with Wang Jianqing's ability to pick and choose, the ingenuity, a large number of foreign trade orders in their store can always be tailored with new tricks, the couple's clothing store business is getting better and better Red fire. In the first year of opening, the net profit of children's clothing stores is several hundred thousand. The first bucket of gold accumulated so fast, which Cao Yu did not expect.

Market behavior forced the brand to create a self-employed couple to transform into an entrepreneur

Speaking of Anna's children's wear, in addition to comfortable fabrics and exquisite tailoring, its brand image - the embarrassing bunny logo and mascot also sprouted the hearts of many young mothers. The logo that Anel now uses is from the hand of Chen Shaohua, one of the emblems of the Beijing Olympic Games. The two small rabbits outlined by the simple lines, erect their ears and kiss each other, adding infinite affinity to the brand. Cao Yu said that this means that parents and children are dependent and guarded, and that Annai is active and energetic.

In the husband and wife stage, Cao Yu did not think about the brand. The fact that Annai began to design the brand was a reaction to market behavior, and Cao Yu’s previous channels and perceptions of doing business played a key role here.

In 1999, by chance, Cao Yu met a mall manager who had known the sales team before. As the mall just had a brand to withdraw, the manager invited Cao Yu’s children’s clothing store to settle in.

"After entering the mall, it is formal. To register a company and register a brand, you can get in with these things. You can't get in. We need to find a logo. However, we don't even have a computer, and the design company can't afford it. Later, my wife found a VIP card company with a computer, and found a few pictures on the computer to do it." Although the image of the Annai bunny changed almost recently, it has always used the inspiration of Wang Jianqing at the beginning of the brand. And meaning.

On September 20, 2001, Cao Yu and Wang Jianqing established the Year of the Fur clothing and began small-scale recruitment. The two also changed from self-employed to entrepreneurs. From 2001 to 2009, the year-old clothing entered a period of rapid development. As of 2009, the number of children's wear stores directly affiliated to and affiliated to the market has reached 900, with sales exceeding 200 million.

Group photo of Cao Yu and Wang Jianqing

"The whole China's clothing industry is the same time, it is the vent. You see all the sports brands now, which one is not a few hundred a year. At that time, as long as you open a store, you can make money, just earn more Earn less, open a few stores. At that time we expanded and expanded, anyway, which mall opened, saying that you are good, come on. Let's design a map, then drive in."

Grab the wind and taste the e-commerce sweetness is still optimistic about the future offline shopping mall entity

Relevant statistics show that in 2008, although the Chinese economy was affected by the financial crisis, e-commerce has achieved contrarian growth, with a growth rate of 97.9% and a transaction size of 81.23 billion yuan. At the beginning, Cao Yu did not understand e-commerce, nor did he notice the momentum of its rapid growth. Later, I heard that there is a Shenzhen children's wear brand. On the same day, she did 2 million business on the day of the double eleven. Cao Yu immediately went to the name of Taobao University.

"I want to collect the word from the morning to the afternoon. I think this word is hard to remember. The teacher wants to take the test. In the morning, I talked for a long time. There are several promotion methods, and I forgot it in the afternoon."

Cao Yu still remembers the Taobao class. The teacher told the owner of the entity that the Internet company had completed the industry for more than ten years in three years. "I said this is a hassle. We don't know what young people like, it's awkward."

After completing the course, Cao Yu took a few employees and ran his head and groped for Taobao. The first time to participate in the cost-effective, the crazy degree of sales made Cao Yu open his eyes.

"The first time I made a big deal was a coat sweater. I prepared a few thousand pieces at the time. Can I say that this can be sold? On an event, one day, I didn’t expect to go up, it didn’t take long to sell it. I said that this thing is too god, we are out of stock, and the cowboys that were stocked many years ago are really more than a thousand camouflage and sold."

Although not the first to do e-commerce, but with the accumulation of offline and the hard work of the latecomers, Annai quickly stood out on the new e-commerce platform. In the double 11 event of Tmall Mall in 2014-2016, the flagship store of Annai ranked sixth, seventh and fifth respectively in the sales ranking of children's wear and parent-child category stores.

"The earliest time was very exaggerated. I was going to meet with Tmall Xiao Er. I couldn’t see it for hours at the door. But then, their second child came to our company, now they are directly with our company. Talking about the annual plan. The development speed of these two years is also very fast, we have increased the Internet e-commerce."

Cao Yu gradually figured out the commercial nature of e-commerce, and also strengthened his belief in doing business. Cao Yu said that many Amoy brands have achieved rapid growth in a short and fast way, but they still have fatal weaknesses compared with offline brands, mainly in terms of brand precipitation and supply chain, which is related to product quality and production stability. It also directly affects the confidence of consumers.

“I have done customer research and asked some mothers. If you don’t see this brand in the store, would you buy it on the e-commerce? Almost everyone can’t answer, so she feels about the store, I think it’s A foundation."

As of the end of 2016, the Anel retail network basically achieved coverage of the national market.

According to the prospectus, in 2014, 2015 and 2016, the sales revenue of the Annai e-commerce channel accounted for 11.77%, 16.82% and 24.32% of the main business income respectively. It is not difficult to see that despite the rapid growth of e-commerce, currently in the sales channels of Annai, offline entities are still the largest and most profitable. Cao Yu’s mind is also clearly sorted out for the future profit growth expectations of several major channels.

“The fastest development is e-commerce, with a growth rate of more than 50%; physical stores are divided into two categories, one is traditional department stores, and the other is shopping centers. Our shopping malls are growing at a very fast rate, 30%. 40%; physical stores, the traditional will be flat, there is a slight decline in joining this piece."

I only have children's products for a lifetime and there is a 2046 agreement with Annai.

Since 2010, the Chinese children's wear industry has seen very interesting changes in the words of Cao Yu. In the big environment, Annai is under pressure from “internal and external troubles”.

“Probably from 2000 to 2010, all companies are doing one thing to increase the price. You only need to increase the price, so you can sell it. The price has been going up. What was the biggest problem at that time? Our price is too low. At that time, I thought that foreign brands were so good, the shopping mall always gave us pressure, your price was low, and you went to the (market counter)."

Domestically, due to the fierce competition in adult clothing, many companies have come in a rush and want to share a piece of blue water in children's wear. For example, the Senma Group has developed the Balla Balla children's wear brand, and sports brands such as Li Ning have also begun to add children's wear series.

“Before 2010, you just opened a store and only considered increasing the problem by 30% or 50% every year. But at that time, it felt that the growth was a bit difficult. After many competitors came in, there would be such pressure.”

For the market environment, Cao Yu has a clear understanding. He also has a clear plan for the positioning of Anna.

"I don't think most of them don't want to be children's wear all the time. Everyone sees this coming in. When the competition here reaches a certain level, everyone has to go to a new field. And I am a very capable person. I think that this part of the child is my position. I take it as a child, I am careful. I believe that after many years, I will see the watershed again, so I feel that I am doing something with my heart and concentration. Especially worried about others."

Cao Yu and Li Yapeng jointly painted the "Love Tree" in the opening ceremony of "The Temperature Grows Together"

In the face of the surging market, Cao Yu’s persistence and intention are also the steady development of An Nai. According to the statistics of the China Business Federation, in the ranking of the sales of children's wear products of large-scale retail enterprises in the country, Anna's comprehensive market share ranked fourth, ranking in three aspects: domestic brands, non-sports brands and large children's clothing categories. two. In March 2016, the “Annel” brand was awarded the title of “The Top Ten Children's Wear Brands in China” by the China Garment Association.

With the liberalization of the two-child policy and the growing number of younger generations becoming parents, the proportion of the future children's industry in the family, in addition to the increase in quantity, is qualitatively improved. Today's children don't wear the same clothes as before, usually, weekends, sleep, parties, and every occasion has a lot of attention. Despite the rapid growth of the market and the gradual establishment of brand loyalty, the current concentration of China's children's wear industry is relatively low, and the market share of leading brands is only 3%. For the first-line children's wear brand, the future market is still promising. The first stock of children's wear settled in Anna, which is the best reward for the capital market for its 21-year deep focus on the children's wear market, and also injected a strong impetus for its future diversification in the children's market.

Cao Yu said that the future positioning of Anna's focus on the children's market will not change, but the product category will be steadily expanded while ensuring the main business. In the children's wear enterprise, talent reserve and management precipitation are very important. Compared with the large-scale expansion, Cao Yu advocates internal cultivation, such as cross-border IP cooperation and hiring young designers to enhance the brand's fashion, and to accumulate enough to step by step.

“We also made home clothes last year. This growth is also very fast. We launched shoes in 2017, but our current positioning is mainly used for accessories and schools. Children’s related products, including toiletries, are very good. Business."

Many years ago, Cao Yu proposed an "2046 vision" to Anna, and hoped that when Anel was founded 50 years ago, it would be a mainstream brand active in the Chinese children's wear market.

"Ma Yunding is 102 years, big man. I think first, I am certainly not so ambitious; the second point I think is very important, I can't live that day. But 2046 is still possible, that year I In my 70s, I thought that when I was older, I saw these two little rabbits still, and they were very healthy."

Cao Yu (5th from right) took part in the donation ceremony of the Annai Love Ward

In an interview with Jingjing Business School, Cao Yu came down from the chair and politely and every staff member on the scene shook hands. Cao Yu’s talk is modest and introverted, but his thoughts are full of wisdom and positive energy. Cao Yu likes to mix in the staff to eat together. Perhaps because of this, the team of executives of Annai is particularly easy-going, and the culture of the founders has penetrated into the corporate culture.

Cao Yu in life likes to travel in a simple fashion, and 90% of her daughter's clothes come from a comfortable brand.

"I prefer to wear slippers, wear shorts, take children, my wife to the mall, go to the street, sit and eat and play, I feel particularly comfortable, very relaxed."

(Editor: HN666)