中国创业公司学会的重要一课：饥饿营销

    天花乱坠的广告宣传，尤其是获得媒体的追踪报道，是所有创业公司的目标。但一些中国企业正将“炒作式宣传”提升到一个新的高度。

    就以小牛电动车公司为例。今年夏天开始在中国大陆地区销售面向上班族市场的电动车时，这家公司采用了低价销售策略和大胆的市场营销手段，而这正是小米智能手机在中国一炮而红的秘诀。

    每个中国城市都有大量两点一线的上班族，他们挤满了各个十字路口，在川流不息的交通中伺机前行。尽管中国变得越来越富裕，但即便是在北京、上海、广州等大城市，按照西方标准来看，居民的生活依旧属于贫困水平。北京居民的人均可支配收入仅为6600美元。因此，电动车通常是一个家庭在智能手机之后最大宗的消费品购买开支。

    小牛电动车径直模仿了小米的营销手段。为降低成本而摒弃传统的店面和广告，这家公司用尽一切办法大肆宣传，营造出一种供不应求的假象。

    在最低4000元人民币（630美元）的价位上，小牛N1电动车提供了令人心动的性能，其中包括由博世制造的前后轮碟式刹车，50公里的最高时速，每次充满电可跑80公里的锂离子电池。相较之下，类似配置的顶级电动车雅马哈Metis GTS，需要在门店内通过一番讨价还价才能以7000元人民币（1100美元）购得。

    不过事情没有这么简单。就像故意削减手机供应量，以减小存货损失、制造噱头的小米一样，小牛电动只是小批次地销售产品。

    这款电动车于今年6月首次上市。用户需要登录京东上一个类似Kickstarter众筹活动的页面申请购买——共有1.6万辆电动车在售。只有当该活动募集到500万人民币（79万美元），电动车才会开始销售。

    当然，这个活动成功了。

    直到三个月之后，第二批5000辆电动车才开售。这次小规模销售只持续了1小时43分钟。公司网站的标题醒目地强调了这个记录：1小时43分钟。

    类似Kickstarter的众筹活动让中国的创业公司营造出供不应求的火爆假象。传统电动车的售价中有三分之一被低效的销售途径拿走——从销售人员到仓储库存再到零售商。小牛成功地在一个成熟行业中开辟出一片新天地，为自己赢得了一些声誉，但恐怕只有理念相同的营销商才会赞赏这种销售方式吧。（财富中文网）

    译者：严匡正

    审校：任文科

    Hype, especially in the press, is the goal of any startup. But the Chinese are going to new lengths to manufacture it.

    Take Niu (buffalo), which started selling mopeds this summer in mainland China and takes on the commuter market with the same low-cost-distribution strategy and brazen marketing that have made Xiaomi smartphones a hit in China.

    Every Chinese city has herds of moped commuters taking up entire intersections and managing to avoid bulldozing each other. Despite China’s rising wealth, even the country’s major cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, remain poor by Western standards. Per capita disposable income in Beijing is $6,600. A moped is usually a household’s second biggest purchase after a smartphone.

    Niu’s pitch is straight out of Xiaomi’s playbook. Focus on specs, save margins by forgetting about traditional stores and advertising, and go to any length to build hype and the illusion of scarcity.

    The Niu N1 moped offers impressive specifications for the lowest 4,000 yuan ($630) price, including disc brakes in the front and rear manufactured by Bosch, a top speed of 50km/hr, and lithium-ion powered battery capable of traveling 80 km on one charge. The highest quality bike with similar specs by comparison, Yamaha’s Metis GTS model in Beijing, runs 7,000 yuan ($1,100) after some in-store haggling.

    The bike first went on sale in June. Users joined an imitation Kickstarter campaign hosted on JD.com JD -4.82% to apply for one of 16,000 bikes on sale. Only if 50 million yuan ($7.9 million) was raised would the bikes be sold.

    Of course, it was raised.

    Only yesterday, three months later, did another batch of 5,000 bikes go on sale. The tiny supply lasted all of an hour and forty-three minutes. Headlines blared the record: 1 hour and 43 minutes.

    The Kickstarter-like campaigns offer companies the opportunity to create the illusion of overwhelming demand and tight supply. And while Niu wins some credit for taking on an established moped industry, where at least a third of a traditional bike’s price is to compensate for an inefficient delivery method—retail stores to warehouse inventory and sales staff to sell inventory—only a fellow marketer could love how they sell them.