Sarah Lacy is currently working on TechCrunch senior editor. She is also an award winning journalist and author of two books, critically acclaimed in "once you're lucky, twice you're good: the rebirth of Silicon Valley and the rise of Web 2.0" (Gotham books, April 2008) and "a brilliant, Crazy, cheeky: how the top 1% of entrepreneurs profit from global chaos ... ? Read More
Many Americans desperately want to believe that China is full of poor people who can't innovate, and only the products they make, cheap, toxic rip-offs our Western brands. They want to believe, the only reason the surging Chinese economy because the West wants cheap goods and China knows how to make them so.
These people will hate this post because the company he is called Greenbox, which flies against those preconceived notions.
Greenbox makes high-end, super-styled children's clothes in and for the Chinese market. He caught the eye of Disney, the company reached out to ask if he wants to produce some of their lines. "No, thanks," replied the company. "We are not interested in a full OEM".
Wait, isn't that China, are we talking about? This is a country of PVT.
The House mouse has returned with a sweeter offer that is being announced at a ceremony in China today: he has licensed the rights for a collection of Princess Mickey Mouse and Minnie mouse and Winnie the Pooh to Greenbox. The company will develop elite online collection for sale online in China, as part of a broad plan to help build the hype for the upcoming themepark in Shanghai.
Greenbox was founded more than ten years ago, designer named Fangfang Wu, who started making clothes for their children, because she was so unhappy with cheap, boring ones sold in the country at the time. She is obsessed with the fabric, fashion and design and hobby quickly turned into the business as she opened a chain of shops and later closed these stores to sell on Taobao better margins.
She was one of the best gross sales representatives in Taobao as its construction has struck a chord with other young working women in China who wanted to flaunt their increasingly hip and unique taste. (I mean, look at this outfit above is how little Chinese Natalie Wood, playing Red Riding Hood as it isn't adorable?) In 2010, representative office in China DCM sought her, investing a little over $ 10 million for the enterprise.
Today approximately 50 Greenbox brings in millions of dollars in annual revenues by a decent margin. It takes between $ 30-$ 40 for the elements is not absurd, but of course at the higher end for children's clothes. "This is a classic case for venture capital: high gross margins, but it takes money to build it to scale," says Hurst Lin DCM.
Note that I did not describe the Greenbox as fill-the-blanks from China. In fact I found it difficult to come up with e-commerce model, which was terrific off from the United States. Children's clothing was not a natural vertical etailers here save time branch on a site like Amazon.
The reason for the Greenbox has worked so well for Chinese culture. Because there are only so many children, there are at least six people seeking to lavish with lovely things: parents and two sets of grandparents. This same understanding Tencent mobilized monetize their virtual goods at an early stage.
So, Greenbox: do not copy cat, not invisible cheap Assembly partner for the West. Welcome to the next stage of Chinese entrepreneurship.
Greenbox is part of the harvest boom in e-commerce company in China. Over the years, the market held back at the expense of the common problems of maritime transport, infrastructure and payment platforms. Jack Ma, Alibaba has said e-commerce will be bigger in China than here, and it's not just because there are more people. In the United States he calls ecommerce "dessert", but in China, there are so many people are covered by a brick and mortar retail, e-commerce will be "main course".
DCM and other firms ' aggressive backing many new players in e-commerce, and they are not as simple as only Amazon China. (Although to be fair, the DCM was supported by one of those too.) Many of these companies, such as Greenbox, show the complexity of the Chinese market to attract wants not just worked elsewhere.
Amazing vertical, Lin was never seen in the United States this wine to be profitable. As profits soar, many Chinese develop taste for Western wine, but have trouble finding interesting crops or even moving the language barriers, he said. His bet, YesMyWine, it's not just e-commerce, content and media play.
He was pleased with the public on the call raised another hot DCM ecommerce companies: La Miu, which makes the sexy lingerie. I could hear his usually squirming as he tried to explain – delicately-why Victoria's Secret failed miserably in China, while more recently La Miu.
Victoria's Secret tried to market to women in their 30s seeking comfortable not sexy. A little too early in the Chinese revolution, consumers and husbands were not demanding sexier lingerie so ever practical Chinese women simply did not see the appeal.
Victoria's Secret made a mistake even Lin tries to explain, as soon as tactfully: Asian women are ... various bodies …. than Western women.
But La Miu has become completely different tact: marketing underwear, for the Asian body types to adolescents. "Born in the late 1990 's they are much more global consumer, they are open and more rebellious," said Ling. "It was a huge success.
As I've written before, China's ability to be assembly line in the world there was no place where ended its role in the global economy; This was when he started. The ability to create goods cheaper than any other have the ability to take high end products more convenient, than anywhere else. And, increasingly, entrepreneurs as Wu Add design and brand on top of that to create products that they want a wider world.
The first generation of Chinese entrepreneurs are picking the low hanging fruit in the country's massive, just opening for capitalism. Now the real fun begins.
(Shameless plug: join TechCrunch disrupt in Beijing in October read more ...)
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