What happened to Eleanor Shi Xiaoyan?

Eleanor, once unique in the home market, is quietly disappearing from people's field of vision.

In the past year, Eleanor has removed most of the direct stores in China. In its local market in Beijing, only Yansha Outlets is still struggling to maintain its former glory.

New Financial Reporter Sun Ruili reports from Beijing

? Store withdrawal trend

"Now this Lufthansa outlet store is the only one left in Eleanor, Beijing." On August 27th, a salesperson of Eleanor Yansha Outlets told the New Financial Reporter.

This household brand, founded in 18, was once called "IKEA in China" because of its distinctive business model. Its founder, Shi Xiaoyan, is remembered for his unique personality.

Eleanor's brand story is based on her creator Shi Xiaoyan, a businesswoman who has always been famous for her strength in the household industry, leaving the impression that she is direct and unfriendly. However, the Eleanor she created is gorgeous, classical, exquisite and fashionable.

In the early days of Eleanor's founding, Shi Xiaoyan, who had just returned from studying abroad, confidently said, "I want to start a company to sell the most upscale furniture", and the initial positioning was to build "IKEA in China".

Facts have proved that Shi Xiaoyan's "IKEA China" model is indeed forward-looking. Because 1995, when she started her business, the domestic economy had just recovered and the real estate market had just started. In high-end furniture, she had almost no competitors at that time. Therefore, a few months before the opening of the new store, Shi Xiaoyan and her team achieved good results in monthly retail sales of over 6,543,800 yuan.

In the following years, with the increasing demand for high-end furniture, Eleanor's "fans" became more and more. "Their things are exquisite, and the cups used for drinking water and the cushions used in peacetime are very special." Ms. Sun, who spent money in Illinois five years ago, recalled. Chain stores in Beijing, Shenyang, Xi, Tianjin, Zhengzhou and other cities have also opened.

Just over two years ago, this enterprise, which once integrated design, production, logistics and sales, not only had a professional design team headed by foreign designers, but also had a production base and logistics center of more than 50,000 square meters in Beijing, as well as dozens of direct stores in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Shenyang, Qingdao, Wuhan and Xi 'an.

? However, in the last two years, Eleanor, who stood out in the northern urban household circle, seems to have gradually faded out of people's sight.

More than a month ago, Eleanor's withdrawal of Beijing Wanliu Hualian Store unveiled its low-key plan for more than a year. "The rent here is not expensive. I don't know why they suddenly want to quit. " A person in charge of Hualian Shopping Center told the new financial reporter.

"They usually have a good business and everything is special." The businessman who once lived next to Eleanor said. Now, the store in Illinois has been rented by Uniqlo and is being renovated intensively.

? "Not only Wanliu Store, but also stores in other parts of Beijing have basically been withdrawn." Shao, Eleanor's sales manager, made a surprising introduction. According to her introduction, as early as last year, Elinor Zhongguancun (7.300, 0.28,? Including 3.99% stores, Taiyanggong stores and Tiantongyuan stores, 10 stores have successively withdrawn their stores.

"At present, only the Yansha Outlet store in the East Fourth Ring Road is left." She said.

At about eight o'clock in the evening, two or three people pass by at Yansha Outlets occasionally, which is very quiet. According to nearby merchants, this time last year, it was "crowded" than this night, but this year, business here is not good. There are few customers in the beautifully decorated and exquisitely laid-out shop.

It is understood that Eleanor has only one store at present, not only in Beijing, but also in other cities such as Shenyang and Xi 'an. The reporter tried to call its listed stores several times, but could not get through.

A person who once knew Eleanor in Xi 'an told the new financial reporter that Eleanor had done a good job in Xi 'an a few years ago, and he was surprised that Eleanor's store suddenly closed.

Workshop lease

Not only have most shops closed, but the Illinois headquarters has also begun to retreat.

On August 29th, the reporter saw at Eleanor Noyi's headquarters in Jingang South Road, Jinzhan Township, Beijing that all the office facilities were being moved out. The doorman told the new financial reporter that he had basically moved out and the headquarters building had been transferred out.

? "The headquarters should be evacuated to a dilapidated factory building also located in Jinyu Town," he said. But it is almost impossible to find Elinor's shadow in the factory that he said is only two blocks away from the headquarters, because there is no company brand hanging on the factory.

Regarding the store withdrawal, the head of Eleanor's marketing department told the new financial reporter: "At present, internal adjustments are being made, and it is not convenient to disclose the reasons and plans for the store withdrawal."

Villagers near the factory told the new financial reporter that the place where the headquarters moved in was the factory where Ilenoy produced sofas. In the past, factories often worked overtime, but in the last six months, they were rarely seen to work overtime. Not only that, but also more than half of the workers in the factory have lost.

"Older people have been dismissed." A former employee who was fired from Illinois told the New Financial Reporter.

In addition, opposite this sofa factory, there is a relatively large furniture factory. According to the employees of the factory, this is Elinor's factory. Last year, Elinor rented the factory to another furniture manufacturer, Beijing Boyi Furniture. At the beginning of this year, it was leased to a furniture factory in China.

At the factory gate, the reporter saw the job advertisement of Chinese furniture factory. According to the director surnamed Ma of a Chinese company, the factory was indeed leased to a Chinese company at the beginning, but because the relationship between the Chinese company and Elinor has always been good, now the two companies are cooperative. "In other words, Hanzi now belongs to Eleanor's brand."

"The cooperation with Hanzi may be because Eleanor wants to keep improving and develop a series of furniture with more accurate positioning." He said, "but the cost is too high for Eleanor to afford now."

He also said that at present, China Capital provides Elinor with all kinds of furniture, including the most upscale ones.

Because Eleanor withdrew from many shops, the sale of furniture became a new problem. The director surnamed Ma said that he was only in charge of production and didn't know the problem of sales.

? Transition clue

Shi Xiaoyan, the founder of Eleanor Yiduo Store, has never said anything about it. However, in last year's securities information TV program, she discussed Eleanor's e-commerce path with Liu Wen, an expert in commercial transactions and chairman of the Beijing Stock Exchange.

At present, in baidu promotion, Elinor's online mall ranks very high, but the mall has almost no turnover.

Shi Xiaoyan once said, "Only one or two styles of Eleanor are her own brand, and the other six are others'". "If we take e-commerce, she thinks that although a variety of styles can meet the needs of consumers, the investment risk is too great. Therefore, she is not sure whether to continue to develop in a diversified style or to rely entirely on products under Eleanor's brand.

In the face of Elinor's idea of withdrawing stores on a large scale and revealing the way of e-commerce, a person engaged in the observation of home appliance business said: "Although home appliances are also showing a trend, it is risky to abandon physical stores and go e-commerce." In the case he studied, the temporary performance of home e-commerce from offline to online is not very good, but the performance from online to offline is not bad.

In addition, Shi Xiaoyan also said in the recent "If You Are the One" program that Eleanor's other business now is sponsoring furniture for TV series.

"We made them a lot of furniture." Shi Xiaoyan said that Elineau furniture can be produced according to customers' needs.

However, she also revealed that in the process of sponsoring the TV series, she was lucky enough to be seen by the director and participated in the filming. Before recording this program, she had just finished filming.

? "If you come, maybe the director has a crush on both of us, then we will all become stars." She told Hou Tengfei, who came to apply for the job, that she was handsome and had a dream of being a star.

In addition to providing furniture for TV series, the reporter also saw in the officially certified "Eleanor's Shi Xiaoyan" Weibo that she recently released a number of pictures of participating in the layout of high-end clubs, and her products are mainly sofas and chairs. One of them is to participate in the layout of MOMA (theme shopping center leading the consumption trend).

The reporter also found through relevant information that Elinor also provided a model room decoration for the property, which was mostly fashionable and colorful with some artistic elements. However, as for whether this is Eleanor's next new development direction, the reporter contacted the person in charge of Eleanor many times, but the other party did not make it clear.

At present, Eleanor can still enter everyone's field of vision, that is, the marketing and promotion activities in Weibo, the only remaining home in Beijing, started in the first half of the year. However, the main content is to discount prices, and even many commodities have dropped to 1%. The reporter saw at the scene that even if the discount was very low, the real environment in this two-story store was in great contrast with the fiery strength in the marketing case.

At the boss's table of "You", Shi Xiaoyan continued to recruit designers, business developers and assistant store managers. When Zhang Shaogang, the host, asked Shi Xiaoyan if she planned to open a store in Tianjin because of the needs of the candidates, she did not answer directly, but discussed with the contestants whether she would like to stay in Beijing. But in fact, Elinor once opened a shop in the courtyard of Tianjin Jiefang South Road Experimental Instrument Factory, but ended up closing it.

? Financial problems

Regarding Eleanor's low-key store withdrawal frenzy, Ji Jiping, a home e-commerce expert, said: "According to years of observation experience, Eleanor may encounter problems not only in the external environment, but also in operation and capital."

"When the trouble broke out in August last year, the workers complained to the district government from the beginning." A person familiar with the matter revealed.

Later, feeling the pressure, Elinor paid the workers, but this was only part of one month's salary. It is estimated that they can't afford to pay more. So it lasted for several months. "

? Some insiders also revealed that Shi Xiaoyan's husband finally settled the arrears of workers' wages. It is understood that her husband Ye is currently the chairman and CEO of Jingang Holdings Limited, and owns Jingang Automobile Park. In the early days of starting a business, Qin had given up his career for this.

? A worker told the new financial reporter that Eleanor's business was the best around 20 10. At that time, there were many workers in the factory, and every day was a busy scene. Overtime is common. However, since July last year, Elinor's production situation has been getting worse and worse.

"There must be management reasons, because her management changes frequently." He said that the workers privately thought that several executives came here not to manage their performance, but to "make money." "They didn't manage it well at all."

"And Miss Shi () has always been a careless role. She seldom comes, even if she comes occasionally, she doesn't care. She takes a look and leaves. " He told the new financial reporter. It is understood that because Shi Xiaoyan has a big temper and speaks bluntly, the workers are often criticized by her and are generally afraid of her.

Judging from Eleanor's continued withdrawal, her financial problems may still be unresolved, but it is difficult for the outside world to know Eleanor's new trends.

Eleanor's marketing director told reporters: "The brand has not been dumped. Eleanor is only in the adjustment period now, and there will definitely be new actions next. " However, as for the next specific trend, she said that it is not convenient to disclose it for the time being, and it will be said at that time.

Judging from today's achievements, Eleanor's road to "IKEA in China" seems to be not easy. Shi Xiaoyan once emphasized that "all goods should be exquisite, fashionable and commercialized", which seems desirable on the surface. However, under the background of the general low tide of the household industry and the depressed economic environment, it seems that it is not enough to gain a firm foothold only by virtue of the strong woman's character in Shi Xiaoyan.