A few days ago, Dong Mingzhu and Lei Jun took part in the old photo of the meeting. In the picture, Dong Mingzhu 'Question' Lei Jun: Just you? Will also do air conditioning? Will you open the air conditioner? Lei Jun is silently small Love speaker responded with a sentence: Little love classmates, open Mijia Internet air conditioner, turn off Gree air conditioner!
I have to say that Lei Jun and Xiaomi, who have not let go of any explosive points, have launched the air-conditioning marketing copy to cater to the hearts of people who love to eat.
The second day, Xiaomi officially released the Mijia Internet Air Conditioner. This air conditioner that has been labeled with the Mijia label uses the pricing method commonly used by Xiaomi: 1.5 HP, Class III energy efficiency standard, retail price 1999 Yuan, compared with the big brand Gree in the market, the similar products of the United States are about 1,000 yuan cheaper, and the public price is only 999 yuan.
It is also a familiar formula of Lei Jun, or the familiar taste of Xiaomi.
a mysterious air conditioner company
'For this air conditioner, Xiaomi has started to form a team in the first half of last year, looking for OEM foundries, designing prototypes, and purchasing our air conditioning data report. 'Dong Min, vice president of Avi Cloud, providing information services Revealed to AI Finance and Economics.
Xiaomi's air-conditioning business has been under the responsibility of Xiaomi Ecological Chain Enterprise Zhimi Technology. The company responsible for the research and development and production of Xiaomi air-conditioning is a company called Zhuhai Sanyou.
From the business registration information, the legal representative of Zhuhai Sanyou is the co-founder of Xiaomi, the head of Xiaomi Ecological Chain, Liu De. The shareholder of Zhuhai Sanyou is Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software Co., Ltd., with a shareholding ratio of 100%. In short Zhuhai Sanyou is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Xiaomi.
A key person in Zhuhai Sanyou's business is Xiao Youyuan. He was originally a Gree executive. He worked for Gree for 10 years. He is also a trustee of Dong Mingzhu. He was responsible for Gree's overseas business. In 2015, Xiao Youyuan took the team and was attacked by Skyworth. Participated in the creation of Skyworth air conditioners. At that time, hundreds of people in Skyworth air conditioners came from Gree.
Xiao Youyuan, who was involved in the creation of Skyworth Air Conditioning
From the business registration information of Zhuyou Sanyou, Xiao Youyuan took the team to work in Skyworth for two years, and soon took the team to the wholly-owned subsidiary of Xiaomi. 'Because Skyworth and Gree have different cultures.'
'As a private enterprise, Skyworth is accustomed to 'small investment and large output', and the team from Xiao Li, who is from Gree, has a style of 'big dry fast'. ' A person familiar with the matter said to AI Finance and Economics, together with Skyworth air-conditioning started. I encountered the 'small year' of air conditioning, the performance is not good, Gree a group of people in the Skyworth air conditioner was gradually vacant.
Joining the Xiaoyouyuan team of Xiaomi Subsidiary, he brought the 'Geli Wind' to Xiaomi. Wu Wei once visited the Sanyou production line. He is also an air-conditioning component supplier. He told AI Finance and Economics that the company is quite mysterious, but the plan It is almost the same as Gree. For example, MCU (microcontroller) uses the US manufacturer Texas Instruments, the module uses Japan Fuji or Mitsubishi, IPM (Intelligent Power Module, responsible for frequency conversion) is used by Ruineng.
'Everyone in the company is like a sigh of relief. After Gree came out to Skyworth, Gree ordered the killing. All Gree suppliers were not allowed to supply Skyworth. The team bet so much, and finally Skyworth Washed off. ' Wu Wei said.
And this team was eventually recruited to Lei Jun.
However, Wu Wei revealed that Sanyou currently has only two production lines of its own, and the annual production capacity is '100,000 units.' So, in May 2017, Zhuhai Sanyou and Zhongshan Changhong jointly established Zhongshan Hong. Friends Electric Co., Ltd., Zhongshan Changhong holds 60%, Zhuhai Sanyou holds 40%. It should be noted that Changhong is the foundry of this Chimi air conditioner.
According to informed sources, Xiaomi's foundry is not in Changhong's headquarters in Mianyang, but in Nantou Town, Zhongshan, not far from TCL headquarters.
Lei Jun’s obsession
This is the third time that Lei Jun has tossed air conditioners.
The first time can be traced back to 3 years ago. When entering the air-conditioning industry, Lei Jun chose to cooperate with Dong Mingzhu's old rival US. This immediately annoyed Dong Mingzhu, directly accusing the two sides of the cooperation is 'two swindlers together, is the thief group At that time, the United States had stolen Gree’s patent, and the court had just sentenced it to pay 2 million yuan.
But this youth series air conditioner, which sells for 3099 yuan, did not show much splash. The selling point at the time was to use it with the Xiaomi bracelet. It can be set to automatically turn on after going home, and it will automatically enter the sleep mode after falling asleep.
Youth series air conditioner
Perhaps in order to highlight the 'Internet thinking' of Xiaomi's limelight, there is no display panel on the air conditioning surface. This means that users want to know the air conditioning temperature of the room, you need to open the phone first, check the app or pick up the millet bracelet. The incredible design appeared in the first generation of products. Fortunately, this is the only cooperation between Xiaomi and Midea in the field of air conditioning.
'It’s impossible to raise a competitor,' said an air-conditioning device supplier. In fact, Xiaomi decided to invest in the United States at the end of 2014, investing nearly 1.3 billion yuan in 1.29% of the shares. But the relationship between the shares has not been alleviated. The conflict between the two sides in the real business.
Xiaomi's tentacles have been extended to rice cookers, electric fans, water purifiers, electric kettles, cooking machines and many other small household appliances. This is a beautiful site, which will inevitably lead to fierce collisions. It is even more unlikely that the beautiful willingly will help millet production. Air conditioning. However, from the perspective of investment, Midea’s share price has doubled in the past three years. Xiaomi’s investment in the United States has been very successful, earning a lot of money.
The second air conditioner launched by Xiaomi was in 2017, and was founded by Xiaomi's wholly-owned subsidiary Zhimi. This air-conditioner minimalist design also won international design awards, and this design style continues to the current Mijia air conditioner. .
However, the price of Zhimi air conditioner at that time was as high as 4,399 yuan. Although Zhimi Technology CEO Su Jun said that there is almost no profit, but such a high price does not have the pricing style of Xiaomi. Now this air conditioner has been removed from Xiaomi Mall.
Interestingly, in order to explain that the air conditioner of 4399 yuan is a conscience price, Su Jun once said that the air conditioner is worse than the air conditioner quality more than ten years ago. 'The original material is very solid, now it is loose, it is useful for recycling. Material, even without disassembling, you can feel a huge drop in quality in the light shell itself.
He said that Zhimi can also make the products cheaper than some of the commercially available 999 yuan air conditioners. The method is to use some inferior materials or even recycled materials to compress the cost. 'But that is not our guide to the quality of life of ordinary people. Something that doesn't make sense'.
But coincidentally, this time, the Internet air conditioner of Mijia, the internal test price is exactly 999 yuan. However, the embarrassing thing is that the first user who got the goods can't wait to hang the millet air conditioner on the same day. On a second-hand trading platform.
The life of Xiaomi Ge Gree?
What makes Lei Jun envious is that Dong Mingzhu’s Gree air-conditioning profits are surprisingly high.
Chen Hang, chief analyst of Southwest Securities, told AI Finance, Gree air-conditioning products have a gross profit of more than 35%. This is unusual in the home appliance industry, which is known for its price war. The gross profit of the US is slightly worse. The gross profit of Xiaomi mobile phone is 10%, which is much higher.
High profit means there is room for compression. This is also the direction of the millet revolution, improving efficiency and compressing circulation costs.
This time, the air conditioner with the Mijia brand, whether it is the price strategy or the product itself, seems to be more reliable than the previous two. But Dong Mingzhu has always been a good bully. When Lei Jun entered the mobile phone market, Every time the market is on the eve of the transformation of smart phones, the timing is excellent. But the air-conditioning industry is relatively stable, technology has existed for hundreds of years, and the market structure and corporate rhythm are quite stable.
Mi home air conditioner
'Gelimei will not be killed.' Chen Hang analysis, unlike other home appliances, air conditioning needs to be installed, one of Gree's moats is a highly efficient ground installer team, 'Millet's impact on the giants in the short term Not big. '
'Air-conditioning competition to the end, nothing more than competition between brand and after-sales service.' Lu Jianguo, deputy chief engineer of the Household Appliances Research Institute, also believes that now Xiaomi air-conditioning is a new machine, not yet after-sales. Users can take the phone to the store for repair However, the air conditioner needs home repair, which will test the after-sales team of Xiaomi Air Conditioning.
Dong Wei, vice president of Aowei Cloud Network, also expressed his concern. Air conditioning is a financial product, winter production, summer sales, need to pay a large amount of money to stock up. To a certain extent, stocking is also a gamble on the weather, hot weather has risen immediately.
Dong Min was impressed by the fact that when the weather was hot in the past few years, there were installation workers, and the air conditioners sold well. This requires a huge ground force, not Xiaomi is good at it.
The bigger challenge came from the supply chain. In the past, Xiaomi suffered a loss in the mobile phone supply chain and had been short of supply. Lei Jun went to South Korea to visit the boss of Samsung Electronics, hoping that the other party could guarantee the supply of mobile phone screens.
The risks of the supply chain are increasing in the air-conditioning market. The routines of these traditional manufacturers are: First, build a huge scale of production capacity, and then firmly control the supply chain, especially the core components such as compressors, and finally achieve stability. Market pattern and profit margin.
'Compressors are the seller's market.' Air-conditioning component supplier Zhang Jie said that Gree and Midea's compressors are all produced by themselves.
Zhang Jie revealed that there is a shortage of inverter compressors this year, and many air conditioner manufacturers have lowered their output. 'The key components have been out of stock from this year to next year. The compressor company must be a big factory, not a small mill. '
AI Finance and Economics learned from the people familiar with Xiaomi's ecological chain that Xiaomi has paid a high price for getting air-conditioning compressors and IPM module components in order to get the air-conditioning upstream supply chain. 'They need to take out 3 to 4 billion yuan for compression first. The machine company's scheduled capacity is equivalent to the table fee. '
Dong Min believes that the short-term air-conditioning business is the design and definition of Xiaomi. Changhong carries out OEM OEM work. Because Changhong has a large quantity and has the right to speak, according to the laws of TV and mobile phones, Xiaomi will definitely have some important components. It is bought and customized by itself.
Zhang Jie was somewhat surprised by Xiaomi's choice of Changhong foundry. 'Changhong's production line is relatively old, and it is incomparable with the big factory.' Changhong acquired Meiling and Huayi in 2005 and 2007 respectively. Meiling is mainly responsible for Changhong's air conditioning and Refrigerator production, and Huayi specializes in the production of compressors.
However, in Zhang Jie's view, Changhong's Meiling air conditioner is not mainstream in the industry. The first echelon is Gree, the US, the second echelon Oaks, the third echelon is Chigo, Haier, Hisense, and Meiling is outside these echelons.
Compared with the melee in these markets, the competition in the air-conditioning market is very clear. Gree and Midea firmly control the market's first camp, and the two together account for more than 50% of the market share, the remaining Oaks, Haier, Hisense and so on have only a small market share.
'Millet must have harvested the second and third camps first.' Dong Min said, 'The consumer has brand loyalty to the top few, but there is no impression of a lot of brands behind.'
AI Finance interviewed Dong Mingzhu in July, and asked her how she viewed Xiaomi's air conditioning market. Dong Mingzhu expressed an understatement, 'We manufacture ourselves, they are OEM. We are almost not on track, nor an industry. Types of' .
In fact, Dong Mingzhu has already reached out to the mobile phone, and Lei Jun has extended his hand to the air conditioner. This is the life gate of the two families. When entering the field that the other party is good at, whether it is Lei Jun or Dong Mingzhu, the performance is very difficult. Satisfied.
Folding 'empty ice wash'?
Lei Jun 'knowing difficulties' is not only a gamble with Dong Mingzhu, but performance pressure may be a more important consideration for his air-conditioning.
The Xiaomi ecological chain is a grand vision of Xiaomi's capital market. In 2017, the Xiaomi ecological chain achieved sales of 20 billion. Xiaomi also set an ambitious goal for the ecological chain: 40 billion in 2018, 2019 Over 80 billion years old. This means that the Xiaomi ecological chain needs to be mad at an annual rate of almost double.
Xiaomi has proved its success in charging treasures, bracelets, sweeping robots, air purifiers. But these products that sell for tens of dollars or hundreds of dollars, the target of doubling the ecological chain is a glass of water. According to AI The financial society was informed that Xiaomi had adjusted the organizational structure of the eco-chain team on July 27, and established the precious metal business department under the ecological chain to explore the product department and the investment department.
Up to now, Xiaomi has invested in more than 100 eco-chain companies, producing more than 1600 SKUs of hardware products. However, it is undeniable that Xiaomi is good at industries where the original market is chaotic and inefficient, typically color TV. , rice cooker, patch panel, sweeping robot.
Take Xiaomi TV as an example. The TV market where Xiaomi enters, the share of head brands such as Hisense and Skyworth is about 15%, and the share of other major brands is about 10%. The gap is not big. The pattern of melee is good for Xiaomi to compete for the market.
Because TV involves video content, for companies with operational experience such as Xiaomi and LeTV, it is easy to get used to. And Xiaomi has invested in iQiyi and other video platforms very early, and LeTV is also known for its video rights. The collapse of LeTV, the similarity of the two companies, also led to the majority of LeTV's share of Super TV flow to Xiaomi. According to data from Ovi Cloud, in April 2018, the total offline shipments of Xiaomi TV exceeded all brands. Ranked first in China.
'The category that can contribute more than 2 billion can be exhaustive, probably within 50. In these 50, there may be 10 areas that are better. ' A head of the Xiaomi ecological chain company to AI Finance and Economics With finger analysis, the bracelet can pass 2 billion yuan, the sweeping robot can pass 2 billion yuan, and the notebook can pass 3 billion yuan.
If the millet eco-chain has to double its growth, it has to enter the home appliance market. In this market, Xiaomi has successfully won the TV market, and now there is empty ice wash (air conditioner, refrigerator, washing machine).
However, Xiaomi's style of play is not universal, especially in the empty ice wash market, Xiaomi has been hit by an unprecedented resistance.
At the beginning of 2017, Xiaomi ecological chain enterprise Yunmi released the first Internet smart refrigerator, the crowdfunding price of 999 yuan. The following year, another Internet smart refrigerator iLive with a price of 1999 yuan was launched, supporting Wi-Fi connection, available mobile app Remote adjustment of temperature. In addition to the refrigerator, Xiaomi ecological chain enterprise Xiaoji intelligent mini drum washing machine (millet version) launched crowdfunding on Xiaomi platform, priced at 1499 yuan.
However, these products did not have the expected success. The young people's first ice wash did not really make the young people buy it. Xiaomi, who is good at marketing, even smashed the market volume.
Xiaomi has also entered the drone market. It was built by Xiaomi ecological chain enterprise Feimi. After two and a half years of research and development, the cost of optical molds cost more than 4 million yuan. Lei Jun personally demonstrated through Xiaomi live broadcast, but surprisingly Yes, Xiaomi drone in the face of 1 million netizens, in the first flight live broadcast out of control, the final 'explosive machine', the teacher did not die first.
In fact, even if it doesn't 'explode', Xiaomi is hard to make a difference in the drone market. In the drone market, Dajiang is an absolute giant. Under the iron curtain in Dajiang, almost no players can Consumer-grade drone market survives.
Five years ago, Dong Mingzhu and Lei Jun set aside 1 billion gambling. The standard at that time was the revenue of the two companies.
Today, Lei Jun and Dong Mingzhu have only five months left, and Xiaomi’s revenue in 2017 was 114.6 billion yuan, while Gree’s revenue was 148.2 billion. This year it is expected to exceed 170 billion. Lei Jun has almost no chance of winning. Not to mention, in the face of Gree, which still maintains strong growth, Lei Jun should carry out a large-scale 'encirclement' of Dong Mingzhu earlier. Remedy, Lei Jun should not account for the gains and losses of the moment, to force Gree air-conditioning, Xiaomi is not impossible to surpass Gree Even if Xiaomi air conditioner is not done, it can still promote the industry like a squid, which is what Xiaomi has been doing best.