The mode of fresh front warehouse is mainly a two-level distributed storage system of "urban sorting center+community front warehouse". Each front warehouse is a small and medium-sized warehouse distribution center, and the central warehouse of the headquarters only needs to supply the front warehouse. After the consumer places an order, it will be delivered from the nearby front warehouse within 0.5- 1 hour. The fresh pre-warehouse mode of online ordering and offline instant delivery greatly improves the delivery efficiency, reduces the loss of fresh goods, enhances the consumption experience, and meets the consumers' demand for quick and instant fresh purchase.
The biggest difference between the fresh front warehouse mode and other fresh e-commerce modes is that it sets up a front warehouse with an area of about 100㎡ in a residential area of about 1.5km, and the operation and links of the front warehouse transfer, rent (warehouse), packaging (warehouse management) and distribution (rider) constitute high performance expenses, which leads to the continuous shortage of the fund chain of the fresh e-commerce platform in the fresh front warehouse mode. Taking Ding Dong as an example, during the three years from 20 18 to 202 1, the performance expense ratio of Ding Dong's grocery shopping was 49.92%, 35.68% and 36. 14% respectively. The performance cost of buying vegetables in Ding Dong increased slightly after listing, but remained stable as a whole. However, it also proves that the business growth of fresh front warehouse can not bring about the reduction of performance fee.
Representative enterprises in the industry are facing sustained losses.
The value of the fresh food industry is generally low, the gross profit margin is also low, and the performance cost of the pre-warehouse is too high, which eventually leads to the continuous loss of food shopping and daily fresh food in Ding Dong. According to the financial report data, the daily income of Youxian and Ding Dong is increasing every year, but the net loss is also increasing. The continuous growth of platform business has not produced scale effect, nor has it stopped losing money. On the contrary, the bigger the loss.
Is there any chance for Xianfengcang?
-return to the normal profit model close to the target customers.
Fresh food is non-standardized, localized and personalized, and it is difficult to form a national network effect. Therefore, the flow acquisition of fresh market is relatively slow, and it is impossible to quickly form scale effect and network effect. How to get traffic at a lower cost is a question that every fresh e-commerce player should ponder. At present, relying solely on the power of capital to smash the market and attracting consumers by subsidies cannot bring reliable user stickiness. Whether arranging smart food markets and retail cloud merchants every day, or buying food from Zhuhai, Chuzhou and Tangshan, it is actually to narrow the distance with the target customers (urban white-collar consumers in first-and second-tier cities), reduce the long-term losses caused by disorderly expansion, and return to the normal business model of profitability.
-Turn the rudder for the benefit of enterprises.
Participants in this industry, such as daily fresh food and grocery shopping in Ding Dong, increase profits in other ways to reduce the pressure on enterprises to lose money.
—— For more research and analysis of this industry, please refer to Forward-looking Industry Research Institute's China Fresh E-commerce Industry Solutions and Investment Strategic Planning Report.