China's bottled water market is highly competitive. Starting five years ago, the rise of local bottled water brands, like Yeebao is deep in Guangdong. Lebao is one of the few national bottled water brands. In the play, in addition to Wahaha is taken in the form of brand authorization, most of the other brands are their own water factory, the channel is to join the form of those residential water stations, that is, not manufacturers, is a private agent, many are husband and wife stores. Water station market mixed, the reason is to make money too fast - annual return on investment of more than 90%, that is to say, you invested 100,000 yuan to open a water store, the first year will be able to recover more than 90,000 yuan. If the agent is some miscellaneous brands of bottled water, profit is even more abundant. House is rented, the barrel is the manufacturer's, water delivery workers riding a bicycle, the core assets of the water station only customers. Some water station owners are well run, opened several water stations, holding a large number of customers in different communities, and manufacturers in the negotiations with a special bottom, we must respect him a few points, can not be messed with. I have been in RB for 17 years and have been in charge of its drinking water business for a long time. One day four years ago, I think the RB's bottled water business model can be changed, the direction is RB's to establish a customer call center network. That is, in the future, if you buy RB's bottled water, you do not have to call the water station next to the neighborhood, but directly to RB, by us according to your location, quickly send instructions to the nearest water station. This thing sounds simple, but it is a reversal of the past. Because it means that the water stations that have joined us before must hand over their customer information to RB, which is their biggest bargaining chip. My executives were against me and thought it was ridiculous, but luckily the top management of Danone China (RB was acquired by Danone in 2000) supported me in my new endeavor. From the water station's own bookkeeping to the unified management by RB's call center, the most intuitive change of the new model is that the water station said goodbye to the chaotic and inefficient management style. Delivering water is manual labor, each water station water delivery workers generally not long after the round will be changed, when an interesting thing happened, RB's in Guangzhou, a franchise water station owner proudly said, my store water delivery workers have been working for seven or eight years and no one resigned. When I heard that, I thought he paid his workers well, but it turned out not to be the case. But when the water station joined RB's call center network, all the water delivery workers left. Did I "hurt" the boss? On the contrary, I helped him to find out the reason for the loyalty of the water delivery workers through the new cooperation model - the previous management was loose, and some of the water delivery workers were reselling customer information to other water stations, while others were selling buckets and water privately, so there was still a lot of money out there! In short, there is still a lot of oil and water out there. Another point, some water stations business is so good, three phones and three operators are often occupied, but in the new model, a water station only one phone and one operator. In addition, the water station may be indifferent after receiving the customer's complaint before, but now it is Lobel's direct acceptance of complaints, which will naturally be taken very seriously. Bucket of water brands and customers to establish a direct link, but also according to the location of the water station to help deploy customer resources, not so much as to let the water delivery workers to send a bucket of water whimpering and puffing to run a long way. Water stations and water stations between the vicious competition has also been reduced - they used to fight price wars, the losing side of the big deal to sell other water. Water stations can accept the transparent price of motivation, first, we promised to help water stations through various ways to develop new customers, and secondly, we have a bold commitment: for example, a water station before a month to send 3,000 barrels of water, we give the water station to sign a contract, I guarantee that you join our call center network, a month to sell up to 4,000 barrels of water, and if you do not sell, the difference in that part of the profit from the Lobel's to make up. Despite this, some water station owners felt uneasy and decided to terminate their cooperation with RB. Our biggest cooperator is among them. This boss a **** opened more than a dozen water stores, adding up the business volume, accounting for more than 10% of RB's Guangzhou region. I have a bigger plan. The success of the new model test means that the first real chain brand in the barrel water industry was born. Join the water station and we have formed a close alliance of interests, Lebao's bottled water is a high-end, which means that we directly grasp the hundreds of thousands of end-quality customers, but also a large piece of imaginative cake. We can cooperate with banks and other financial institutions, but also with other consumer industry enterprises, to know the bucket itself is a very good media platform. Since our customers are all community-based, the water station is located near the community, the concept of "community logistics" is also born. The logistics industry must be one of the industries in which giant enterprises may emerge in China in the future. If the new model of Lebao's bottled water is successfully replicated across the country, there will be nearly 5,000 franchised water stores, water delivery workers weave a huge community logistics network. Water delivery workers have a strong load capacity, if the customer's home still needs oil, rice, noodles, or even a pack of cigarettes, for the water delivery employees are a piece of cake, hands up, and within an hour or two is sure to be delivered. How big is the profit of a barrel of water? Previously, the net profit of Lobel's bottled water was more than 20%, but if the business model is changed, it is obviously another figure. Unfortunately, the Guangzhou experience was only replicated in Chengdu, and I wanted to push it forward nationwide, but there were some naysayers on the part of RB's parent company Danone (China). Because Danone is clearly positioned as a manufacturing company, and now I was trying to turn RB into a service company. In the end, my plan was rejected and I left RB in 2010. I had suggested that Mr. Ho Po-Kuen (angel investor and founder of Lobel's) buy back Lobel's bottled water business, but Danone was adamant that it would not sell.