文 | 食悟（ID：food-gnosis）
"Moutai Embarrassing New Handsome" series of reports (1)
In a general sense, the change of commander is a great change in personnel, and the situation is urgent and the commander has to be changed. Therefore, for most new coaches, they either take on the heavy responsibility of turning the tide, or they are given high hopes for a comeback.
For Moutai, since 1950, it has gone through 8 heads, and Zhang Deqin, who has just taken office, is the eighth chairman in the history of Moutai. According to Shiwu's professional research, there are three main reasons for the change of commander in the history of Moutai: first, the previous president has reached retirement age, and the normal personnel adjustment; Second, the previous one was found and a successor needs to be found; Third, the previous term was transferred to a new career.
Zhang Deqin took over from Ding Xiongjun, which belongs to the third kind of background for changing commanders.
Zhang Deqin, the new chairman of Moutai Group
On the evening of April 29, Kweichow Moutai issued an announcement that, according to the relevant documents of the Guizhou Provincial People's Government, Zhang Deqin was recommended as a director and chairman of Kweichow Moutai Co., Ltd., and Ding Xiongjun was no longer the chairman and director of the company. In the evening of the same day, the Guizhou Provincial People's Government issued a notice of appointment and dismissal, announcing that Ding Xiongjun was appointed as the director of the Guizhou Provincial Administration for Market Regulation (Guizhou Provincial Intellectual Property Office).
The 52-year-old Zhang Deqin, who belongs to the old Moutai, joined Moutai in July 1995, and has been shuttling back and forth in the Moutai-Xijiu system since then, even though Xijiu has now been stripped out of Moutai, but the actual controller of Moutai and Xijiu is the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Guizhou Province, and the candidate for the head of Moutai has always been "recommended by the Guizhou Provincial People's Government".
According to Shiwu's professional research, in terms of age, Ding Xiongjun, the chairman of Moutai Group who has just stepped down, is still two years younger than the new handsome Zhang Deqin, one is 72 years old and the other is 74 years old. However, both of them are already relatively young leading cadres at the department level.
Shiwu believes that the difference is that in order to get the highest position in the Moutai Group, Zhang Deqin spent 29 years working hard in the Moutai system, so Zhang Deqin's coming to power gave the old Moutai people a reassurance.
Even if they fail to be promoted and raised, at least the old Moutai people lead the old Moutai people, and these people are convinced.
The difference is that Ding Xiongjun, who is two years younger, has been training for two years and 8 months as the chairman of Moutai Group, and in the past two years and eight months, Ding Xiongjun has made multiple strategies, made bold moves, and shined.
It is not surprising when someone is not stingy with words to give Moutai's new handsome beard and horse; But if someone highly affirms a stepping down, the original head of the tea cool, it shouldn't be an advertorial.
The biggest difference between Ding Xiongjun and the other 7 heads of Moutai is that he came to Moutai to experience and accumulate political achievements, Moutai is just a springboard for his career, he will never be obsessed with Moutai's top power and the temptation of corruption, he does not dare to be corrupt, let alone want to be corrupt, because his destination is not here.
As Liushen Lei Lei said in a recent article, the biggest difference between the leader and the masses is that the leader knows what he wants at all times.
Ding Xiongjun knew what he wanted from the moment he became the chairman of Moutai Group.
Therefore, Ding Xiongjun took office on August 30, 2021, and issued an "unpacking order" in December of that year, and canceled the online "rush purchase" threshold; Announced that all the saleable Moutai liquor in 2020 will be put on the market to achieve zero inventory. A seemingly ruthless but immediate price control weapon is very effective in cracking down on scalpers and controlling terminal prices.
At 9 a.m. on March 31, 2022, the "i Moutai" App officially launched its trial operation. On May 19 of that year, Moutai "i Moutai" was officially launched. With the launch of i Moutai, during Ding Xiongjun's tenure, the proportion of Moutai's direct sales revenue has gradually increased, and the proportion of Moutai's direct sales has increased to 45.52% in 2023, nearly half of the country, and the direct sales channel and the traditional wholesale agency channel are almost equal.
It is worth mentioning that the increase in the proportion of Moutai's direct sales revenue is not achieved by cutting off traditional dealer stores, but by increasing the supply of direct sales channels and realizing direct sales under the premise of maintaining the stability and progress of traditional channels.
Because Ding Xiongjun needs to reform to enhance Moutai's pricing power and channel discourse, rather than intensifying the channel contradiction of manufacturers. On November 1, 2023, Moutai Feitian raised the ex-factory price by 20% to 1169 yuan/bottle of 500ml, which is a confirmation of the effectiveness of Moutai's channel reform, and the results have been successfully implemented.
In addition, Ding Xiongjun's reform of Moutai's rejuvenation is also vigorous, first with Mengniu jointly launched Moutai ice cream, which has since opened a wave of cross-border co-branding, and then Ruixin, Dove, indeed for a time Moutai, a traditional and cold brand, to liven up, the purpose of cross-border co-branding is not to sell how much Moutai liquor through this move, but to activate young consumers, and have a close contact with prospective consumers who do not drink Moutai for the time being.
Of course, Ding Xiongjun has many measures during his two-year and eight-month tenure in Moutai, and we will not list them all here, so to speak, whether it is product innovation or marketing innovation, Ding Xiongjun has carried out a round of drastic reform of Moutai in less than three years.
According to Shi Wu's professional research, Ding Xiongjun's reforms were immediate, because he didn't have much time to wait for results here. After a series of reform measures, he chose to retire bravely and was transferred to a new journey.
Therefore, as the new commander and the successor of Ding Xiongjun, Zhang Deqin is embarrassed.
The embarrassment is: whether to inherit the predecessor's political performance project, whether to continue to promote the reform of direct sales channels on the basis of the predecessor, whether to continue to operate Moutai ice cream, or to continue to uphold the "five-way marketing law"?
On June 4, a media reporter entered the Moutai Ice Cream WeChat mini-program and showed that he could not log in normally. Some store staff responded that the Mini Program system was maintained and upgraded. At the same time, many stores in Beijing, Tianjin, Qingdao and other places have shown that they are temporarily closed.
At the shareholders' meeting on May 29, Zhang Deqin said that the company's innovation must be based on the bottom line of sticking to the essence of Moutai. If a road is not suitable for the development of the company, the company will immediately adjust, and believe in Moutai's error correction ability.
Which path did the predecessor take not suitable for the development of Moutai? What's next? What mistake does Moutai want to correct? Whose fault is it?
According to Shiwu's professional research, since 1950, when Zhang Xingzhong was ordered by his superiors to lead 12 soldiers to take over the three largest liquor shops in Moutai Town and its burning house, up to now, Moutai has experienced a total of 8 heads, namely: Zhang Xingzhong, Zhou Gaolian, Zou Kailiang, Ji Keliang, Yuan Renguo, Li Baofang, Gao Weidong, Ding Xiongjun, and Zhang Deqin.
In the past 20 years, Kweichow Moutai has experienced 6 chairmen, but 4 of them have changed in the past 6 years, namely Li Baofang, Gao Weidong, Ding Xiongjun and Zhang Deqin.
According to Shiwu's professional research, Zhang Deqin should be the most embarrassing new commander in the history of Moutai, at the beginning of his tenure, he was not faced with a hundred wastes waiting to be rebuilt, nor was the previous term investigated, not to mention being ordered in danger, but how to move from victory to greater victory! But the embarrassing thing is that the predecessor has taken innovation to the extreme, and there are really not many cards left for Zhang Deqin.
Some people may say that the terminal price of Moutai Feitian has fallen below 2,500 yuan, Zhang Deqin hurriedly took office three times and pulled up the price, won't he prove himself?
The rise and fall of the terminal price is only related to the interests of traditional wholesale agents, no matter how much, as long as the sales are normal, the ex-factory price of Moutai Feitian is still 1169 yuan. The price is certainly not a breakthrough for Zhang Deqin to show herself.
What about pulling it up, do you remember how the previous one controlled the price when he first came to power?
From Zhang Deqin's speech at the Moutai shareholders' meeting, to tell the truth, his thinking is not very clear.