Source: Visual China
Reporter / Yang Song Editor / Chen Xiaoping
In early July, Yi Yang Qianxi posted a Weibo, officially announcing that he had become the global spokesperson of the No. 9 brand.
No.9 Company CEO Wang Ye, forwarded on Weibo that day.
, a company listed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board , rarely invited celebrities before, but this time it was particularly high-profile. A wave of building advertisements and other launches were quickly followed up.
In the capital market, it has become popular.
On July 5, the day the endorsement was announced, Company Nine closed at 43.18 yuan and continued to rise. As of the 14th, had risen to 47.8 yuan, with the market value of reaching 33.8 billion.
has been established for 10 years. Company Nine has been invisible behind the scenes of Xiaomi for a long time. Yi Yang Qianxi seems to have declared his independence.
Of course, this is not an easy road.
has been building its name
for a long time. Company No. 9 has meetings inside the walls and is fragrant outside the walls.
Segway-Ninebot focuses on the field of intelligent short-term transportation and service robots. It is headquartered in Beijing and was founded in 2012.
’s chairman is Gao Lufeng, and its CEO is Wang Ye. The two co-founders were both born around 1980. Their core flagship product of is the smart electric balance car /scooter .
Left: Gao Lufeng, right: Wang Ye Source: Official website
In 2021, No.9 scooter ToC retail products sold 4.4 billion, ToB shared scooter and accessories and other products, revenue was 1.716 billion yuan, accounting for the overall revenue 2/3.
In the past two years, the two have entered the smart electric two-wheeled vehicle . Last year, they sold 420,000 units, with a sales scale of 1.2 billion yuan.
The company's revenue last year was 9.146 billion, approaching 10 billion . The two brands Segway (Segway) and Nine (Ninebot) are not well-known in China.
Wang Ye publicly said that more than 80% of end users are in Europe and the United States, and their popularity abroad is higher than in China.
It’s no wonder that last year, China’s domestic revenue was 4.7 billion yuan, accounting for just over half of the total revenue. The domestic business part is manufactured by Xiaomi, and the domestic brand presence is not strong.
generously invited Yi Yang Qianxi to increase the brand’s influence in the domestic market and increase sales of scooters and other products.
Source: Official Weibo
According to Gao Lufeng’s public disclosure, the scooter market is relatively large. He quoted the BCG report as saying that the Chinese market will reach 8 billion US dollars in 2025, roughly 50 billion yuan.
is a global brand spokesperson, and Yi Yang Qianxi’s main influence is mainly domestic. Industry insiders told the "21CBR" reporter that Yi Yang Qianxi's endorsement fee is about 30 million to 50 million, and combined with the investment budget, this wave of publicity will cost a lot of money.
Another marketer said, "The audience of No. 9 is relatively young and is closer to the age group of Yi Yang Qianxi's fans, so the audience fit is relatively high."
"Developing independent brands can improve one's own profit level. In the capital market, There will be greater room for growth," Major General Ding, an industrial economic observer and founder of Ding Technology, told the "21CBR" reporter.
This is also its ongoing strategy.
In 2021, Nine Company will focus on IP marketing, launching popular IP co-branded products such as LINEFRIENDS, Li Ning, Xpeng, Audi, Transformers, to increase the attention of young consumer groups.
Last year, its sales expenses reached 592 million, a year-on-year increase of 62%, which was 10 percentage points higher than the revenue growth rate.
From January to March 2022, sales expenses were 107 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 17.6%, far exceeding the current revenue growth rate of 7.8%.
Inviting popular A-list star Yi Yang Qianxi is a big move.
de-Xiaomi
Nine is originally an ecological chain enterprise of Xiaomi. With high-profile branding, its relationship with Xiaomi becomes even more subtle.
As an important investor, before the listing, Xiaomi Group held 10.91% of the equity of No.9 Company through its control of People Better; related party Shunwei also held a large stake.
Xiaomi’s co-founder Liu De is also on the board of directors and has a seat.
In the early days of
, Xiaomi’s revenue contribution was once as high as 73.8%. Later, Nine acquired Segway and launched its own brand, and the proportion dropped.
Until 2021, Xiaomi is still the largest customer of Company 9, contributing 2.953 billion , accounting for roughly 1/3 of the revenue.
The manager of No. 9 has changed the mode of serving Xiaomi.
They began to cooperate with OEM factories in 2018 to form a production model that combines independent production and OEM. That is, their own factories mainly focus on their own brands of smart electric scooters and smart electric motorcycles/bicycles, all-terrain vehicles , etc. ; OEM factories mainly produce Mijia smart electric scooters and other products.
Source: official website
The two companies are unbundling, and it seems to be accelerating in 2022.
From January to March 2022, Xiaomi’s customized product distribution revenue was 290 million yuan, a year-on-year drop of 62%, and the revenue ratio was as low as 15.1%.
Xiaomi is also cashing out.
No.9 Company announced in late June that People Better currently holds 6.71% and will reduce its stake to no more than 3% in the next six months; Shunwei will also make similar reduction actions.
In this way, the equity ratio of the "Xiaomi family" is expected to be reduced to single digits.
"Xiaomi's role is gradually changing, becoming a pure financial investor." Major General Ding commented.
On the electric skateboard track, Xiaomi has also invested in new targets.
In November 2021, Xiaomi invested in the electric scooter brand NAVEE, which conducted crowdfunding on the Xiaomi supplies platform. Its main products are highly similar to those of No.9 Company.
After launching this round of campaign on the 9th, the competition between the two companies may become more intense.
On Xiaomi's own e-commerce platform " Xiaomi Youpin ", "21CBR" reporter entered the keyword "electric scooter", and the first search result was Xiaomi Mijia product, which is a product manufactured by No.9 ; The second place is No. 9's own brand, which reads "Same Style as Yi Yang Qianxi".
As far as the core product is scooters, in 2021, the value of the goods sold by No.9 Company to Xiaomi is roughly 2.54 billion yuan, and the revenue from its own brand of scooters to the C-end is 1.86 billion yuan, and a large amount of it is concentrated in international market.
It can be deduced from this that at least in the domestic consumer market, there may still be a big gap between Company 9 and Xiaomi. If we want to strengthen ourselves after independence, we still have to do a lot of homework.
