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Interface News Reporter | Fang Shiqi

Interface News Editor | Wen Shuqi

On August 16, it was reported online that Wang Ziru, the founder of Zealer and current head of Gree Electric's channel reform project, had resigned, sparking heated discussions. In response, a reporter from Jiemian News sought confirmation from Gree, but received no response as of press time.

On the evening of the 16th, several Gree employees confirmed to Jiemian News reporters that Wang Ziru's corresponding email address could not be found in Gree's intranet system in the afternoon. If nothing unexpected happens, it can be basically confirmed that he has resigned. When Gree employees communicate internally by email, if they search for the name of an employee in service, they can see the employee's corresponding email address; if the employee has resigned, their corresponding email address cannot be searched.

The aforementioned Gree employee also revealed that the incident happened suddenly. On August 7, Wang Ziru and Dong Mingzhu attended this year's campus recruitment new employee induction ceremony together, and the atmosphere at the scene was good.

Wang Ziru has been at the center of public opinion again recently due to the "height restriction" incident. On August 9, Wang Ziru was subject to consumption restriction measures by the Nanshan District People's Court of Shenzhen. As early as January, Wang Ziru had been forcibly fined more than 33.83 million yuan for this case.

Interface News reporters noticed that the applicant for execution in this case is Shanghai Shuhui Venture Capital Center (Limited Partnership) (hereinafter referred to as "Shanghai Shuhui Venture Capital"). Shanghai Shuhui Venture Capital is the investor of ZEALER's operating entity "Guangdong Jinru Yunhai (Group) Co., Ltd.". The former currently holds 7.48% of the latter's shares.

It is speculated that Wang Ziru’s debt may be related to the gambling agreement signed when he founded Zealer. Wang Ziru may not have achieved the performance target within the agreed period, and therefore needs to bear joint and several liability.

In July 2021, Wang Ziru left Zealer, which he founded, and officially joined Gree. Since then, his name has often been associated with Dong Mingzhu, the chairman of Gree Electric Appliances. According to previous reports by Jiemian News, at that time, Wang Ziru's department was affiliated with Gree's President's Office and Cultural Training and Communication Center, which was Gree's marketing department.

After joining Gree Electric, Wang Ziru rarely appeared on public platforms. Gree Electric also did not disclose his specific job content. However, according to some public reports, his current position is the head of Gree Electric's channel reform project.

It is generally believed in the industry that Dong Mingzhu values ​​Wang Ziru because she needs external forces to carry out channel reform.

Over the past two decades, Gree has relied on a regional joint-stock distribution model to seize the market. This channel model can stabilize dealers at all levels, reduce vicious competition, provide better pre-sales and after-sales services, and quickly achieve large-scale expansion. Gree even uses property rights to firmly bind the interests of the company and dealers.

However, the disadvantage of this channel model is that there are too many intermediate links and it is not flat enough, which in turn pushes up the price of products and makes Gree lack the motivation to invest in online channel construction, which is always "half a beat behind". Affected by the epidemic, Gree's channel problems are even more exposed.

After the 2020 Spring Festival, Dong Mingzhu publicly proposed channel reform for the first time, abolishing agents at all levels and allowing dealers to directly pay the headquarters for goods. At the same time, she increased her investment in e-commerce and opened a "Dong Mingzhu's store" where retailers and consumers can place orders.

At the same time, Dong Mingzhu herself frequently performed live broadcasts on JD.com, Kuaishou, Douyin and other platforms, with a total sales of 47.62 billion yuan. It was also during this period that Dong Mingzhu and Wang Ziru became more connected.

According to Dong Mingzhu, she and Wang Ziru had known each other for many years, but they had lost contact in the middle. Later, the two reconnected because of the live broadcast of Gree’s 10th anniversary celebration on JD.com in May 2020.

In March 2022, Gree established the Digital Channel Management Department, and Wang Ziru was appointed as the person in charge of the digital channel reform project. After taking office, Wang Ziru began to promote the cloud-network wholesale reform, that is, to replace the traditional wholesale model with online ordering, and the Gree headquarters will coordinate the shipment, and dealers do not need to get goods from Gree's sales companies or lower-level agents in various places.

However, the channel reform is bound to affect the distribution of benefits between Gree and its dealers. The links between the middle links are shortened, prices are more transparent, and more profits flow to Gree, which makes dealers uneasy.

In August 2022, Xu Zifa, a "veteran" who had worked for Gree for 24 years and chairman of Hebei's general distributor Xinxing Gree, "defected" and attended the new product launch conference of Philips Air Conditioner as a shareholder, and then suddenly stopped shipping to Hebei Gree.

Faced with the numerous dealers, the difficulty of Gree's channel reform is evident. The once close ties have now become an obstacle to reform.

Entering the new cold year of 2025 (new refrigeration year for air conditioners), Gree will continue to promote cloud-network batch reforms in Guangdong Guangzhou-Foshan area, Shandong, Hebei and other places.On August 12, Wang Ziru, as the leader of Gree Electric Appliances headquarters and the person in charge of the digital channel reform project, interpreted Gree’s new marketing model.

Wang Ziru said that under the new channels and new structure, Gree headquarters has made unprecedented investment and unwavering determination to reform. It has established a research and development team of more than 1,000 people, built a new digital marketing system, and opened up the entire chain of dealer procurement, warehousing and logistics, terminal sales, after-sales service and other sectors. Wang Ziru is very confident about this reform and transformation, saying that it will help dealers to make a smooth transition in the most gentle and least impactful way.

However, as the front-line executor of Gree's channel reform, Wang Ziru has offended many dealers. In 2023, a provincial dealer of Gree made a bet with the media that Wang Ziru would leave before Dong Mingzhu retired. "I can bet with you that he (Wang Ziru) will leave within 1-2 years."

Some industry insiders speculated that Wang Ziru's resignation was not due to height restrictions, but because Wang Ziru encountered obstacles in carrying out internal channel reforms.

What is certain is that Gree will not stop its channel reform. According to data from China Market Research, from 2019 to 2022, the online retail sales share of Gree air conditioners increased from 22.3% to 28.9%, while the online share of Midea air conditioners fell from 30.5% to 28.2% during the same period. In the face of the benefits of channel reform, Gree will also push the next "Wang Ziru" to the front.