Weipai Commercial Director Steps Down

According to a report, Weipai Commercial Director Chen Jia has recently stepped down. On August 12th, an internal employee of Weipai confirmed this information to our reporter.

As the high-ranking executive at Weipai, Chen Jia rarely made public appearances, except for a few occasions such as the Shanghai Auto Show in April, where he was interviewed by media along with other top executives.

Before his departure, Chen Jia primarily focused on building and maintaining Weipai's marketing systems, including standardizing business and services between directly operated stores and franchisees, and enhancing digital operations for directly operated channels.

According to Feng Fu, CEO of Weipai, "Chen Jia was committed to ensuring consistency in the commercial foundation of both directly operated stores and franchisees, achieving a synergy that is greater than the sum of its parts."

Weipai's sales have been growing significantly

The reasons for Chen Jia's departure from Weipai are attributed to the difficulties in resolving the issue of "left and right hands" between directly operated stores and franchisees. Public data shows that Weipai has already covered over 110 cities nationwide with its directly operated stores, numbering more than 430. In May this year, Weipai further emphasized the importance of its direct-channel operations, aiming to increase the number of directly operated stores to over 600 by the end of the year and cover over 200 cities.

According to our reporter's understanding, Weipai's sales have been growing significantly. In July this year, Weipai's sales exceeded 10,000 units, a growth rate of 263.29% compared to the same period last year. From January to July this year, Weipai's cumulative sales reached 44,500 units, a growth rate of 96.8%.

During the period when Weipai's sales are growing rapidly and its direct-channel operations are expanding, Chen Jia's departure has put the issue of balancing the two major channels at the forefront. According to Longjiang Auto's previous plans, it aimed to establish a self-operated channel based on its existing franchise network, while using directly operated channels to enhance user experience, but when products from different channels overlap, conflicts are inevitable.

For example, many tank models under the Weipai brand have been sold through Longjiang Auto's directly operated stores, while also being sold through franchisees. The cross-channel distribution model has turned the ideal scenario of mutually complementary advantages into a real-life competitive relationship: one side is the nationwide unified pricing system of directly operated stores, and the other side is the franchisee with partial terminal pricing rights, leading to internal brand price wars and franchisee low-price grab situations.

How to balance channel interests?

According to our reporter's understanding, Longjiang Auto adjusted the sales models of its directly operated channels in April this year, withdrawing several tank models from Weipai's lineup.

On August 12th, a staff member at one of Beijing's Longjiang Auto stores told our reporter, "We previously sold tank 300 and tank 500 here, but now we only sell tank 700. If customers want to buy other Weipai tank models, they need to go to the franchisee."

From January to July this year, Weipai's sales have been growing continuously, with a monthly average of over 6,000 units. However, it remains unclear whether this volume can sustain the high investment in directly operated channels.

A top executive at one joint venture auto company revealed to our reporter, "The direct-channel model requires a very high human resource cost and has certain requirements for digitalization levels. We currently only dare to try out this model on some low-volume car models and cooperate with franchisees. If we were to use our own people, the costs would be too high."

According to information gathered by our reporter, Longjiang Auto is still heavily investing in its directly operated channels. A Weipai internal employee revealed, "I used to work on sales systems, but I was transferred to Weipai this year and now work on direct-channel business, just like many others from the group who have been relocated to work on direct-channel operations."

For Weipai at present, how to balance the interests of its directly operated channels and franchisee channels, and how to enable its direct-channel system to truly empower the brand, remains a pressing issue.