Everyday Economic reporter Wenkun Wu reporting from Beijing - Yesterday (March 6), the news of Wang Zhiquan stepping down as CEO of Gubia.com and retreating behind the scenes to become a director caused quite a stir in the industry. At the same time, rumors of mass layoffs at Gubia.com continued to spread, casting a shadow over its future development prospects.
Not layoffs but "optimization" of personnel?
It is understood that Wang Zhiquan's resignation was not made public to employees beforehand, and most Gubia employees also learned about Wang Zhiquan's resignation through the news. "I just heard this news yesterday, and it was announced today. This news is really surprising!" Senior software engineer Jianfeng Wang of Gubia.com posted on Weibo.
What surprised the employees might be the personnel turmoil brought by Wang Zhiquan's departure. With the arrival of successor Donghua Ding, the former Shenyang Gome general manager, rumors of layoffs at Gubia.com began to circulate.
According to insiders who spoke to The Daily Economic News, Ding Donghua has always been a firefighter role. "When the Northeast region of Gome performed poorly, Ding Donghua was sent to Shenyang to oversee the business in three northeastern provinces, and now he has been dispatched to Gubia.com to clean up the mess." Before going to Shenyang, Ding Donghua served as deputy director of Gome's finance center, "with a financial background, once taking over Gubia, he will definitely start rectifying from the quality of operations."
Thus, there were reports that after Ding Donghua took over, Gubia.com would carry out layoffs. Vice President of Huqiangbei Online Wenxiang Gong revealed on his Weibo yesterday that he had recently received resumes from some old Gubia employees.
Gubia.com Vice President Liang Peng denied large-scale layoffs when interviewed by The Daily Economic News yesterday. He said that they were just making some "optimizations" to the personnel. About 100 people would leave, and Gubia's 17 branches would be adjusted, with some becoming offices. He also said that currently, hundreds of college students are interning at Gubia.com, and about 300 of them will sign employment contracts in July.
Losses exceeding 100 million make it intolerable for Gome?
Although Liang Peng clearly stated to the reporter that he would remain in his position and claimed that the core team was "very stable," some insiders believe that the departure of the core team is not impossible. After Wang Zhiquan stepped down, the original senior management positions may also be difficult to maintain.
Wenxiang Gong, when interviewed by The Daily Economic News yesterday, believed that Wang Zhiquan's departure might still lie in Gome's distrust of the Gubia team. "After being acquired, Gubia went through a year-long transition period, and Gome may want to replace it with a team they can control."
Gong Wenxiang further revealed that Wang Zhiquan's resignation had early signs. According to him, before Wang Zhiquan officially resigned, some headhunting companies had already been searching for talent for the position of CEO of Gubia.com.
It is understood that dissatisfaction with Gubia.com from the major shareholder Gome has long been circulating in the industry. Some analysts pointed out that previously, Gome started requiring Gubia to dilute the Gome imprint. A detail showed that when Gubia.com first launched, the website prominently featured "Gome-owned Gubia.com," while in the past six months, it has been promoting itself as an "online electrical appliance specialist library."
IT commentator Zhang Shule believes that Wang Zhiquan's departure lies in serious strategic differences with Gome. E-commerce is currently an industry that requires substantial funding. Gubia.com expects to slowly accumulate in this industry to eventually become the "survivor king," but losses exceeding 100 million cannot be forgiven by Gome. This mutual distrust has reached a point where someone must leave.
Industry views dimly on Gubia's prospects
Unlike Gubia gradually diluting the Gome brand, when searching for Gome's self-built e-commerce site Gome Mall, what is displayed is "the only official online mall of Gome Electrical Appliances." Records show that on November 22, 2010, Gome acquired 80% equity of Gubia.com for 48 million yuan. Five months later, Gome Mall was officially launched.
At the launch of Gome Mall, Gome Group President Junzhou Wang proposed a dual-brand strategy for e-commerce operations. Although he indicated that Gubia.com focuses more on traditional home appliances and is more flexible, while Gome Mall is closer to Gome's management system and sells the entire series of Gome products, outsiders see the latter as Gome's "own son," with clear distinctions between the two.
There was a saying at the time that Gubia played the role of "stirring up the water" in the e-commerce industry, while Gome Mall was the main direction of Gome's e-commerce operations. However, this claim has not been verified.
Senior analyst of iResearch E-commerce Su Huiyan believes that Gome adopting a dual-brand strategy can prevent the loss of one brand from affecting another. Moreover, after acquiring control of Gubia.com, Gome gained valuable experience in e-commerce operations. Gong Wenxiang then believed that Gubia gave Gome e-commerce a chance for "rapid trial and error."
Since Gubia's earlier operations did not focus on Gome's inherently advantageous categories such as furniture, hardware, building materials, and car accessories, and Gome had already gained experience from Gubia, many industry insiders consulted yesterday do not have high hopes for Gubia's future trends, believing that Gubia will eventually be weakened or even abandoned by Gome.
"After the departure of key figures, the core team will also leave, and its soul will disappear," Zhang Shule believes. From the current situation, Gubia has completed its mission. Either Gubia becomes a pure vertical e-commerce platform, thus integrating into the larger camp of Gome's online mall, or it gradually transfers customers to Gome and disappears.
However, Liang Peng denies this. Gome's dual-brand strategy will definitely continue, and Gubia plans to change its product categories, hoping to increase gross profit margins through these changes.
Share to: > Related Reports: Wang Zhiquan steps down as Gubia CEO, signaling the prelude to the integration of Gome's e-commerce systems. The sudden resignation of Gubia CEO Wang Zhiquan may be due to conflicts with Gome. Major organizational changes at Gome: the founder and CEO of Gubia may step down. Sina Technology Official Weibo Recommendations > > More