Fable
Opening directly operated stores and expanding by opening stores
A Ning's tea beverage brand reached twenty stores in its first three years by opening direct-operated stores one by one. A Ning personally scouted each store's location, personally interviewed each store manager, and personally tested each menu. Every store that opened was a hit, and single-store data looked beautiful. When investors came to inspect, they asked: how do you grow? A Ning said: keep opening stores.
By the time the thirtieth store opened, the rhythm began to spin out of control. Aning's energy alone could not cover site selection, hiring, and operations for thirty stores. Several new stores chose the wrong locations, several store managers' abilities could not keep up, and several stores did not localize their menus well. The old stores still made money, but the payback period for new stores stretched from eight months to fourteen months.
Brand consultant Lao Jiang came to do an analysis and asked A Ning a question: when you used to open a store, was it "because this store could make money, so I opened it," or "because I opened a store, this business is growing"? A Ning thought for a long time and said: before, it was the first; now, it is the second.
Old Jiang drew a table for Aning. The left side was called "how to open stores": how to choose locations, how to train store managers, how to set the menu — this is enterprise sales, the concrete actions by which you sell your product. The right side was called "growth logic": whether your overall revenue is piled up through the number of stores, or pulled out through product reputation and repeat purchases — this is growth strategy.
Old Jiang suggested that Aning pursue both growth paths in parallel. Keep opening direct-operated stores, but keep them within a scale Aning can personally oversee. At the same time, launch two new initiatives: mini-program delivery and co-branded retail—no need to open new stores, driving revenue through products and channels. In the first year, the new channels contributed twenty percent of total revenue.
In an industry sharing session, Anning said: For the first three years, I treated "store-opening capability" and "growth capability" as the same thing. I opened many stores, but the quality of growth was declining. Later I learned to manage them separately—opening stores is a sales action, while the growth logic is a different layer of decision-making. You can grow by opening stores, or you can grow through product strength; the key is knowing which path you are on now.
A peer asked Aning: if you can grow without opening a store, what is the point of opening one? Aning said: opening a store is one way to reach customers, not growth itself. Growth is continuously optimizing the input-output ratio after you choose a method. Opening a store is only responsible for reaching customers; growth is responsible for returns.
The first page of An Ning's current company strategy document has two circles: on the left is "how we sell"—direct-operated stores, mini-programs, co-branded retail, bulk orders from major clients. On the right is "what drives growth"—repurchase rate, average order value, channel efficiency, brand premium. The title is "How you sell is not the same as why you grow."