Rongchang: Make "washing things" bigger

Sitting in the office of Ocean Building on West Chang'an Avenue in Beijing, Zhang Rongrong talked about the scene when he started his business fifteen years ago, like yesterday.

Fifteen years ago, forced to survive, he rented a 40-square-meter storefront at Xisi Road with a patchwork of money, and started the business of scrubbing leather clothes with the method of hand-washing leather clothes that he had researched. "The shop was named Rongchang, which means 'prosperity and prosperity'," Zhang Rongrong recalled.

Today, Rongchang has grown from a small shop of 40 square meters to a professional dyeing and dyeing group with more than 400 laundry outlets across the country, and continues to grow at a rate of doubling every year. Behind the "prosperity" of Rongchang, whether it is the early discussion of the business model or the subsequent optimization of the management system, franchisees are important partners accompanying Rongchang's development. Over the years, how to make "washing things" bigger together with franchisees has also become the main content of Zhang Rongyao's daily thinking.

Seek development by franchise

After getting the first pot of gold from Xisi Laundry, Zhang Rongrong decided to use chain cooperation for technology transfer. At that time, the "Rongchang Leather Goods Return Emulsion" developed by Zhang was the only hand-cleaning leather clothing technology on the market. Through brand joint operation with partners, technology transfer combined with product underwriting, he has successfully developed more than 200 chain stores across the country.

Recalling that experience, Zhang Rongrong believes that the most important thing is to promote the brand of Rongchang and expand the capital of the business. But because the whole market was not mature enough for the chain concept at that time, Zhang's contract with the franchisee was not very strict. Under the circumstance that the main motivation of both parties is driven by interests, some irregular behaviors also appeared in the process of cooperation.

As the leather jackets on the market become more and more high-end, Zhang Rongrong's formula can no longer meet the needs of customers. In 1996, Zhang went to Italy to find a solution, introduced the first domestic dry-cleaning machine capable of washing leather clothes, and began to operate laundry equipment. Because of the vacancy in the market, the Italian Ilsa laundry equipment introduced by Zhang is very popular. Soon, Rongchang Dyeing and Dyeing officially became the general agent of Ilsa in China. There is a figure that can reflect the popularity of Ilsa equipment in China at that time: driven by the Chinese market, the Italian Ilsa plant has grown from a small local factory with an annual output value of less than 20 million yuan to an annual sales of 2 A washing and dyeing equipment enterprise with RMB 100 million.

At the same time, Rongchang Dyeing and Dyeing develops a dyeing and dyeing chain with lifestyle stores as the main model in the Beijing area. Collect customers' clothes in urban areas and send them to factories outside the city for cleaning. There were more than 20 such life stores at that time.

It can be seen that in the early 1990s, the development of the laundry industry in China was only a "little lotus". The profit-driven business behavior of Zhang Rongrong and franchisees not only served their own Continue to expand and lay the foundation, and more importantly, successfully breed the domestic laundry market. When the market has widely recognized the machine washing technology and more people are able to enjoy the convenience brought by the laundry industry, Zhang Rongrong believes that the opportunity has come.

In 1999, Zhang Rongyao officially started the franchise operation of laundromats under the "Rongchang" brand, and invested heavily in building a flagship store in Beijing. Parkson invested 2 million yuan in just one store. In order to better build the franchise system, Zhang extensively searched for books and experts in this area, but there were few knowledgeable people in China at that time. Once in the library, he saw a franchise book written by a professor at Renmin University, which was a treasure. So the professor was invited to work with legal experts to write his first franchise contract and technical manual.

Zhang Rongrong sees the franchising of the laundromat in 1999 as his second venture. Rongchang Dyeing and Dyeing was quickly recognized by the society because of its years of brand building. In Zhang glory's own words, "At that time, everyone who wanted to join had to line up." From 1999 to 2001, Rongchang Dyeing and Dyeing has developed more than 100 laundry and dyeing shops across the country, and expanded at a rate of 60 to 70 per year.

Rongchang Dyeing and Dyeing was in a period of rapid expansion, and the requirements for franchisees were not strict at that time. With the rise of competitors and the maturity of the market, from 2002, Zhang Rongrong turned his eyes inward and began to transform Rongchang's internal management system. He hired senior managers who worked in McDonald's and other international chain companies to work in the company with high salary, invited experts in law, marketing and other fields to be the company's external consultants, and sent some executives to study. While gradually establishing a series of systems such as evaluation and supervision, the relationship between Rongchang and franchisees has also changed.

Standardize internal management

Today's Rongchang Dyeing and Dyeing requires franchisees to identify with the corporate mission and culture, and it is not important whether they have previous entrepreneurial or business experience. After more than ten years of hard work in the market, Zhang Rongrong takes "building a century-old store" as the goal of sustainable development, and regards "being honest and doing things down to earth" as the standard to restrain himself and his employees.

Zhang Rongrong believes that the development of the dyeing and dyeing industry has long since broken away from the original era of staking. Only by being down-to-earth and responsible can there be a way out. In order to root his own ideas among his employees, Zhang Rongrong once fired three employees in a year. Some of them privately promised franchisees that they would not need to participate in the unified training provided by the headquarters, and some of them signed contracts with unqualified franchise applicants without authorization. These three employees once created 10 to 20 million in revenue for the company. "Employees who affect the company's brand will show no mercy, even if they can bring performance." Zhang Rongrong said.

Standardization is the basis for the development of Rongchang Dyeing and Dyeing. In 2005, Zhang Rongyao promoted the "two-one-two" evaluation system in the enterprise, that is, "make good use of two indexes (customer satisfaction index, franchise store satisfaction index), implement a system (franchise store evaluation system), and implement two forces (brand). Cohesion, brand influence)" operation system. Among them, the evaluation system of franchise stores is to evaluate the relationship between franchise stores and headquarters, customers, other franchisees, and employees of franchise stores. Each franchised store is evaluated every month, and the first few stores with the highest scores will be rewarded with different amounts of money. At the same time, each franchised store will also see the public evaluation situation on the Internet.

Zhang Rongrong said frankly that because the company is in a leading position in this industry, there are no foreign companies that can directly learn from it, and Rongchang is still in the process of promoting standardization. To what extent should the laundry industry be standardized? Taking ironing as an example, he said that from the customer's point of view, it may not matter much whether to iron the left sleeve or the right sleeve first, but in order to reduce the chance of errors, Rongchang also stipulated the ironing order and even the ironing time during employee training. Require employees to follow the rules.

Full support for franchisees

It's not enough to just wash and iron your clothes. In order to better build the differentiated competitiveness of the Rongchang brand, Zhang Rongrong asked each franchised store to provide good service under the guidance of the direct-operated stores of each regional headquarters, and to narrow the distance with customers through human relationships.

Wu Jianjun is the owner of Rongchang Laundry Beijing Sino-Ocean Plaza and the owner of Sino-Ocean Plaza. After moving into the new house, he saw that the community lacked big-brand and high-end laundry shops. Although he had no previous experience in the dyeing and dyeing industry, Wu Jianjun joined Rongchang Dyeing and Dyeing with the idea of giving it a try. In September 2003, Wu Jianjun's laundry opened successfully.

With the gradual improvement of the business district of the community, in 2004, four large and small laundromats of other brands were successively established around Wu Jianjun Laundry, and fierce competition began.

Faced with competition, the communication with the headquarters is very helpful to Wu Jianjun. Every once in a while, Wu has to go to the headquarters to participate in intensive training, which covers marketing, technology, service and other aspects. Sometimes employees from the headquarters will come to Wu's store to give instructions, such as how to deal with some problems from customers; where to place promotional signs so that they can attract customers' attention without hindering business.

In order to make customers feel attentive, Wu Jianjun launched some convenient services in the store, such as door-to-door clothes pickup, free buttoning and pants hemming. When it was found that customers had left items in their clothing pockets, no matter how valuable the items were, Wu Jianjun instructed the staff to call the customers as soon as possible and return the items to their original owners.

Marketing is essential to staying competitive. Before each franchise store opens, Rongchang headquarters will tailor a marketing plan for them and provide guidance according to the situation in different periods. Under the suggestion of the headquarters, Wu Jianjun will cooperate with the community property to organize some public welfare activities every quarter. While promoting the service of the small store, it also deepens the friendship with the various owners.

"Through the operation of this shop, I have experienced the fun of laundry, and I am very happy and rewarded." After more than three years of dedication, Wu Jianjun's Rongchang Laundry and Dyeing Shop has only increased a lot of customers, and the benefits have been good. And some of the competitors next to it have closed their doors.

In fact, because of the fifteen years of experience in the dyeing and washing industry, the experience of the headquarters has important guiding significance for some new franchisees. For example, Zhang Rongrong said that when a potential franchisee came to consult, he would ask questions about site selection, marketing, operational planning costs and even the franchisee's residence, such as the size of the community, the marketing expenses to be invested, and the planned staff wages. What is the proportion of turnover, what is the proportion of water and electricity bills in turnover, etc., and at the same time, I will also provide some reference data to franchisees.

For the current Zhang Rongyao, the number of franchisees is no longer important. What he is more concerned about is whether the franchisees can obtain their own interests through Rongchang, and then have better development. Because he knows that the growth of franchise stores promotes the growth of Rongchang Dyeing and Dyeing. Today, 80% of the more than 400 stores in Rongchang Dyeing and Dyeing are franchise stores. However, Zhang Guangyao was not satisfied. Higher and stronger goals drove him. In the next two years, Rongchang Washing and Dyeing plans to open hundreds of stores across the country to maximize the convenience of customers and prepare for the company's future listing.

The author writes and edits for CEConline Magazine.