260,000 “super users” contributed 3.54 billion yuan. What did Jiangnan Buyi rely on to turn losses into profits?

As the economy slows down, how can companies break through? Should they attract more new users or tap into new value in old users? Let’s read this article together and learn about the training model of super users through the case of Jiangnan Buyi!

In recent years, market demand has been sluggish, industry competition has intensified, and most companies are facing growth difficulties. For example:

At the end of the second quarter of 2023, omnichannel sales of maternal and infant products fell by 9.5%;

In 2022, cosmetics retail sales fell below 400 billion last year, the first decline in ten years;

In the first half of 2023, national supermarket retail sales fell by 0.4% year-on-year.

Therefore, each company is looking for new breakthrough points and starting to dig deep into the value of old customers. By continuously providing high-quality products and services to retain users, to create repeat purchases, and hoping to bring in new user growth by stimulating user word of mouth.

This model of increasing corporate profits by tapping into repurchases from old users and stimulating word of mouth from old users (old users bringing in new ones) is super user thinking.

In my speech at the 36Kr WISE Conference in 2018, I proposed that super users are the second curve of enterprise growth. Today, the prediction at that time seems to be becoming a reality, and this will be a new round of opportunities after private domain traffic.

01

What is a super user? Here I give a clear definition of a super user: a user who has a clear intention to continue to consume the company's products and services in the future.

According to data from Nielsen, a world-renowned company, super users have 5-10 times the spending power of ordinary users . Every 1% increase in their spending power leads to a 10-15% increase in new customers and a 20%-25% sales growth, which shows the enormous value of super users.

In other words, the growth of super users can drive the growth of corporate profits.

So how do we systematically build a super user system? This also requires an orderly methodology. For this reason, we have established a super user model for six years.

During this period, we made constant adjustments and discovered the simplest and most efficient five-step rule for creating super users through case analysis and practical application, namely the five steps of identification - cultivation - screening - operation - fission .

I recently read the latest financial report of Jiangnan Buyi, which has delivered the best performance in its 29 years of existence, and the part about membership is particularly eye-catching. I also used the 5-step model to analyze the operation model of Jiangnan Buyi, and found that it is a typical brand that relies on super users to rise.

According to the financial report data, Jiangnan Buyi achieved a total revenue of 4.465 billion yuan and a net profit of 621 million yuan in the fiscal year 2023, achieving double growth in revenue and profit. The total number of members has exceeded 6.91 million, an increase of nearly 1 million over the same period last year, and members contribute 80% of the revenue.

Among them, the number of members with annual purchases exceeding RMB 5,000 also increased by nearly 50,000 over the previous year, reaching 260,000. These 260,000 members contributed RMB 3.54 billion, which is equivalent to an average of more than RMB 13,000 per person in a year.

There is no doubt that the value contribution of super users has brought huge and stable benefits to Jiangnan Buyi.

Among them, we can focus on analyzing how Jiangnan Buyi has done a good job in "cultivating" and "screening" super users, which involves several common problems.

1. How to build a membership growth system for an enterprise?

If you want to find super users for your company, you must first build a membership growth system. This needs to be combined with the actual situation of the company, including several key points:

• Determine the goals and positioning of the membership system : clarify goals and user needs;
• Design membership levels and benefits : Design different benefits based on member needs and enterprise characteristics;
• Establish a membership service system : provide members with quality services, such as customer service, free returns, etc.;
• Evaluation and adjustment mechanism : Regularly evaluate the membership system and make optimization adjustments.

For example, Jiangnan Buyi began to build an integrated online and offline membership operation system as early as 2015, re-examining the value of members, especially top members, and investing a lot of resources to incubate super members.

By 2016, the number of members had exceeded one million. With excellent sales performance in offline stores and online channels such as Tmall and WeChat, Jiangnan Buyi was successfully listed in 2016, becoming the first designer brand stock.

Let’s take a look at how Jiangnan Buyi’s membership system (growth membership) works?

Currently, Jiangnan Buyi members are divided into three levels:

1. Silver card members (register and open a card): points benefits, exclusive shopping guide, gift card privileges;
2. Gold card members (with consumption requirements, different for different brands): member discounts, more than just boxes, cleaning benefits, birthday gifts, member festivals;
3. Platinum card members (accumulated actual payment of 6,000 yuan in 180 days): member discounts, more than boxes, cleaning and care benefits, birthday gifts, and member festival.

The specific rights and interests are as follows:

• Gift card privilege : You can give Silver Card membership to your friends
• Points : Earn points for consumption (1 yuan for a product at 30% off or more = 1 point, 2 yuan for a product at 30% off or less = 1 point). Points can be used to redeem vouchers, physical and virtual gifts.
• Exclusive shopping guide : Provide 1v1 exclusive services (event notifications, matching suggestions, store reservations, etc.)
• Member discount : 10% off regular-priced items
• Birthday gift : 20% off regular-priced items (limited to 3 items), birthday exclusive custom gift
• More than a box : Free activation for Gold/Platinum cards
• Cleaning and care benefits : high-quality cleaning and care services worth 240/year
• Upgrade to get gifts : Members who upgrade will receive exclusive upgrade gifts

Compared with the membership systems of its peers, Jiangnan Buyi has put a lot of effort into member benefits. It not only stays at the basic means of simple member discounts, birthday benefits, etc., but also continuously increases benefits according to user needs.

In addition, JNBY has also early connected offline shopping guides with online mini-program sales to provide more convenient services to users. In conjunction with the fashion recommendation section in the mall, content marketing is used to further stimulate customers' desire to buy.

2. How to select super users?

The biggest difference between super users and ordinary users is whether they are willing to pay to become corporate members. Users are willing to spend money to purchase corporate membership and benefits, which in itself is a process to help companies screen, because only those users who have clear repurchase needs and recognize the company will pay.

Therefore, paid membership is the best screening tool. For example, in 2018, Jiangnan Buyi launched the "More than a Box" applet, providing paid services at 199 yuan per year. In the same year, the number of members increased by 700,000 to 3.1 million. This model has greatly increased the number of Jiangnan Buyi members and brand loyalty.

After becoming a member, consumers can enjoy one-on-one stylist customization services six times a year; users are supported to try before buying, and can send back unwanted clothing within five days after signing for the box; and they can enjoy free round-trip shipping service for six times a year.

The "More Than a Box" model solves two major pain points for clothing users at once: free trial and matching services. This differentiated service content can immediately make users feel superior, thereby establishing emotional and identification with the brand.

3. How to design the benefits of paying members?

Usually, there are two types of paid membership models for enterprises:

1. One-time payment model : In this model, membership status and consumption rights overlap, and digital virtual products are used more frequently, such as iQiyi membership and NetEase Cloud Music membership.
2. Secondary payment model : the first payment is to purchase paid membership and rights, and the second payment is to purchase goods. Membership and commodity consumption behavior are separated. For example, 88VIP membership and Sam's Club membership.

Today, most retail companies use the second type, and the key module designs include price module, service module, welfare module, product module, etc.

Taking Jiangnan Buyi as an example, the current price is 199 yuan/year, and the group gold card/platinum card is free to open. The specific content is as follows:

• 1v1 matchmaking : 1v1 communication with the matchmaker, newcomers can get 100 coupons for every 1000 points spent.
• Regular delivery : The stylist will deliver the matching boxes according to the plan.
• Wear new products first : Wear new products from its brands first
• Optional combination : a large number of combinations to choose from
• Newcomer coupon : 200 yuan newcomer coupon, valid for purchases over 2000 yuan
• Birthday gift box : brand birthday discount, in-store birthday gift
• Member discounts : Member discounts, occasional BOX exclusive coupons
• Hassle-free try-on : try first and pay later
• Free shipping in both directions : free shipping for both directions by SF Express, one-click door-to-door pickup

Let’s take a look at Jiangnan Buyi’s design on membership benefits:

• Price category : Member discounts, member birthday privileges
• Service type : Exclusive matching and customized service
• Welfare : Newcomer gift certificates, birthday gift boxes, new product trials
• Product category : Try before you buy, free shipping on returns

Basically every key module is involved to ensure that the rights and interests of super users are rich and valuable, so that paying users can feel that they are getting great value for money.

How can enterprises better screen super users? In addition to the above issues, there are other key modules that need to be designed, such as: How to design the product model of paid membership? How to design the growth level of paid membership? How to design the product pricing of paid membership?

Of course, building a super user system is a systematic project. The five links of identification, cultivation, screening, operation and fission are closely linked and indispensable.

02

Combining the above, we can analyze that Jiangnan Buyi’s strategy is: focus on creating super users belonging to the brand through the membership system, and drive the brand’s continued growth through super users.

Therefore, today many companies are offering paid memberships and membership upgrades, but when they are actually doing so, they feel that there is a certain contradiction between cost and profit, which leads to the inability to effectively implement it.

According to data from Nielsen, a world-renowned company, super users have 5-10 times the spending power of ordinary users. Every 1% increase in their spending power leads to a 10-15% increase in new customers and a 20%-25% sales growth, which shows the enormous value of super users.

The evolutionary path of enterprise users (Image source: Yan Tao)

No matter how small a company is, it has its own super users. Our company needs to learn to identify and screen them, or cultivate ordinary users into super users through payment.

According to the 250 rule, there are 250 potential users behind one user. Therefore, behind any super user there may be dozens or hundreds of potential users. If you don’t know how to discover and cultivate super users, you may lose the opportunity for the second growth of your company.

Therefore, if companies want to achieve the second growth curve, they must become super users.

Author: Yan Tao WeChat public account: Yan Tao Sanshou