Where there is electricity, there is an outlet; Where there are sockets, there are bulls.
In the 90s of the 20th century, Ruan Liping and Ruan Xueping established the Bull Group, with the strategic positioning of "manufacturing sockets that are not bad", they fought their way out of the red sea of plugging competition, and finally became the well-deserved boss of the parking space industry with a market share of nearly 60%.
Today, Bull Group has covered three major businesses: electrical connection, intelligent electrical lighting, and new energy, with a total market value of nearly 100 billion. According to the latest list of "2023 Hurun China Top 500" released by the Hurun Research Institute, Bull Group ranks 115th in the overall list of Hurun with a valuation of 88 billion yuan, ranking first in the home building materials industry.
In the past 30 years, the market situation has changed, how can enterprises achieve stability and long-term success? This article attempts to dissect the three passwords of the rapid growth of the Bull Group.
Password 1: Continuous product innovation
It is difficult for a good woman to cook without rice. Product innovation around consumer needs and trend changes is one of the leading advantages accumulated by Bull Group for a long time.
In terms of product layout, Bull Group's strategy is to lead the development of the industry with a sense of security, science and technology, and innovation in C-end products; B-end products focus on leading technology, high performance, and extreme cost to establish competitive advantages.
For example, in order to grasp consumers' demand for "intelligent" upgrades, Bull will launch intelligent non-main lamp products in 2022 and officially establish the high-end brand "Muguang" of the non-main lamp series. In 2023, Bull's intelligent electrical lighting business will successfully counterattack, surpassing the "old bank" electrical connection business for the first time in terms of revenue, becoming the largest business.
In the first half of the year, on the one hand, relying on product R&D and design capabilities, as well as efficient and low-cost supply chain capabilities, Bull Group promoted the upgrading of basic converter products, conformed to the consumption trend of brand evolution in the wall sinking market, and continued to improve its competitiveness and market share through cost-effective products with a high sense of value;
On the other hand, it launched high-end series of products such as rail sockets and ultra-thin switches to meet consumers' needs for fashion, technology and intelligent experience upgrades, achieve good growth, and promote the further improvement of the company's brand image and reputation.
According to the financial report data, Bull Group achieved revenue of 8.386 billion yuan in the first half of the year, a year-on-year increase of 10.45%; the net profit attributable to the parent company was 2.239 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 22.88%; The non-net profit was 1.903 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 14.27%.
Among them, the electrical connection, intelligent electrical lighting, and new energy businesses achieved revenue of 3.87 billion yuan, 4.211 billion yuan, and 289 million yuan respectively, a year-on-year increase of 5.23%, 11.69%, and 120.02% respectively.
"The bull plug-in board business may seem inconspicuous, but it can bring the company a huge and stable cash flow, a very sticky customer base and a strong brand reputation." Some investors said.
In recent years, Bull Group's electrical connection business has continued to focus on mid-to-high-end products such as rail sockets, and the price increase has led to stable operation. Thanks to the user's mind brought by the power strip, Bull Group can smoothly enter the field of intelligent electrical lighting and new energy business, and further enrich the product line.
Judging from the performance in the first half of the year, the new energy business grew the most rapidly, showing great development potential. Among them, the energy storage business is an important layout of the company in the field of new energy. It is reported that in order to conform to the trend of the times of energy structure reform, since the beginning of this year, Bull Group has begun to comprehensively lay out the home storage ecology and promote the channel and brand building of developed country markets; At the same time, we will further develop and iterate the domestic industrial and commercial storage product line, and carry out the exploration and verification of business models.
Password 2: Extensive channel layout
"Where there's a hardware store, there's a bull." Nowadays, almost all the large and small hardware store door signboards across the country can see the LOGO of the bull brand.
In terms of channel expansion, Bull Group's strategy is to continue to improve the coverage and penetration rate of the offline professional channel system, and actively explore new retail business models. On the basis of effective coverage of small and medium-sized operators, expand large-scale operators and government and enterprise projects; Promote the transformation and upgrading of dealers to service providers, and further improve the timeliness and satisfaction of after-sales service.
Bull Group has long adhered to the sales model of "distribution and sales" + "store signboard (store signboard)" to connect the small and scattered hardware channel outlets across the country into a network. As of 2023, Bull Group has established more than 750,000 hardware channel sales points (including hardware stores, grocery stores, office supply stores, supermarkets, etc.) across the country, forming a developed marketing network that is difficult for peers to copy.
In recent years, the trend of consumers' integrated purchasing has accelerated significantly, and Bull Group conducted a pilot verification of the 4.0 flagship store in 2023, and found that the flagship store is the core fulcrum of consumers in the new consumption model, which can comprehensively meet the needs of offline experience, one-stop procurement, online information acquisition and traffic conversion.
In 2024, Bull Group will begin to vigorously promote the channel reform of "full-category flagship store + new retail model". Relying on good product display, purchase experience and store image, the flagship stores of all categories have effectively driven the sales and coordinated development of decoration-related businesses.
At the same time, the new retail business model has taken shape, enabling the diversification of offline passenger flow through various methods such as online traffic integration, intra-city multimedia matrix, local life, and cross-industry alliances. At present, the dynamic sales of the opened stores are gradually climbing, and the company will continue to focus on improving the operational capacity of the stores in the second half of the year.
Internationalization has always been a new growth curve that Bull Group is trying to build. The company mentioned in the semi-annual report that it has improved the team configuration in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Central Asia and other regions, and realized the resident assistance and localization of overseas sales teams.
Among them, the distribution system layout of Southeast Asian countries has been initially completed, and nearly 20 local distributors have effectively covered key countries such as the Philippines, Viet Nam and Indonesia, and have also begun to develop online flagship stores in different regions.
Password 3: Forge ahead workforce
If virtue is not matched, there will be disaster. If you are not in place, you will suffer from it.
Based on the needs of sustainable business development, Bull Group continues to promote organizational and talent changes. Through its own continuous exploration and excellent experience, the company's talent training mechanism is becoming more and more perfect, and with the development of business, personnel efficiency is also continuously improving.
In terms of fixed salary, Bull Group has not only established a relatively fair and just salary system, but also created a relatively broad incentive structure space to fully mobilize the enthusiasm and enthusiasm of employees.
The data shows that the total compensation of employees of Bull Group has increased year by year in the past five years. In 2023, the total salary expenditure of employees will be 2,152,901,400 yuan, the average salary will be 156,600 yuan, and the average income will be 1,141,800 yuan.
Return on manpower (ROI) = (net new income / total investment) × 100%, which means that the company can get an economic return for every 1 yuan of human resource cost invested. It measures the efficiency between the input and output of the enterprise in human resources, and is a reference that cannot be ignored by enterprise decision-makers when formulating human resources strategies.
Since 2020, Bull Group has implemented an equity incentive plan for 5 consecutive years. During the five-year period, the proportion of the company's incentive number to the total number of people has increased year by year, and the per capita share has also increased year by year.
For restricted stocks, there are two main types of incentive objects for Bull, one is directors and executives, and the other is other core personnel. It is worth noting that in 2024, the company will no longer adopt the incentive method of restricted stock for directors and senior executives, but adopt the incentive method of special talent stock ownership plan.
On the whole, the incentive share, the number of incentive people and the per capita share of restricted stocks are increasing year by year, indicating that the company is more focused on incentives for other core personnel.
For the Special Talent Stock Ownership Plan, Bull divides it into 4 vesting periods, with the first plan starting in 2020 and ending in 2023. A new round of the plan will begin in 2024, increasing the number of directors and executives, reducing the total incentive share, and actually reducing the incentives for directors and executives.
According to public information, the remuneration of Bull Group's executives is among the best among listed companies in Zhejiang. In 2023, Liu Shengsong, secretary of the board of directors, will rank first in the salary list of Zhejiang stocks with a salary of 3.27 million.