Internet Business Thinking

Chapter 6 Giants lead the business model (3)
In other words, Qihoo 360 has redefined Internet security in terms of user experience.Security does not mean killing viruses, it also means data security, privacy security, account security, download security, and computer health.Qi Xiangdong concluded that security on the Internet covers four aspects: one is killing.Kill viruses and Trojans.The second is interception.In the process of surfing the Internet, users often encounter various dangers and things that various Internet companies force users to do, including forced downloads. These are the most confusing things that netizens encounter.Therefore, Qihoo 360 has expanded its product functionality to intercept bundled software.The third is to clean up.Many antivirus companies didn’t pay much attention to this problem before, but Qihoo 360 paid attention to it, and proposed the concept of cleaning and physical examination, and invented the startup assistant, which can clear the redundant things in the computer, so that the computer’s speed becomes faster. The user also does not need to change the computer frequently, which saves the cost of buying another computer for the user.The fourth is a warning.If a user enters a fraudulent website during a search, Qihoo 360 will display a sign telling the user that it is a fraud, so as to prevent netizens from being fooled.

Qi Xiangdong said: "We have magnified our responsibilities. There is a saying in China: Only those who are successful can be ranked. Only when you make a difference can you have status in society. We have changed the traditional killings into killing, intercepting, and cleaning up. And the four major functions of warning. These four functions together, for users, it is called safe surfing the Internet.”

Safety technology innovation focuses on improving product strength

No matter how the market evolves, products are always the root of enterprise survival.Without a great product that users love, nothing will happen.Therefore, Zhou Hongyi said: "The essence of all subversion comes from human nature, and all subversion is subverted from the perspective of human nature. At the same time, the power of subversion should come from product power, not conceptual power."

Looking for a breakthrough in technology from the perspective of product strength has become the only way for Qihoo 360 to innovate security technology.This is the case with the series of security products launched by Qihoo 360, such as its innovatively developed "black and white list database" + "cloud scanning and killing engine" technology.Traditional antivirus software provides "hack detection technology", but Qihoo 360 invented "white detection technology", which can block and warn unknown viruses, unknown Trojan horses, and unknown phishing websites.That is to say, by placing the black and white list database on the server, the user does not need to frequently replace the local virus database, and the computer will not freeze when using the computer, and the speed is very fast.At the same time, the computer is connected to the 360 ​​cloud security data center, and the service terminal can scan and disinfect the computer in real time.This technology enables Qihoo 360 to be able to capture newly emerging Trojan horses and viruses on the Internet in a short period of time, and the more users there are, the faster the speed of capturing samples and the stronger the ability to detect and kill them.

Another aspect of improving product strength is Qihoo 360's continuous innovation in user experience.For example, 360 has improved the protection level of anti-virus software by increasing the running speed of the computer, so as to avoid causing the user to feel stuck; on the interface, only three buttons are reserved for virus scanning, real-time protection, and product upgrade to simplify the interface of anti-virus products. Make antivirus software no longer difficult for users to understand and use.

However, in the process of disruptive innovation, Qihoo 360 encountered great external resistance, and even faced strangulation.Qi Xiangdong said: "Before 2009, our resistance mainly came from traditional anti-virus software manufacturers such as Kingsoft and Rising. They are well-known and stronger than us. However, at present, traditional anti-virus software has no power. After 2009, the resistance mainly came from Tencent and Baidu. Today, Tencent is stronger, 10 times stronger than us, and Baidu is not weak, its strength is 7 times stronger than ours. Together, the two are 17 times stronger than us. So there's such a disparity in power, and besides, we're one and they're an alliance."

Kick opponents against users

"Starting from the user experience, satisfying the user's consumption psychology and needs." This is the true value of Qihoo 360.However, in the process of fighting against stronger opponents, this concept has inadvertently become an effective strategy to defeat the enemy, taking advantage of the situation to "kick" the powerful opponent to the opposite side of the user.Qihoo 360 regards user experience as its important service concept.In Qi Xiangdong's view, Qihoo 360 is different from other Internet companies in this respect.

First of all, in the security industry, it is either safe or not safe, there is never a middle ground, which forces Qihoo 360 to do a good job in products and services, and forces them to strengthen their focus on user experience step by step.

Secondly, the open platform model determines that Qihoo 360 will not harm the interests of customers. "Qihoo 360 is very clean. It does not sell products or sell anything to users. It only needs to ensure the safety of our platform. Therefore, we have no motive to 'crime' against users, and everything is based on the interests of users."

Since Qihoo 360 is based on user experience and has no motive to harm users, then in the struggle with giants such as Tencent and Baidu, users will naturally feel that their opponents are the root cause of "harming themselves".For example, during the battle between Tencent and Qihoo 360, Tencent asked users to choose either QQ or 360.In the search battle with Baidu, Qihoo 360 actively emphasized that its comprehensive search service can provide users with a variety of choices.However, Baidu's profit-seeking bidding rankings have been focused by public opinion, and Baidu is naturally at a moral disadvantage.

Aiming at the chaos in the search market, in August 2013, 8 Search, which takes "clean, safe and reliable" as its product concept, first launched a full compensation plan for fraudulent promotion, and promised that if the website operator promotes through 360 Search Malicious fraudulent information and phishing websites cause consumers to suffer direct property losses, and 360 will be responsible for paying compensation in advance; it also promises in the 360 ​​online shopping first compensation service that if consumers are deceived by online shopping under the protection of 360, they can get up to 360 yuan in compensation.The launch of the full compensation plan for fraudulent promotion will not only help to greatly improve the product experience of the entire search industry, but also help Qihoo 72000 to win the hearts of the people.

Qihoo 360 emphasizes the concept of safe and free services for users, which also has a unique effect of winning over people's hearts.For example, in the field of antivirus, products such as 360 Security Guard are free to users, while rivals Rising and Kingsoft at that time were still charging users, so that users' perceptions of them can be compared immediately.Rising, Kingsoft and other traditional anti-virus software manufacturers are naturally pushed to the opposite side of users, and the result can be imagined.

Hold high the banner of anti-monopoly to stir up public opinion

It is an indisputable fact that oligopoly has appeared in China's Internet market.For example, in the fields of search engines and instant messaging, Baidu and Tencent are well-deserved leaders.

The general understanding in the industry is that monopoly inhibits technological innovation, hinders fair competition in the market, strangles emerging startups, and ultimately hurts the interests and experience of users.Just as the public criticizes the monopolistic behavior of several major domestic telecom operators and oil giants, netizens also have a certain unpleasant "hostility" from time to time towards the oligopoly in the Internet field.

In the field of Internet, Qihoo 360 held high the banner of anti-monopoly, demanding to change the market structure monopolized by industry giants.In essence, this is in line with the market and public opinion.The result, of course, is to place the monopolist in the position of the "public enemy" of the market.For example, the case of Qihoo 360 suing Tencent for abuse of market dominance became the first Internet anti-monopoly case heard by the Supreme People's Court since the promulgation of the Anti-Monopoly Law, and has attracted widespread attention from the society.No matter what the verdict of the case is, it has in fact strengthened users’ perception of Tencent’s monopoly.

Of course, the outside world has doubts about Qihoo 360's active or passive participation in the series of lawsuits. Some lawyers even believe that "every time 360 ​​provokes a big war, it will almost always end with 360's legal failure and commercial success." .Even so, it is biased to draw a general conclusion that "Qihoo 360's lawsuits all ended in failure", because in fact there are winners and losers, but as a relatively weak party, Qihoo 360 is indeed holding high the banner of anti-monopoly. Can earn a lot of sympathy points.

This is also beneficial for Qihoo 360 to stand on the moral high ground.Therefore, some people call the game strategy of Qihoo 360 and its opponents the mass line of "people's struggle", which is not without reason.

However, there is no doubt that in the fierce competition in the market, no matter what the outside world and competitors think of Qihoo 360, it has indeed grown into a big name in the industry, and can proudly "walk" on the Chinese Internet.However, Zhou Hongyi may not fully agree with this.On the contrary, Zhou Hongyi also showed a strong sense of crisis for the future of Qihoo 360. In January 2014, at the annual meeting of Qihoo 1, Zhou Hongyi used "Restart and Breakthrough" as the theme of his speech, which is a great proof of this sense of crisis.

"Now, we have reached a turning point. The world has changed, the industry has changed, and users' expectations and habits have also changed." Zhou Hongyi believes that today's breakthrough is not to break through the alliance that Baidu and Tencent are trying to build, but how to overcome the burden of the past. break out.Qihoo 360 is not afraid of any competition. It has been fighting with the Internet giants, despising the enemy strategically and paying attention to the enemy tactically.But in the face of the new competitive situation, do the original styles of play still have advantages? "To win the future of the wireless internet and the internet of smart devices, we need to think really hard, from top to bottom, about the challenges we face today. I think the worst enemy is ourselves."

On the new journey of restarting and breaking through, Qihoo 360 still has a lot to do, not only to face itself at a higher starting point, but also to face many new challenges from competitors.

Online Business Tips
Qihoo 360's strategic short board

Han Jingkui, CEO of Qingdao Meitian Network Technology Co., Ltd., believes that Qihoo 360 cannot grow into a giant company with the scale of Tencent based on its security-based product structure, because Qihoo 360 has strategic shortcomings: installed capacity and The actual usage time of the user does not match, and the effective contact time with the user is short.This will directly affect the amount and frequency of investment in its main advertising business; at the same time, 360 lacks secondary services, cannot establish demand segmentation, in-depth and continuous contact with users, and lacks customer stickiness; in addition, 360 lacks an identity authentication system, and its security business The basic mode of 360 is inherently anonymous, which leads to the inherent deficiencies of [-] in many fields such as social networking and entertainment. (Section [-]) "Local tyrants" make "private gardens", and I lead users into the "desert"

After Qihoo 360 went public, it was faced with such a choice: Should it adopt Tencent's "private garden" model or an open platform model?Do you want to make money together with various manufacturers in the industry chain, or do you eat alone?In the end, Qihoo 360 decided to adopt an open platform model, open to partners in the industry chain, and let entrepreneurs turn their innovative ideas into products or services.

During the interview, the reporter asked Qi Xiangdong, the president of Qihoo 360: What do you most want to tell your competitors?Qi Xiangdong paused for a moment, and then said thoughtfully: "I would like to say something for Internet entrepreneurs across the country. I hope there will be fair competition. This is the source of innovation. Unfair competition will stifle China's Internet innovation—China Internet Industry There are already signs of desertification, because the behavior of industry giants is not restrained. If this situation continues, it will not only hurt startups, but also giants.”

Qi Xiangdong appealed to the Internet giants not to make money at the expense of harming the interests of users, but to restrain their behavior.His feelings are closely related to the growth process of Qihoo 360, because Qihoo 360 developed with difficulty in the siege of Internet pioneers.But it's clear he doesn't want to speak harshly about his rivals.Therefore, at the end of the exclusive interview with "Manager", he specifically told the staff of Qihoo 360 to "shut down" the interview article, so as not to cause unnecessary disputes due to his words.

The open platform model determines that 360 will not "do bad things"

During the interview, the reporter of "Manager" magazine hoped that Qi Xiangdong could talk about: what are the main performances of Qihoo 360's business model in terms of innovation.

"The business model is not static, it needs an adjustment process to adapt to changes in the market environment." Qi Xiangdong is very interested in this issue, he said, "Our business model has undergone three major adjustments. The first Stage: In the early days of entrepreneurship, 360 Security Guard was free, but the anti-virus software bundled with users was charged. At that time, we only gave users free for half a year, and charged after half a year. But the charge was very cheap, only 25 yuan. The second The first stage: from 2008 to 2009, 360 antivirus started to be free, and it was truly free forever. In this way, we spent all the money earned by the previous antivirus software. The third stage: after it went public in 2011, we faced a choice : Should we follow the Tencent model or the open platform model? Do we want to make money together with various manufacturers in the industry chain, or do we eat alone? In the end, we decided to take the open platform model, open to partners in the industry chain, and not eat alone.”

Qi Xiangdong told reporters that 360's open platform model determines that 360 will not do things that are not conducive to users.To be able to attract users and insist on putting the interests of customers first, it really requires revolutionary determination.It's about interests.A good company like Tencent encloses users in its "garden" in order to make money.In the search circle, some search engines are very powerful, but they do bidding rankings, and they do not rank according to good or bad, true or false, but according to high or low bids, which results in some false and deceptive advertisements being ranked first, and users are fooled.And Qihoo 360 is very clean, there is nothing to sell to users. "As long as we ensure the security of the 360 ​​platform, we have achieved our fundamental goal." Qi Xiangdong said, "So, we have no motive to 'crime' against users, and everything is based on the interests of users. We care about users!"

2011年2月，奇虎360宣布推出360团购开放平台，让符合资质的团购网站共享360的用户资源。这标志着奇虎360正式启动了开放平台战略。那么，奇虎360的开放平台战略是基于什么因素考虑的？
Regarding this issue, Qi Xiangdong said: "After users come in from 360, the Internet services they get are comprehensive and high-quality. If we don't introduce the industrial chain, what users see when they come in from 360 is an empty space, and they can do nothing." No, then, didn’t he just leave? We build an open platform, and we can truly cooperate and win-win with partners such as small and medium-sized Internet companies.” Qihoo 360’s open platform strategy enables small and medium-sized Internet companies to Just find Internet users and make money from them.For 360, after users enter through the 360 ​​entrance and see excellent products and services, they will frequent them not only by themselves, but also with relatives and friends. Therefore, 360’s open platform strategy essentially creates a A valuable and win-win platform.

Currently, almost all of Qihoo 360's revenue comes from open platforms.However, the fees paid by users when they consume on the open platform do not constitute 360’s income, because although users consume on the platform, the things they pay for consumption are provided by manufacturers recruited by 360 Merchants.The Qihoo 360 platform is settled in B2C, C2C websites, vertical portals, movie and video websites, ticket buying websites, etc., and they are all settled in the form of companies. The core business of 360 is to maintain the foundation and fundamental security of this platform.

Lead users to the desert
In 2010, Qi Xiangdong once said such words.He said: "There have been 3 charges VS free wars on the Internet in China. These 3 wars have occurred in e-mail (Netease and 263 mailboxes), e-commerce (Taobao and eBay), Internet security (free 360 ​​and In the past three years, the Internet market has undergone tremendous changes, and the competition situation is not what it used to be.So, does Qi Xiangdong still agree with the conclusion he made three years ago?
In fact, Qi Xiangdong has always paid great attention to the huge changes in the Internet market and the trend of competition.In his view, the context of changes in the Internet market is now becoming clearer, and "free" is the trend of Internet development.Now, the standard model of the Internet industry is: any Internet company must first find a free service model, and then make money by providing value-added services to users on the basis of free services.He believes that he gave three examples three years ago, suggesting a way of thinking.Now it seems that all Internet companies are developing according to this idea.Like Facebook, it used to be free, so does it make money?Of course making money, it's now a $3 billion company.Therefore, users must first be provided with a free communication platform, thereby forming a crowd gathering place, and then carry out precise marketing. This idea is correct and applicable to the present.

As a result, Internet companies are bound to face two situations.The first situation is, if it is always free, does it mean that Internet companies must have the ability to invest in the early stage and maintain free services continuously?The second situation is that since for enterprises, free is not the ultimate goal, profit is the goal.So, from the experience of Qihoo 360, under what circumstances is it suitable for Qihoo 360 to switch from a free model to a paid model?
(End of this chapter)