Xu Xiaomei

(School of Management, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China)

Abstract：In 2013, Zhang Jindong led Suning to implement tremendous transformation. From changing the company’s name, adjusting organizational management structure, to charging uniform prices through online and offline channels, launching open platform, and reforming offline stores, Suning has tried to departure from a traditional retailer to an O2O omni-channel platform. However, the company’s financial performance was just the opposite and quite disappointing. As the chairman, Zhang Jindong is extremely confused. Has Suning chosen the right direction at the beginning of transformation? Why the transformation did not achieve desired result? Is this the inevitable price for strategic transformation? Or is this the sign of transformation failure? How should Suning cope with the difficulties? Zhang Jindong has no yet a clear idea……

Key words: Traditional retailers; Environmental analysis; Transformation design; O2O (Online to Offline); Transformation action