The entrepreneurial story of Li Ye, a post-80s generation who makes millions a year selling barbecue online
A group of old aunts in Shanghai use QQ, WeChat and other methods to take orders online, and cycle through the city every noon In the core CBD office building, it delivers personalized and customized private dishes to white-collar workers, and relies on word-of-mouth to become a "legendary" food delivery team.
A seemingly sparse barbecue restaurant opened in a remote corner of Yangpu District. However, the young shop owner born in the 1980s was able to earn an annual income by playing with Weibo, WeChat, and Taobao. The astonishing performance of nearly 3 million yuan and the business experience behind it are impressive.
O2O (online to offline, online to offline) has become the entrepreneurial truth spoken by more and more business godfathers, but what many citizens may not have thought of is that it is happening in the ordinary corners of the market around us. , hiding the most down-to-earth O2O case.
Character introduction
Li Ye is perhaps one of the most storied barbecue shop owners in Shanghai. He was born into a wealthy family but went bankrupt and dropped out of school. He earned his living by carrying boxes and setting up a barbecue stall. To earn living expenses, he devoted himself to Internet entrepreneurship. In a remote area of ??Xiangyin Road in Yangpu District, in a barbecue restaurant with an area of ??less than 20 square meters, Li Ye, a post-80s generation, relied on O2O marketing methods such as WeChat, Weibo, and Taobao to sell barbecue for 2.8 million yuan last year, earning 50 % of gross profit.
The performance of the remote barbecue restaurant is amazing
Li Ye’s shop is called Original BBQ, and it is an inconspicuous small storefront at the intersection of Xiangyin Road and Jungong Road in Yangpu District.
There is no bustling flow of people, and it is 600 meters away from the nearest residential area. This kind of location obviously does not follow common sense. The reporter walked for 15 minutes from Xiangyin Road subway station to find this place. The sight in front of him was a bit shocking: there was no smoke and fragrance of barbecue, no gas stove, and there were no customers in the store.
The waiter took the reporter out of the store and walked around to a small two-story office building nearby, where he saw Li Ye lying in front of the computer.
Perhaps seeing the confusion on the reporter’s face, the young boss quickly explained: Our main store is actually online, and the offline store is just an O2O pick-up point, at most for customers. Some food tastings are provided, but food in the reception hall is generally not available. ?He said that the real store of Original Barbecue is a large online store on Taobao, and its reputation has reached a double crown, representing more than 40,000 transactions and positive reviews.
Several employees were busy around Li Ye, some were processing orders, some were writing copywriting, and some were filling in logistics documents. These young faces have customer service IDs such as "rice cake girl", "steak brother", "snail brother", and "purple sweet potato sister" online. They work in shifts to provide shopping guides and after-sales services to foodies from all over the country.
How did you achieve annual sales of 2.8 million yuan? Li Ye boldly moved everything that the barbecue restaurant could sell online. From more than 100 varieties of semi-finished ingredients such as seafood, meat, aquatic products, and vegetables, to ovens, barbecue forks, charcoal, disposable tableware, and even tickets to barbecue attractions, you can purchase them, providing a one-stop service for outdoor barbecues.
The reporter saw on the homepage of the original barbecue online store that Li Ye showed his shrewd e-commerce thinking. The first is the food hygiene issue that people are most concerned about. Feeling the bad comments from some roadside barbecue stalls about pigments, additives, and fake mutton, he clearly posted the quality inspection report and import declaration form of each batch of ingredients online. .
According to different seasons, the products sold in barbecue restaurants are also quite different. ?For example, the charcoal crystals used in summer are different from those used in winter. Generally, the ignition point is lower in summer, and the charcoal crystals sold must not be so easy to spontaneously ignite. April and May are suitable for spring outings, and some customers who place large orders will receive free tents. ?he said.
Li Ye also boldly cross-border distribution, and he is very skilled in mixing and matching. By understanding the psychology of consumers, he tentatively tried to sell facial masks in a barbecue restaurant, focusing on the concept of "after-barbecue care", but they were all sold out. He also dared to sell toys. The selling point of the promotion was to let children play while preventing them from causing trouble and getting injured during the barbecue. The toys were also sold out quickly.
?Smart businessmen not only meet needs, but also create needs. He proudly told reporters that the location of the barbecue restaurant is not bad at all. There are several universities nearby, and the Green Forest Park is next to it. It is also the only way to go to Chongming and other places from Upper Central. It seems deserted, but in fact there are many people coming to pick up goods. ?
His family was in decline and he opened an online store to sell barbecue
Li Ye’s crazy business experience is inseparable from his tortuous entrepreneurial history.
It is not an exaggeration to say that he came from a wealthy family. Li Ye's family originally opened a high-end hotel and was quite famous in his hometown of Yancheng. He has taken the college entrance examination three times. After college, he received at least 5,000 yuan per month for living expenses. He is a rich second generation on campus.
But in 2003, due to business failure, Li Ye's family went bankrupt.
His father tried to go to Yangzhou to engage in crab farming, but due to SARS and floods, the farm also went bankrupt. After losing his source of income, Li Ye did a series of hard work such as moving boxes. He eventually dropped out of school and his family fell apart.
After returning to Yancheng, Li Ye became an apprentice to a barbecue stall owner and worked for him for free to gain experience. Later, he also set up a stall next to the university. Unexpectedly, the business was very good. After solving his livelihood problem, he decisively took the college entrance examination again and was admitted to Shanghai Publishing and Printing College.
While studying, Li Ye’s father also moved a barbecue stall from his hometown to Shanghai. During his college years, Li Ye tried to start an Internet business, but quit midway due to team problems. After graduation, he dared to take risks and moved his barbecue stall online. At the same time, he relied on offline stores to form an O2O linkage effect. So in November 2008, "Original BBQ" was established. Although the first Taobao order came after 3 months of waiting, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Selling barbecue online is a crazy challenge, and warehousing and logistics are both difficult problems. Li Ye built three cold storages by himself in one day. The largest room temperature storage is more than 70 square meters and is right next to the store. In order to ensure that the ingredients do not deteriorate when delivered to buyers, he only uses SF Express for express delivery to Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and prepares foam boxes and bio-solid ice to keep them fresh for 24 hours.
Li Ye said that once the outdoor temperature is higher than 28°C, all overseas deliveries will be stopped, and only black cat home delivery will be issued locally in Shanghai. ?For large orders sent to Zhujiajiao and Oriental Land, we deliver them by special vehicle, and the ice has not yet melted when the customer receives the goods. ?
The delivery costs of SF Express and Black Cat are very high. Kebabs are often small businesses. Wouldn’t this be a huge loss? Li Ye quickly started thinking. ?Now 90% of the orders are delivered by ourselves, and we have more than 70 logistics employees alone. Don’t be surprised, these are all part-time jobs recruited from college students. ? He said that there are five universities near the barbecue restaurant, including Shanghai Institute of Technology and Fisheries. He recruits delivery persons with a part-time salary of 9 to 15 yuan per hour and uses the subway and bus system for delivery. In fact, the cost is very low.
?The advantage of this is that although I only have one store, I can promise on-time delivery at any intersection in Shanghai. ?Li Ye said that barbecue is often planned, and users will order at least one day in advance, and are more willing to pick up the goods directly at the barbecue location. ?Our orders do not require them to fill in a specific house address. Transactions can be made at any intersection, in a subway station, or next to a landmark building. ?
You can even buy "BBQ Master" in Li Ye's online store. ?The rent is 100 yuan per hour. Professional staff will come to help customers bake, and ovens can also be rented. ?he said.