"Buy" garbage encourages classified delivery, how does such a company "Qianjing"
"Internet + garbage classification" star enterprise "Little Yellow Dog", target 46 pilot cities to cover
Our reporter Li Kunsheng
The "Little Yellow Dog" Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Little Yellow Dog"), known for its intelligent waste sorting and recycling cabinets, has been valued at 15.1 billion yuan and is a star enterprise in the field of "Internet + waste sorting".
In March 2019, "Little Yellow Dog" was once in a bankruptcy crisis due to the fund operation problems of the company's former chairman Tang Jun.
The "little yellow dog" hit the reef, causing the industry to question the "Internet + garbage classification" model and worry about whether this tuyere industry will follow the footsteps of sharing bicycles.
On January 19, 2020, the First People's Court of Dongguan ruled to approve the draft of the reorganization plan of the "Little Yellow Dog" company.
At the end of May this year, Xinhua Daily Telecom reporters conducted an exclusive interview with the company's president Gui Bowen in Beijing.
It is worth observing whether the "little yellow dog" can rebirth, and what revelations will be brought to the industry by the enterprises that are ready to start again.
"The hardest moment is over"
Gui Bowen regarded the past year as a "rare lesson in life".
In December 2018, the stupid brother Network Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "stuppy brother") she founded was acquired by "Little Yellow Dog", and she immediately became the president of "Little Yellow Dog". Unexpectedly, three months later, the company turned on a red light.
"The most difficult time has passed. At that time, there were so many things to deal with every day, to protect funds, reduce staff and increase efficiency, and maintain cooperative relations... It took two months to get the company back on track. Now think about it and be able to deal with it Such a crisis is also very rare." Gui Bowen said.
After graduating from Carnegie Mellon University with a master's degree on Wall Street and returning to China to join an e-commerce enterprise... The fashionable and beautiful Gui Bowen chose to start a business and plunge into the waste recycling industry.
The traditional waste recycling chain is long and inefficient, but there is profit space for each link. Gui Bowen firmly believes that this is a very meaningful cause for society, and also sees the huge market potential of the industry.
In 2016, Gui Bowen and two partners co-founded the “Stupid Brother” whose main business is paper product recycling. One end is connected to the waste resources of the B end (community, supermarket, factory, office building, etc.), and the other end is connected to the paper mill, etc. Enterprises, integrate intermediate links, and profit from the initial processing of packaging stations.
"People in traditional industries are experienced, but often lack innovation. People with different backgrounds can enter this industry and provide something new." Gui Bowen, who graduated in computer science, smelled business opportunities.
In 2017, the "Little Yellow Dog" company was established in Dongguan. This company quickly acquired a large number of users by putting smart garbage sorting and recycling cabinets in major cities.
In June 2018, "Little Yellow Dog" received a total of 1.05 billion yuan in Series A financing from Zhongzhi Group. In October of the same year, the company received another 150 million yuan of strategic financing from Lister.
The favor of capital gave "Little Yellow Dog" enough confidence. Gui Bowen told reporters: "The company has reached 20 million users and delivered nearly 5 million users. In the field of waste sorting and recycling, only we have achieved this volume."
It is reported that Zhongzhi International, which led the bankruptcy and reorganization of the "Little Yellow Dog", became its largest shareholder.
Wang Zeming, president of Zhongzhi International Investment Holding Group Co., Ltd. and chairman of "Little Yellow Dog" Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd., said: "The sorting, recycling, sorting and recycling of domestic waste is not a short and fast project. The threshold is not low, and not everyone can do it. We are optimistic about the good prospects in the field of energy conservation and environmental protection, and hope to create hundreds of billions of market value enterprises in China's solid waste industry in the future."
"User is the core competitiveness"
On the yellow and blue cabinets, the cartoon designs of the little yellow dogs are fragile, and the recycling boxes marked with metal, plastic, textile, paper, glass, etc. are arranged in sequence. Residents can scan the QR code of the cabinet display with their mobile phones and select the correct garbage category for delivery, and they will immediately receive cashback rewards.
In the Vientiane Xintian Community outside the East 5th Ring Road in Beijing, Zhang Kegang, a 53-year-old sweeper, scanned the QR code, opened Cabinet No. 874, and took out the largest recycling box. Inside the box is a cardboard box of similar size to a courier package.
I saw Zhang Kegang just poured the cardboard box on the ground, stepped on it with his feet, folded it to a suitable width, and skillfully stuffed it into the woven bag he prepared.
Clearing crews in uniform yellow vests like Zhang Kegang were called "riders" by "little yellow dogs." Resident delivery, "rider" clearance. Before the crisis, the "rider" was a formal employee of the company. Today, they are only a crowdsourcing partnership with "Little Yellow Dog". Correspondingly, the scale of the "Little Yellow Dog" company has shrunk from 4,000 to more than 300.
Zhang Kegang is currently responsible for 20 cabinets in several nearby communities. Through the mobile APP, he can instantly understand the loading status of various types of recyclables in each cabinet, accordingly arrange the time and route of clearing and transportation, and improve work efficiency.
Zhang Kegang said that at the end of last year, he could earn more than 7,000 yuan a month. Due to the epidemic situation, the prices of various recyclables on the market generally fell, and his income shrank to more than 4,000 yuan.
It is understood that the incomes of "little yellow dogs" and "riders" are not different from each other due to their respective scope of contracting, the number of machines, the quantity of goods and the length of their personal work.
Zhang Kegang told reporters that although he was a "rider" for the "little yellow dog", although he didn't earn much from wholesale vegetables in Xinfadi, he didn't have to reverse day and night, and he was suitable for his current age.
"This machine currently recycles 9.39 kg of paper." Zhang Kegang pointed to a column of data on his mobile phone. "I took it out and I had to pay the company an opening fee of 5.25 yuan. I sent it to the recycling station and sold one piece per kilogram. Two or three, you can make almost 6 yuan."
The reporter calculated that, after delivering the stack of cardboard boxes in front of him, residents could get a cash back of 4.69 yuan from the "little yellow dog". By subtracting this amount from the unpacking fee paid by Zhang Kegang, "Little Yellow Dog" can get a profit of 0.56 yuan.
Obviously, if the "little yellow dog" only earns this hard money, capital will not be so favored.
Gui Bowen told reporters that the current income of the "little yellow dog" is mainly divided into recyclable goods sales profits, government purchase services, and value-added services such as advertising, shopping malls, and games.
As an "Internet + garbage classification" enterprise, what is the core competitiveness of "Little Yellow Dog"?
Gui Bowen's answer is that the accumulated users, the accumulated data and the industry's leading brands.
Two years ago, "Little Yellow Dog" acquired "Stupid Brother", she was looking at "Little Yellow Dog" directly facing the rapid expansion of the C side, and there are more possibilities in the future.
"The value of'Little Yellow Dog' is not just equipment, but more importantly, reaching the derivative value brought by a large number of users," she said.
According to her, at present, "the company is working hard to explore the profit model of malls and games."
Ms. Ding in the Xintian community of Vientiane usually does not have the habit of collecting waste products and selling money, nor does she care about cashback rewards. After receiving the courier, the carton was never thrown away. But the "little yellow dog" cabinet in the community stimulated the children's interest. (Next version 6)
"In the eyes of children, completing sort delivery is like playing a game. I am also happy that he has developed the habit of sorting garbage from an early age." Ms. Ding said.
Perhaps, the future of "little yellow dog" is in it.
Focus on the refined operation of 46 pilot cities
Gui Bowen said that at present, "Little Yellow Dog" has invested nearly 2 billion yuan in total.
Investors invest real money in order to earn huge returns in the capital market, but whether the "little yellow dog" can inspire users to derive value has yet to be verified.
It is worth noting that the operation of the "Little Yellow Dog" company is quietly changing. This company, which has always been high-spirited in the industry by virtue of its rich financial resources, seems to have begun to spend a lot of time.
In addition to the divestiture of the "rider" and simple administration, the "little yellow dog" also began to adjust the layout of the country. On the company's official website, "City" was placed in a prominent position, from Beijing, Shanghai to Bayannur, "Little Yellow Dog" settled in 39 cities across the country. But the reporter noticed that in a news report in the first half of the year, this number became 38. In an interview with this newspaper, Gui Bowen gave the number 37.
In February 2019, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development made it clear that by the end of 2020, 46 key cities will basically complete a “garbage sorting” treatment system. According to Gui Bowen, the goal of the "Little Yellow Dog" is to cover 46 pilot cities for garbage sorting across the country by 2020, but only 23 of the cities where the company currently conducts business are pilot cities. This means that while "Little Yellow Dog" continues to enter the pilot cities, it may suspend business in non-pilot cities.
In more than 30 cities and more than 8,000 communities, Gui Bowen admits that in the early stage of the development of the "little yellow dog", there was indeed a problem of scattered layout. But questioning that high-cost cabinets are too "burning money", she said: "In the past, a lot of sunk costs have been paid. "Little Yellow Dog" will not temporarily order new cabinets on a large scale. The already laid cabinets will be gradually dispatched through dispatch. Optimized concentration. When the layout is dense enough, the cost can be covered. It only requires refined operations."
Refined operation was her mission as the company's president. "At that time, "Little Yellow Dog" lacked a professional operation team. Even if nothing happened last year, the company had to optimize it. It was only later that I was given shorter time," she said.
Not only the considerations between cities, but also within the city must be repeatedly considered. "Little Yellow Dog" once laid tens of thousands of cabinets across the country, but the delivery of residents is only the front-end business of garbage classification, and it has to rely on "rider" transshipment treatment. If the transshipment cost is too high, the "rider" is unprofitable, and the industrial chain of "little yellow dog" cannot be maintained. This requires the company to carefully consider the location of the points, not only considering the concentration of residents served by the cabinet, but also not neglecting the transfer distance.
"At least 500 households or more, it is relatively reasonable to lay out a cabinet." Guo Xindao, head of Beijing for "Little Yellow Dog". He told reporters that at present, the "Little Yellow Dog" has the most cabinets in Chaoyang District and Haidian District, and there are also a large number of Daxing, Tongzhou, and Changping. There are relatively few Dongcheng District and Xicheng District in the city center. Overall, there are more cabinets outside the fifth ring than inside the fifth ring. This is precisely because the packing station and sorting center are usually built on the outskirts of the city.
In 2019, "Little Yellow Dog" also conformed to the national four-category standard, adjusted its business scope, broke the limitation of only collecting and trading recyclables in the past, and upgraded it to a full-category garbage classification comprehensive operation service provider for cities and enterprises. Provide a package of waste sorting solutions. In January 2020, "Little Yellow Dog" launched an all-in-one kitchen waste treatment machine and a four-class environmental protection house in Jiangxi Province. It is understood that in June this year, a four-category garbage collection house has entered the pilot operation of Jingwang Garden Community, Cui Gezhuang Township, Chaoyang District, Beijing.
"In the past, there were no policies and standards in place, and the "little yellow dog" paid more attention to the laying of cabinets. Now different cities have corresponding policies. Some require basic equipment, some only need to be collected and shipped, and some only promote science. You have ten parts, maybe only five are needed in a certain area, and you need to consider adapting them. Our service will also be more diversified and refined." Gui Bowen said.