“Soon you'll see further transformation, and the greatest businesses in the future will definitely emerge from O2O enterprises.” Yuan Yafei, CPPCC member, Chairman of Sanpower Group, as well as the de facto controller of Nanjing Cenbest and Hiteker, said in an interview on March 5. Facing the impact of e-commerce, the whole retail industry are talking about transformation. However, Yuan's concept seems to be different, in that he finds off-line business still important.

Off-line is important but the content has to be changed

"O2O is bound to prevail in the years to come." Yuan Yafei said. As Yuan sees it, instead of being eliminated, off-line stores will otherwise become fairly important through the O2O mode, i.e., cooperation with on-line businesses. He is also convinced that human society is inseparable from off-line businesses, and explained that if the off-line retail disappeared because of the Internet, theoretically we wouldn't need to meet each other in the presence of cellphones. Nevertheless, now people still meet frequently, because humans are social beings that constantly pursue sensation and experience.

However, the off-line business needs transformation, and in Yuan's eyes, the traditional concession mode of department store has to be altered. In his view, the traditional concession mode not only renders off-line prices way higher than the on-line ones, but also causes an overhang of inventory. Therefore, the contents of off-line stores have to be changed. "What off-line stores sell are innovative things such as UAVs, smart aircraft, smart wearable devices, gaming computers, robots, whose prices should be level with the on-line ones. ” Yuan Yafei told the journalist.

Late last month, Hiteker newly acquired IDT International, which has made many achievements in the field of smart wearable devices. Long before its acquisition of IDT International, Sanpower Group has been laying out in the area of smart wearable devices.

It is worth mentioning that Yuan Yafei did not take a single plot of land from four years ago. What's more, he even sold out his manufacturing assets. These preparations for transformation have freed Sanpower Group from any pressure in the context of economic transformation.