Putting plush teddy bears in the uniforms of Beijing Middle School and selling them to students or graduates is a pioneering project of Sun Xianlong, a senior student in university of international business and economics. He called these bears "school uniform bears". Nowadays, the school uniform bear has become a popular object of the post-90s generation in Beijing campus.
In order to be familiar with the psychological needs of middle school students, Sun Xianlong often invites the post-90s generation to dinner on weekends. "For example, we lengthen school uniforms and bear coats because it is popular for middle school students to wear long coats." Sun Xianlong even laughed at himself for having a "post-90s" accent. He told reporters that he hoped to impress the post-90s generation with these details.
The first venture was too big and a fiasco.
"Entrepreneurship is not a simple matter. You should take it step by step and never be self-righteous. " Sun Xianlong told reporters that this was his most profound lesson.
Sun Xianlong, who just entered the university, soon joined the student association AISEC and made two good friends. In their sophomore year, three people decided to imitate an American creative T-shirt website and design and sell creative T-shirts. In addition to spending his pocket money accumulated for many years, Sun Xianlong also received financial support from his parents. "My parents are self-made businessmen. They know that starting a business can help me learn a lot, so they support me to try something after school. " They strive for perfection and spend 70,000 yuan to build a website to collect T-shirt patterns that netizens like online. Later, they began to invest heavily, and the first batch of T-shirts printed 50,000 pieces. "We found a cooperative manufacturer in Guangdong. If the factory refuses to make them, each pattern will be at least 1000." At this point, they have spent 400 thousand.
However, these T-shirts, which are priced around 70 yuan, are badly unsalable. "Even if I was promoted later, I didn't sell it much." . The capital chain is broken and the team can only be dissolved. Now that I think about it, Sun Xianlong is more insightful. First of all, the market research is insufficient and the price does not meet the needs of consumers. In addition to brand T-shirts in shopping malls, student consumers are more willing to buy T-shirts around 30 yuan, but due to the production cost, the price of T-shirts cannot be reduced. Having learned from the failure of starting a business, Sun Xianlong was much more cautious when choosing the project of starting a business again, and two seniors one level higher than him became his partners. Everyone is going to make creative plush toys. Send bus-shaped plush toys, conductor bears and school uniform bears online for friends to evaluate. "In the end, everyone agreed that school uniform bears have a good consumer group."
Creative products, but it is difficult for us to find manufacturers. All manufacturers refuse orders with only a dozen or dozens of products. Sun Xianlong had to ask his father for help. With the help of my father and friends, a manufacturer finally promised to make a small amount of products, but the cost would be high. Because a partner's sister is studying in Beijing 17 1 middle school, the school uniform style is relatively easy to get, so the first batch of 50 bears wearing17/middle school uniforms became experiments.
They sell their school uniforms at the gate of 17 1 middle school. Sun Xianlong clearly remembers that they had to ride a bike with a school uniform bear because the bear box could not be put into a taxi. "I didn't expect it to be very popular, sweeping away 50 bears. Some students who haven't bought it still ask us, will you come back tomorrow? " Sun Xianlong took the time to order 100 again.
With the popularity of 17 1 middle school uniform bear, middle school students from other schools in Beijing found Sun Xianlong's Renren.com account and left him a message asking if he had a uniform bear. Another person left a message saying, "This bear is so memorable. We have been wearing this suit for three years." The enthusiasm of consumers inspired Sun Xianlong and his partners. They used the winter vacation to launch the school uniform bear products of Beijing No.80 Middle School, No.25 Middle School, No.5 Middle School and dongzhimen middle school, and sold nearly 2,000 in a few months. In order to establish sales channels, Sun Xianlong opened another online shop. I didn't expect many high school graduates to come to buy school uniform bears.
"We have been very cautious because of the lesson of our first failure." However, just when the business was booming, because two partners, one studying abroad and the other getting a job after graduation, had to disband the entrepreneurial team that had just run in, Sun Xianlong fell into the trough of the second venture. At that time, he was a senior, and he was also faced with the choice of going abroad, taking the postgraduate entrance examination or working. "Only one person can do it? I was helpless at that time, but I thought that the school uniform bear had the support of the market, and many consumers were waiting. Sun Xianlong decided to stick to it. In order to listen to consumers' opinions, Sun Xianlong set up a discussion group for school uniform bears on the Internet, and the number of members soon exceeded 1000. They put forward many opinions and suggestions on the school uniform bear. Sun Xianlong feels that every step of his life has been taken away by consumers. Although the number of products produced each time is small and the cost is relatively high, it has gradually created a reputation, and the variety of school uniform bears has gradually increased to 50.
"We have done a survey. There are more than 400 high schools in Beijing. If we occupy this market first, we can still go abroad. " After this summer vacation, Sun Xianlong is looking for new business partners while recruiting part-time sales. His requirements for business partners are simple, they share the same ideals, and he can continue to start a business firmly after graduation. After communication, a four-person entrepreneurial team has gradually formed. The company has no registered place, so Sun Xianlong linked the company to his father's company. "But our financial accounting is independent." Sun Xianlong said that four people in the team are paid, and the other three people have no salary ceiling, while the ceiling in Sun Xianlong is 3,000 yuan. "If there is no profit for a month, I have to post my salary to them." Sun Xianlong said with a smile.
After the second venture, Sun Xian Longcheng has matured a lot. Instead of asking for money from his family, he borrowed a "debt" of 6.5438+0.5 million yuan. "We broke even in September this year, and started to make a profit at 654.38+0. 1.00. I have already paid off one-third of the loan."
Sun Xianlong has sold more than 4,000 school uniform bears, and his main concern is how to reduce the cost. Generally speaking, a toy factory orders hundreds of thousands of toys at a time, but the number of bears making school uniforms is too small, and there is not much room for cost reduction. Sun Xianlong began to think about the direction of personalized customized school uniforms.