Zheng Suiwei, Deputy General Manager and Group Marketing Director of R & F Group

Leju Holdings Ltd Finance and Economics Zhang Dan is from Beijing.

For online marketing, Zheng Suiwei is familiar with the road. As the deputy general manager and marketing director of R & F Group (hereinafter referred to as: r & F, 02777.HK), he repeatedly innovated marketing programs during the epidemic, especially in the circle.

Star live broadcast, boss live broadcast is the first attempt in the real estate industry, the results are better than expected, "maintain a year-on-year growth rate of over 5%," this is the performance of R & F Group after the offline sales office closed.

For such a performance, Zheng Suiwei more classified it as R & F's previous online layout. He explained that four years ago, R & F launched "R & F good Housing" online, online marketing is done early, the foundation will be better.

Zheng Suiwei speaks calmly and rigorously, and will think about the questions thrown for a few seconds before giving an answer. "not many words, every sentence pokes the key" in nearly an hour of interview, this is the most impressive place of him, and this is very much like his style.

Marketing is directly related to performance, and figures are the best illustration. For Zheng Suiwei, who has been running in marketing all the year round, perhaps the pragmatic spirit of a concise summary has already been imperceptibly integrated into his bones.

A steady defender.

In 2001, the real estate industry was still in its prime, and the legend of creating wealth was written almost every day. At that time, Zheng Suiwei had just walked out of the university.

R & F is the first company that Zheng Suiwei entered after graduating from university, and this stay is 19 years. In 19 years, R & F witnessed Zheng Suiwei's youth, and Zheng Suiwei saw R & F's leap step by step.

Before 2001, R & F was a local enterprise in Guangzhou horse racing enclosure; now, R & F, which is listed on the stock market, is a comprehensive enterprise blooming in real estate development, hotel development, business operation, sports and so on.

"I am lucky that the company I chose in the first place has been able to go so steadily." Having been in R & F for nearly 20 years, Zheng Suiwei feels that the steady growth of the enterprise is the greatest strength.

R & F entered the hundreds of billions camp in 2018 and maintained its growth trend in 2019. The scale of sales reached 138.2 billion yuan, thus promoting a double increase in profits. Revenue rose 18% year-on-year to 90.81 billion yuan, while net profit rose 16% to 10.09 billion yuan.

The steady growth of performance is the root of survival, and the attraction of culture is like the water of shrubs. From corporate philosophy to corporate culture, from boss work to employee collaboration, Zheng Suiwei has a high sense of identity, which he describes as "R & F spirit" in his eyes.

"the 'home' culture gives me a sense of belonging and gives me motivation to work." This is a rare emotion in Zheng Suiwei's interview. He recalled that R & F opened up the Sichuan-Chongqing market and was assigned to Chongqing as a marketing task, and this assignment became a wonderful part of Zheng Suiwei's work process.

Zheng Suiwei, 27, was also under pressure to receive such an appointment. So he asked his boss for advice. "you can make mistakes when you are young, but you can't repeat them; remember that you can't touch the red line of the company." Zheng Suiwei remembers the short answer until now.

From entering Chongqing for the first time in 2005, and then to 16 cities in 4 provinces in southwest China today, R & F has broken the doubt of "disobedience of soil and water" when it first entered Chongqing with its own actions.

Urban renewal is a profit-seeking point.

Zheng Suiwei can be regarded as an early veteran of R & F, and he almost always has his shadow in the process of R & F walking out of Guangzhou and towards nationalization.

However, he does not want to mention his past achievements, and what he cares about is how to take every step in the present.

A sudden epidemic has increased the "hardship" of the real estate market, and the "housing speculation and urban policies" of the two sessions seem to inject a lot of confidence into the market. How will the real estate market go after the epidemic, and what strategic adjustment will R & F have?

Zheng Suiwei explained that "stability" will be the main tone of real estate this year. How to find the driving force of growth in stability, R & F will still adhere to three major directions: recruitment and auction, merger and acquisition, and urban renewal.

At the moment when the real estate market is changing from increment to stock, urban renewal is undoubtedly a major direction. Zheng Suiwei is also optimistic about urban renewal, describing the track as "win-win-win". The so-called "win-win" means the government, indigenous residents and developers.

As for the inherent characteristics of "urban renewal", which has a large amount of funds and a relatively long payback cycle, Zheng Suiwei shared the criteria for R & F's selection of projects and the core of promoting the project.

R & F, which has been in charge of the old reform project since 1994, has been deeply engaged in urban renewal, has rich experience in urban renewal, and has explored a "win-win" road for villagers, village collectives, government and enterprises.

Demolition is not only one of the difficulties of urban renewal, but also a time-consuming and energy-consuming part. Zheng Suiwei explained that the choice of urban renewal projects must first be supported by the government. on this basis, we need to consider from the perspective of indigenous residents, give them real benefits, and seek a balanced ratio of investment and return.

Of course, the input-output ratio is also applicable to the choice of projects, Zheng Suiwei further explained that the balance between quantity and price must be considered.

At present, R & F's urban renewal projects are mainly concentrated in the first-and second-tier core cities, and the land reserve in prime areas provides imaginative space for its future growth. It is understood that in R & F's urban renewal project, the area of first-and second-tier cities accounts for 92%, and the area of the Greater Bay area accounts for 60%.

By the end of 2019, R & F Real Estate has signed more than 70 cooperative urban renewal projects, with a total planned construction area of more than 70 million square meters and a construction area of more than 40 million square meters.

Online marketing is not an emergency strategy

If the land reserve paves the way for its future growth, marketing is like adding a pair of wings to performance growth.

The transaction amount was 8.34 million during the live broadcast in Anshan Fuli City and 31.25 million during the live broadcast in Hainan Fuli Bay. This is R & F's "100 cities and 100 plates, the boss live broadcast" two of the performance, behind the promotion is not without the marketing department, Zheng Suiwei is also one of the practitioners.

An emergency battle without warning is a demonstration of true strength. In 2020, an epidemic raided, all offline sales offices were closed, and performance was affected and stagnated. However, real estate companies soon turned to the front one after another, and R & F was the first batch to respond.

After launching "good house, online shopping bar" on February 15, upgrading on March 20, launching "good house, online shopping", launching "R & F courtesy" live broadcast on April 15, and then "100 cities, 100 plates, boss live broadcast" at the end of April.

A series of online activities have brought performance improvement to R & F. Data show that in April 2020, equity contract sales were about 9.22 billion yuan, up 15 per cent from the previous month, while sales revenue continued to rise in May, up 15 per cent from April. By the end of May 2020, the total equity contract sales value is about 36.55 billion yuan, with a sales area of about 3.1 million square meters.

Zheng Suiwei has developed a keen sense of judgment in the washing of his past experience.

After the epidemic prevention and control work has stabilized, the closed offline sales offices are gradually recovering, and the online marketing of "emergency" seems to be in retreat. Zheng Suiwei does not think so, in his view, online marketing is the general trend, still need to be vigorously promoted, online and offline are not separated, the two should be combined with each other. In contrast, online marketing can be unlimited time, place to look at the house to buy, for consumers is more than a choice.

As far as R & F is concerned, online marketing will be invested for a long time. Zheng Suiwei explained that we should not just do emergency response, but should fight a prepared war.

"the opportunity is for those who are prepared," Zheng Suiwei often said, which was once again confirmed in the face of the sudden epidemic.

As early as 2016, R & F independently created and launched a new open application platform for home purchase-"R & F good Housing 2.0". According to reports, in addition to convenient services such as customer service one-to-one Q & A, one-click reservation and one-click payment, the platform also introduced the concept of "partner" and created a new model of strategic alliance cooperation in the real estate ecosystem at that time.

Independent research and development and cooperation with the platform, in Zheng Suiwei's eyes, is not an either-or relationship, the two can be combined. In the case that R & F already has a relatively perfect online marketing system, it is still actively in demand for strong partners.

On June 2nd, Leju Holdings Ltd Holdings (stock code: LEJU) andSUNING(002024.SZ) R & F also actively joined in the "SUNING Leju Holdings Ltd" real estate channel that was launched in cooperation. Zheng Suiwei analysis said that cooperation with the platform is a win-win situation for enterprises, which can not only drain, but also help promote.

However, for the proportion of channels, Zheng Suiwei also has a "safety line" in his heart. He believes that it is reasonable for channels to account for about 30-40%.

The following is a selection of the dialogue between Leju Holdings Ltd Finance and Zheng Suiwei:

Leju Holdings Ltd Finance and Economics:In your opinion, in the two ways of self-research and development and cooperation with the platform, which one is more beneficial to marketing?

Zheng Suiwei:The two cannot be separated and need to be combined. As far as large enterprises are concerned, although they have their own R & D capabilities, they also need flow, promotion and influence, and can cooperate with the platform, which is a win-win situation. For small enterprises with weak R & D capabilities, choosing to cooperate with the platform is a way to "take advantage of strength".

Leju Holdings Ltd Finance and Economics:What is the effect of R & F's diversified online marketing during the epidemic?

Zheng Suiwei:The epidemic has had a great impact on various industries. From the perspective of R & F, except for the year-on-year decline in February, it has risen since March, maintaining a growth level of about 5%.

Leju Holdings Ltd Finance and Economics:In terms of real estate marketing, which aspects or indicators are you most concerned about?

Zheng Suiwei:In the past, we focused on the sales target, but now the indicators are subdivided, such as sales target, average price (the balance point of volume and price), removal rate, the proportion of offline and online channels, and so on. As for the proportion of channels, I personally think it will be more reasonable at about 30-40%.

Leju Holdings Ltd Finance and Economics:The old reform occupies a large amount of money, and the payback cycle is relatively long. What are the basic principles for R & F to choose the old reform?

Zheng Suiwei:First-tier cities, second-tier provincial capitals, hot spots, and key cities need to consider the rate of return on investment because of the large investment in the old reform.

Leju Holdings Ltd Finance and Economics:What is your prediction of the overall situation of real estate this year? How can R & F make progress in a stable way?

Zheng Suiwei:In the main tone of housing speculation, in the next few years, real estate will be a "stable" word.

For R & F, there are three aspects: bidding, cooperation or mergers and acquisitions, and urban renewal. In my opinion, urban renewal is the "progress" that strives for progress in the midst of stability, and if urban renewal is done well, the future performance will not be bad.

Leju Holdings Ltd Finance and Economics:Under the influence of the epidemic, the number of small business closures is increasing. How do you view the current competitive situation in the real estate market?

Zheng Suiwei:In terms of the law of survival, "big fish eat small fish" is an inevitable phenomenon in the stage of economic development. In fact, it is not only "big fish eat small fish", but also "big fish eat big fish". As long as there is competition, there is bound to be ranking and there is a distinction between the strong and the weak. The strong is always strong, and to keep the position of the strong steadily, it is necessary to do a good job in the main business, make good use of the corporate culture, and enhance the combat effectiveness of the team.

Leju Holdings Ltd Finance and Economics:You have been in R & F for nearly 20 years. What attracts you most?

Zheng Suiwei:The first is the sense of belonging. As a new graduate, my first job is in R & F. Secondly, I am lucky to catch up with the rapid development of the industry, while the enterprise has been growing steadily. Third, and most importantly, the "home" culture gives Fuli people a good working atmosphere; another is the corporate philosophy of "getting rich and striving for new heights".

Leju Holdings Ltd Finance and Economics:In selecting and employing people, which aspects do you value most?

Zheng Suiwei:Morality comes first. It is best to have both ability and political integrity. If you choose between virtue and talent, you will choose the first moral character. If you have no morality, then you will not have a positive effect on the company.

Leju Holdings Ltd Finance and Economics:R & F chose to cooperate with SUNING Leju Holdings Ltd real estate channel, based on what considerations, what expectations?

Zheng Suiwei:Strong alliance, hope that through SUNING Leju Holdings Ltd platform, R & F brand will be further promoted. At the same time, it also shows an attitude that the online investment in R & F will continue to increase in the future, and will choose to join forces.