Top of the Great Era

Chapter 1716 TT Strategy
Sun Zhengyi wrote a letter, saying that he will arrive in Tokyo tomorrow afternoon.

On this day, Zhou Buqi went to the Softbank operator, met Yoshino Ren, and further understood the current situation of the Japanese mobile phone market in order to find a breakthrough around Toshiba's mobile phone business.

Accompanied by Hitoshi Yoshino, Zhou Buqi visited three Softbank operators' directly-operated stores, and observed the process of several users buying mobile phones on the spot.

"Why are everyone buying feature phones?"

"Yes, everyone is used to the convenience of feature phones, mainly NEC, Sharp, Sony Ericsson, Fujitsu, Toshiba, Sanyo, and Panasonic."

"Those two young people just now are college students, right?" This is what surprised Zhou Buqi the most. "Why do they also buy feature phones?"

Yoshino Jin said: "Smartphones are still a little less functional."

Zhou Buqi was even more surprised, "Fewer functions?"

Jin Yoshino bowed, "Yes, such as mobile payment, many young people like the convenience of mobile payment, but smartphones can't do it yet."

"Oh, you have i-mode!"

Zhou Buqi suddenly realized.

In the early days of smart phones, many functions have yet to be developed and are still in development.Feature phones are different, especially in Japan's feature phone industry. With i-mode, it can be called the world's best 3G wireless network system, with powerful functions and everything you need.

i-mode is a bit like the Apple Store on the iPhone. It has been developed for more than ten years and has various functions.

Tang Binchen also told Zhou Buqi about this point.

Ucgram has not been widely promoted in Japan at present. It is mainly UC beauty, because Ucgram has added social functions of pictures, and its structure is more complicated, so it is not easy to adapt in i-mode.

Hitoshi Yoshino said: "i-mode is rich in functions and can meet all the needs of mobile phone users. Because this system is too powerful, it is particularly difficult to transform."

Zhou Buqi said: "Well, the boat turned around in a big disaster."

Europe and the United States also have similar operator systems, but they are not unified. It is not as good as i-mode, which covers all mobile phone users in Japan. It is considered a small boat, so it is easy to turn around.

It is even easier in China. There is a blank market, and you can directly start painting without erasing the past paintings.

Zhou Buqi asked again: "Can't smartphones join the i-mode system?"

Hitoshi Yoshino said with a smile: "Yes, at my suggestion, both the iPhone and Aster have joined, so these are the two best-selling smartphones. Several mobile phones sold by other operators, including the first phone launched by Sony last year An Android phone, because the compatibility with i-mode is too poor, it also suffered a very serious failure."

Somewhat suspected of selling and boasting, there is a lot of moisture.

Zhou Buqi nodded and asserted: "i-mode, a platform that revolves around operators, is doomed to nowhere. With the rapid development of technology, the hardware conditions of smartphones are getting better and better, and they can adapt to more powerful product functions. , richer gameplay."

Hitoshi Yoshino bowed slightly, "Last year, the sales share of smartphones was 12.6%, this year it will reach 25%, and next year it will only increase. The general trend is like this."

Zhou Buqi smiled, "There is another question, do you sell too many styles of mobile phones?"

"what?"

Yoshino Jin was slightly taken aback, not quite understanding.

Zhou Buqi said: "There are too many categories and it is difficult to choose, which will greatly waste the time for the shopping guides to repeat the introduction. At the same time, it will also increase their training time. As far as I know, the pursuit of Japanese aesthetics is simplicity."

Yoshino Ren leaned forward and said, "We have cooperated with these mobile phone manufacturers for many years."

Zhou Buqi said: "I'm not talking about feature phones. The design of feature phones is rich and colorful, full of personalization, and there is indeed a need for more categories. But smartphones are unnecessary. Didn't you say that the homogeneity of smartphones Seriously, they’re copying each other. That’s right. I see smartphones from HTC, Nokia, LG, but it’s not necessary.”

Yoshino Ren understood what he meant, but it was difficult to give any response.

This kind of thing is too big and has to be decided by a higher level.

Zhou Buqi's identity is unusual, and he didn't just come to Softbank's carrier business to investigate casually. He himself is a director of Softbank Group.

This kind of decision really has to be sent down by the board of directors.

The next day, Sun Zhengyi returned.

Such a person is already used to working continuously, and is so energetic that it is unimaginable that he does not need jet lag at all.In the evening, Zhou Buqi was invited to dinner in a very quiet Japanese food shop.

Zhou Buqi got straight to the point, "Esta is in a little trouble now."

Sun Zhengyi said: "Well, I heard that Samsung's Android phones are doing very well. In the Japanese market, they have a relationship with NTT."

NTT is the largest operator giant in Japan, with a market share of more than 50%, while SoftBank ranks third with a market share of less than 20%.Fortunately, Softbank still holds the exclusive right to sell the iPhone.

Zhou Buqi said: "Not only Samsung, Apple and Google have more and more differences in the field of operating systems, and Apple is becoming more and more dissatisfied with the imitation of Android phones. At the same time, Google also wants to train Samsung to fight against Asda in Android. Exorbitant market share in the machine market.”

Accustomed to doing big business, Sun Zhengyi immediately felt the shadow of swords and swords behind it.

It's not easy!

Esta suffered a beating!

No wonder he was so eager to call himself back.

Just fighting against Samsung, the pressure is a little less, and now it is going to fight against the three technology giants Samsung, Google, and Apple at the same time.

Sun Zhengyi's expression became serious, "Is there a way?"

Zhou Buqi took a sip of sake, but he was calmer than him, "What can I do, it's nothing more than taking a step and taking a step. First stabilize the basic market in Asia."

This is his consistent way of doing business.

First have a relatively stable basic disk, and then try to expand.This is what Ziweixing did.Now that Esta has been hit, he has to prepare for the worst.

Sun Zhengyi's eyes were complicated, "Asda's basic market is Asia, and Samsung's basic market is also Asia."

Zhou Buqi said with a smile: "There is no need to worry about the market in our country. Samsung cannot succeed. In the Korean market... I have also found a modern cooperation."

"modern?"

"Yes, in the next few years, Aster will be rebranded and sold in South Korea under the name of Hyundai."

"This really looks like Ni's style." Sun Zhengyi couldn't laugh or cry, "Also, in the Korean market, only Hyundai can compete with Samsung."

Zhou Buqi said: "The Southeast Asian market is basically under the influence of Chinese culture, and it is not a big problem. Next is the Japanese market. Don't compare with Apple, only compare with Samsung."

Sun Zhengyi said in a deep voice: "Samsung has reached a cooperation with NTT, and Samsung's smartphone sales have increased significantly."

Among the three major operators in Japan, NTT is the first with a market share of 53%, followed by KDDI with a market share of 25%, and Softbank with a market share of 19%.

Japanese mobile phones are basically contract phones sold by operators. Samsung has a market guarantee through the relationship with NTT.This is much stronger than the cooperation between Asda and Softbank.

Zhou Buqi said: "So we must find a way to solve this problem."

"any idea?"

"I designed a 'TT strategy' for SoftBank's carrier business."

"TT strategy?"

Masayoshi Son was at a loss.

Zhou Buqi said: "It's the Two-Top strategy, which means that operators only recommend models from two leading manufacturers to users and provide corresponding subsidies. One is iPhone and the other is Aster."

Sun Zhengyi had heard Yoshino Jin's report before, and he didn't find it strange.

Such a decision makes sense.

In the retail industry all over the world, simplification and simplification are becoming popular. Speaking of which, this is a trend brought by Japan.

In the past, stores were full of beautiful things. There were dozens or even hundreds of choices for each category of goods. The most typical representatives were Wal-Mart and Carrefour.

However, Japan has less land and more people, especially Tokyo, which is the most densely populated metropolis in the world, and every inch of land is expensive.

Many small convenience stores don't have that much space for too many items.

It can only be selective.

Only two or three of the best categories are left to help consumers filter out too many brands with poor quality, and it can also save consumers from the pain of difficult choice.

This has greatly shortened the average shopping time of consumers.

The crowded problem of the store has also been solved, and more customers can be accepted per unit time.At the same time, it also greatly reduces the inventory and turnover cycle of convenience stores, and also reduces the difficulty of complex supply chain management.

There are many benefits!
Back then, 7-11 was an American company.After reading it, Japanese businessmen thought it was very good, so they introduced it to Japan.After decades of development, 7-11 in the United States could no longer survive. The Japanese branch turned around and bought the US headquarters. 7-11 became a Japanese chain convenience store giant.

As an admirer of Japanese philosophy, Jobs actually followed this line of thought in the iPhone he launched.Other mobile phone manufacturers can't wait to release more than a dozen new products every year, playing mobile phone tactics, with various types and styles.

The iPhone is different. There is only one type every year, which is divided into basic version and Pro version, and at most one Plus version is added, which does not give consumers too much choice.

It not only saves the company's design cost and management cost, but also greatly saves the after-sales maintenance cost.

Another example is Tesla. There are a lot of models of traditional car companies, and Tesla has a total of three models.Another example is Costco, which is also very successful because of this concept.

Zhou Buqi said: "The principles are actually the same, just like the history of painting art. It was simple at first, and then gradually became complicated. After the complexity reached the extreme, it began to return to the basics, and then began to be minimalist, and then developed towards complexity. .The current operator system is too complicated. I went to the Softbank store and saw that there are [-] or [-] mobile phone models on sale, which is too much! It’s time to simplify the reform!”

"Very challenging change."

Sun Zhengyi showed a very cautious attitude. Based on his understanding of the boss Zhou, this layout may not be simple.

(End of this chapter)