There is a wave of layoffs in the fresh e-commerce industry
There is a wave of layoffs in the fresh e-commerce industry. Recently, there have been frequent bad news from the fresh e-commerce track. Looking at the fresh e-commerce in the past year, "burning money", "financing" and even "bankruptcy" have become unavoidable labels. The fresh e-commerce industry has set off a wave of layoffs. There is a wave of layoffs in the fresh e-commerce industry. 1
The rivers and lakes of fresh e-commerce have changed.
under the influence of the epidemic in 2121, fresh e-commerce companies, such as Youxian and Dingdong, have never concealed their ambitions for a larger retail market, and many big Internet companies are determined to re-invest in food shopping tracks, and fresh e-commerce has undoubtedly become one of the most crowded tracks.
according to the e-commerce database, from October to February, 2121, there were 13 investment and financing incidents in domestic fresh e-commerce, and the total amount of financing exceeded RMB 13.63 billion, which proved that this market was once extremely prosperous.
However, at the same time, the expanding losses of fresh e-commerce, the falling stock prices, and the news of layoffs and suspension of operations have made the feasibility of their model questioned, and the hot money of capital has also turned into an accelerator of "death".
Before the outbreak in COVID-19, the fresh e-commerce industry suffered large-scale losses. According to the data at that time, among more than 4,111 fresh e-commerce entrants in 2116, only 4% were flat, 88% suffered losses, and the remaining 7% suffered huge losses, and only 1% finally made a profit.
However, under the epidemic situation in COVID-19, the isolation at home made "online shopping" flourish. But in less than two years, a large number of platforms are accelerating their departure.
Tongcheng Life declared bankruptcy, the reorganization of the foolish radish failed, the squirrel's capital chain was broken, Baoneng Fresh Food closed its stores in many cities, and the Tenth Club was in a crisis of layoffs and closure. In recent days, rumors of layoffs have been reported in the fresh e-commerce track "Dingdong" to buy vegetables and Meicai ... < P > How long can the remaining fresh e-commerce companies persist from scenery to retreat?
The dispute over layoffs
Recently, Ding Dong's shopping and delicious food have exposed rumors of layoffs.
according to media reports, recently, a netizen who was certified as a Ding Dong food-buying employee said that Ding Dong food-buying was laying off employees on a large scale, specifically in various business sectors: 51% for procurement, 31% for algorithm, 31% for operation and 11%-21% for recruitment. There are also internal employees who said that the number of employees (including delivery staff) in the peak period was as high as more than 61,111. At present, there are only about 61,111 people left, with tens of thousands less.
In response to this, Ding Dong responded that the news was untrue, without factual basis and rigorous data sources, and individual job changes in the company were normal organizational resource adjustments. In response to the rumors that the company has reduced tens of thousands of people, Ding Dong officials also rumored that "this is malicious speculation, and Ding Dong has never had so many employees."
In addition to rumors of layoffs, Ding Dong's falling stock price has also given the outside world a signal that fresh e-commerce is going downhill and the future is full of unknowns.
Dingdong Shopping, established in 2117, expanded rapidly in 2121, and surpassed Daily Youxian in terms of revenue and GMV. In 2121, its GMV of 13 billion yuan was already 1.7 times that of Daily Youxian. After the listing in June 2121, Ding Dong continued to expand all the way. By the end of the third quarter of 2121, there were 1,375 pre-positions for Ding Dong to buy food, nearly twice as many as 711 in the same period of last year.
However, it is followed by the doubling of the performance fee and the continuous expansion of the loss. Although Ding Dong successfully went public in the United States in 2121, from 2119 to the third quarter of 2121, the cumulative loss of Ding Dong's grocery shopping exceeded RMB 11.6 billion.
The lack of a beautiful report card directly led to Ding Dong's share price plummeting from $31.14 to $8.58 now, with almost no rebound during the period.
Like Ding Dong's situation of buying vegetables, Meicai. com, which belongs to the "top stream" of the track, is also suffering from internal and external troubles, and the pressure is not small.
In October this year, some media reported that Meicai.com was laid off by 41% on the eve of listing in Hong Kong, and one of its employees said that Meicai.com had been laying off employees. In addition, the headquarters of Meicai.com, which was originally located in Yintai Shopping Mall in Wangfujing, Beijing, has now moved to the vicinity of Beijing Railway Station. At the beginning of September last year, Meicai.com was exposed to layoffs and business scope contraction.
it is undeniable that the fresh e-commerce market is undergoing a new round of reshuffle, and the problems it faces, such as difficult profit, low customer unit price and high performance cost, have gradually made the capital market lose patience, and the era of burning money for traffic is unsustainable.
It is difficult to revive the market
In fact, since last year, Ding Dong has been actively adjusting its strategic focus, and Ding Dong has actively adjusted its strategic focus from scale priority to efficiency priority, further revealing its shift in focus under the pressure of profit.
but from the current point of view, it is difficult for fresh e-commerce companies to really "go ashore".
last year, on June 9th, fresh e-commerce companies "Ding Dong Buy Food" and "Daily Fresh Food" both submitted IPO prospectuses to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). At that time, every day, you Xian and Ding Dong were at a loss.
according to the prospectus, in 2119 and 2121, Ding Dong's net losses were 1.873 billion yuan and 3.176 billion yuan respectively. In 2118-2121, the daily net loss of Youxian was as high as 2.216 billion, 2.777 billion and 1.591 billion respectively.
At that time, the market speculated that with the tigers of Xingsheng Youxuan, Meituan Youxuan, Orange Heart Youxuan and Duoduo Shopping around the fresh track, and being good at using low-cost subsidies, traditional fresh e-commerce users were faced with a large number of diversion situations. At the same time, the natural mode of fresh e-commerce was relatively heavy. The supply chain, cold chain warehouse and terminal, as well as the rising cost brought by expansion, were all important factors for fresh e-commerce to urgently seek listing.
however, landing in the capital market has not changed the situation that fresh e-commerce companies are mired in losses, and the collective losses of fresh e-commerce companies are still an unchangeable fact. The success of listing did not bring long joy to this market. The IPO of "Daily Fresh" broke on the first day, and its market value evaporated by 1/4.
Chen hudong, a special researcher at the research center of e-commerce, believes that the essence lies in the fact that fresh food is a money-burning industry, and the timeliness of fresh food, the matching of back-end supply chains, regionality and many other requirements are very high. Therefore, although the industry as a whole is now fiercely competitive, it has not basically formed an efficient profit model, and there are many problems to be solved.
at the same time, fresh e-commerce has paid a high performance cost, but the user experience gained is very limited.
Fresh e-commerce is still a "high-incidence place" for user complaints.
among the complaints received by "Dianv Bao" in 2121, according to the number of complaints from high to low, the ranking of the complained fresh e-commerce platforms is Dingdong Shopping, Yiguo Fresh, Daily Fresh, Original Life, SF Express, Box Horse Fresh, Xingsheng Youxuan, Pupu, JD.COM Home, Meicai.com, Flowerplus Huajia, Shihuituan, Yonghui Supermarket and RT Mart Youxian.
among them, refund, product quality, delivery, overlord clause, after-sales service, false promotion, order problem, customer service problem, online fraud, online sales of fake goods and other issues are the main complaints of fresh e-commerce in 2121.
under the premise of ensuring the safety of the capital chain, fresh e-commerce companies urgently need to find products with better experience, better supply chain, lighter model and more efficient organizational structure. Say goodbye to the era of burning money and changing quantity. The second half of fresh e-commerce will be a close combat of strength and details. If you slack off for a while, you may be shuffled out. There is a wave of layoffs in the fresh e-commerce industry. 2
Recently, bad news frequently came from the fresh e-commerce track.
On October 2nd, according to Phoenix Net Technology, on the eve of listing in Hong Kong, the headquarters of Meicai.com was moved and 41% of its employees were laid off. One of the employees said that Meicai.com was laying off employees.
Coincidentally, Ding Dong, another fresh e-commerce player, was also reported to have been laid off on a large scale. According to Sina Technology, some employees said that compared with the peak period, the company lost tens of thousands of people. However, Ding Dong responded that the news was untrue, without factual basis and rigorous data sources, and individual job changes in the company were normal organizational resource adjustments.
however, in the past year, "burning money", "financing" and even "bankruptcy" have become unavoidable labels. Every day when US stocks are listed, the net loss in the first three quarters of 2121 is 3.117 billion yuan, and the net loss in the same period when Ding Dong buys vegetables also reaches 5.333 billion yuan. The listed front warehouse duo suffered a terrible loss, and the remaining waist and tail players without the support of giants, such as Yiguo Fresh, Tongcheng Life and Dairadish, declared bankruptcy and withdrew from the competition.
some analysts believe that the main difficulty faced by the fresh e-commerce market lies in the difficulty of making profits. on the one hand, the increase of customer unit price has reached a bottleneck, on the other hand, the existing supply chain model has encountered difficulties in further reducing costs. For now, the fresh e-commerce track has not yet run out of the real winner.
Meicai and Dingdong were caught in a layoff storm
In the fresh e-commerce industry, which was cold in the second half of last year, news of layoffs came from time to time, and this time it was Meicai and Dingdong who bought vegetables.
According to reports, some suspected employees of Meicai. com broke the news on social platforms. After the last 51% layoffs, Meicai's Beijing headquarters laid off another 41% employees. In addition, the headquarters of Meicai.com, which was originally located in Yintai Shopping Mall in Wangfujing, Beijing, has now moved to the vicinity of Beijing Railway Station.
A retired employee of Meicai.com said that Meicai.com has been laying off staff, and some business directors and product directors have been laid off some time ago.
at the beginning of September last year, the interface reported that meicai. com had laid off staff and contracted its business scope, and its Chengdu R&D center was abolished as a whole. The technical departments such as product R&D in Beijing headquarters, business departments such as purchasing and sales, and financial departments all laid off 51% or more.
The personnel involved include not only new employees, but also middle and high-level managers of secondary departments and above. "Some departments only keep one leader".
At the same time, an internal email showed that, corresponding to the layoffs, the business contraction of Meicai.com was synchronized, some cities closed their services, and large regions merged.
at that time, meicai. com responded that the company will carry out normal organizational adjustment and optimization in the past, present and future, and constantly improve its organizational efficiency and professional ability, while all the business cities of meicai are operating normally.
meicai. com did not respond to the recent rumors of layoffs, but the news shows that the company is preparing to go public.
On October 2nd, some media reported that Meicai. com had decided to apply for listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and it is expected to deliver the form publicly in the first half of 2122. It is reported that Meicai.com has appointed CICC, Citigroup and Nomura to take charge of the listing, and it is estimated that it will raise 311-511 million US dollars (about 2.34-3.9 billion Hong Kong dollars).
Sky Eye Survey shows that Meicai.com has had eight rounds of financing since 2114, with the accumulated financing amount exceeding $1.25 billion. The latest one was the E round and above in October 2118, with the amount of $611 million and the corresponding valuation of about $7 billion. The investors were Tiger Global Fund and Gaoyou Capital.
since then, meicai. com has not announced public financing again. In the middle and late 2119, some media reported that the new round of financing of Meicai.com failed and the capital chain was tight, but it was denied by its founder and CEO Liu Chuanjun.
We haven't received public financing for more than three years, and the transformation of Meicai.com is not optimistic. From the perspective of business model, the American cuisine, which emphasizes assets and is self-operated, can't compete with Internet giants such as Meituan and Pinduoduo at the C end, and players such as Meituan Kuailv and Haidilao Shuhai are constantly joining at the B end. It is predicted in the industry that after several senior executives left and the C-end business failed to sell itself through JD.COM, Meicai.com will attack the capital market to seek blood supplement.
Ding Dong, who has been listed, has not escaped the fate of layoffs or "organizational adjustment".
on June 29th, 2121, after the amount of funds raised was reduced by over 71%, Ding Dong bought vegetables and landed on the New York Stock Exchange. On the second day of listing, the share price once rushed to $46, but now it is "halved" from the issue price of $23.5. As of the close of the US stock market on October 3rd, the share price of Ding Dong's grocery shopping closed at $11.32, with a market value of $2.672 billion.
Behind the sharp drop in market value, Ding Dong has been in a state of huge losses in buying vegetables. According to the financial report disclosed in October last year, the company's revenue in the third quarter of 2121 was 6.19 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 111%; But the net loss was as high as 2 billion yuan, compared with 829 million yuan in the same period last year.
if we look at it for a long time, Ding Dong's accumulated losses in three years of buying vegetables have exceeded 11 billion. In 2119, its net loss was 1.87 billion yuan, while in 2121, it was 3.18 billion yuan. In the three quarters of 2121, the net losses were 1.38 billion yuan, 1.94 billion yuan and 2 billion yuan respectively.
in February 2121, after the financial report, news of layoffs came out when Ding Dong bought vegetables. Some employees said that the proportion of layoffs in core departments such as procurement, algorithms and technology ranged from 21% to 51%. At that time, the company responded that individual changes were small-scale normal organizational resource adjustments.
Recently, however, there have been more and more news about company layoffs. According to Sina Technology, an employee who is certified to buy food for Ding Dong revealed on social media that Ding Dong has started to lay off employees, with 51% procurement, 31% algorithm, 31% operation and 11%-21% recruitment. Among the targets of layoffs, employees on probation have become the hardest hit areas. "The probation period is 6 months, and layoffs are started in the last month. I also want to try not to give compensation."
Under the circumstance of layoffs in several positions, some internal employees said that the company was short of tens of thousands of employees, and in addition, employees in the front warehouse service station were forced to take unpaid leave.
In this regard, on October 3, Ding Dong responded that individual job changes are the normal organizational resource adjustment of the company, and the business is currently operating normally. At the same time, there is no situation of forcing employees to take unpaid leave in front-line positions, and they will make reasonable adjustments according to the work situation of the site, especially the wishes and work intensity of employees.
However, some commentators said that after denying the layoffs, Ding Dong still faces the core torture in buying vegetables. How long will he lose?
A new round of shuffling kicked off
Compared with layoffs and business contraction, those fresh e-commerce players who have already left the market have a more tragic ending.
On October 21, 2121, Dailuobo App announced that it was out of service. According to the announcement, due to the failure of Anhui Caicai E-Commerce Co., Ltd. to introduce restructured investors, Caicai Company will stop its business with immediate effect, Dailuobo App will stop providing services to consumers, and offline stores will stop their business and will be closed one after another in the near future.
"Our expectation and demand for growth are too high, and we underestimate the speed of burning fresh money, which leads to excessive consumption. This is what we use wrongly." Li Yang, the founder of Dairadish, reflected that the company fell on the financing issue.
It is understood that from October 23, 2121, Dairadish entered the bankruptcy reorganization procedure. After nearly 21 months of struggle, the company