---
title: "2022: The Advance and Differentiation of Community Group Buying"
description: "Looking back at 2022 in community group buying, it was as dramatic as a movie plot, with capital-backed groups closing, merging, and transforming while local groups revived and restarted, forming two sides of the same coin. Behind this stark contrast lies a new round of major reshuffling, where new kings rise from the margins and old kings fall from the pinnacle. The differentiation and reconstruction of the track never cease. Reviewing 2022 community group buying, we start with six key roles."
author: "黄腾飞"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
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published: "2023-01-03"
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# 2022: The Advance and Differentiation of Community Group Buying

> Looking back at 2022 in community group buying, it was as dramatic as a movie plot, with capital-backed groups closing, merging, and transforming while local groups revived and restarted, forming two sides of the same coin. Behind this stark contrast lies a new round of major reshuffling, where new kings rise from the margins and old kings fall from the pinnacle. The differentiation and reconstruction of the track never cease. Reviewing 2022 community group buying, we start with six key roles.

Looking back at 2022 in community group buying, it was as dramatic as a movie plot, with capital-backed groups closing, merging, and transforming while local groups revived and restarted, forming two sides of the same coin. Behind this stark contrast lies a new round of major reshuffling, where new kings rise from the margins and old kings fall from the pinnacle. The differentiation and reconstruction of the track never cease. Reviewing 2022 community group buying, we start with six key roles.
**Capital Groups: Closure, Mergers, and Efficiency Optimization**
**Meituan Select: Strategic Upgrade to 'Tomorrow's Supermarket'** On October 12, Meituan Select strategically upgraded to 'Tomorrow's Supermarket' and introduced a new brand slogan, 'Really, really saves money.' After more than half a year of adjustment and contraction, Meituan Select's positioning within Meituan's local retail landscape has become clearer. Meituan Select's SKU count in most regions nationwide is 1,500, while competitors average around 1,000. Meituan Select is attempting to increase SKU numbers to 3,000 and expand to nearly 3,000 cities and counties nationwide. Comment: Meituan Select's upgrade to 'Tomorrow's Supermarket' aligns with Meituan's new 'Retail + Technology' strategy. In the future, it will form strategic synergy with Meituan Flash Purchase in supermarket digitalization, building a new ecosystem for Meituan's local retail. On the other hand, the lower-tier market, with its huge consumption potential, will inevitably become a battleground for community e-commerce giants. In the future, the battle line between Meituan Select and 'King of Lower-Tier Markets' Duoduo Maicai will continue to lengthen. Their tug-of-war is a form of forced optimization, pushing each to continuously upgrade key nodes like supply chain and user experience, ultimately benefiting users.
**Duoduo Maicai: Deploying Duoduo Stations, Deepening Cost Reduction and Efficiency** On February 8, Duoduo Maicai promoted franchise recruitment for express delivery outlets in multiple regions, based on four major subsidies for initial franchisees. In March, Duoduo Maicai began personnel optimization and merged stations. After continuous expansion and market consolidation, most Duoduo Maicai employees are now localized. The early Jinqiao team that expanded from Shanghai to the whole country either returned to Shanghai or was transferred or optimized. Starting in 2021, Duoduo Maicai reduced commission for group leaders in some regions to 3-4%. In 2022, it began closing inefficient and low-function groups, concentrating orders to nearby pickup points to maintain group efficiency while reducing last-mile fulfillment costs. Additionally, BD efforts shifted to developing Duoduo pickup points. Comment: The emergence of Duoduo Stations extends the community e-commerce battle line to the express delivery last mile. Seemingly provoking battles on multiple fronts, it actually has deeper implications. Duoduo Maicai brings a million group leaders into the express delivery last-mile scenario, exploring the integration of traditional e-commerce and community e-commerce 'delivery scenes.' Moreover, Pinduoduo's main site and external e-commerce parcels become offline traffic entry points that feed Duoduo Maicai, achieving the dual effect of cost reduction and efficiency improvement.
**Xingsheng Youxuan: Withdrawing Cities and Defending 'Fortresses'** At the beginning of 2022, Xingsheng Youxuan launched 'Panshi,' its second center after 'Shoude,' attempting to use its own BD model to expand the market, engaging in close combat with Meituo Tao. In March, Xingsheng Youxuan was profitable only in provinces like Hunan, Jiangxi, Hubei, and Guangdong. To pursue profitability, it cut many non-core cities, closed unprofitable grid stations, and began layoffs. In September, Xingsheng Youxuan withdrew from Shanxi, Hebei, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui. On November 13, it announced the closure of operations in Henan, Shandong, Sichuan, and Chongqing. Meanwhile, Xingsheng Youxuan deeply implemented the 'Fortress Plan,' focusing on reforming grid stations in its top 4 sales provinces: Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, and Guangdong. Grid stations were taken over by the company, service managers shifted from cooperative to employment relationships, strengthening management to solve timeliness and delivery service quality. Additionally, grid stations now have independent financial settlement, striving to turn losses into profits. Comment: The launch of Panshi ultimately failed to reverse Xingsheng's decline. Withdrawing cities and defending, focusing forces to consolidate base markets, became Xingsheng's stopgap measure. The 'Fortress Plan' has been elevated, focusing on cost reduction, efficiency, and consolidating core markets, becoming Xingsheng's strategic center going forward.
**Taocaicai: Exploring from Sales-Distribution to Co-Distribution, Continuing National Expansion** In September, Taocaicai explored co-distribution operations in county-level markets in Sichuan, Shaanxi, and other regions. It is reported that Taocaicai began exploring the sales-distribution integration model in 2021, where agents fully represent regional markets. After the sales-distribution model matured, Taocaicai continued exploring paths to lower-tier markets—co-distribution. On November 24, Taocaicai opened in Dalian. In Liaoning, Taocaicai has entered cities like Anshan, Shenyang, and Yingkou, with more openings planned. Currently, Taocaicai has entered 18 provinces (and municipalities) including Guangdong, Hunan, and Henan. Within a year of launch, its annual active users reached 90 million. Comment: From sales-distribution integration to co-distribution, Taocaicai's operating model continues to iterate. With Alibaba's resources, Taocaicai's ambition goes beyond being a national Top 3, carrying Alibaba's huge ambitions in the local retail track.
**Hema Neighborhood: 'Neighborhood' Steps Back, 'Outlets' Step Forward** In April 2022, Hema Neighborhood closed operations in Beijing, Xi'an, Chengdu, and Wuhan. In October, it closed stores in Hangzhou and Nanjing, retreating to its Shanghai base. Meanwhile, Hema Outlets, under the same Hema NB division, opened 4 new stores in Shanghai. Earlier, on September 20, Hema upgraded its organizational structure to 'Three Vertical, Three Horizontal,' divided into three major divisions: Hema Fresh Division (Hema Fresh, Hema Mini), Hema MAX Division (Hema X Membership Store), and Hema NB Division (Hema Neighborhood, Hema Outlets). Hema NB Division was defined by Hou Yi as Hema's most important strategic project for the next decade, with Hou Yi directly serving as CEO. In Hema's 2022 performance, Hema Outlets, focusing on 'hard discount + soft discount,' saw a year-on-year growth of 555%. After Hema Neighborhood retreated to Shanghai in October, Hema Outlets took over the banner for Hema's attack on the lower-tier market. It is reported that Hema Outlets currently has over 50 stores, maintaining a pace of 3-4 new stores per month. Internally, Hema Outlets basically serves as a transfer store for Hema Fresh's consumables, with a structure of about 5-6 Outlet stores per Hema Fresh store. Comment: Hema Neighborhood and Taocaicai form the two wings of Alibaba's community e-commerce. Compared to Taocaicai, which is gradually finding its 'feel,' Hema Neighborhood has stumbled in many places, and its position within the Hema system is gradually being replaced by Hema Outlets. The Hema system has formed a pyramid structure of 'Hema X Membership Store, Hema Fresh, Hema Outlets,' spanning high-end and lower-tier markets. Hema Outlets carries the mission of attacking the lower-tier market and also carries Hema's dream of serving 1 billion Chinese consumers.
**JD: Jingxi Fails, Dongdong Tuan Launches** In early April 2022, Jingxi Pinpin withdrew from Sichuan, Jiangxi, Hainan, Guangdong, and Jiangsu-Shanghai. In May, Jingxi launched a B+C co-distribution model, gradually integrating Jingxi Pinpin's grid warehouses into other JD system warehouse and distribution businesses, mainly focusing on small B-store orders from JD's Zhangguibao and Jingxitong (formerly Xintonglu), achieving a co-distribution model of 'Jingxi Pinpin C-end orders + JD system B-end orders' to maintain warehouse and distribution operations and support people and vehicles. In June, JD dismantled the Jingxi business group, integrating original business lines into other similar business groups. Jingxi APP, Jingxitong (formerly Xintonglu), and Jingxi Pinpin were merged into JD Retail. Meanwhile, Jingxi Pinpin further contracted, retaining only some business in Beijing and Zhengzhou. However, JD's group buying dream did not die. In October, JD launched 'Dongdong Tuan,' a community group buying mini-program benchmarking Kuaituantuan, with quality supply chain solutions and rich marketing services. Comment: Facing the huge market space and traffic entry value of community group buying, JD naturally does not want to be absent. Even if the first attempt failed, it persists in its original intention. Of course, giants exploring group buying is not just for market growth but also a flank defense strategy.
**Local Groups: Restart and Recovery, Returning to Group Buying**
**Zhihua Zhiguo: Focusing on Exclusive Group Leaders, Deploying Zhihua Stations** In September 2022, Zhihua Zhiguo launched an exclusive support plan for group leaders, coaching them to improve user operations, product promotion, and other capabilities, and assisting with ground promotion and fan acquisition activities. In October, Zhihua Zhiguo's group store project was upgraded to 'Zhihua Station.' Initially positioned as 'group buying pickup points,' stores upgrade to 'pickup + physical stores' after monthly group efficiency reaches 60,000-100,000, and further upgrade to 'Zhihua Product Experience Centers and Community Service Centers' when mature. Thus, Zhihua Zhiguo's group leaders form a 'wild goose echelon': 'Zhihua Station leaders lead, key Zhihua leaders form the wings, ordinary Zhihua leaders form the rear base, with continuous screening of excellent leaders and platform support for leader advancement,' thereby strengthening penetration of local markets. Comment: As one of the earliest local group entrepreneurs, Cai Shilong has led Zhihua Zhiguo to continuously consolidate supply chain, warehousing and distribution, and group leader operations, while optimizing various operational management nodes. From supporting exclusive group leaders to innovating group stores and deploying Zhihua Stations, these moves reflect the founder's unique industry insights.
**Youjing Youtian: Opening Six Cities, Upgrading to IP Curation Model** On March 21, 2022, Youjing Youtian announced it would open six cities: Zhumadian, Luoyang, Xuchang, Anyang, Zhoukou, and Kaifeng. On May 19, Youjing Youtian celebrated its 'Fourth Anniversary,' upgrading its integrated procurement-sales model to 'IP Curation,' creating personal IPs and empowering procurement teams for lean entrepreneurship. In October, Youjing Youtian launched local life services, covering categories like health checkups and housekeeping. In late October, Youjing Youtian successively partnered with KFC and McDonald's to launch supply guarantee packages, with online reservations and home delivery. Since Double 11, Youjing Youtian has collaborated with major restaurants like Jiejia Henan Cuisine, live-streaming sales of special packages, delivering through next-day pickup, same-city home delivery, and in-store verification. Comment: As an influential local group, every move by Youjing Youtian attracts industry attention. From upgrading the IP Curation model to expanding into local life services and developing a second growth curve, Youjing Youtian continues to explore both tapping existing business potential and developing incremental business, representing a typical case of lean entrepreneurship among local groups.
**Cangji Linli: Restarting Group Buying, Practicing Direct-Operation Groups** In May 2022, after restarting its community group buying project, Cangji Linli fully upgraded to a comprehensive platform covering seven business segments: 'Community Group Buying (Cangji Linli), Community Group Wholesale (Cangji Group Wholesale), Fanshi Own Brand (community group buying supply chain), Xunxian Supply Chain (drop-shipping supply chain), Cangji Supply Chain (Jiangsu-Zhejiang-Shanghai local distribution supply chain), Cangji Cloud Warehouse (comprehensive service provider for local distribution and drop-shipping), and Cangji Kuaituantuan (community drop-shipping).' In September, it launched a southern Jiangsu expansion plan, first opening Suzhou, then Changzhou. In December, Cangji Linli bet on 'direct-operation groups,' rebranding as Yixin Tuan, cooperating with pickup points like express stations, focusing on 'good goods, cheaper,' and striving to become Suzhou's most cost-effective local group. Comment: From the 'grandiose' during the boom to the 'steady and prudent' after settling down, Cangji Linli focuses on direct-operation groups, supply chain construction, and user service. Isn't this a return to the essence of group buying and the original intention of entrepreneurship?
**Group Wholesale: Focusing on Vertical Categories, Market Expansion** It is reported that Zhengzhou has nearly 200 group wholesalers, mainly concentrated in Wanbang Wholesale Market and urban areas, while Nanjing has over 160 group wholesalers. The chain group store Guofengjia's bestsellers include one-third from group wholesalers. Additionally, cities like Changsha, Wuhan, and Shijiazhuang have a large number of group wholesalers. The composition of group wholesalers is complex and diverse: local groups doing group wholesale (e.g., Zhengzhou Qinguo Qingcheng), manufacturers doing group wholesale (e.g., Guangzhou Zhangpai Grain and Oil), and resource providers like group buying supply chains, grid warehouses, distributors, and warehouse stores also have potential. With emerging trends like 'group store model booming, group leader self-organization becoming common, and traditional retail exploring group buying,' customer demand for bestsellers is strong. Meanwhile, the service targets of group wholesalers are no longer limited to independent group leaders, greatly expanding the market. Comment: **The core value of group wholesale is not just outputting bestsellers, but outputting a complete customer service solution, helping clients solve issues like stable quality, stable delivery, and sustained profitability.** This requires group wholesale platforms to focus on user thinking and strive to become users' life buyers, so as to assist clients in serving users well. The essence of group wholesale is still supply chain, so it must focus on vertical categories to maximize the ability to incubate bestsellers.
**Group Stores: National Advance, North-South Differentiation** Group stores were the undisputed phenomenal model of community group buying in 2022, with Xiaoxu Daojia receiving the most attention. This platform builds group stores based on the logic of 'physical stores + private domain traffic pools.' Xiaoxu Daojia currently has nearly 400 stores nationwide, including 20 in Shanghai and 86 in Hubei. Xiaoxu Daojia represents the northern school of group stores. The southern school representative, 'Guofengjia,' is positioned as 'fruit store + private domain group buying,' aiming to create a 'group store version of Baiguoyuan.' It currently has over 20 stores, half in urban areas and half in county areas, following the logic of 'big city small stores and small city big stores.' Additionally, the group store platform 'Meilintao,' born in the Central Plains, is unique, positioned as 'group buying + supermarket/group buying + station,' aiming to create a 'group store version of Xingsheng Youxuan' as an empowering group store, currently expanding to over 50 group stores. Comment: The reason 2022 became the year of group store explosion is the combination of timing and momentum. 'Timing' refers to the fact that 'group buying users have formed a huge scale, and new infrastructure like supply chain and warehousing and distribution is increasingly complete.' 'Momentum' refers to 'capital groups shrinking, platform talent and group leaders spilling over, local groups restarting expansion, and the trend of online-offline integration in group buying becoming apparent,' driving the national advance of the group store model. **As various experts gather in the group store track, due to differences in resource endowments and logic, the group store model began to differentiate in the second half of 2022.** From a business model perspective, Xiaoxu Daojia is a franchise group store, Guofengjia is a direct-operation group store, and Meilintao is an empowering group store. The northern school, represented by Xiaoxu Daojia, focuses more on group store traffic models and supply chain system construction. The southern school, represented by Guofengjia, focuses more on refined operation of group stores, while Meilintao focuses more on the physical store foundation of group stores.
**Group Leaders: Group Rise, Hierarchical Classification** It is reported that in 2022, the number of community group buying users increased to nearly 900 million. During this year's Double 11, new retail platforms achieved total sales of 21.8 billion yuan, with community group buying contributing 13.5 billion yuan, accounting for over 60%. Community group buying is becoming a mainstream track. Accompanying its rise are over 2 million group leaders nationwide. In Hefei, Shengxian Chuanqi's Wang Wei stated that Hefei has about 5,000 group leaders (wild groups), with daily sales exceeding 10 million yuan, almost surpassing the total sales of all supermarkets. In Jinan, among 6,511 residential communities, each has about 3-5 effective group leaders. According to the views of Chen Haichao, chief consultant of Kaiman 4000, due to differences in ability, resources, and values, group leaders have differentiated into three camps: _[1] Entrepreneurial group leaders (80-100 points): Familiar with private domain operations and supply chain, able to operate independently or establish self-organizations for joint procurement and distribution. _[2] Professional group leaders (60-80 points): Familiar with private domain operations but lacking supply chain, mainly cooperating with local groups and group wholesalers. _[3] Part-time group leaders (below 60 points): Unfamiliar with supply chain and private domain operations, connecting with capital groups or direct-operation groups as pure pickup points._ BOLIN New Retail's Bao Ge lists 'group leaders, station/e-commerce main site, and super wholesale/supermarket wholesale' as the three major commercial infrastructures. The commonality of 'group leaders, main sites, and supermarkets' is their ability to directly connect with C-end users and serve them. Group leaders undertake the functions of user organization and periodic group opening, helping upstream connect directly with C-end, enabling platforms to achieve B+C integrated operations, thereby establishing the ability for demand side to feed back to supply side. For manufacturers, this is a new channel for efficient C-end reach. Comment: The greatest contribution of community group buying to the retail industry revolution is the incubation of a million group leaders. The 7 million retail small stores incubated by traditional retail allowed users to enjoy shopping convenience, while the over 2 million group leaders incubated by community group buying allowed users to enjoy high cost-performance products. In the future, the digitalization of retail small stores and the institutionalization of group leaders will inevitably collide, and group stores are one of the outcomes.
**Suppliers: Starting with Bestsellers, Returning to Brands** In the community group buying industry, there are two highly discussed brands: one is the Xinjiang milk brand Tulaolao, which has deeply cultivated local group channels for years, with annual sales reaching hundreds of millions of yuan; the other is Lvling Huohou Roasted Walnuts, which achieved a single-product explosion of 4.36 million boxes in 8 months. They share a commonality: forming cross-platform channel momentum, upgrading from group bestsellers to group brands. In March 2022, Youjing Youtian released four million-yuan single products, which are typical group bestsellers. Sun Jiyong, a senior operator in the catering supply chain, has unique insights into group bestsellers. Taking frozen products as an example, group bestsellers must meet three logics: suitable for various cooking methods like grilling, hot pot, stewing; suitable for diverse scenarios like hot pot, barbecue, formal dining, and snacks; and having broad national recognition and acceptance. Digital marketing expert Liu Chunxiong believes: Group buying platforms excel at 'promoting the new,' suitable for building new brands; group brands are channel brands; building a group brand requires traffic density; and it requires learning the channel organization power of deep distribution. Comparing by sales volume, national head local groups with annual sales of 100 million to 1 billion yuan are only equivalent to medium or medium-large distributors. For manufacturers, the new opportunity is to achieve B+C integrated operations by building group brands. The ideal model for a group brand is 'collaborating with a thousand platforms, connecting a million group leaders, reaching hundreds of millions of users,' that is, 'a million terminals and hundreds of millions of fans.' Mr. Liu proposed four categories of group brands: 'platform-owned group brands, manufacturer group brands, group buying operator group brands, and supply chain group brands.' Notably, 'group buying operator group brands' are more profound. Mr. Liu believes that between suppliers and platforms, there needs to be an intermediary role that is familiar with both ends and can effectively organize both ends, thereby creating a group brand that operates across platforms and even tracks, achieving omni-channel operations. Comment: The three major infrastructures of community group buying—'group leaders, warehousing and distribution, and supply chain'—have seen group leaders differentiate into entrepreneurial, professional, and part-time types; warehousing and distribution has iterated into a three-level model of 'shared warehouse—central warehouse—grid warehouse.' The rise of group brands in 2022 marks the entry of the community group buying supply chain into an iterative innovation stage.
**Conclusion:** In 2022, community group buying was characterized by differentiation and innovation throughout. When an industry continues to differentiate, it means increasing maturity. From suppliers, platforms, to group leaders, all show a diversified and subdivided landscape. Behind this diversification is the continuous differentiation into new circles based on differences in resource endowments, abilities, experiences, visions, and aspirations. This explains why 'some platforms deepen local operations, while others expand nationally.' As 2022 fades away and 2023 approaches, community group buying will continue to differentiate and innovate in the new year, ensuring the entire group buying ecosystem retains vitality for upward and downward mobility.


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