Recently, it is reported that Meizu will usher in a round of layoffs and the number of layoffs will exceed 1,000. On March 30th, the Meizu side stated that layoffs did exist, but belonged to the “last elimination” mechanism, and thousands of layoffs were reported. Seriously inconsistent with the facts. Not only that, at the end of last year, at the beginning of this year, the market had a turmoil in Meizu's store.
According to industry insiders, layoffs and closing shops are just the beginning for the Meizu people who are behind in the competition of mobile phone manufacturers. In today's increasingly oligopolistic market, there is not much time left for Meizu.
Three consecutive layoffs, multiple personnel adjustments in the short term
In fact, this is already Meizu’s layoff for the third consecutive year. In early 2016, Meizu founder, Chairman and CEO Huang Zhang proposed the goal of “steady growth, profit creation, and advancement to IPO”, and Meizu launched the annual elimination plan. The scale of layoffs rose from 5% at the beginning to 10%. Meizu also reported layoffs in early 2017. It was reported that the layoffs reached 25%, involving a thousand people, but Meizu responded that it was still about 10%.
In addition to the layoffs, Meizu also made several restructurings and personnel adjustments in the short term. Following the separate split of the Meizu, Charm Blue, and Flyme business units in June 2017, Meizu re-released the company's central-level organizational structure adjustment at the end of last year. Notice of Personnel Appointment, newly established Overseas Division, responsible for the overseas business of the company's products, appointment of Guo Wanxi as Vice President of Meizu Business Unit and concurrently as President of Overseas Division, responsible for overseas business related business and team management, to Chairman and CEO Huang Zhang Reporting work. According to reports, the Overseas Business Department was originally affiliated with the Meizu Business Unit, and its independence has largely demonstrated Meizu's determination to fight overseas.
The domestic mobile phone market has been divided up by several major manufacturers. It is no longer news that home-made mobile phones go out to sea to seek new growth opportunities. The third-party research organization Kantar Worldpanel released a report saying that as of the end of October last year, Huawei, Xiaomi, Apple, Vivo and OPPO China The five major mobile phone manufacturers accounted for 91% of the entire market. In the previous year, this figure was still 79%. That is to say, in the past year, the above five mobile phone manufacturers led ZTE, Meizu and other companies' advantages are further expanded.
It is understood that the Meizu overseas market sold 2 million mobile phones in 2016, with good performance in Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe, and hopes to further develop in the Western European market. IDC's data shows that the Chinese mobile phone manufacturers' share in the Indian smart phone market has exceeded 50%.
Meizu released the Indian version of the MX5 mobile phone in 2015, but it has not made much progress since then. In addition, Xiaomi, Huawei, OPPO, Vivo, these overseas mobile phone brands that have achieved success in China are also steadily advancing. Meizu still have to go after the sea. Compete positively with these old opponents.
At the end of last year, Meizu established an accessories business unit responsible for the R&D, marketing and sales of the company's accessories products. The industry believes that Meizu’s move is also seeking more profit.
CCS Insight, a market research company, mentioned in a report that as mobile phone business profits gradually decrease, the profits of the accessories business of at least three manufacturers among the top ten handset manufacturers will exceed the profits of the mobile phone business, and the major manufacturers will be like millet. , Focus on the development of branded accessories and networking equipment products, these products can bring higher profits.
Trapped in a shop, the clerk complained that the product was not selling well
Meizu's offline channel has encountered some troubles. Earlier this year, it was reported that Meizu's previous 2500 stores had closed more than 500 stores.
For the rumors of the shop closure, Meizu told the Beijing News reporter: 'The store is closed and there are no more than 500. Every day, there are stores closed and opened. The agents in each region only understand the local situation. They also Do not know the specific situation in other regions, can not just rely on the words of one family to determine the current Meizu situation.
The Beijing News reporter recently visited some Meizu stores in the Beijing area. A Meizu employee who worked for two years in Beijing told reporters that some stores were indeed closed, but the reason was that some of the employees’ accommodations had changed, resulting in insufficient staffing and management. The relationship is not big. But at the same time, she also complained, 'Compared to the previous two years, the mobile phone is now not easy to sell.' She believes that this is mainly due to the overall weakness of the offline traffic.
Earlier this year, when reporters visited Meizu shops in Wudaokou and Qinghe, they saw that the shops were located on the side of the supermarket's entrance and exit. The flow of people in front of the shop was not small, but none of them were in the store within 20 minutes of the reporter’s observation. .
Meizu said that the store closed and opened through the store's performance, standard optimization actions, will not meet the requirements of the store closed, and re-location to open a new store. This optimization is more intensive during this time. There is only one PRO 7 flagship product, and Meizu’s dream machine will appear this year. This period will be Meizu’s halftime break. During this time, Meizu will adjust the status and conditions, and make better products for the second half of the year. Preparation. '
"The market competition has become fiercer. Meizu's hardware and advertising marketing have not kept pace with it. ' A Meizu company's internal staff told reporters that since 2015, Meizu has achieved superior sales with high cost performance, design, and system experience. 'At that time Meizu's price/performance ratio was Overtaking the momentum of millet. 'But more and more branded smartphones are cost-effective. By 2016, Meizu's cost-performance advantage will no longer be obvious. 'Sales can be maintained thanks to the system and reputation.'
Emphasis on offline channels and user word of mouth Meizu, for the sales staff's commission never failed, a Meizu mobile phone salesman told reporters, 'take the flagship example, Xiaomi sells a deducted ten, Meizu can mention one hundred.' He was also the reason why he chose to sell Meizu mobile phones two years ago. But nowadays, he is not satisfied with his income. 'Twenty-one years ago the double eleven took more than 10,000, and last year it was six or seven thousand.'
In 2017, Meizu’s reputation for surviving the crisis, crisis, 'have not yet launched a full screen', 'inadequate innovation', 'configuration can not keep up' and other public opinion make Meizu’s sales hard to break through, said the employee said, 'Although hardware and marketing On the lag behind, but Meizu's advantages are still many, 2018 may be a breakthrough. '
Expert: Meizu misses extension product line window
For the mobile phone industry, 2017 is a watershed. According to IDC data, the smart phone market in China has shrunk for the first time in nearly a decade in 2017, which has contracted by 4.9% year-on-year. Affected by the Chinese market, global smartphone market shipments have also increased year-on-year. Decrease by 0.1%.
In the context of the overall market shrinking and the intensified industry competition, the Meizu has apparently been in an unstable position. 'The telecommunications industry analyst pays that Meizu once had a loyal group of users, able to support Meizu's higher prices, but with the Competitors have introduced quite competitive products one after another. The appeal of Meizu products is not so great for users.
The full screen is undoubtedly the keyword of the mobile phone industry last year. Especially after the release of the iPhone X, the domestic mobile phone manufacturers took the opportunity to launch a full-screen product. Jin Li released 8 full-screen products in one breath. In this full-screen mobile phone campaign, Meizu has not entered the market for a long time. It has become one of the few manufacturers that has not released a full-screen mobile phone in time.
In July last year, Meizu released Pro 7, apparently failed to pick up the banner of the flagship. Positioning high-end machine Pro 7 at the beginning of the sale price of 2880 yuan, to mid-November has reduced prices of more than 300 yuan, was joked by netizens last year's smart phones' Diving Wang'. The reporter saw on Taobao, some stores sell Pro 7 contract machines, the lowest price 1250 yuan.
Meizu Pro 7's biggest attraction is the size of the dual screen design, adding a small screen on the back. When the user double-camera self-timer with the back, you can see yourself from a small screen. When the user flips the phone, the screen will light up. Can display date, time, weather, etc.
Pro 7's differentiated users do not seem to buy it. The first mobile world Sun Yanxi told reporters that 'Meizu is one of the ten major mainstream brands in China, but it does not have a flagship product, Pro 7 is despising its banner. Everyone on the double There is no feeling of screen, no trend, no one wants to pay, Pro 7 is in stock.
Sun Yanxi pointed out that one of the key reasons for Meizu's previous strong offline is to divert both online and offline. When users order online, if the user does not grab the list, the user may be directed to the offline store near the place of residence. The Meizu offline channel has been going upwards since last year. The obvious situation last year was not the previous year, lack of flagship, brand differentiation, and high-level changes, which led to the situation today.
Fu Liang pointed out that when domestic manufacturers are launching higher-priced products, Charm Blue can't find a suitable market space, while high-end products are also facing a reduction in user stickiness. Meizu should now concentrate its energy and resources. Breakthrough point, ' Fu Liang said, Meizu has missed the time window to extend the entire product line.