Rebirth Tokyo 1986

Chapter 243 The Importance of Marketing

Tokyo is particularly beautiful in March, as the cherry blossoms begin to bloom.

Masato Takeshita looked out the window and asked casually, "What is the main task today?"

Keiko Sakai, who was also sitting in the car, immediately straightened up respectfully.

"President, your main job today is to review the annual report of Matsumoto Manufacturing in preparation for the annual shareholders' meeting in two weeks."

Generally speaking, Japanese listed companies hold shareholders' meetings in March or April every year.

Since Matsumoto Manufacturing is one of them, it is natural for it to adapt to local customs.

The only problem is that Matsumoto Manufacturing's stock price keeps falling, which may lead to complaints from shareholders.

There is no way, the overall stock market environment is not good.

People's livelihood enterprises such as Matsumoto Manufacturing will naturally be severely impacted.

This can be clearly seen from the company's market value.

Matsumoto Manufacturing's peak market value was 3.66 trillion yen.

Now, it has fallen to 3.02 trillion.

This is based on the premise that the chairman of Matsumoto Manufacturing is Masato Takeshita.

Without the high reputation of young people to support it, the market value would have fallen below 2.5 trillion long ago.

But it's almost there now.

It is estimated that by July this year, the market value of Matsumoto Manufacturing will shrink by at least half.

Not to mention 3 trillion, even 2 trillion is not enough.

This is an assessment after the market has returned to a reasonable or even conservative state, and it will not change much just because the person in charge is Masato Takeshita.

"Do you need to go to Matsumoto Manufacturing to check it out?"

"I have sorted out the relevant information. You are free to choose, President."

Keiko Sakai kept in mind the guidance of the previous secretary-general, regarded herself as a tool, and did not help the president make any decisions.

These are not things that a secretary like her can get involved in.

"Now that you are ready, let's go to the headquarters as usual."

Masato Takeshita planned to first look at the information compiled by his secretary, and then go to Matsumoto Manufacturing for a personal inspection.

Compare the two to get a more complete picture of the situation.

"Hi!"

The two arrived at the headquarters of Xinghai Group, and in less than three minutes, Keiko Sakai entered the president's office with several documents.

"President, the information you requested."

Masato Takeshita pointed to an empty space on the desk and said, "Well, put it here first."

He had some documents left to sign yesterday that needed to be completed as soon as possible.

The documents contained all routine content and the young man was very fast.

In a short while, everything was completed.

Afterwards, Masato Takeshita began to check the first piece of information sent by Matsumoto Manufacturing - the suitcase sales report.

Trolley suitcases are an essential item in the travel market, and coupled with the fact that Matsumoto Manufacturing has been promoting its products on television stations in various countries for many years, they quickly became popular around the world.

Although it has only been less than four years since its launch, global sales of trolley suitcases exceeded 1.2 million units last year.

This does not include sales in underdeveloped regions such as China, Africa and South Asia.

If all are counted, global sales would easily exceed 1.5 million units.

With such a large market, it is naturally difficult for Matsumoto Manufacturing to maintain its former monopoly position.

The market share continues to decline and currently accounts for only a quarter of the measurable market.

That is to say, the sales volume of trolley suitcases manufactured by Matsumoto reached 3000 million pieces last year.

Although its market share has been declining, the number of suitcases sold by Matsumoto Manufacturing actually increased by 42% last year.

It's just that the overall market for trolley suitcases has grown so fast that Matsumoto Manufacturing has clearly declined.

“Do we have a competitor now?”

Masato Takeshita asked casually without even looking up while browsing the information.

Sakai Keiko quickly replied: "There is no strong competitor yet."

"Except for us, the largest company, Genjia Co., Ltd., has annual sales of less than 900 million units."

When talking about Matsumoto Manufacturing's position in the field of trolley suitcases, there was an indescribable pride in Keiko Sakai's voice.

He feels very proud to be a member of Xinghai Group.

"Well, that's good. Are there any brands that also target the mid- to high-end market?"

“Yes, but they all have a hard time gaining a foothold in the market.”

Although the majority of suitcase sales are low-end products, the most profitable ones are still the mid-to-high-end ones.

If you want to find a similar example, the most suitable one is the smartphone of the future.

Although Apple's high-end mobile phones have less than 70% of the global market share, they account for more than % of the profits in the mobile phone market.

The same is true for trolley suitcases.

Matsumoto Manufacturing focuses on mid-to-high-end products and accounts for more than 70% of global profits.

Of course, unlike Apple.

Matsumoto Manufacturing also makes low-end suitcases, thus covering all price ranges.

After all, a trolley suitcase is not a smartphone, and brand awareness will never reach the same level.

The best learning object for Matsumoto Manufacturing is actually computer brands. Only by covering the full price range can it maintain its market share to the greatest extent.

This is also the most important factor why Masato Takeshita decided to establish a joint venture factory in China as early as possible.

Only China can guarantee high profits for the huge low-end trolley suitcases.

"Very good, tell President Kobayashi. If anyone shows up, they must be suppressed."

Human resources in Japan are very expensive. If Matsumoto Manufacturing wants to have enough influence in its home country, it must firmly grasp the mid-to-high-end brand market.

Therefore, Matsumoto Manufacturing needs to spare no effort to suppress those brands that want to enter the high-end market.

If this fails, Matsumoto Manufacturing's position in the local market will gradually decline, and it may eventually become an ordinary company.

Designed in Japan, manufactured in China.

This is not what Masato Takeshita wants to see.

He needs to hire a large number of local Japanese employees to maintain his political influence at the local and central levels.

Because only in this way can he realize his dream of changing the world.

"Yes."

Although President Kobayashi Hiroaki has always done this, since the president has given the order, Keiko Sakai naturally has to convey the instructions again.

Masato Takeshita is the only sun of Xinghai Group.

The young man looked carefully at the pie chart of market share in each region and couldn't help talking to himself.

"Alas, we still cannot occupy the high-end market in Europe?"

Matsumoto's high-end brand Fuya and mid-range brand Shuying have an absolute monopoly in the global market.

Needless to say, the Japanese market is the main base of Matsumoto Manufacturing.

More than 90% of the high-end market share and more than 75% of the mid-range market share are controlled by Matsumoto Manufacturing.

Although the North American market is not as exaggerated as that of Japan, Matsumoto Manufacturing has successfully captured more than 75% of the high-end market share and 60% of the mid-range market share.

Only in Europe does Matsumoto Manufacturing account for less than 10% of the high-end market and less than 15% of the mid-range market.

Compared with North America and Japan, there is a huge gap.

“Yes, European countries prefer brands like Hermès, Chanel, Dior, etc.”

Whether a product can gain a foothold in the luxury goods field.

It requires a certain amount of timing and luck, as well as the founder's strong marketing capabilities.

For example, trolley suitcases did not have so many features in the past. They were just ordinary travel products.

This has to do with his identity as a founder.

The pilot who invented the trolley suitcase in his previous life never thought that this product would have such a huge market.

Therefore, when he invented this product in the early stage, he even waited for a while before applying for a patent. Later, when he established the company, he did not have any development roadmap like many small companies.

It's just a matter of going wherever you go.

As for the price,

Although there are grading, it is entirely based on the material.

Good materials are more expensive, and cheap materials are cheaper.

And even if it is expensive, the price is very affordable.

The pioneers had no sense of luxury, and the same was true for the followers.

It was not until the industry reached a bottleneck that people thought of creating high-end brands.

But it's too late.

This industry has completely become an industry that relies on materials.

Even if some brands have a premium, the premium is not that much.

Masato Takeshita is different.

He knew that trolley suitcases had great potential in the future, so he naturally chose to go all in.

Not only did the production volume exceed one million in the first year, the suitcases were also branded, with the highest-end ones rated as luxury goods.

Of course, the times are also an important factor.

In 1986, Japan's economic bubble had already begun.

Although people have not yet reached the stage of extreme waste, they still have a strong desire to consume luxury goods.

The most typical ones are bags and fashions from European brands such as Chanel and Hermes.

Many Japanese people spend and buy things like crazy, as if they have no money.

Especially with the widespread popularity of the six wallets theory, luxury consumption has been rising steadily.

According to statistics from an information agency, Japan's luxury consumption accounted for more than 80% of the world's total at its peak.

At this time, the Japanese were completely dazzled by luxury goods.

I'm not afraid of things being expensive, I'm afraid of things not being expensive.

Masato Takeshita would naturally not miss such a good opportunity.

That is why he tried his best to create the concept that elegant suitcases are luxury goods when the company was first established.

It turned out that his choice was very correct and the company became a great success.

Not only has it established a firm foothold in the Japanese luxury goods sector, it has also given suitcases a luxury twist.

Although it is not as good as Desmore's diamond marketing, it can also be regarded as a classic case in the field of marketing.

Of course, if Masato Takeshita were reborn in China, he would never do this.

First, the local market.
In the 1980s, China did not support the development of luxury goods at all.

Even if you set the price at the mid-range level, you will not be able to sell it.

Because there were very few rich people in China at that time, only a very few people could afford it.

The second is overseas markets.
China is a developing country, and its brand awareness is naturally lower than that of developed countries.

For products of the same quality, developed countries such as Japan can sell them at high prices, but China can only go for the cost-effective route.

It can be said that excellent marketing also requires the support of a country’s economic strength.

Japan has this economic status, but China does not yet.

"Forget it. Europe is the center of luxury goods. If we can't get in, then we can't get in."

China's geographical advantages in luxury brand building cannot be compared with those of Japan and the United States.

Japan also cannot compare with Europe in this regard.

After all, until World War II, Europe was the center of the world.

Even though it declined later, it still had a huge influence in culture.

"In the future, we will promote our products more in our home country, China and Southeast Asia."

Japanese brands have natural advantages in these areas.

As long as Matsumoto doesn't create any problems, he can keep it under control.

More importantly, these regions have always been the largest markets for luxury consumption in the world.

Japan now accounts for 80% of global luxury consumption.

Although the market share gradually decreased after the bubble burst, it was not until after 2000 that it dropped below 50%.

It can be said that before China's economic rise and widespread shopping, Japan was the world's largest luxury goods market.

From frugality to luxury is easy, from luxury to frugality.

Having gotten used to buying luxury goods during the bubble era, it’s hard to adapt to an environment where you don’t have to buy them.

After 2010, China began to take over the first position from Japan.

In other words, if Matsumoto Manufacturing can control these three consumer markets, it can firmly sit on the throne of the number one high-end trolley suitcase.

"Yes, understand."

Sales data, sales, gross profit, net profit...

After reading them all carefully, it was time for dinner.

Masato Takeshita came to the company cafeteria as usual.

"Give me some three fresh vegetables, fried pork with dried tofu, braised pork with brown sauce, and crispy shrimp."

The choice of sharing sales revenue and eliminating the employees at the bottom of the evaluation is the most correct choice for Xinghai Group in terms of food.

Because of this policy, not only can each window merchant operate more carefully and avoid food problems to the greatest extent, but the overall level of the Xinghai Group canteen is also getting higher and higher.

Because those who are not good enough have long been eliminated by the cafeteria's last-elimination mechanism.

In addition, the richness of the cafeteria's cuisine has also been improved.

For example, the restaurant that Masato Takeshita ate at is a recently opened Chinese fusion cuisine restaurant.

The dishes are very much to Masato Takeshita's Chinese taste, and are also liked by some Japanese people.

"Okay, please wait."

The cafeteria serves food very quickly. In less than 15 minutes, all four dishes are ready.

However, this is normal.

Except for the live shrimps, the other ingredients of the 4 dishes have already been prepared.

Just order it first, and you can stir-fry it quickly later.

As for the most troublesome braised pork, it had already been prepared in the morning.

Whoever buys it can get a portion from the pot.

Masato Takeshita looked around with his plate in hand, and when he spotted a familiar figure, he immediately sat down next to him.

"Suzuki-san, are you free this afternoon?"

"President, you say."

Suzuki Zensuke raised his head and looked at his president respectfully.

"Well, I'm going to Matsumoto Manufacturing this afternoon, and I want to ask you to come with me."

"Oh, what happened?"

Suzuki Zensuke was very concerned about Matsumoto Manufacturing and put down his chopsticks unconsciously.

"Nothing. We are going to hold a shareholders' meeting. I want to learn about the company's operating conditions in advance to avoid any problems."

This was the first general shareholders' meeting of Matsumoto Manufacturing, so naturally the founder Masato Takeshita had to hold it in person.

He will not participate in similar activities in the future.

The same is true for companies such as Xinghai Semiconductor.

He only attended the first time.

"Is that so? That's good. I haven't been there for a long time."

"OK, then take a break after dinner, and I'll have Sakai-san notify you."

"Yes, understand."

(End of this chapter)