Ye Guofu: Without courage, how can there be luck?
"I am a retail entrepreneur who has been rooted in the front line for 20 years. Everyone is asking me whether there are still great opportunities in the retail industry?"
On October 29, at the Miniso 2024 Global Brand Strategy Upgrade Results Conference, Ye Guofu, the company's founder, chairman of the board, and chief executive officer, publicly discussed the global retail transformation and development for the first time.
Looking back at 2024, most global retail enterprises are facing economic cycles and the trend of consumption stratification, with phenomena of adjustment and slow growth. However, Ye Guofu saw opportunities in the "uncertainty". In his view, the current retail industry is in a new stage of development, "As long as we continue to innovate, there are great prospects."
Then, where is the direction of innovation? Ye Guofu's answer is - to return to the essence of retail, to consumers, and to the original intention of serving consumers in their pursuit of a better life.
Perhaps for this reason, Miniso has expanded against the trend and developed rapidly in the past year, and has created many "firsts" for Chinese brands.
During the Paris Olympics, Miniso became the first Chinese brand to enter the Champs-Élysées in Paris, France; in August this year, Miniso opened the world's largest brand flagship store in Jakarta. Not long ago, Miniso also opened the world's first new shopping format "MINISO LAND" in Shanghai.
To some extent, Miniso has become an outstanding representative of Chinese physical retail enterprises. With "interest consumption" as the anchor point, Ye Guofu has led Miniso to embark on a global path of high-quality development in China. Also, due to the global strategic layout, Miniso has the confidence to continue to innovate and be able to continuously break through in the fierce market competition.
01
Interest Consumption Crossing Cycles
"Recently, many people have been saying that I am very lucky and that every step I take is correct."
In Ye Guofu's perception, the reason why Miniso can achieve its current achievements is that it can always seize opportunities and be bold in innovation and experimentation at every critical node of the enterprise's development.
At this conference, Miniso also released the results from three dimensions: product power, channel power, and brand power.
In terms of product innovation, Miniso continues to focus on strategic categories with high growth potential and strong emotional value, and has created a series of mental products such as "plush, blind boxes, perfume and fragrance, travel and outing". In addition, Miniso has officially released the "vinyl plush" category and plans to focus on the secondary yuan track and the pet track in the future.
In terms of channel upgrade, Miniso is also continuously consolidating the core business district positions in first-tier cities in China and continuously innovating business formats. Based on the new positioning of the "Global IP Joint Collection Store", Miniso plans to open 100 MINISO LAND stores in the Chinese market and 300 in the overall global market.
According to Liu Xiaobin, vice president and chief marketing officer of Miniso Group, 3 to 5 more MINISO LAND stores will open in the fourth quarter, with the goal of covering first-tier and new first-tier cities in China. So far, Miniso has constructed a matrix of seven store formats, namely MINISO LAND, potential energy stores, theme stores, flagship/sub-main stores, regular stores, MINISO GO, and pop-up stores.
It can be seen from the past achievements and future plans that Miniso pays particular attention to establishing emotional connections with consumers.
Once upon a time, the media commented that Ye Guofu "is good at seeing big opportunities and also understands the limitations of the times." "He has no inertia and can always abandon the past to build a new self."
Of course, any innovation and courage are based on the judgment of business logic.
Ye Guofu always believes that the purpose of consumption is to be happy, to be beautiful, and to pursue a more pleasant experience. In his opinion, more and more young people will pay for the joy and inner satisfaction they gain. As early as 2020, Ye Guofu first proposed that "interest consumption" will become the mainstream trend of future consumption. Subsequently, the wave of interest consumption swept the world, and Ye Guofu is also known as the "Father of Interest Consumption".
The IP strategy is an important starting point for Miniso to lead interest consumption. Up to now, Miniso has collaborated with more than 150 globally renowned IPs such as Harry Potter, Disney, Sanrio, Chiikawa, Loopy, etc., and has incubated its own IPs such as PENPEN and Dun Dun. Based on interest consumption, Miniso has newly upgraded its brand positioning - the Global IP Joint Collection Store. The core reason why Miniso can go global is that it has created this new business model of the Global IP Joint Collection Store.
02
The "Global Solution" of Chinese Brands
Ye Guofu's courage is not only reflected in his focus on interest consumption, but also in his long-term persistence in going overseas. Up to now, the Miniso Group has spread to 111 countries and regions around the world, with more than 7,000 stores.
In the public speech at the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the School of Economics and Management of Tsinghua University, Ye Guofu encouraged the current Chinese entrepreneurs and startups in this way. He called on them to be bold and courageous to go global in order to win a new blue sky. In the eyes of the vast majority of people at the scene, Ye Guofu is more like a navigator who dares to take risks and expand territory overseas.
However, globalization is not achieved overnight. On more occasions, Ye Guofu also emphasized that the globalization of enterprises should follow eight words - that is, "Long-termism, Unlimited Inclination".
In fact, as early as 2015, Miniso has determined the development strategy of going overseas. Ye Guofu has also devoted most of his energy to overseas markets. Just as he said, Ye Guofu spends two-thirds of his time overseas every year, leading the charge with front-line partners for a long time. Moreover, the best talents and resources of Miniso are in overseas businesses.
"I think 'less is more'. When going overseas, we should first focus on three to five countries in Southeast Asia. After doing well, we can then radiate to the Middle East, and then to Latin America, North America, and Europe. Don't try to do too many markets at once."
Ye Guofu takes the US market as an example. Without the exploration and layout in the North American market for seven to eight years, Miniso could not have achieved the current results.
In May 2023, the Miniso Global Flagship Store opened in Times Square, New York, USA. Thus, Miniso has become the first Chinese brand to enter Times Square.
In June 2024, the Miniso Europe's Largest Flagship Store debuted on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, France, becoming the first Chinese brand to enter the Champs-Élysées. The store is located opposite the LV flagship store and is just a step away from the Arc de Triomphe.
In August 2024, the Miniso World's Largest Store - the Central Park Flagship Store in Jakarta, Indonesia, officially opened. On October 23, the Miniso and Harry Potter co-branded products were launched at the Central Park Flagship Store in Jakarta, Indonesia, and the total sales in the first weekend reached a new high.
It is certain that Miniso is constantly refreshing the milestones of global development. Miniso's corporate vision is to become the world's number one IP design retail group. In the next 10 years, Miniso will lead 100 Chinese IPs to the world.
03
Quality Retail Creates Greatness
"How can Miniso become the world's number one? I believe that only by returning to the most essential common sense and doing a good job in products and services can we create a great brand."
For many years since starting his business, Ye Guofu has never concealed his determination to make Miniso the "number one". From a small roadside store to a retail giant listed in the US and Hong Kong, he has won Miniso's current position with "courage and boldness", and while laying out overseas, Ye Guofu himself has also gained a global perspective and judgment.
In September this year, the "Annual M&A Case" was suddenly announced, and Miniso acquired a 29.4% stake in Yonghui Supermarket. This means that Miniso will become the largest shareholder of Yonghui.
For this investment, the market exclaimed "surprise". But in the view of Ning Gaoning, the former chairman of Sinochem Holdings who led many major M&A cases, Ye Guofu's this behavior is a disruptive innovation.
In Ning Gaoning's impression, Ye Guofu has always been a continuous entrepreneur rooted in the retail industry. His desire for enterprise growth, his sensitivity to the market and consumers, and his grasp of numbers have all left a deep impression on Ning Gaoning.
He said straightforwardly, "Ye Guofu's ambition is to change the retail supermarket format. This M&A is beyond the conventional thinking, and there is a great desire for innovation and change budding and stirring. The good show is yet to come."
At the same time, there is also an opinion in the industry that Miniso's strong store-opening strategy, Ye Guofu's ability to drive capital and his market insight can accelerate the adjustment speed of Yonghui by Pangdailai. In other words, Ye Guofu has given more imagination space to the "Yonghui Transformation by Pangdailai", and can also enable the model of Pangdailai that focuses on product quality and service to be quickly replicated nationwide and truly go out of Henan.
On more occasions, Ye Guofu has publicly stated that he is full of confidence in Chinese retail, especially offline retail. Ye Guofu frankly said that he has seen a way for offline supermarkets to rejuvenate through iteration.
"This method can be called making a Chinese version of Sam's Club, or a Yonghui version of Pangdailai. Its core is to get rid of the original big customer model of offline retail. Instead of making money by collecting entry fees and barcode fees from brands as a channel, it is to study consumers and products and make money by providing products that satisfy consumers."
In his words, the future retail is bound to be a "manufacturing and development-oriented retail", rather than just a sales channel. From this attitude, Ye Guofu is refreshing the industry with quality retail. Ye Guofu can always seize the opportunity, strike quickly, and fully participate in the transformation of China's traditional business formats.
Ye Guofu loudly advocates for competing in quality, innovation, and products, rather than in price. He believes that innovation should return to common sense. Without a reasonable price, the quality of products is difficult to guarantee; without a reasonable profit, the innovation of enterprises is difficult to continue. This is also becoming an industry consensus.
Looking at the development of global "phenomenal" enterprises, it is not difficult to find that whether in the United States or in China, whether it is Apple, Walmart, or Xiaomi, every "subversion" is accompanied by doubts. In July this year, Lei Jun pushed Xiaomi Automobile onto the table amid doubts. "Even if there are thousands of people blocking me, I will still move forward." How can Lei Jun stand out in the fierce competition in the electric vehicle market? The most powerful answer is "courage".
In contrast, the Chinese retail industry, which has been silent for several years, may be standing at an important juncture of development. In this change, is there an opportunity for China to give birth to a world-class retail company with truly global competitiveness and influence? This is also the key goal that Ye Guofu and the current Miniso need to consider and break through.
Once upon a time, Ye Guofu was the "Guangzhou Afu" who challenged Jack Ma and was not optimistic about the development of e-commerce. In the blink of an eye, eight years have passed, and Miniso has reversed the situation and become a phenomenal enterprise that enables online services to support offline and leads Chinese brands into the global retail finals.
At present, Ye Guofu's confidence in physical retail, in consumer innovation, and in the globalization of Chinese brands is like a shot in the arm, allowing pessimists to see strength; and also making optimists believe that no matter when, courage is as important as luck, and confidence is more precious than gold.
Walk with optimists. We all need the "power to move forward bravely" of such entrepreneurs. As Ning Gaoning wrote, "Bless Ye Guofu".