Liu Qiangdong aims to put 360buy.com among the top five e-commerce companies in the world. [Zou Hong / China Daily]
In 1998, Liu Qiangdong sacrificed higher pay at a Japanese-owned company to man a lonely Zhongguancun booth selling CD writers, following his father's penchant for business.
Born in 1974 in Suqian, Jiangsu province, a place known for breeding commerce-minded individuals since the Chinese feudal age, Liu recalled his father also quit a well-paying job with a State-owned company to run his own business in the early 1980s.
"Many relatives and friends opposed his idea, saying it was crazy and dangerous, but my father persisted," said Liu. "He borrowed 2,000 yuan to buy a nine-ton boat and ship sand, cement and porcelain along the river."
His father's business boomed and the family became one of the richest in town.
The son's business is rising, too. After 12 years of development, Liu Qiangdong's small booth has morphed into one of the top business-to-consumer (B2C) companies in China.
Liu invested 12,000 yuan to open the booth, which quickly developed into a chain of IT-related stores in Beijing, Shenyang and Shenzhen.
The product lines varied and included high-end keyboards, computer mouses and stereo systems.
The young, romantic Liu named his company Jingdong, tapping the last Chinese character of his first girlfriend and his first name.
In 2003, when the SARS epidemic rampaged in the capital, Liu was forced to ask employees to take days off in case of potential infection. The stores did not operate as usual, and he decided to sell products online.
The result was positive, so Liu eventually shuttered the stores and focused on trading online exclusively.
"I hate the process of having two things going at the same time. I wanted to be dedicated, so I closed all my shops starting in 2005," Liu said.
The website is called 360buy, or Jingdong Shopping Mall in Chinese.
"When I started my own business, she (the first girlfriend) was with me. Afterward, we separated, but the name remained unchanged."
As one of the leading B2C companies in China, 360buy.com has 1.8 million to 2 million independent visitors per day. It boasts more than 8 million registered members and processes more than 35,000 orders a day.
Last year, 360buy.com generated 4 billion yuan in revenue, jumping from 1.4 billion yuan in 2008. It has captured 28 percent of the B2C market.
"The goal for this year is 10 billion yuan, but from what I have seen so far, I am sure the revenue can reach up to 10.6 billion yuan," Liu said and smiled.
"My dream is to make 360buy.com one of the top five e-commerce companies in the world."
Now 360buy.com is known for selling cheaper electronics products to Chinese customers, resulting in Liu being dubbed "price butcher" by local media.
And in the past few years, Liu faced fierce criticism from traditional commercial agents, because his low prices have lured clients away from bricks-and-mortar operations.
Liu remains defiant.
"If they try to menace or block my business, I'll fight back with even cheaper prices," Liu said.
"Because I believe 360buy.com should help clients save money, this philosophy has not changed in the past, at present, and even in the next 100 years. This is how we create value."
The present priority for 360buy.com is to lift the service capability and quality, since the rapid increase in transaction volume and client numbers has presented a challenge.
"Before, we made investments in accordance with our growth, but in the first half of 2009, we found a severe problem that our service could not satisfy client demand because we had too many orders every day," Liu said.
He then decided to invest in the future, ramping up operations for the next two or more years.
"Now our service system can support a year with revenue of 20 billion yuan," Liu said.
He expects the company to achieve a "two 11 o'clock" goal of afternoon shipping of orders placed by 11 am that day, or shipping the following morning for orders placed between 11 am and 11 pm.
Twelve cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, will see this goal realized by the end of the month, said Liu.
