Fact-finding of Pulse Matt

The book capital of the former company was only 65,000 yuan; The arrears can be found to be 65.438+68 billion yuan, which is estimated to eventually exceed 2 billion yuan! "

On March 22nd, Xiao Yujie, acting president of Puls Matt China Enterprise (hereinafter referred to as "Puma"), said frankly to the media for the first time: At present, there are more than 100 lawsuits involving Puma, and there are more than 300 in Beijing alone, and it is estimated that more than 300 people will be implicated. ...

It is really surprising that such news is associated with Puma, the "father of warehouse member stores and the third in American retail industry". However, this is not news-at least when Pushmart (a member store) and its "twin brother" N.mart (a non-member store) are closed all over the country and suppliers gather at the door to sit in and collect debts, the news is not particularly eye-catching.

Since March and April last year, more and more people began to pay attention to Puma. With the news of the closure of Puma stores and the collective disappearance of senior staff, the voice of discussion has been amplified: from the N "ways to die" of Puma to the coexistence of membership system, suppliers and capital chain, people are increasingly eager to know-what kind of truth does Puma have? On June 5438+February 65438+February 09, 2004, the Normant Gold Store owned by Kunming Puma suddenly closed, and the workshop was in an uproar. Kunming Power Supply Bureau claimed that Normat 165438+ 10 1 day owed 380,000 yuan for electricity-power failure seemed to be the fuse for the collapse of Puma.

Five days later, the other four supermarkets of Kunming Puma Department (Haigeng, Jinbi Nomadic, Gaoxin Puma and Beichen Puma) officially closed; Hundreds of suppliers gathered at the entrance of Jinbi Store, and put up a striking slogan of "Norma Refunds Money". Subsequently, the closed Puma Beichen store was sealed up by the court because the "Xu Fuji" supplier who owed more than 1 10,000 yuan finally won the case-so far, all five Puma warships in Kunming sank.

Kunming puma is neither the first nor the last domino. In fact, no one can tell which Puma store is the "culprit" that triggered the chain reaction, because almost at the same time, all Puma stores were teetering and quickly closed down.

Puma once shocked the retail industry in China with the pace of giants:

1996 "pulsmatt member shopping enterprise center" was registered and established in Beijing; 1997, the first Puls Matt member store in Beijing opened; In 2000, Puls Matt China passed the ISO9000 international quality system certification and became the first chain store in China to receive this certification. 200 1, pumadang was elected as the vice president of the Council of China business Federation. ...

"High speed, high standard and low cost" is Puma's great ambition to spread the signboards of "PriceSmart" and "N.mart" all over the country. Driven by this, Puma quickly locked in more than 30 cities in China to carry out the development strategy of "big corps" and "big chain", and successively opened more than 40 branches in Beijing, Chengdu, Kunming, Shenyang and Wuhan. "In 2003, the sales in China reached 6 billion yuan; In 2004, it will reach more than 70, achieving annual sales of 654.38+000 billion yuan and becoming one of the largest retail enterprises in China! "

However, "654.38+000 billion" has vanished in an instant with the dream of "leading the retail market in China"-in less than half a year, Puma supermarket chains all over the country collapsed in the form of dominoes.

The cause of the incident seems to be that in July 2004, Southern Building Materials sued Puma on the grounds of "arrears of rent", which triggered the crisis of "the capital chain of Puma was broken". However, people soon discovered that this situation not only appeared in Changsha, Wu Hanyou, Nanning and Guangzhou, but also appeared in Qingdao and Shenyang. Moreover, not only the rent, utilities, but also a large number of suppliers. In Kunming alone, the accumulated payment owed by Puma Store to suppliers is as high as 65.438+0.6 billion yuan. If you add employee salaries, utilities, etc., the accumulated debt exceeds 250 million yuan, involving about 4,000 people.

When every card has the possibility of falling first, it doesn't matter which card becomes the first. Someone once listed Puma's "death methods": being electrocuted in Kunming, being blocked in Qinhuangdao and being forced to die in Xinjiang ... In fact, every death method is not unique to a Puma store, and every Puma store actually has only one death method-debt!

What caused Puma's debt and what caused the collapse of Puma's kingdom? "Puma created its own myth, and finally ended it by itself-Puma attacked the retail market as a member, and the pace of expansion was really fast. However, membership consumption has certain obstacles for most domestic consumers. Most consumers are not used to the mode of' spending money to buy membership cards for shopping' and have not formed the habit of buying in large quantities on a regular basis. "

"Always save money for customers" is Puma's slogan. Puma interprets it as: through effective procurement, low-cost logistics, modern operation and control of expenditure ratio, providing customers with high quality and low price domestic and foreign brand-name products.

The "membership warehouse supermarket" has obvious "chain" goals: low price-more members-more demand-stronger purchasing power, better communication with suppliers-lower price. As a key link in this chain, members only need to pay a certain annual fee and apply for a membership card, so they can buy five or six thousand kinds of famous brand products in Puma store. In contrast, non-member purchases need to add 10% to this price.

"This retail model makes information tracking and analysis intelligent, especially the support of computer-integrated financial and commodity information management systems, which is the key to providing low-cost and high-quality commodity services and maximizing benefits for customers." In Puma's view, such a perfect "membership system" is not only a sharp weapon to realize Puma's "price killer", but also an important channel for Puma to become the largest retail enterprise in China.

In the eyes of many people in the industry, although membership shopping has formed a culture abroad and proved to be one of the most effective commercial marketing models, this model is doomed to be "acclimatized" in the China market. According to the retail law, only when the per capita GDP of a region reaches or exceeds $3,000 can citizens basically have the ability to spend as members. Puma obviously violated this law. "Especially in some second-and third-tier cities in China, few membership stores can have excellent business performance. The membership system has brought serious trouble to the operation of Puma. "

This is indeed inevitable, and retail giants Vuormaa and Metro are also facing such problems to some extent. In fact, Puma himself soon realized the hidden trouble of membership system. In this case, puma founded another non-membership format-n.mart in 2000.

Compared with Puma store with membership system, Normant, which also insists on low price and high quality, appears as a "one-stop shopping center for ordinary consumers", which largely avoids the "acclimatization" of consumption level and consumption habits. By 2004, Puma, which started as a member and adhered to the membership system, had formed a strange pattern in China: the number of non-member Normant stores was more than double that of member Puma stores, and the sales performance of Normant was far ahead of Puma member stores.

Puma integrates the advantages of two complementary formats. Under this balanced strategic framework, the system architecture is quite reasonable. Therefore, the root of the Puma crisis has to start with its other lifeline-suppliers. "Water can carry a boat, and it can also overturn it. Suppliers and retail terminal sellers are a pair of interdependent partners. However, in the countless crises of Puma, it is precisely these interdependent partners-suppliers that unite to denounce Puma and finally push Puma to the wall. Tracing back to the source, this is not only caused by the persecution of Hummer, but also closely related to the management of Hummer. "

"Puma's overlord treaty and chaotic management have always made us swallow our pride, which is also the direct reason why we are owed a lot of money." A person in charge of an enterprise that supplies tofu to Puma Qingdao member store said, "Cut the 260,000 yuan tofu that Puma owes us into pieces and connect them one by one, and we can row it from Qingdao to Beijing!"

Most suppliers who sit quietly at Puma's door and beg for payment talk about Puma's "overlord treaty"-all suppliers who enter Puma's stores have to pay different amounts of "threshold fees" every year, ranging from 7,000 yuan to 8,000 yuan, and there will be renewal fees in the next year. This is quite simple. If all kinds of "festival fees", "celebration fees" and "green passage fees" are included, there is no supplier who does not complain about the extra expenditure of tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of yuan every year.

"The settlement period they set is more than three months, which is more casual." A supplier of Puma said helplessly that various charges and long settlement cycle have strangled suppliers' throats, and they have little room for bargaining.

Even so, business still has to be done. "Who told people that it was a foreign supermarket and hypermarket?"

But in the eyes of many suppliers, the invisible "black hand" at any time is the supplier's bigger nightmare.

"Puma has such a' black hand' in all aspects of procurement and sales. From ordinary purchasing personnel to purchasing department managers, sales department managers, and clerks in special areas, as long as there is contact, it is possible to reach out and ask the manufacturers for money. " A supplier who asked not to be named said, "And knowing that it is extortion, we still dare not slack off. Once you offend a little, there will be endless troubles, and you are not allowed to wear' little shoes'. "

"In the face of these transactions under the stage, the management of Puma Store is a tacit attitude of turning a blind eye and letting it go."

The existence of "overlord treaty" and "black hand" has largely led to a bad relationship between suppliers and puma, which has led suppliers to jointly fight back against puma in times of crisis.

The problem is that this phenomenon is not uncommon in China retail industry, and Puma is not the initiator. Why didn't Vuormaa and Metro trigger the supplier uprising, but Puma?

In the eyes of many suppliers, Puma's capital chain problem is the key to its bankruptcy and owing money to suppliers. "The cost of retailers is mainly reflected in the opening of stores and the occupation of goods, and liquidity is an important part of its capital chain. Once there is a problem in the capital chain, the capital turnover will be very difficult, which will definitely affect the purchase of goods and the reputation of merchants, and may further affect their normal operations. The key to puma's death lies in its wanton expansion, which triggered the break of the capital chain. "

In September, 2004, the news that "Taiwan Province Uni-President Group will invest in Norma Holding Company" and "Shanghai An Baili is about to inject 654.38 billion yuan into Puma" echoed the previous rumor that "Puma's capital chain is broken and it is seeking to be acquired or reorganized", and Puma's image in people's minds has been violently shaken.

In fact, as early as March and April last year, the negative news about Puma broke out again and again. It has been reported that in addition to the dispute between Puma Beijing Store and suppliers, Changsha Branch has also closed down for rectification due to complaints from suppliers, and Tianjin Branch and Nanning Branch are about to run aground ... The loss of each store is different, but Puma Store seems to be losing money.

In response to various rumors, the head of the marketing department of Puma China Headquarters had to come forward in September 2004: There is no such thing!

But as soon as his voice fell, the sound of puma closing the door followed-on June 5438+00, puma stores in Shenyang and Jilin quietly closed, on June 5438+0 10, puma stores in Qingdao and Qinhuangdao closed, and on February 12, it was Kunming, Nanjing and Chongqing ...

Puma, who strongly denied the rumor of "broken capital chain", once said: Due to the influence of national macro-control, the company's funds are slightly tight, and many other enterprises have encountered similar problems, but they are willing to obey the national interests and sacrifice their own interests.

However, soon, the voice of doubt sounded.

"The initial investment of a Puma store needs 35 million yuan to 45 million yuan, while the average gross profit margin of China retail industry is about 17%, and the average net profit is less than 2%, and the profit is quite meager. What is puma's intention to carry out large-scale expansion regardless of the actual situation? "

"Puma's continuous expansion is not blind, but has to be done-just like taking drugs, in order to maintain a certain balance, we must drive one car after another until we die!" An insider who asked not to be named hit the nail on the head and pointed out that Puma's capital chain dilemma was not caused by normal business expansion. The key lies in the existence of a "black hole" in Puma Capital! "Some people say that business itself is an adventurous game. Since Puma is so large, there must be risks. As long as you manage well, you can get profits from your own management, so as to truly expand yourself. This is true, but the problems existing in Puma's operation itself tell us intuitively that Puma does not do this-Puma is more than that! "

In the early real estate development, many real estate developers have played such a thrilling "game":

Use a little self-raised funds to dredge the next piece of land in the relationship circle, dig a pit, lay a pile, hang a sign, and then start recruiting builders and material suppliers to enter the site; As soon as I got up to two or three floors, I moved the project to a bank mortgage loan, and used the loan money to pay part of the project cost and materials; Go up a few more floors, get a mortgage, pay back the project money when you come back ... and so on. If there are no accidents, the successful completion of the project is a "big deal"; The boss stopped working in natural and man-made disasters, leaving behind a pile of "bad debts" and a "unfinished building" that makes people laugh and cry.

"This kind of game is like walking a tightrope, and the capital chain can't help but be tight." In the eyes of more and more people in the industry, Puma China actually controlled by Beijing Nuoheng Group is playing such a "game"-

First, use the signboard of Puma in the United States to open a Puma store in China (Puma in China obtained Puma's permission to use its brand and business model in the United States, and paid a management fee of $654.38+million for each newly opened 1 store). In addition, people's feeling of "membership" business model attracts a large number of suppliers to compete for home delivery.

Puma in the United States is actually just a retail enterprise, operating membership stores and 26 supermarkets outside the United States, with an annual turnover of 600 million US dollars, which is far from the "third largest retail industry in the United States" and "annual turnover of 45 billion US dollars". Nuoheng, on the other hand, made most people accept the foreign name "Puls Matt".

Then, pretending to be a "foreign supermarket", Puma took advantage of the rules of the game in China's retail industry to collect various fees from suppliers and settle the payment for goods for a long time, which gave Puma sufficient time and funds for national expansion.

Take Xinjiang as an example. In 2002, Xinjiang Normant Trading Company was established with a registered capital of 20 million yuan, but two months later, the registered capital was taken away by the headquarters. Subsequently, Xinjiang Puma was guaranteed by Beijing Puma and loaned 30 million yuan to China Construction Bank to decorate two hypermarkets. In April, 2004, Norma New Town Store and Changjiang Road Store opened. Three months later, the payment in arrears has reached more than 50 million yuan.

"At present, it is known that150,000 yuan has been transferred to Tianjin, 25 million yuan to Beijing, 6 million yuan to Chengdu, and the whereabouts of120,000 yuan are unknown." According to a supplier of Puma in Xinjiang, Puma store in Xinjiang was built with the payment from foreign suppliers, and the payment from Xinjiang suppliers was used to build Puma stores in other cities. "Puma all over the country is like this!"

Nuoheng undoubtedly set up a perfect "bureau": on the one hand, all branches of Puma have independent legal personality, which means independent risks; On the other hand, the fund settlement of Puma stores is all controlled by the headquarters, which not only creates conditions for Puma's national expansion, but also creates a "black hole" of funds to some extent.

Puma's capital "black hole" is gradually emerging! It is rumored that Liu Wuyi, the actual controller of Puma China, has now left the country. According to foreign reports, Liu Wuyi is going to flee to the United States with 6 billion yuan, and his family has settled in the United States. ...

No one can tell how much money Puma's "black hole" swallowed, because it involves suppliers, property companies, cardholders and employees, as well as banks and the government; Whether Puma deliberately set up this "game" from the beginning is anyone's guess. After all, Puma lived for eight years-if it takes eight years to set up a "bureau", it would be terrible!

Behind Liu Wuyi, the Puma Kingdom built with "foreign supermarkets, hypermarkets and membership system" has become broken walls, leaving endless disappointment and hatred to creditors and a heavy slap in the face to the retail industry in China, which is thought-provoking.