Colorful Industry: Dare to be the first

Compared with its counterparts in Taiwan, Shenzhen Colorful Industry's annual sales of RMB 1 billion is nothing. However, among the private computer peripheral companies in mainland China, Colorful has created many leading records: one of the earliest established computer peripheral factories (1993); the first to be promoted through international media (1998); the first to be established in Germany R&D and sales base (1999); the first to participate in the German Cebit computer communication exhibition (1999); the first to introduce senior managers from Hong Kong and Taiwan (2000). These have become examples and goals for peers to imitate and learn from.

Colorful boss Xia Wei graduated from Beihang University with a degree in Industrial Management. Having a background in management, it was somewhat accidental that he joined IT. But it is this kind of non-technical background that allows him to get rid of the shackles of technology and skillfully combine entrepreneurial spirit with an international vision, creating the glory of Colorful Company today.

Internationalization of R&D and Marketing

After graduating from university in 198_9, Xia Wei was assigned to a real estate company in Shenzhen. Out of his love for the IT industry, he joined a computer company in 1992 and was engaged in purchasing. Driven by the entrepreneurial boom in Shenzhen and the company's downturn, he resigned and started his own company.

"Initially, I did some flipping business, mainly buying computer accessories from Taiwanese merchants and selling them to local dealers." After a period of accumulation of funds and experience, he opened his own factory on the outskirts of Shenzhen, from a 1,000 A small workshop of about square meters started his "Made in China" career.

Like a start-up, Colorful started out with simple assembly. The difference is that from the very beginning, Xia Wei has formulated a clear product positioning: excellent quality and moderate price. Due to China's unique local manufacturing advantages, Colorful quickly achieved rapid development. By 1998, the company's sales were close to RMB 10 million.

10 million RMB is a threshold. Different from other peer companies, Xia Wei is not confused by the superficial prosperity, but is thinking about the sustainable development strategy of the company. He believes that in order to make breakthroughs in technology and craftsmanship, the company must learn from the leading level of foreign countries. Colorful chose Germany as the first stop, and in 1999 invested in the establishment of a research and development and marketing center in Hamburg.

"At that time, no domestic company had done this before. It was a risky move that required great courage and huge capital investment. At first, I was not sure how much the return on investment would be. But Germany is our largest company in Europe. In addition, Germany is a world leader in industrial design. I think it is worth a fight." Xia Wei sees something, he dares to take risks.

Facts have proved that Colorful has made a good move: Germany's leading craftsmanship has significantly improved the design of its products, while zero-distance market expansion and after-sales service have achieved remarkable results in customer development. The occupation of the bridgeheads in Europe became an important milestone in the development of colorful.

From the perspective of international division of labor, Taiwanese companies are leading in IT manufacturing, and Hong Kong has unique advantages in terms of marketing experience in the international market. Since 2000, Colorful took the lead in introducing engineers from Taiwan and Hong Kong to inject vitality from R&D, production and international marketing.

There are not many mainland private enterprises that compete with Taiwan-funded enterprises in the international and domestic markets at the same time. Colorful is one of them, which is inseparable from its unique positioning and the courage to take the lead. Looking back on the colorful development, the German branch and the introduction of engineers from Hong Kong and Taiwan played a key role in the company's leadership.

Three-dimensional product promotion

Enterprises need to be promoted at a certain stage of development, and of course it is no exception in the international market. However, how to promote and which method to choose to promote is a problem that puzzles many private owners. For export enterprises, everyone mainly relies on the Canton Fair, and there is no three-dimensional promotion strategy.

I'm afraid of deep alleys with good wine. Xia Wei realized that in order to win quickly in the competition, he must invest in advertising. After some weighing, he chose Global Sources, an internationally renowned trade media, and invested hundreds of thousands of RMB in 1998. "It was a big move for me at that time. After all, the sales of colorful products were only a few million, and the online media of Global Sources was still a new thing for most companies. More importantly, there was no computer peripheral manufacturer at that time. A successful precedent for the promotion of this model." Colorful is one of the earliest computer peripheral manufacturers to promote through Global Sources.

Forerunners need courage, but also wisdom. In addition to media promotion, Xia Wei realized that face-to-face promotion is also very important. The Canton Fair is not professional enough, and there are too many monks and few porridges. Therefore, Xia Wei adopted a proactive strategy and chose the most well-known exhibitions in the industry to meet buyers directly. In 1999, Colorful began to participate in the Cebit exhibition in Germany, once again creating a precedent for private enterprises in mainland China. After that, Colorful adopted the method of key breakthrough, and several important exhibitions in the industry were not spared. Except CEBIT computer exhibition, COMDEX computer exhibition in the United States, GETECH exhibition in the Middle East, Taiwan computer exhibition and other professional exhibitions are not to be missed.

Aggressive promotions have brought colorful orders. In 1999, the annual sales of colorful rose rapidly to 20 million, in 2000, it soared to 60 million, and maintained a 100% growth rate in the following years.

In the target market, Colorful adopts the practice of co-promotion and cost sharing with the agents, which supports the sales of the agents in the local area, and also enables the colorful brand to be better promoted. Xia Wei revealed that the colorful advertising fee will rise to 20 million yuan, and a global three-dimensional brand promotion framework is gradually taking shape.

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The main embodiment of Colorful Industry's daring to be the first strategy

● In 1998, set up R&D and marketing center in Hamburg, Germany

● In 1998, invested "heavy money" through Global Sources

● In 1999, began to participate in the Cebit exhibition in Germany and other major exhibitions

● In 2000, introduced engineers from Taiwan and Hong Kong to achieve technical upgrading

● Use existing channel resources to carry out Product extension and integration with other enterprise products

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Maximize channel value

Over the past ten years since the establishment of Colorful, due to high product cost performance and three-dimensional promotion measures, it has gradually established mature sales channels at home and abroad. Colorful plans to establish 300 specialty stores around the world , 5,000 counters. These will become the company's most valuable resources.

In order to make full use of the existing channel resources, Colorful has extended its products from the original keyboard and mouse to chassis and multimedia speakers, and is currently investing in the production of digital products and network products. Another production base of 300,000 square meters is under preparation.

In addition, the company also cooperates with other production enterprises, especially those lacking in channels, to integrate their products under the colorful banner and share the sales platform to maximize the channel price. However, Xia Wei pointed out that the more cooperative factories are not the better, the quality of the factories needs to be evaluated, and most of them use ODM to ensure that the products entering the channel are consistent with the color, otherwise it will cause harm to the brand and the channel.

The benefits of channel integration are showing. Xia Wei revealed that on the basis of this year's sales of 1 billion yuan, Colorful plans to increase by more than 100% every year, reaching 5 billion yuan by 2006. To achieve this goal, the first step in research and development, promotion and channels are indispensable.