The debt of more than 80 million yuan has made a big play of "tearing each other apart" between home appliance enterprises and retailers. On the evening of April 25, whirlpool (600983), a home appliance enterprise, announced that the company decided to terminate its business cooperation with Gome from the date of announcement because Gome and its affiliated companies (hereinafter referred to as "Gome") failed to implement the contract in terms of payment for goods and had been delayed for a long time. However, just one night later, Gome issued a statement and responded that the company did not delay the payment of goods, but whirlpool (rights protection) had chaotic management and failed to perform its obligations according to the contract for a long time. Even directly named Galanz, the controlling shareholder of whirlpool, said that Galanz intended to solve the problem by making trouble through whirlpool in order to force the company to subsidize unreasonable expenses. Some home appliance industry experts analyzed to the reporter of Yangcheng Evening News that there will be a certain accounting period for the cooperation between suppliers and retailers; Some experts also believe that whirlpool's choice to make the contradiction public may be due to its poor business performance, which should be partly attributed to Gome's arrears. Gome directly pointed to Whirlpool's chaotic management Before the dispute broke out, Gome was a long-term cooperative customer of whirlpool in the Chinese market. From 2019 to 2021, the sales amount of whirlpool to Gome was 152 million yuan, 98.1211 million yuan and 79.5841 million yuan respectively, accounting for 2.87%, 1.98% and 1.61% respectively, showing a downward trend year by year. From the beginning of 2022 to the disclosure date of the announcement, the sales amount of whirlpool to Gome was 8.81 million yuan. Whirlpool announced that as of March 31, the balance of Whirlpool's accounts receivable from GOME totaled 87.104 million yuan, and the net receivable after deducting the accrued discount (subject to the actual agreement of both parties) was 82.358 million yuan. Based on the above circumstances, the company decided to terminate the business cooperation with Gome from the date of announcement. According to the public sales amount, the arrears may have been more than one year. Whirlpool announced in the announcement that since April, the company's management has made significant changes in the judgment of Gome's future solvency, and sent a letter to Gome on April 25 and 26 for two consecutive days asking it to pay the due payment immediately, but Gome did not make any arrangements for the payment in its reply. After whirlpool insisted that Gome did not pay back the money owed, a statement by Gome on April 26 not only denied the delay in payment, but also turned the spearhead to whirlpool, pointing to its internal management confusion and continuous delay in reconciliation and settlement. Referring to the payment, Gome's statement said that since the two sides signed a number of purchase contracts for cooperation, whirlpool has not reconciled and confirmed the relevant expenses as agreed in the contract for a long time. Up to now, whirlpool still owes Gome about 10 million yuan in various expenses and more than 20 million yuan in defective products. There is no case that Gome will not settle the payment unilaterally. Whirlpool is welcome to make reconciliation and settlement at any time. It is worth noting that there are many "bad thoughts" about the contradiction between Gome and its small home appliance partners recently. On April 15, the store managers of Gome Jinan and the dispatched shopping guides of Gome had differences on the compliance of the display of publicity materials in the store of Gome, resulting in a dispute and developed into physical conflict. The online official letter said that the whole category of Gome would be withdrawn from the Jinan Branch of Gome from now on. Since then, Gome responded that the matter would not affect the long-term cooperative relationship between Gome and Midea Group. Who is responsible for poor product sales? "A world-renowned home appliance enterprise has less than 100 million sales in a home appliance chain giant. Is it Whirlpool's lack of product power or Gome's lack of sales power?" Home appliance industry analyst Liu buchen told Yangcheng Evening News that behind the debt dispute between the two sides, it is actually a mutual "throwing pot" for poor product sales. Liu buchen explained that 10 million yuan should be the promotion expenses incurred by Whirlpool's increased sales in Gome, such as building booths and making posters. Gome's statement clearly said that whirlpool overestimated its strength and its sales did not improve after investment. It is not uncommon in the cooperation between home appliance retailers and suppliers to sell goods first and then settle accounts. Another home appliance industry analyst Liang Zhenpeng told reporters that when Gome and other retailers cooperate with home appliance enterprises, they do not pay money and deliver goods at the same time. Gome will sell goods first, and then lend money to suppliers. In most cases, it is on credit or give some deposits to manufacturers first. At this time, there will be a certain accounting period. In this process, contradictions between the two sides are common. As for why whirlpool publicly "broke its face" with Gome, Liang Zhenpeng said: "there is a possibility that whirlpool, as a listed company, has poor operating performance in recent years. At this time, it announced that the payment for goods was owed by Gome, which can reduce the external accusations of poor management of the company and blame the poor performance on the arrears of Gome." Affected by the weak growth of the domestic home appliance market, Whirlpool's revenue has declined for three consecutive years and its net loss has expanded. According to the 2021 annual report, whirlpool achieved an annual operating revenue of 4.931 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 0.26%. The net loss attributable to shareholders of listed companies was 589 million yuan, with a year-on-year increase of 293.41%. The net loss attributable to shareholders of listed companies after deducting non recurring profits and losses was 668 million yuan, with a year-on-year increase of 105.09%. Galanz holdings failed to reverse Whirlpool's development dilemma As of the first quarter of this year, the latest equity distribution of whirlpool was that Galanz accounted for 57.11%, whirlpool (China) 19.9% and Hefei state owned assets 3.34%. Gome directly named Galanz, the controlling shareholder of whirlpool in its statement, which added a bit of gunpowder to the dispute. "The whirlpool behavior fully shows that all the problems are made by Galanz, the major shareholder." Gome mentioned in the statement that Galanz had invested resources inconsistent with its business ability in the process of cooperation with Gome, resulting in an embarrassing situation, and did not listen to the professional and goodwill suggestions put forward by Gome; In order to force Gome to subsidize unreasonable expenses, Galanz intends to solve the problem by making trouble through whirlpool. For this statement, Galanz stakeholders told reporters that the whirlpool announcement shall prevail, and there is no further response at present. In May 2021, Galanz successfully acquired 51% shares of whirlpool China with RMB 2.05 billion and became the controlling shareholder of whirlpool. Since then, Galanz has continued to increase its holdings. In July of that year, Galanz and whirlpool China jointly held a brand Upgrading Strategy Conference, announcing that Galanz would focus on household appliances and whirlpool (China) would focus on white appliances. "Galanz is an enterprise famous for its strict cost management, which has had a great impact on the development of whirlpool in the Chinese market." Liu buchen, for example, said that after Galanz holdings, the salaries of whirlpool management and R & D personnel decreased significantly, resulting in a large outflow of whirlpool talents; R & D expenses have also been greatly reduced, resulting in the slow pace and decline of Whirlpool's ability to launch new products; Investment in brand building has also stalled. Public information shows that before and after Galanz holdings, many former executives of whirlpool resigned. AI Xiaoming, the former president of the company, submitted his resignation in April 2021. Since then, the president of the company was replaced by Liang Huiqiang. Liang Huiqiang is the grandson of Galanz founder Liang Qingde. "Since Galanz holding whirlpool, it has carried out some restructuring of management business structure and adjustment of management personnel, but the current time is still relatively short, and the future performance trend of whirlpool China remains to be seen." Turning to the impact of terminating cooperation with Gome, Liang Zhenpeng believes that whirlpool will lack a mainstream sales channel in the future, which is not good for whirlpool, and the openness of contradictions will inevitably have an impact on the follow-up cooperation between the two sides. (Xinhua News Agency)