(Text by Reporter Xing Beilin) On the commercial landscape of Jing’an District, there is an enterprise which always takes the overall economic and social development of the whole district into consideration while planning its own development, studies “tricks of trade” with heart, and always tries its best to make every transaction successful. Its name is Join Buy Group.
Xu Xing, “Helmsman” of Join Buy Group, Secretary of the CPC Join Buy Group Committee and Chairman of Join Buy Group told the reporter that since its foundation, the group has been forging ahead with Jing’an together for 22 years. With constant development, the group has realized a “four-wheel driving force” of four main types of business, namely commercial real estate, featured food, modern general merchandise and hotel management. Facing the development opportunity brought by the new round of the strategic plan of Jing’an, with heart and love, the group will make itself a modern commercial enterprise group with innovative spirits, innovative ideas and innovative measures.
Do the Main Business Fine and Well
Founded in 1996, Shanghai Join Buy (Group) Co., Ltd. always upholds the overall position of “market, state-owned and district-affiliated”, doing the four main types of business, namely commercial real estate, featured food, modern general merchandise and hotel management fine and well, resulting in constant emergence of new growth points. In recent years, the group sticks to the “One Axis and Three Belts” development strategy and aims at the highest international business standard to build a high-end commercial core block at West Nanjing Road in Jing’an with effort.
Located in the West Nanjing Road business circle, the Join Buy Zhongan Brand Corridor converges over 20 world-famous brands of world-class luxury groups and 7 national concept flagship stores. Next, Chow Tai Fook will open its first experience consumption concept store in China here, and the Shanghai flagship store of A.Lange & Söhne and Rolex will also be opened here soon. As for featured street construction, located at Tongren Road, Jinart Space, the biggest gallery in the world, has become an important platform for the exhibition, promotion, communication and transaction of the art of painting and calligraphy in China. The old foreign-style houses at Julu Road remains their old features after renovation, making the road a place agglomerating high-end restaurants as well as making the city warmer and the happiness more real. Jiuguang Department Store has been ranking the third in single general merchandise retail in Shanghai for ten consecutive years, becoming the best choice for high-end general merchandise shopping in Shanghai and even in China. During the store celebration and National Day period in 2017, its sales revenue reached RMB 117 million, and the annual sales revenue reached RMB 2.656 billion, with a year-on-year growth of 7.31%. The Paramount Gallery Hotel leverages its regional advantages, agglomerating hotel and creative industries. Since October 2016 when the group was entrusted with the management of Merry Hotel Shanghai, the hotel business has been further developed. Xu Xing expressed that the achievements wouldn’t be accomplished without the untiring hard work of all the “Join Buy people” under the leadership of the CPC Jing’an District Committee and Jing'an District People's Government. “Making the direction of development and the path of reform clearer and further boosting the vigor and vitality of the enterprise by further straightening out the work relations, optimizing the workflow, and perfecting the work institutions and work ideas, have become the direction that the group team is striving forward to.”
Boost the Vitality of “Time-honored Brands”
“Chinese time-honored brands” including Xiqu Lao Da Fang, San Yang Sheng, Xinchangfa, Life Fun and Zhengzhang Laundering & Dyeing as well as some well-known brands in Shanghai including Tai Cheong, Ahme, Magnotel and Jingdezhen Porcelain are the important property of the group. In order to let those “time-honored brands” stand more stable in the market, the group strives to enhance the competitiveness and boost new vitality of the old brands by enhancing quality.
Xiqu Lao Da Fang is the pillar enterprise of the group in food with an annual profit over RMB 10 million. In 2017, the enterprise faced plant relocation. The group successfully converted the plant relocation to a new opportunity of developing its time-honored brand. In a period as short as half a year, the group completed the site selection, decoration, equipment installment and overall relocation, seizing the National Day and Mid-autumn market and selling 5 million moon cakes with annual sales of over RMB 46 million. The group has also adhered to the “going out” strategy, building the “Jiu Shi Hui” brand with innovation, opening 2 physical stores in the Gonghexin Road and Wujiaochang business circles in succession and trying new business models as well as new systems on entity commerce, which has achieved initial success. Combining the business into the “gift every week” activity in the community, the group has built a new brand called “Join Buy Benefits Life”, constantly exploring the new models and new carriers of community business.
In addition, the group also constantly promotes its innovative transformation by deepening the reform to enhance the competitiveness and to strengthen the capacity for its sustained development at the same time. The measures include fully leveraging the effect of Join Buy Public Company to effectively put idle funds to work by transferring the stock equity of Heading Information and boosting the new vitality of Life Fun by attracting strategic investors. On the one hand, the group team actively “transfuses blood”; on the other hand, it also actively plans to let the enterprises with difficulties become “self-hematopoietic” through transformation. Join Buy Furniture, an affiliated enterprise of the group has cut its losses and stepped out of the dilemma by shutting down and integrating with other affiliated enterprises as well as adjusting lines of business. Facing the constant deficit of Zhengzhang Laundering & Dyeing lasting for years, the group team led the cadres and employees of Zhengzhang to resolve the historical leftover problems through judiciary, to strengthen market collaboration and to widen sales channels. At present, the Zhengzhang brand is constantly rising and developing.
Inherit Originality with Culture as the Soul
The Join Buy Group uses the culture of originality to build every Shanghai brand well, the innovative culture to build shopping brands, the team culture to build the responsible brand of enterprises, and the culture of study and idea to build the cultural brand of enterprises. In 2017, the group acquired the title of annual “Best 10 Brands of the Innovative Culture of Shanghai Enterprises”
Since it opened in March 2015, “Join Buy Symposium” has held 25 symposiums, among which there were 6 special symposiums for young cadres, where nearly 50 “Join Buy people” has stepped onto the stage of the symposiums to share their knowledge and ideas as well as work experience as a speaker. “Join Buy Symposium” has become a stage for the cadres and employees of Join Buy Group to show their talents and to realize their personal growths. Xu Xing expressed that “Join Buy Symposium” encouraged cadres and employees of the group to take an initiative in studying and thinking. In the future, it would further extend its coverage and engagement level, exploring new visions as well as new touch points and constantly enhancing the energy level and effect of the symposium. Since March 2017, the group team has conducted 6 sharing sessions of reading for the members of the team themed “Reading Fashion in Join Buy”, striving to construct a studying leading group.
In 2017, with “Teach Skills and Inherit Culture” as the theme, the group established 12 master-apprentice workshops, enabling the skills of the time-honored brands to be taught, and the spirit of craftsmanship to be inherited. Every workshop had its own team, leader, agreement, results, venue and system. Over the past one year, the masters taught their apprentices all they could, and the apprentices studied earnestly to take on the “mantle” of their masters with effort, so as to integrate the spirit of originality of the old generation with themselves.
Xu Xing expressed that in the future, Join Buy Group would adhere to the “One Policy for One Enterprise” development strategy to update the “four-wheel driving force” of the four main types of business, focus on the commercial real estate and community business, as well as further do the industry solid, do the main business well and develop the enterprise, striving to make the group a modern commercial and enterprise group with richer main lines of business, greater property quality, more prominent brand value, more vigorous enterprise culture and more scientific inner management, so as to make contribution to the construction of “International Jing’an • A Great Place for Making the dream a Reality” with greater “Join Buy force”.