Faced with the outside world calling him an entrepreneur, Zhou Chengjian now prefers to be remembered as “tailor”. “It is my pursuit to be worthy of the tailor label, so that the society can feel that Zhou Chengjian is still making and selling clothes, and has truly returned.”
Transformed from a grassroots tailor into a garment The roller coaster-like experience of becoming the richest man in the industry made Zhou Chengjian calm. It is undeniable that Meibang Apparel was once in the first echelon of domestic fashion apparel brands. The unconventional slogan is a common memory for those born in the 80s and 90s.
For more than 20 years, Meibang Clothing has had its moments of glory and gloom. When the company returned from 1 to 0 and was about to attack from 0 to 1 again, Zhou Chengjian changed a lot. Faced with the outside world calling him an entrepreneur, Zhou Chengjian now prefers to be remembered as “tailor”. “It is my pursuit to be worthy of the tailor label, so that the society can feel that Zhou Chengjian is still making and selling clothes, and has truly returned.”
January 28, 2021 The reporter conducted an in-depth interview with Zhou Chengjian, founder of Meibang Clothing, at the Shanghai Meibang headquarters. From leaving the circle to joining the circle, from an individual to a company, Zhou Chengjian reflects on himself and analyzes the past, with the intention of reawakening Meibang Apparel in its glory days.
Picture | Zhou Chengjian, founder and chairman of Meibang Apparel
1 A must-learn lesson in life
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Business is like life. If you go too far, you may forget why you started. Smith Barney once stood at the forefront of the industry, but now it is at the bottom. During the interview, Zhou Chengjian kept mentioning his reflections.
“Before 2008, our capabilities were at the absolute leading level in the industry. The combined revenue of the second and third parties was less than 2/3 of ours. It is absolutely leading.” Talking about the glorious moments of the past, Zhou Chengjian was still very excited. Regarding the current situation, he bluntly said that the current United States is absolutely lagging behind.
“This is a lesson that must be learned in life, a process that must be experienced, and there is no escape.” Zhou Chengjian preached solemnly. “Destiny requires you to have experiences like this. Without such experiences, you will not grow.”
The changes in the consumer environment have impacted the United States, and coupled with the raging epidemic, the physical clothing retail industry has experienced The hardest year. In Zhou Chengjian’s mind, he kept recalling the advice he had missed.
Taking a sip of tea, Zhou Chengjian recalled that six or seven years ago, a manager told him clearly that ME&CITY should not only choose traditional street shopping, but should enter emerging shopping channels. Center, developed with moderate area. Someone has also clearly told me that the development of Meibang can no longer stop using the Saint Dena store on Nanjing East Road as a standard to think about the national market.
“Sheng Dena does not represent Shanghai, let alone the whole country. It is a case and should be an independent case, not a copy standard. We must choose new copy standards to think about Meibang Channel planning and retail operation strategy.” But at that time, Zhou Chengjian was dazzled by what he thought was a successful experience and did not think deeply about the suggestions. He continued his previous practice of opening large street stores.
In addition, Zhou Chengjian’s overconfident mentality also caused decision-making errors. There was once a vice president who grew up from American Barney. After studying EMBA at China Europe Business School, he proposed a set of disruptive commodity supply chain transformation theories. Zhou Chengjian let him do it, but it ended in failure. The product research and development department also failed. I have gone through such trial and error.
Before 2008, Meibang Apparel was in a leading position in the market. Zhou Chengjian, who was at the top, gradually began to selectively listen to the words of people around him. “In the past ten years, I have only chosen what I want to hear. Those flattering and flattering words have their root in me. I lacked the ability to identify at that time. Things that should have changed have not changed, and everything that should not have changed has changed.” Zhou Chengjian said.
After learning from the painful experience, Zhou Chengjian now looks back and remembers that he once proposed to withstand loneliness and temptation. “Now it is even more important to fulfill what I have said, return to my original intention, enter the circle first, enter the industry secondly, position myself as a ‘tailor’, and truly become a market participant.”
Zhou Chengjian reflected on himself, “Looking at the past, today is the worst time, and it couldn’t be any worse. Looking at the future, it is the best start, the best start. I myself know better what I did wrong in the past, and regrets are What should we do, what should we not do, what should we give up for the future, what should we insist on, only by giving up can we gain.”
2 Do it horizontally Subtraction, vertical addition
Giving and gaining, addition and subtraction are crucial for enterprises.
In the interview, Zhou Chengjian mentioned many times that he wanted to return to the industry and become an insider, and join the industry to awaken the professionalism of Smith Barney. In Zhou Chengjian’s view, the key to the apparel industry lies in the ability to make and sell clothes. The threshold is very low, but it is not easy to do well. Zhou Chengjian, who was born as a tailor, achieved the former to the extreme, allowing Meibang to have a glorious moment in the first half of his life. �Improved product R&D capabilities and commodity supply chain capabilities. Compared with the current fast fashion supply chain, the Meibang supply chain once reached 45% of replenishment orders in the middle of the season, 95-97% of the sell-out rate at the end of the season, and the average retail operation discount is more than 15% off. In other words, it is basically full price and Sold at member price.
After adjustments for the new season of 2021, the new ME&CITY team has achieved 80% correct fabrics, 80% correct styles, and 50% and 60% correct styles for the entire autumn product within two months. % of the workmanship is correct. What makes Zhou Chengjian even more gratified is that partners who gave up five or six years ago have returned. An Inner Mongolia franchisee opened five stores at once. The franchise development in the first quarter has exceeded the franchise in the entire year of 2020. quantity. “The changes have been recognized, and consumers’ eyes are sharp.” Zhou Chengjian said.
For a good company, Zhou Chengjian once defined that it must have two dimensions. First, profitability from the perspective of investors; second, product comfort and competitiveness from the perspective of consumers. “In order to make profits for investors, we must accurately provide consumers with the clothes they want. Now Smith Barney still needs to do both.”
Starting from scratch means Smith Barney now has no cost of making mistakes. In order to reduce risks, Zhou Chengjian has repeatedly emphasized recently that finance should be transformed into risk management. First, increase risk control beforehand, and supervise the business department to make a budget assessment for each business in advance to determine whether it has value creation. Secondly, Smith Barney will conduct event risk control every two weeks. All budgets are reviewed and reviewed every two weeks, and reviewed and reviewed every month. Whether the business strategy meets the assumptions at the beginning of the budget period, corrections must be made immediately if there is any deviation. Finally, there is expenditure risk control. Evaluate whether the input and output of each expenditure are reasonable. From the perspective of internal control, consider whether the output is greater than the input or less than the input. Once the output is less than the input, although money has to be paid, the business department must make adjustments immediately.
“Further strengthen the risk control mechanism, which was also ignored when I had money. I don’t care when the money comes, but be more serious when I have no money.” Zhou Chengjian said sincerely, No matter how late the right thing is, it is still early; no matter how early the wrong thing is, it is also late.
After all the limelight, Zhou Chengjian’s thoughts are now more simple. At the end of the interview, he said firmly, “The mission in 2021 is to make a breakthrough from 0 to 1. 0 is Loss, 1 means making money, and making 1 yuan is also our goal.”
At the end of the interview, the reporter felt that Zhou Chengjian was full of confidence in the breakout battle in 2021, without any signs of decline. . At the same time, Zhou Chengjian also sincerely invited reporters to visit some seminars and proudly described the changes taking place in the United States today. After nearly 30 years of business war, Zhou Chengjian has shed the burden of the past and is more like an entrepreneur, full of fighting spirit and hope. His return this time will surely bring a brand new Metersbonwe to the outside world. </p
