The business world is full of ups and downs, and the situation changes suddenly in an instant! In recent years, with the update and application of various technologies, the growth and changes of the consumer class have been affected by the international economic environment. Many industries in China are facing earth-shaking changes. People hear more words such as "subversion", "change" and "redefinition" from various media. Many traditional industries have also actively or passively entered this "big change". This article introduces an entrepreneur in a traditional industry who does not follow the usual path, and his exploration and practice in the development of his chain brand business.

Aote Xifulai is the name of a high-end laundry shop. For many people who have not consumed it, they may have never heard of or noticed this brand before. But in recent years, this brand of laundry shops has been quietly blooming everywhere, opening branches in various cities in China. Everyone who has entered this store will be deeply impressed by the brand. According to the brand founder Luo Qingbo, "Every customer who comes to our store for the first time will exclaim in amazement." This store has completely overturned many consumers' perceptions of laundries. Whether in terms of appearance, service content, or business model, Otto Xifulai has always been at the forefront of change, which makes this laundry shop look more like a high-end club than a laundry shop.

Luo Qingbo was a poor child from the mountainous area. When he was young, he began to travel around the country to find opportunities to change his destiny. By chance, he entered the dry cleaning industry, starting as a basic technical worker and working his way up to the Northeast regional manager of a dry cleaning brand. In the 1990s, the operation of this brand's laundry stores was still in the stage of fighting alone. Although some of the brands were chain brands, the store management was still in the stage of "linking but not locking, fighting each other". Various laundry disputes emerged one after another. Luo Qingbo keenly discovered that the future development of the laundry industry still had opportunities in store operations. Without his own business characteristics, he could not gain a long-term foothold in the dry cleaning industry. With this business idea, he was not satisfied with just being a brand agent, but spent a lot of time and energy on studying washing technology and improving store marketing. He first opened a rare local super-large laundry flagship store in Harbin, comprehensively improved the service standards, and on this basis, gradually added shoe and bag washing and luxury goods care businesses. As a result, the business became a big hit and was favored by many customers. The booming business of his own store made more investors agree with his understanding and judgment of the laundry market, and more and more people chose to cooperate with him and devote themselves to the laundry industry.

After several years of market practice, Luo Qingbo firmly believed that the future of the laundry market was limitless. However, it was far from enough to just meet the needs of customers for clean washing. As an industry where middle- and high-end people in a city concentrated their consumption, the customers of laundry shops are often the best among local consumers, which fully complies with the conventional industry "80/20 rule". After figuring this out, Luo Qingbo no longer entangled in price wars and cost-cutting tricks to attract customers, but focused on how to attract high-end customers with high-quality and high-value-added services. In order to implement his business philosophy and practice his ideas, Luo Qingbo founded his own high-end laundry brand - Aote Xifulai in Shanghai in 2005.

In recent years, under the impact of the O2O wave, the service industry has been constantly reshuffled, and many traditional service industries are facing new opportunities and challenges. The laundry industry is no exception. Overnight, various Internet laundry platforms have flourished and blossomed everywhere. It seems that all consumers' businesses have instantly flown from offline to online. Faced with these challenges from the Internet, Luo Qingbo did not passively wait, but took the initiative to gradually develop his original single offline business into an offline and online dual-channel business. He launched his own physical store online laundry platform-"Xiyike". It is different from other pure online laundry platforms, but has become a link between the high-end laundry stores of Aote Xifulai and customers. Xiyike can not only provide laundry customers with online appointment door-to-door services, but also deliver the washed clothes to the customer's community as soon as possible through its supporting smart storage wardrobe. Customers do not need to go to the store to enjoy the quality service of high-end laundry clubs at any time. It allows customers to enjoy convenience both in the store and at home. With the help of this platform, Auto-Xifulai is gradually concentrating its nationwide chain franchise business on one platform, concentrating all customer resources and franchise stores for joint operation, and completely solving the pain point of "chaining but not locking" in the chain service industry. It also enables many franchise stores scattered across the country to truly feel the support of a strong headquarters in their daily operations.

However, Luo Qingbo's ambitions are far from stopping there. With the gradual development of the laundry industry and the increasing maturity of consumer concepts, in 2018, Aote Xifulai officially launched the "Partnership Plan". The headquarters further participated in the daily operations of each store by investing in the equity of franchise stores. As the headquarters of the chain franchise, Xifulai Company changed its identity and became a shareholder of its franchise stores. Luo Qingbo also promised that the headquarters, as a shareholder, would only participate in dividends if the franchise stores met the performance standards. This is a bold decision and an unprecedented attempt in the laundry chain industry. The headquarters' investment in real money in each store has given franchisees more confidence, directly tying the interests of the headquarters and franchise stores together. The franchise headquarters will share profits and risks with franchisees.

Luo Qingbo's "Partnership Plan" can be said to have caused a stir in the entire laundry industry. Otto Xifulai is the first brand to dare to invest real money in its franchisee stores. This confidence comes not only from the confidence in its own corporate strength, but also from the confidence in the future development direction of the chain service market. Luo Qingbo's ideal is to be a time-honored brand enterprise that can be passed down for a hundred years. He knows that to achieve this, he must establish a long-term, stable and mutually beneficial relationship with his franchise stores and his customers. He not only thinks so, but also truly practices his ideal.

Looking at the growth trajectory of Otto Xifulai, a laundry brand, we seem to see the step-by-step transformation and upgrading of the traditional service industry. In the face of ever-changing market changes, how to change thinking, keep up with the times, and tie the interests of each store to the interests of the headquarters is the only way to develop rapidly.