[Teyoushi Lords' Strategies] Xu Haijin — Lighting: An Industry That Never Ends

In 2014, the lighting industry was in upheaval, with undercurrents stirring. On one side, the LED lighting market as a whole continued to improve; on the other side, numerous crises lurked beneath this seemingly positive backdrop. Competition in the industry became increasingly chaotic, with "price wars, brand wars, channel wars..." all breaking out. Companies threw themselves into the battle, rubbing their fists in anticipation, each vying for greater market share. As for the current development situation of the lighting industry, whether you are a lighting manufacturer or a distributor, you need to maintain rational judgment and an optimistic fighting mentality. Today, Mr. Xu Haijin, General Manager of Teyoushi Chongqing Operations Center - Sizheng Tonghui Lighting Engineering Co., Ltd., will share with us his life motto of "Don't worry, march forward with determination" and let us feel his personal charisma.

The lighting industry is one that never ends, and LED lighting is considered by most people to be a sunrise industry. However, there are inevitably some twists and turns in its development. What seems cruel now may turn out to be sweet two years later.

In recent years, the development landscape of the lighting industry has undergone great changes. We can no longer understand the concept of "channels" in a narrow sense, and the view that "channels are king" also needs to be elevated once again. Innovative channel construction should incorporate two elements for comprehensive consideration: "times produce heroes" and "technological transformation." The market needs price wars; orderly and healthy price wars are the purifying agent of the market, while disorderly competition is actually the industry's self-destruction. As an operator, riding the wave of quality brand manufacturers, orderly adjusting market prices, and transferring more profits to distributors and consumers is the only way to truly occupy channels and become king of the channels.

Besides channels and pricing, talent also attracts considerable attention in the lighting industry. Talent is an intangible capital, and the frequent turnover of personnel in the LED industry has long troubled enterprises. In my personal view, there are three important points for any enterprise to retain talent: first, the boss's personal charisma is the foundation; second, the favorable compensation that the enterprise provides to its employees is the means; third, whether the employee has a clear career plan within the enterprise. Obviously, the vast majority of LED lighting enterprises today cannot achieve the latter two points, so frequent talent loss has become the norm. For an operator, first, our desire for talent is extremely high; second, talent is our most fundamental cornerstone—the cornerstone of our service to the vast number of distributors. We are training every employee to become a great steward of the lighting industry.

Orderly capital injection in the LED lighting industry is inevitable. As the industry gradually matures, pure capital injection will decrease, while other fields bringing technology and capital will increase their injection and may make LED lighting the dominant business of the enterprise. Some people believe this phenomenon is bound to accelerate industry reshuffling, but I think this is not a true reshuffling—it will be a process in which integration and differentiation proceed together.

I first entered the lighting industry because the landscape lighting of the Water Cube showed me the development prospects of LED lighting; it has now been six years. To be a qualified operator in the LED lighting industry requires two "turns": first, the manufacturer turns to you saying "I want you"; second, the distributor turns to you saying "I need you." The meaning of these two turns is different, but both must exist simultaneously. While improving ourselves, we hope that more distributors will turn to us and shout out "I need you," and we will respond with our strength: "Your choice are right".

In the future, we will walk on two legs—"engineering and channels." Engineering allows us to enhance brand awareness together with TES, while channels are a large tract of fertile land that TES and we cultivate together, and the ultimate beneficiaries are every distributor who chooses us. The road of LED lighting development is still long; TES and we are still in the sowing stage in the Chongqing area, but I believe the future development will get better and better.

If I really need a life creed to convey my message to TES, then: Don't worry, march straight forward! As long as you believe it is right, just keep going. You have your own outlook on life and your own value; there is no need to cater to others' tastes. Wishing every lighting person to harvest what they desire.