Start-ups such as Convenience Bee and Scarlet Convenience have also received financing of 100 million yuan in the past year, opening at the speed of dozens of stores a year.
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Crazy horse racing, getting together and crashing, for a time, China's "Jianghu" in convenience stores was full of smoke. However, is this a tuyere or a virtual fire?
At present, the so-called traditional convenience store "regular army" and the new e-commerce giant "new force" both play with quantity as the main way, and rely on short-term viral replication to achieve rapid expansion.
Recently, China Chain Store & Franchise Association and Boston Consulting jointly released the "20 18 China Convenience Store Development Report", saying that in 20 17, the growth rate of convenience store industry in China reached 23%, the market scale exceeded190 billion yuan, the number of stores opened and the same-store sales both increased, and the market space in first-and second-tier cities was huge.
However, behind the rapid growth is a huge hidden danger: the same-store growth rate of department stores, hypermarkets and other formats has gradually fallen to the negative growth range, and convenience stores as small formats are rare physical retail formats that are still growing.
Convenience stores, which are close to consumers and have many outlets, have become the breakthrough point of online landing and solving the last mile problem. Therefore, it is no accident that convenience stores are targeted by capital giants, and JD.COM convenience stores are typical representatives.
It is understood that there are two forms of convenience stores in JD.COM at present. One is to "incorporate" the husband and wife stores like Alibaba; The other is to cooperate with the company, that is, the company chooses a location to open a shop, and JD.COM gives it a title, which is higher than the husband and wife shop in grade. Both forms are provided by JD.COM, and the owner bears the decoration cost. Then the shopkeeper ordered goods from a platform called Zhangbaobao in JD.COM, and the goods were delivered to the door by the distribution system in JD.COM. So, in fact, JD.COM is equivalent to doing a B2B thing, but did not directly participate in the operation and management.
Obviously, this kind of cooperation, JD.COM's wishful thinking is to expand the entrance of offline traffic and make increments. So what benefits does this bring to the store? A shopkeeper of a convenience store in JD.COM told China Foreign Management that most shopkeepers are still brand-conscious and want to be high-end and famous. Joining 7-1/kloc-0 may cost hundreds of thousands of joining fees, but cooperating with JD.COM does not require joining fees, but it also improves the level and popularity of the store. In the owner's view, the store only used JD.COM's logo to purchase goods from JD.COM, that's all, and there was no JD.COM's participation.
Zhou Yong, a professor at Shanghai Business School, told China Foreign Management: On the positive side, the "small shops" made by JD.COM and Ali, as well as many other giants, are all about B2B, which means that the big point is to do supply chain, and the practical point is to supply and wholesale, with wholesale taking retail. Because big companies have the advantages of supply chain, price and logistics distribution, it is understandable to do this business. Through such integration, from the beginning of supply, the existing traditional small shops will be gradually transformed to make them more standardized, credible and tangible, and even become a hub in all channels. This is a matter of infinite merit.
A big difference between Chinese retail and foreign retail is that although these small shops are highly efficient, their overall image is relatively backward. Through the empowerment of internet companies, these small stores have been transformed from traditional formats to modern formats through the transformation of the Internet, mobility and digitalization. This is also one of the important contents of new retail.
However, Zhou Yong said that there is another side to the story: small shops have their own calculations, they are practical and flexible, they are sensitive to prices, and cost control is more effective than large convenience companies. Therefore, their principle is simple: do it if it is beneficial, and do it if it is not. I won't be fooled by big companies. If I can't see it, I will immediately turn around and go it alone, and I will still live well.
In this way, in fact, JD.COM's stickiness to small shops, or the loyalty of small shops to JD.COM, is not very high. However, JD.COM is definitely not satisfied with being just a convenience store at the end of retail. It always likes to make dishes bigger, and it is no exception in the field of convenience stores.
In fact, JD.COM's idea of "convenience" has the meaning of imitating Japanese one-stop service. However, most local convenience stores have a common problem-"the shape is similar to the spirit", and they have learned the external skin of Japanese brands, but they have not learned their real core. Compared with foreign brands, these local brands are more like the upgrade of traditional grocery stores. Not only the homogeneity of products is serious, but also the service attitude and quality are difficult to compare with those of Japan, China and Taiwan Province. In this regard, Zhou Yong said, from the theory of commodity climbing and business climbing, it is good for both customers and businesses if the brand, sales and service contents are properly extended.
However, consumers in China have a steelyard in their hearts. They have different brand preferences for different service needs, and they will not agree with one merchant to meet all needs. Therefore, the idea of becoming a "convenient one-stop train" and wanting to do all the business often fails.
Seeing the broad market prospects, they have repeatedly accelerated the speed of opening stores, but the fast speed of opening stores does not mean that investment enterprises can grasp the essence of convenience stores. They must understand consumers and whether they can make profits is another story.
As the entrance to test the "new retail", Zebra Capital invested 300 million US dollars in the entrepreneurial project "Convenience Bee", which was defined as an innovative convenience store enterprise driven by technology. The so-called innovation is reflected in the fact that Convenience Bee has built a "store +App" dual-line operation structure from the beginning, and there are four choices in shopping experience: online payment, door-to-door delivery and online payment, offline self-lifting; Online, there are two options: self-service shopping in the store and traditional checkout at the cashier after picking up the goods. Among them, door-to-door delivery seems to be the convenience that more people think. In fact, it is only delivered by a few shop assistants in the store, and the transportation capacity is definitely not enough, but it is difficult to achieve self-built logistics teams in the short term.
Convenience Bee mentioned in the company's vision: "Convenience Bee will improve the existing retail model through the Internet. Use big data and intelligent software and hardware to break through the inherent convenience store shopping experience, take users as the center, and provide exclusive services around each individual user, so that users can obtain practical convenience. "
It is the convenience bee that wants to break through the inherent shopping experience, which seems to run counter to the business logic of convenience stores, causing many people to call out and understand convenience bees. In fact, the so-called Internet method of convenience bees is just an additional App, but it is different from traditional convenience stores in terms of checkout methods and product recommendations. Moreover, convenience bees have not formed enough competitive differentiation with other convenience stores through an App. After the initial subsidy stops, how to attract customers to stay on the App may be a problem that needs to be considered after the convenience bee.
Zhou Yong said that to do business, we must have an insight into the real demand, hit the pain points and demands of consumers, and we must not fantasize, let alone fantasize. The result of fantasies and fantasies will only regard "false demand" as "real demand". Therefore, "logical" things may not work, and things that seem to work may not be valuable. If innovation can't make consumers "happily accept", everything is "no use". In fact, the fundamental attribute of convenience stores is to meet the basic convenience needs of consumers, that is, to organize goods well, which is a "basic skill". As for other technological innovation, model innovation or IP innovation, it is only an empowerment after the "basic skill".
Comparatively speaking, as a regular army of traditional convenience stores, Beijing "supermarket sends Rosen" (the cooperative result of supermarket and Rosen) is more accurate in grasping the needs of consumers.
The supermarket's convenience store format really started with the cooperation with Rosen. In August last year, three convenience stores with the name "Rosen from supermarket" appeared in Haidian, Beijing, which became an instant hit. At present, nine supermarkets have opened Rosen. The speed of opening a store is not fast, but it is worth noting that the supermarket sends Rosen's "atypical" characteristics, focusing on composite formats according to local conditions-every store is different.
Take Beijing Sidaokou Rosen Store as an example. This convenience store is a typical compound format, and the combination is very bold. It is a model of "convenience store+book bar+tribute tea+flowers". In addition to purchasing the commodities needed in daily life, consumers can also order a drink to rest and read in the book bar. This layout consideration is related to the unique geographical location of Sidaokou Store. The store is located in Xueyuan South Road, Haidian District, surrounded by many famous universities such as Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing Normal University, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Central University of Finance and Economics, etc. 10. Therefore, this combination of book bar and tribute tea is also very targeted, so it is more popular, and its daily sales can reach more than 20,000 yuan, which is a good result in domestic convenience stores.
For the current phenomenon of convenience stores grabbing sites, Li Yanchuan, chairman of Supermarket Development, told China Foreign Management that apart from policy support, the most important thing is the influx of capital, which leads to the disorderly opening of stores. For example, the cost of opening a store in some convenience stores is too high, and the rent of one square meter is twenty or thirty yuan a day. Of course, all the money is spent, but it is doubtful whether this kind of store can make a profit now. "The most important thing to open a shop is that you have to identify your customer base, so that you can know what kind of goods and environment you should organize. Everyone wants to occupy land, everyone wants to open a shop, and the key is to calmly consider this format. " Li Yanchuan felt.
10 Many years ago, the physical business in China once had a stage of staking the land and opening stores crazily. The ending is now very clear, and a large number of shops are either closed or dead. In this regard, Zhou Yong concluded: Chinese businessmen have a kind of "hubris" and "emperor complex". 15 years ago, when they were a little bigger, they became arrogant and wanted to be "industry emperors", and the result was "zero"; And our current "businessmen" have a kind of paranoia, talking to themselves, that is, they don't have a deep insight into the real needs of consumers.
In fact, the overall profitability of the convenience store industry is not optimistic. According to public information, there are only a few convenience store brands that can achieve profitability at present, such as the whole family and Rosen. Even the well-known 7- 1 1 can't make a steady and sustained profit in China. Previously, it was also reported that the largest convenience store chain in Beijing was forced to seek acquisition because of business problems.
Convenience stores are hot and the water is deeper, which not only requires a lot of capital investment, but also is influenced by many external factors. Zhou Yong believes that the convenience store industry is not fun, and convenience stores all over the world are supported by big groups. Convenience stores are not well run, and even people who lose money will be afraid of "burning money without a bottom line". Therefore, it is considered that convenience stores are investors, and many of them will become "cannon fodder", with no gains.
After all, Ito Yokado took 40 years to make a 7- 1 1.