In the 199s, there was a famous street sign in Zhongguancun, which said, "How far is China from the information superhighway?" The answer is "5 meters ahead". Zhongguancun, which was transformed from an electronic street, was a symbol at that time, symbolizing the origin and future of China's information industry. This industry, which was born with market economy genes, showed a mighty growth trend in Zhongguancun; Zhongguancun is also a legend, and countless intellectuals have made money from scratch, creating one wealth miracle after another. For the students in Beijing and even the whole country, Zhongguancun means passion and ideal, and it is a hot spot for aspiring entrepreneurs.
Zhongguancun faces south. In 1992, China Renmin University welcomed a new student from Suqian, Jiangsu Province. He was slightly fat, short and very popular-looking. His name was Liu Qiangdong. Xiang Yu, the most famous ancestor of Suqian, saw the majestic Qin Shihuang when he was young, and once said, "You can take it and replace it." Liu Qiangdong seems to be adhering to such ambitions. He devoted himself to politics, worked hard and was admitted to Renmin University of China. He followed the guidance of a teacher and enrolled in sociology. But soon after entering school, his brother told him that sociology had nothing to do with politics, and the employment situation was not good, which made Liu Qiangdong feel confused. Since you can't be an official, go into business. He later recalled this experience and laughed that it was difficult to start a business in China. At that time, he had nothing, and the only way was to start a small business first, save enough money, and then organize a team.
Liu Qiangdong was born in a peasant family, and his family was not rich. When he was in college, his family gave him 5 yuan to go on the road. He is determined to stand on his own feet and not bring a burden to his family. When he was a freshman, he helped people copy envelopes for 3 cents each. In his sophomore year, he bought hardcover books at a 25% discount from the wholesale market and went to the office building to sell them. He also worked in the school computer room and taught himself to program. In his junior year, Liu Qiangdong rode his bike to a unit in Mentougou every day to practice as a programmer, and thus he got the first bucket of gold. He participated in some government and rural information construction projects, and earned more than 1, yuan by his expertise in writing programs, becoming one of the richest college students at that time.
Holding hundreds of thousands in his hand and borrowing hundreds of thousands from relatives and friends, Liu Qiangdong set down a restaurant near Zhongguancun. In the past, the clerk in the restaurant had a low salary, lived in the basement, and usually only ate leftovers, and the boss personally controlled the funds; After Liu Qiangdong took over, he raised his salary, improved the accommodation environment, served the shop assistants with delicious food and hot drinks, and let them do the purchasing and cashier. This young man who started a business with idealism confused trust with management and suffered the first setback in his career. Due to loose management, employees always find ways to embezzle the money in the store, so it is useless for one year. The hotel that was originally profitable lost all his investment. The lesson Liu Qiangdong learned from this is: "You must trust employees, but trust does not mean no management."
In p>1996, Liu Qiangdong graduated and owed a lot of debts. He entered a Japanese-funded enterprise and continued to do his old job-programming in his spare time. This Japanese-funded enterprise with rotation system has trained Liu Qiangdong, and he knows all about most positions, from computer informationization to logistics and procurement. However, after paying off the debt, Liu Qiangdong didn't miss the job. "The urge to start a business is getting stronger every day, and finally he can't control himself.". So he resigned from a foreign company with a monthly salary of more than 4, yuan, rushed to Zhongguancun with his savings of 12, yuan, rented a small counter and sold a burner. The name of the counter is "JD.COM Multimedia", which is the predecessor of "JD.COM Mall".
why is JD.COM called JD.COM? Because there is a word "Jing" in the name of Liu Qiangdong's first girlfriend, he combined the word "Jing" with the word "East" in his name, and there was "JD.COM". Since then, JD.COM has stumbled, getting bigger and bigger, and Liu Qiangdong has realized his ambition in his career, but his love failed to have a decent ending.
"In 1998, as a college student, it was a shame to set up a counter in Zhongguancun, especially since the school I graduated from still had a certain reputation." When my girlfriend, who was in graduate school at that time, visited Liu Qiangdong, she often asked three questions: "Are you going to live like this all your life? Why can't we go abroad together? Why can't you take the postgraduate entrance examination? " Girlfriend's parents are also firmly opposed, thinking that Liu Qiangdong is worthless. Finally, his girlfriend left him.
But Liu Qiangdong had no other choice. He had to move on on his own road. He kept it a secret, and even hid it from his parents for a time. It wasn't until 21 that Liu Qiangdong's mother got suspicious and got up and came to Beijing. She called Liu Qiangdong and asked him to pick herself up at Beijing West Railway Station. When she saw that the business could not be done, Liu Qiangdong told the truth. Mother is very sad and thinks that college students are going downhill to stand at the counter.
Liu Qiangdong was once in pain when his girlfriend left and his family objected. Talking about this experience, he was filled with emotion. "The biggest pain in the first three years of my business was not that I stood on the side of the road and handed out leaflets with a dirty look, not that I was affected by the cold, but that no one in the world understood me ... Even if I earned more than 3, yuan in the first year, I was still inferior in their eyes."
But the rapid growth of JD.COM finally made everyone understand that Liu Qiangdong was right. In 21, JD.COM Mall became the largest optical and magnetic product agent in China at that time, and opened more than ten branches all over the country. Liu Qiangdong's personal wealth also exceeded 1 million yuan for the first time. Since then, he has positioned JD.COM Mall as a traditional channel provider, and intends to copy the business models of Gome and Suning to operate IT chain stores. Just when he was ready to expand with great enthusiasm, SARS struck in 23, which dismissed the noise and prosperity of Zhongguancun and caused the business to plummet. Coupled with Liu Qiangdong's concern for the safety of employees, he temporarily closed all stores.
Without business, it means losing money. When Liu Qiangdong heard that someone was selling things on the Internet, he asked around and wanted to get involved. At that time, Search Easy Digital Mall was in full swing, and Liu Qiangdong became a merchant in Search Easy Store. Later, an old employee of Search Easy recalled and said, "Other merchants always ask if your store rent can be lowered, but Liu Qiangdong always asks how your program is compiled and how your process is controlled. He never cares about the price, but he is very interested in the background technology of e-commerce."
At that time, Liu Qiangdong, who didn't even know what BBS meant, went to a forum to post an "advertising post" in order to promote his online shop. The founder of the forum replied to his post like this-"I know JD.COM, this is the only company that I bought CDs in Zhongguancun for three years and didn't buy fakes." Because of this sentence, Liu Qiangdong clinched six deals that day.
After tasting the sweetness, Liu Qiangdong became interested in online sales. This young man, who only played QQ and forums, never attended Dangdang, and didn't know about Excellence, decided that "e-commerce is the future!" after consulting countless related materials of e-commerce. JD.COM's transformation plan has been put on the agenda.