From two empty hands turning over “dizzy” thanks to a different business philosophy
Chung Shaan Shaan was born in 1954, into an intellectual family in Zhejiang province (China). When he was in elementary school, he was forced to drop out because his family moved. In the early years of his youth, Mr. Chung took any job that could support himself and his parents.
But his desire to learn brought him back to school. In 1977, Mr. Chung took the university exam and failed the first exam. Not giving up, he was determined to retake the exam and passed the Zhejiang University of Radio and Television.
After graduating, he tried his hand at writing and became a reporter for Zhejiang Daily for 5 years. During his time as a reporter, he interviewed more than 500 self-made entrepreneurs, writing about their entrepreneurial spirit. This not only helped him expand his horizons, but also accumulated more relationships to build resources. Most of his later business associates were made by him during that time.
In 1988, China established a special economic zone on Hainan Island, tens of thousands of people, including Mr. Chung, left his hometown of Hangzhou, emigrating in search of life-changing opportunities.
Difficult career journey, determined not to give up every “piece” of opportunity
Initially, the businessman intended to set up a private newspaper, but was not allowed. After that, he decided to start a business by growing mushrooms but tasted failure and lost all of his saved capital. Undeterred, Chung Thieu Thiem continued to try some other businesses, he used to open a shop selling curtains, raising shrimp… but all of them have not yet achieved success.
Chung’s life began to change when he was invited by Tong Khanh Hau, a compatriot and the director of Wahaha Canned Food Company, to be the director of the Wahaha franchise in Hainan Island.
By the 1990s, Chung Shaan had become the most millionaire in Hainan Island. This caused the relationship with Tong Khanh Hau to become discord, and Chung Thieu Thieu turned into a new area. Who knows that this “face-to-face” time is a big stepping stone to make Chung Shaan Shaan become the richest billionaire in China.
During a dinner with friends at a restaurant, he noticed that every table was served with a nutritious soup. This dish is cooked from baba and is also a specialty in Hainan. With his business acumen, he decided to start a health care business cooked from baba. After a period of research and testing, this nourishing pill was launched on the market and quickly became a best-seller. Following this success, he continued to launch other health products while also strengthening his position in this field.
In 1996, Chung Thieu Thiem decided to trade in bottled water products, especially the establishment of Nong Son Phu Tuyen Co., Ltd. With the original goal of providing a healthy alternative to bottled water using chemicals that are rampant in the market.
Marketing master with “different” business philosophy
Although the market for bottled water is large, Mr. Chung Thieu Thiem still faces difficulties in finding a place for new products. But with clever marketing talent, the billionaire brought the bottled water brand Nong Son Phu Tuyen closer to consumers with just a slogan that directly hit the psychology of consumers who were afraid of dirty water. Nong Phu Son Tuyen mineral is a bit sweeter”.
This slogan is no different from Mr. Chung’s “declaration of war” for Tong Khanh Hau. Because the tastes of Chinese consumers think that water has a sweeter taste than clean water, derived from natural mineral water, which brings many health benefits compared to bottled water products of Wahaha and Danone brands. Produced through distillation.
Grasping the fear of dirty water in the market, Zhong Shaoshan proactively searched for water sources on the mountain peaks not only in Zhejiang but also in the Xinjiang region. Along with that, he only uses close, unfussy, but impressive slogans such as “Sweet taste”, “We do not produce water; we are just carriers of nature”. , “Source of water – Flow of life”…
It is also because these advertising ideas and slogans have made the billionaire’s career go up without stopping.
With Chung Shaan, he always considers himself an advertiser: “I was able to maintain my business for so many years, thanks to unique advertising ideas”. He said: “A business that does not advertise is just a dead body”.
Creating controversial issues is also a marketing strategy that Chung Thieu Thieu often uses. For him, “the best marketing is to keep up with the trends”. Every emerging trend is an opportunity to expand market share.
In 2007, Chung Shaan Shaan set his eyes on a new rising competitor – Master Kong. This time, he turned the acidity and alkalinity of the water into a topic of discussion on social media. “A good advertisement not only captures the consumer’s attention, but more importantly, it allows the consumer to discuss,” he thinks.
However, Chung Thieu Thiem understands that marketing is a double-edged sword. Excessive hype will cause the brand itself to go to a dead end. His goal is to get attention through advertising, turning this attention into brand recognition, values, and corporate spirit.
In addition, in order to bring its products closer to consumers, Chung Shaan has made “trident” pricing strategy.
He offered 3 separate prices for 3 different customer segments, including: water packaged in plastic bottles and sold for 1.5 yuan for the common people; higher-end products in glass bottles for 30-45 yuan for the elite; Finally, there is the segment for high-ranking officials, which is clearly shown in the fact that Nong Phu Son Tuyen’s products always appear in most important meetings of the political world.
Chung Thieu Thiem’s strategy quickly became effective, Nong Phu Son Tuyen’s sales increased rapidly and captured a high share of the market. The increased demand of the market has led to a problem for businesses, transportation costs (logistics) begin to “eat” into the company’s profit margin, in contrast, the supply capacity of the production system is not enough. rate to generate higher returns over a certain period of time.
Following the development momentum, Nong Son Phu Tuyen Company quickly beat other brands and became the largest bottled water producer in China. The company’s 2021 revenue reaches 29,696 billion yuan ($4.6 billion) and makes Chung Shaan Shaan China’s richest person with a net worth of 72.2 billion, according to Forbes (2022).
“Different” with the elite but “warm” with the peasants
Chung Thieu Thiem is arrogant, aggressive, and has few friends. Therefore, he is known as the “lone wolf” in the marketplace.
This billionaire is quite private, does not participate in the Association of Entrepreneurs, rarely makes friends in the world, rarely appears in public and rarely responds to the media. This makes the 67-year-old billionaire one of the most mysterious businessmen among the richest people in the world. But Chung Thieu Thiem himself did not hide his big ego: “I am a loner. What people think, do, basically I don’t care”.
However, no matter how tough a person is, there will be times when he will be gentle and warm. When Sichuan was hit by a big earthquake, Chung Shaan was not afraid to rush to the front line to help. He immediately dispatched 160 company trucks to rescue locations.
Looking at the scene of people suffering because of the natural disaster, Chung Thieu Thieu burst into tears right in front of reporters at the airport. He also advised the press: “When reporting on disaster areas, don’t choose photos showing Nong Phu Son Tuyen products. He doesn’t want to take advantage of the situation to advertise products.”
Chung also holds a special place in the hearts of farmers. When implementing the project of growing oranges to produce juice in Gansu province, someone asked if the farmer could make money from cooperating with him. At that time, the businessman replied: “I started my business by growing mushrooms in Hainan and owed a lot. But even then, I never lacked farmers who helped me no matter a penny. “.
When he first started his business, Chung Thieu Thiem always expected that he would be different from ordinary entrepreneurs. He wrote in a letter in 1989: “Money? Money alone is not enough. My goals are much higher than that.”
Source SCMP and Zhihu/ Photo: Internet
at Blogtuan.info – Source: cafebiz.vn – Read the original article here
