Hangzhou Kub Baby Products Co. Ltd. (Kub), an e-commerce company established in 2009, sold maternal and child products. After a decade of development, Kub had earned praise from customers for the high-value, high-quality, and cost-effective products it sold, but the company's own brand, KÜB, remained less well known. In July 2018, Kub launched a three-day brand marketing campaign, called "KÜB×Tmall Happy Day," which largely relied on new media. The event was successful with increased brand effectiveness; however, new media was increasingly fragmenting marketing and brand awareness. How could Kub maintain its brand success in that context?
IDL Innovation Hong Kong Co. Ltd. (IDL) was a well-known interior design company specializing in commercial retail centres. The design company’s goal was to help its partners create more value by presenting effective interior design. However, with the rise of e-commerce, the financial performance of the conventional retail industry had dropped significantly. To help the industry regain customers, the design company developed a new business framework that combined online components with traditional consumer social spaces, based on the common interests, wants, and needs of consumers. In September 2018, the design company transformed a shopping centre in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, China, that had been losing sales for some time. The shopping mall soon saw a substantial and consistent increase in foot traffic, sales, and revenue. The project was a great success for both the mall and IDL, but could this concept be also effective when applied to other projects?
On April 1, 2017, Flashfood.Shop, a new brand in self-service retailing of fresh meals, was founded in Dalian, Liaoning province, China. The self-service retail platform provided office workers with affordable and convenient fresh meals 24 hours per day. Flashfood.Shop used intelligent self-catering machines as its physical sales terminals and it used an intelligent self-catering system as its online service interface. By the end of June 2018, Flashfood.Shop had launched 51 catering machines, where customers could buy fresh meals. The company had 14 catering suppliers, 135 different types of catering products, and over 500,000 customers. However, along with its success, Flashfood.Shop incurred a loss in five consecutive quarters. After its establishment, the only source of income for the company was the sale of its catered products. However, operating costs were high due to the instability of the hardware and software systems, as well as low operating efficiency and other factors. Faced with these issues, the start-up’s founder and general manager was wondering how to resolve his company’s ongoing losses.
In 2012, Sina Weibo stood out from competing microblogging products and developed into the largest social media platform in China. However, in 2013, competition from WeChat, a lack of high-quality content, and the exposure of an excessive number of fake accounts led to difficulties for Sina Weibo. By addressing three aspects of user activity—content producers, content consumers, and the platform operator—Sina Weibo was able to get back on the right track. The platform went from a loss in 2014 to a profit in 2018. However, behind the prosperity, in January 2019, Sina Weibo was facing new threats—namely, the disappearance of Chinese Internet user traffic dividends and competition from rivals Toutiao and Douyin. Sina Weibo’s chief executive officer had to determine how to deal with these new threats.
Founded in 2012 in Dalian, Liaoning Province, China, Dalian Venture Workshop Technology Service Co., Ltd. (Venture Workshop) was a business incubator that provided early stage start-ups with incubation and investment services. In 2014, China identified Venture Workshop as a “state-level technology business incubator.” By 2017, Venture Workshop had become the largest incubator in Northeast China. However, behind its prosperity, it had faced years of losses. Since its establishment in 2012, its only source of income was the fees it charged for renting office space to start-ups. Its standard rates were far lower than market prices, which made it difficult for Venture Workshop to generate sufficient income. In February 2018, the chairman of Venture Workshop needed to increase Venture Workshop's income and avoid subsequent years of losses. What was the best strategy to pursue?