brand duo

Looking back on his six years of work as the general manager of FIYTA, Xu Dongsheng is very pleased. When he took office at Fiyta in early 2003, what he thought most was how to get the company out of the quagmire of price wars and change to the direction of value marketing; at the end of 2008, Fiyta developed its own movement and possessed its own knowledge. The Shenqi Space Watch with the property right was successfully listed, which further enhanced Fiyta's brand image as "one of the three largest space watches in the world". Today, some international brands in the world of famous watches also treat Fiyta differently.

In the past six years, Fiyta has played down the halo of the domestic watch leader, insisted on learning from international brands, started with brand marketing, did a good job in independent innovation, improved brand strength, and seized the opportunity of the rapid development of the domestic watch market in a timely manner. own growth period.

In 2008, FIYTA handed over a beautiful report card, its operating income reached 1.08 billion yuan, an increase of 34.91% over 2007, and realized a net profit of 65.02 million yuan. Among them, Harmony's famous watch chain business, which mainly distributes international famous watches, has grown rapidly, with an increase of nearly 40% over the same period of the previous year, while the company's own brand FIYTA watch has achieved a year-on-year increase of 25.74% in operating income.

Innovation to enhance strength

At the beginning of 2003, when Xu Dongsheng took office at Fiyta, he found that the company was facing three major difficulties. First, the company's performance continued to decline from 1998 to 2002, and the company's investment companies other than the watch industry did not perform well; secondly, the company did not have a clear understanding of the consumer groups of FIYTA watches. From its establishment in 1987 to 2002, 7 million watches have been sold, but the description of the customer base by the front-line sales staff is also very different; the most difficult thing is that in the sales channel, Fiyta encountered a major difficulty at that time. Placed together with other domestic watches, Ipoh, Rossini, and Tianwang, they are caught in the quagmire of price wars, and they cannot go up without discounting sales.

Crisis is the prelude to change. In the face of these difficulties, Xu Dongsheng first adjusted the diversified business structure of Fiyta, determined to take the road of specialization, divested the diversified investment enterprises with low degree of correlation with the watch business, and established the center of Fiyta Watches and Harmony World Famous Watches. main line of business.

At the same time, FIYTA cooperated with Zero Point Company. After 5 months, it conducted in-depth research on more than 100,000 people in 26 cities to understand the segmentation of the Chinese watch market, customer consumption characteristics, and Fiyta watches. market conditions. The results show that more than 70% of Chinese consumers prefer Swiss watches, and the watch market has become symbolic, fashionable, and emotional. The cycle of Chinese consumers replacing watches is about 3.7 years. "The staff of Fiyta participated in the whole process, which was very touching from top to bottom. The market research has played a role in enlightening the market for all employees." Xu Dongsheng still remembers the situation at that time.

Fiyta takes technological innovation as a breakthrough. Since 2003, FIYTA has established research and development directions in eight fields, including timing technology, material research, information technology, and precision manufacturing. "In 2003, FIYTA developed China's first manned spaceflight watch, which is a result of FIYTA's long-term adherence to technology accumulation and R&D investment." Xu Dongsheng said.

In September 2008, with the triumph of the "Shenzhen VII" astronauts Zhai Zhigang, Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng, the "Skywalker" space watch they wore passed the test of outer space, compared with the Shen 5 and Shen 6 The in-cabin space watch series, the Shenqi space watch "Skywalker" has achieved a milestone success in the research and development of FIYTA watches.

In the space environment of weightlessness, darkness, high temperature difference and strong electromagnetic radiation, accurate timekeeping is very important for astronauts. For this reason, "Skywalker" adopts the first mechanical movement independently developed and designed by Fiyta. In addition to the general hour, minute and second display, it also specially designed 30min and 45min chronograph dials for the astronauts' "space walk". Provide timing support for them to complete the task within the specified time; at the same time, the calendar display of the calendar window is changed to the AM/PM display window to ensure that the astronauts' life rules can be synchronized with the earth time.

The anti-magnetic performance of ordinary watches can only reach 4,800A/m, while the anti-magnetic performance of Skywalker has reached more than 10 times the international standard; Skywalker can operate normally in a vacuum environment of -80°C to 80°C; The light transmittance of Walker's glass reaches 93%, and after anti-glare treatment, astronauts can clearly see the position of the hour hand even in dark space.

After three years of fruitful research and development, the "Skywalker" space watch has won the appreciation of the Shenqi astronauts with its excellent performance. Since the limited edition of "Skywalker" was launched in October 2008, it has aroused the pursuit of many collectors. Fiyta has also become the second brand to successfully launch spaceflight work watches for extravehicular operation, demonstrating its strong R&D strength.

“Fiyta determined the research and development plan of the space watch in 2002, from the successful launch of the first in-vehicle space watch in October 2003 to the successful development of the first Chinese extra-vehicular space watch in September 2008. During this period, the level of R&D management has also been rapidly improved. For example, the introduction of advanced technology, the introduction of Six Sigma management, and the implementation of the strategy of synchronizing R&D and standardization." Li Bei, deputy general manager in charge of R&D, said, "In this process, our company's largest The harvest is to train the R&D team."

In the development of new products, FIYTA has established a cross-departmental "research-production-sales" cooperation group, which is responsible for the determination, research and development and promotion of product concepts. Before new products are launched, the concept test, product test and price test are added, which effectively improves the hit rate of new product development. In 2007, Fiyta used the original enhanced titanium technology to launch the Hengyu series of watches, which generated sales revenue of 20 million yuan that year. The aerospace watch series in October 2008 also promoted the rapid improvement of the fourth quarter performance.

Design communication brand

Watch is a special symbol for modern people to express fashion and emotions. People's demand for watches has changed from simple timing functions in the past to decorative needs now. The level of watch design directly affects the value of watch brands. accomplish. Therefore, FIYTA spared no effort in the improvement of industrial design.

Since 2003, FIYTA Corporation has cooperated with the Academy of Arts and Design of Tsinghua University to hold the "FIYTA Cup Watch Design Competition" under the joint guidance of China Watch and Clock Association, China Industrial Design Association and China Arts and Crafts Society. This competition focuses on conceptual design, collects outstanding works from domestic and foreign universities and colleges, and invites internationally renowned design masters to serve as judges. So far, the FIYTA Cup Watch Design Competition has been successfully held for three sessions and has become the only authoritative design competition in the Chinese watch industry.

Through this competition, FIYTA has gained three benefits. First of all, it deepened the understanding of Fiyta employees on the concept of clocks and time. Second, find talent. This competition enables a group of talented young students to emerge, and the designers of outstanding entries will have the opportunity to join FIYTA's design team to further enrich FIYTA's design capabilities. Third, the space for international cooperation has been expanded. In addition to domestic experts, the judges of the competition include German design master Luigi Colani, Daimler's President of Prospect Design Division Harald Leschke, BenQ Dentsu's Design Center Director Wang Qianrui and other international judges. Experts brought international design thinking, so that Fiyta people have a deeper understanding of the internationalization of products.

Fiyta sends dozens of people to Switzerland and Europe during the Baselworld every year. Designers visit a large number of art galleries and museums to deepen their understanding of international brands of fashion, jewelry and watches. "How can people who don't understand beauty hope to make beautiful works? Naturally, they can't increase market sales if they can't make beautiful works." Xu Dongsheng said.

What excites Fiyta people is the favor of international design master Klarni to Fiyta. During the two inspections and visits, Crani found that the craftsmanship and quality of Fiyta's products were not inferior to those of watchmaking companies in some countries. Now that the cooperation intention has been reached, the arrival of Klarni means that good design will lead the Fiyta brand to dance again.

Learn marketing from international brands

"Although FIYTA has achieved breakthroughs in aerospace watches, one of the biggest gaps between Fiyta and Swiss watches is the brand." Xu Dongsheng said, "The promotion of the brand is a long-term process. The process involves industry accumulation and industrial accumulation, and we cannot bypass this process. By learning from excellent brands, this process can be shortened.”

According to the data of the China Watch and Clock Association, the current market capacity of high-end watches in the Chinese market is 7 billion. The main sales force of high-end watches is the Swiss watch army, of which the top five Swiss brands account for 95.69% of the retail share. The market is still growing at a rate of 30% per year. Although under the influence of the global financial crisis in 2008, the export quota of Swiss watches to the United States and Japan is decreasing, but the export to Hong Kong and mainland China still shows an increasing trend, with a growth rate of 10.9% and 43.1%, especially in mainland China fastest growing.

How to enter the sales channel of luxury watches? Comparing the plight of domestic enterprises, Fiyta can rely on its excellent commercial brand Harmony World Watch Center. It was founded in 1997. After Xu Dongsheng took office in 2003, he increased the investment in the construction of the store network. By the end of 2008, it had formed 79 stores, covering more than 20 provinces in China, forming first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai and some provincial capitals. The city-centered famous watch sales network distributes more than 30 international brands, and has a good relationship with the Swiss Swatch Group, Rolex Group, Richemont Group and a large number of independent brands. Cooperation.

“Harmony has mainly adopted an endogenous expansion model, relying on its own accumulation and development to continuously expand the number and scale of stores, which is conducive to the group’s management of it and enables various tasks, especially operation management services. It can be internally consistent and standardize and standardize." Xu Dongsheng said, "Fiyta's sales performance in Harmony's channels has grown rapidly, higher than other channels."

By learning from excellent international brands, FIYTA has developed from Starting with product design, terminal image, integrated marketing and other aspects, the construction of FIYTA watch brand stores has been accelerated. In 2008, 9 new stores were opened, and the total number of stores has reached 12. The establishment of specialty stores has promoted the improvement of channel quality, which is conducive to showing Fiyta's good products and brand image to more mid-to-high-end customers. The successful development of the aerospace watch series has enhanced the international reputation of FIYTA watches. FIYTA watches have actively developed overseas channels and have successively entered high-end consumption channels in overseas markets such as Singapore, Malaysia, Canada and Vietnam.

International excellent brands promote the growth of brands through the enrichment of product lines, which also inspires Fiyta. Fiyta has accelerated the launch of new product series. In 2008, it successfully launched high-end tourbillon products, Impression·City series, "Shen Qi" space watch series, etc., and achieved good sales results. "Fiyta is about to launch a new series, and the serialization will be more significantly improved in the next two years," Xu Dongsheng is full of confidence in the future development.

Thanks to the continuous improvement of brand strength and brand building, in the past three years, Harmony has maintained an average annual growth rate of more than 60%, and the operation quality of a single store has been continuously improved; the annual growth rate of Fiyta watch sales has also increased. At around 20%, the unit sales price of FIYTA products has increased by more than 20%.

Humanization of staff management

"Most of the gaps between Chinese enterprises and foreign advanced enterprises are mentioned in terms of core technology, industrial foundation, technological innovation, as well as transnational management and international talents. The gap in aesthetics is relatively small. Since 2003, I have deeply felt that the biggest gap is the gap in humanistic quality, especially in the luxury goods industry including watches and clocks.” Xu Dongsheng said.

Fiyta has a lot of training for employees, including high-end training. For example, Tsinghua School of Economics and Management, Paris French Fashion Institute and Paris HEC Business School opened the first fashion design management course in China. There were 51 people in the first session. Fiyta sent 28 people to participate in this course, and the training cost for each person was as high as 50,000 yuan. "The persistence and pursuit of details of excellent international brands often inspire designers, sales staff, and managers a lot." Xu Dongsheng said.

Fiyta is very humane in the management and training of employees. Considering that designers' work is mainly creative, Fiyta does not implement an attendance system for designers, provides them with free space, and sets up a separate promotion sequence for them. In addition, from the organizational level, the company also creates various conditions to actively support the work of designers, such as providing information on fashion trends in watches and related industries, and surveying customers' consumption trends. Designers who want to visit exhibitions or go to other places to collect wind, as long as the time is well arranged and the work will not be affected, the company will support them.

During the entire interview, the most frequently used words by Xu Dongsheng were learning, innovation and change. He said: "As a regional brand, FIYTA has just begun to explore the internationalization of its products. How to make its own brand style? It will take more wisdom and efforts to move forward to an international brand."