Dong Mingzhu scolded Lei Jun: Xiaomi air conditioner is fake first

E-commerce newspaper Pro

2024-07-02 09:20E-commerce News official account

What is Dong Mingzhu's confidence

Dong Mingzhu and Lei Jun faced each other again.

Recently, Dong Mingzhu publicly responded to Xiaomi's air conditioner sales exceeding Gree: calling Xiaomi's "air conditioner first" is fake.

Dong Mingzhu said at the 2023 annual Gree Electric Shareholders' Meeting: "Recently, there are some articles and short videos on the Internet saying that the sales of Xiaomi air conditioners have surpassed Gree air conditioners. Recently, there have been a lot of rumors made up on the Internet, and we are constantly fighting fakes. ”

Dong Mingzhu also asked, Xiaomi said that it (air conditioner) ranked first, but it all relies on other manufacturers to make products, what is Xiaomi's technology?

Why is Dong Mingzhu so rigid? What is her confidence?

It is undoubtedly Gree's excellent sales and unique technology.

According to the data, Gree will produce 163.282 million household air conditioners in 2023, a year-on-year increase of 12.3%; sales were 156.946 million units, a year-on-year increase of 10.4%. Among them, domestic sales and shipments were 90.541 million units, a year-on-year increase of 12.9%; Exports were 66.405 million units, a year-on-year increase of 7.3%.

In 2023, Gree Electric will achieve operating income of 203.979 billion yuan, an increase of 7.93% year-on-year; The net profit attributable to the parent company was 29.017 billion yuan, an increase of 18.41% year-on-year.

Source: Gree Electric Appliance revenue data

According to the first quarter report of 2024, the company achieved an operating income of 36.364 billion yuan, an increase of 2.56% year-on-year, and a net profit attributable to the parent company of 4.675 billion yuan, an increase of 13.77% year-on-year.

Although the turnover in 23 years and the revenue in the first quarter of 24 are not much different from the turnover and revenue of Gree in 18 and 19, and even the revenue in the first quarter of 24 is not as good as the same period in 18 and 19, but the emaciated camel is bigger than the horse, and the overall revenue level of Gree is still considerable.

In response to Dong Mingzhu's public call, Xiaomi has not yet responded. However, some industry insiders have shown that Xiaomi's performance during Double 11 and 618 is good.

According to Xiaomi's 2023 annual report, its air conditioning product shipments have exceeded 4.4 million units, a year-on-year increase of 49%.

In addition, the growth rate of Xiaomi air conditioners is outstanding in the industry. According to the research report of Guosheng Securities, from January to May 2024, the online sales growth rate of Xiaomi air conditioners will reach 58.05%, the fastest growth rate among all air conditioning brands, and the offline market sales growth rate of Xiaomi air conditioners has also reached an astonishing 14952%, far exceeding other brands.

However, Xiaomi air conditioner's online sales market from January to May 2024 will only account for 9.09%.

In terms of sales growth, Xiaomi does surpass Gree, but compared with the market share of sales, Xiaomi is still far from Gree.

From a technical point of view, Gree has been using self-developed air conditioning compressors for a long time. This is also a technical advantage that Gree has always been proud of. At present, Xiaomi does not have its own compressor R&D and production line.

From these two points of view, Xiaomi air conditioners cannot compete with Gree for the time being, both in terms of sales and technology.

The entanglement between Dong Mingzhu and Lei Jun

In fact, whether it is an insider or a layman, I don't believe it when I see an article on the Internet that has no exact data or reports that Xiaomi air conditioner sales have surpassed Gree air conditioner to become the first air conditioner.

Because Gree's share and brand recognition in the air conditioning market are higher than those of Xiaomi air conditioners.

So why did Dong Mingzhu react so much? Maybe it's not just because of a few false reports, but also because of the entanglement between Dong Mingzhu and Lei Jun, and the long-lasting air conditioning dispute between Gree and Xiaomi.

The entanglement between Dong Mingzhu and Lei Jun originated from a billion gambling contract.

On December 12, 2013, at the China Economic Person of the Year Award Ceremony held by CCTV Financial Channel, Dong Mingzhu was widely known as a famous female entrepreneur in China, and at this time, Lei Jun's Xiaomi company was only three years old.

At the ceremony, Lei Jun challenged Dong Mingzhu, claiming that if Xiaomi could surpass Gree in turnover within five years, Dong Mingzhu would only lose one yuan to him.

However, Dong Mingzhu was convinced that her company would not lose, and she boldly raised the stakes to one billion yuan. In the end, Dong Mingzhu won the gamble by a narrow margin.

Source: 2013 China Economic Person of the Year Award Ceremony

The battle between Gree and Xiaomi's air conditioner has also started a long time ago.

As early as 2014, Xiaomi had already planned to enter the air conditioning market, when Lei Jun and Dong Mingzhu were in a state of fierce competition.

According to reports, in order to enter the air conditioning industry, Xiaomi invested 1.266 billion yuan in Midea Group. However, Dong Mingzhu sharply criticized this.

At the 2014 annual meeting of Chinese business leaders, she publicly ridiculed Xiaomi and Midea as a "thief group", citing the example of Midea being awarded 2 million yuan in damages for infringing Gree's patent, and she said that the two dishonest companies joined together like a group of thieves.

Ten years have passed, the OEM manufacturer of Xiaomi air conditioner has been changed many times, and Lei Jun's name rarely appears in the public eye at the same time as Dong Mingzhu, and it seems that the controversy of the year has gradually faded out of people's memory.

However, for Dong Mingzhu, this matter does not seem to be completely a thing of the past, and she still remembers it vividly.

In addition, although Xiaomi's current competitiveness in the air conditioning market is not as good as Gree's, its sales growth rate is very amazing, and Xiaomi's development in mobile phones, smart homes, automobiles, etc. is also very rapid, which makes Dong Mingzhu feel the crisis.

Gree's dilemma

While winning the billion-dollar bet with Xiaomi, Dong Mingzhu also witnessed the development trend of Xiaomi. The editor-in-chief believes that Dong Mingzhu attributed Lei Jun's success to the Internet.

So Dong Mingzhu also set his sights on the Internet. She not only served as the spokesperson herself, but also participated in variety shows to increase exposure and bring Gree into the live broadcast room.

The sales in the live broadcast room are very good, but Gree doesn't seem to have tasted other Internet benefits, and has even been pushed to the forefront many times because of Dong Mingzhu's wolf-like corporate culture concept and the departure of anchor Meng Yutong.

The account "Pearl Feather Boy Selection" used to use an avatar

Why is Lei Jun's Internet policy suitable for Xiaomi, but not suitable for Dong Mingzhu to be taught to Gree?

The reason why Xiaomi stands out in the market, in addition to Lei Jun's Internet strategy, should actually be largely attributed to the high cost performance of its products.

At a time when the price of other brands of smartphones remained high, Xiaomi launched a mobile phone with a comparable configuration at a price of 1999 yuan, which quickly won the favor of consumers. Xiaomi's other products, such as TVs, smartwatches, and headphones, also attract a large number of users with their price advantages.

In the air conditioning market, price is also a key factor.

Oaks air conditioner once relied on price advantage to achieve a leading position in the online market. The online price of Gree air conditioner is relatively high, which affects its competitiveness in the online market to a certain extent.

Gree's brand value is mainly based on advertising, technological innovation and perfect sales and service system in the offline era. But in the online market, these advantages are not easily communicated directly to consumers, and price issues are more likely to be the focus of consumers' attention.

In order to achieve better sales performance in the online market, Gree had to adopt a price reduction strategy to increase the attractiveness of live streaming. While this can help drive sales in the short term, it can also have a detrimental effect on brand positioning and long-term value.

In addition, Gree currently has no competitiveness in other categories except for air conditioners. This is also one of the dilemmas that Gree is currently facing.

However, now that the air conditioning market is gradually becoming saturated, Gree urgently needs to expand new growth points to maintain its market position and profitability.

Dong Mingzhu has also tried many times.

Mobile phones, smart wearables, smart homes...... But there has been no news of them.

In the current market environment, consumers' perception of a brand is often closely related to their core products.

Although Gree's success in the field of air conditioning has won it a good reputation, this brand effect has not been smoothly extended to other product categories.

At the same time, competitors in other areas may have established a more solid market position, with a more complete product line and more innovative products, which puts Gree at a disadvantage in these areas.

In addition, Gree's success in the field of air conditioning may also be an obstacle to its development in other categories.

Due to the success of the air conditioning business, the company may rely too much on the air conditioning business in terms of resource allocation, R&D investment and marketing strategy, and ignore the development needs of other categories.

In short, although Gree is still the "big brother" of air conditioning, if the current problems are not solved quickly, the title of "big brother" will change hands sooner or later.

Author | Jinjiang

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