Click to read the original article for details. When it comes to convenience stores, Chinese consumers quickly think of 7-11, FamilyMart, and Lawson, as if only Japanese convenience stores are authentic, mainstream, and upscale. Little do they know that these Japanese branded convenience stores are actually defeated rivals of Chinese local convenience stores. According to Deloitte research data, the top convenience store chain in China is the local brand Meiyijia, with FamilyMart ranking fourth and 7-11 only fifth. Notably, 7-11 entered China as early as 1978, while the local brand Meiyijia was founded in 1997, 19 years later. How did Meiyijia, which started late and had a weaker foundation, defeat the industry giant 7-11? The King of Chinese Convenience Stores Founder Ye Zhijian is a native of Dongguan. Before founding Meiyijia, he was also the chairman of Dongguan Sugar and Wine Group. Not only Meiyijia, but also Dongguan's second-ranked convenience store chain Tianfu Convenience Store and third-ranked Shanghao Convenience Store both originated from the Sugar and Wine Group. The former was founded by Ye Zhijian's secretary, and the latter was once run by a first-generation Meiyijia store owner. It can be said that all convenience stores in Dongguan have Meiyijia's bloodline. Founder Ye Zhijian is therefore hailed as the "Godfather of Dongguan Retail." In 2016, Ye Zhijian received the CCFA China Chain Industry Lifetime Achievement Award, the highest award in China's retail industry. However, in 1997, when Meiyijia was just established, Ye Zhijian was not so glorious. In those two years, he felt considerable pressure. At that time, world retail giants Walmart and Carrefour successively entered Dongguan, with business areas of around 10,000 square meters, while Meijia Supermarket, which accounted for half of the Sugar and Wine Group's turnover, was only 300-500 square meters in size. Compared with the former two, Meijia Supermarket was insignificant. But the "local snake" can transform. Ye Zhijian decisively chose to transform, learning from the 7-11 model, making the stores smaller, and establishing Meiyijia convenience stores. After 20 years of competition, Meiyijia not only survived the foreign giants but also grew stronger right under their noses. As of May 2018, Meiyijia had over 13,000 stores nationwide, more than the combined total of Shanghai Nonggongshang Convenience Group (which owns Haode and Kedi) and 7-11 (mainland China) by over a thousand stores, making it the undisputed "King of Chinese Convenience Stores." Meiyijia's Path to Counterattack Meiyijia's development from a small local convenience store to a national chain cannot be separated from the word "innovation." This innovation is not simply copying foreign models, but adapting to local conditions and transforming: First, opening stores in industrial areas; 7-11 stores are generally located in commercial centers or urban residential areas, but Dongguan is a "world factory" without a strict city center or residential areas, only industrial areas. Therefore, Meiyijia chose to locate its stores around industrial areas, firstly to have dense foot traffic, and secondly to avoid direct competition with giants like Carrefour, thus breaking up into smaller units and blooming everywhere. Early Meiyijia convenience store Second, lowering the threshold and opening franchising; Unlike 7-11's high franchise fees and "tiered commission," Meiyijia decided from the beginning to expand through franchising. With a one-time investment of up to 200,000 yuan for store opening costs and labor, one can open a store and become a boss. This is a dream that even office workers can achieve. Under this stimulus, Meiyijia's store count quickly doubled. Third, learning from 7-11 and establishing a supply chain; Initially, Meiyijia did not mandate that franchisees purchase and distribute uniformly, but let them solve it themselves. However, soon product quality issues appeared in franchise stores, directly affecting Meiyijia's reputation. Meiyijia decided to rectify this by learning from 7-11 and establishing a supply chain. On one hand, fully introducing POS systems to solve the connection needs between headquarters and stores; However, the POS machines costing over 10,000 yuan were much more expensive than the 3,000 yuan cash registers, so many franchisees were unwilling to replace them, ultimately leading to a quarter of franchisees exiting and forming their own Jiahe Convenience Store Company. Today, Meiyijia is thriving, while Jiahe convenience stores are hard to find on the streets of Dongguan. On the other hand, improving logistics; In 2002, Shijie Logistics was established. Subsequently, Meiyijia built a warehouse of 20,000 square meters. By 2012, Shijie Logistics had hundreds of trucks delivering goods to stores every day, and Meiyijia stores achieved delivery every two days. After perfecting the key service of supply chain, Meiyijia entered a period of rapid development. Challenges for Meiyijia in the New Retail Era In June 2018, at the China Convenience Store Conference held in Beijing, Ye Zhijian stated that in the new era, Meiyijia is seeking to transform its business model by building three major platforms to shift from a convenience store channel provider to a service provider. These three platforms are: supply chain data platform, store intelligent operation platform, and member precision marketing platform. To fully establish these three platforms, strong data support is needed. To this end, Meiyijia has made the following changes: First, intelligent upgrade of convenience stores; Yaliang Technology is a well-known Chinese brand for customer flow statistics systems. Participating in Meiyijia's renovation, it added a full set of retail technologies such as customer flow statistics, facial recognition, heat zone analysis, and store inspection, helping intelligent and precise management of customer flow and improving overall transaction rates. Customer flow statistics and heat zone analysis system Second, digital membership; For Meiyijia, with over 10,000 stores and more than 3.5 million customers daily, the massive member data is Meiyijia's greatest asset. Even before food delivery was as convenient as it is now, Meiyijia had already implemented WeChat ordering and home delivery. The integration of online and offline membership systems has made Meiyijia's customer profiling and demand pattern analysis more precise. Data shows that users who previously visited stores twice a week have now increased to five times. Third, upgrading stores for more convenience; For customers, convenience is the most critical indicator when choosing a convenience store. The latest upgraded Meiyijia stores not only offer fresh food, daily necessities, grain and oil, non-staple food, personal care and cosmetics, but also provide more than 20 life services such as mobile top-up, bill payment, parcel collection and delivery, and convenient payment, and have begun to experiment with a dozen types of Cantonese morning tea. The latest upgraded Meiyijia store strengthens the fresh food area and leisure area in functionality. However, Meiyijia's situation is very severe. Not to mention the intense competition in the convenience store industry itself, in the new retail era, giants like Alibaba, Tencent, JD.com, and Suning have all participated in the convenience store industry. It can be said that China's convenience stores are about to usher in an unprecedented digital reform. But in fact, this is already the third transformation for the Sugar and Wine Group led by Ye Zhijian. As early as 1990, during the era of supply and marketing cooperatives, Ye Zhijian discovered that this model could not keep up with the trends of the times, so he decisively led the team to reform, learn advanced foreign retail experience, and establish a localized chain supermarket - Meijia Supermarket. Later, Meijia Supermarket transformed again into Meiyijia convenience stores. It can be said that innovation and disruption are in Meiyijia's genes. And the author always has confidence in innovation! On October 23-24, during the Autumn Sugar and Wine Fair, the "2018 FMCG City Distribution Logistics Conference" hosted by New Distribution will be held. We will invite industry experts, FMCG warehousing and distribution specialists, and distributors who have transformed to unified warehousing and distribution platforms to discuss and answer questions about the future development trends of FMCG city distribution logistics and practical cases of distributor transformation to unified warehousing and distribution, hoping to bring you different inspiration and thinking! The specific meeting topics are as follows: List of Participating Companies In no particular order Hunan Zonglan Dian Dan Network Technology Co., Ltd. Jingbang (Wuhan) International Freight Forwarding Co., Ltd. Mengniu Dairy Qinghai Hanxiang E-commerce Co., Ltd. Unilever Service (Hefei) Co., Ltd. Shanghai Branch Huicong Hunan Xuanang Food Co., Ltd. Guangzhou Tongdaoren Information Technology Co., Ltd. Qingdao 888 Trading Co., Ltd. Uni-President Enterprises (China) Investment Co., Ltd. Hunan Province Zhongxiang Gongpei Logistics Co., Ltd. Shenglong Ingredients COSCO Shipping Logistics Warehousing and Distribution Co., Ltd. Guangxi Yongpai Liquor Industry Co., Ltd. Shangqiu Kangrong Trading Co., Ltd. Jinan Dingzhong Economic and Trade Co., Ltd. Liaoning Bimai Agricultural Technology Co., Ltd. Kunming Xiongjia Trading Co., Ltd. Shaanxi Houheng Trading Co., Ltd. Guangzhou Dingwo Enterprise Information Consulting Co., Ltd. Shaodong Jiajiale Commercial Firm Boda Trading Industrial Bank Changsha Branch Wuhan Mucheng Convenience Store Chain Co., Ltd. Fujian Fuxing Yuncang Logistics Co., Ltd. Guizhou Yilimi E-commerce Co., Ltd. Jiangxi Xiao Laoer E-commerce Co., Ltd. Jinshankoufu Shanxi Taihang Yuanjing Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd. Shanxi Dezhun Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd. Shaoyang Tongdeli Trading (Xiangbang Logistics) Huanfu Tongda Express City Distribution Beijing Xinjingxiang Food Co., Ltd. Wuhan Huizhong Tianhong Liquor Co., Ltd. Changsha Paide Biotechnology Co., Ltd. Chaoan Tuqiang Guizhou Yihe Bopin Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd. Jiangxi Kang'en Industrial Development Co., Ltd. Xiangtan County Yisuhe Town Yuhua Paper Store Luoyang Yuanlang Trading Co., Ltd. Tongchuan Yaozhou Huayuan Supermarket Co., Ltd. Hunan Yongfu Jiujiu Trading Co., Ltd. Zhejiang Chengchengtong Logistics Co., Ltd. Chongqing Kaiguo Materials Trading Co., Ltd. Beijing Xianmaixianmai Data Technology Co., Ltd. Hanchuan Qixing Trading Co., Ltd. Tongxin Jiuzhiru Trading Co., Ltd. Guizhou Meiguo Guoguo Network Technology Co., Ltd. Hubei Anjie Logistics Co., Ltd. Hubei Kuaixiao Internet Technology Development Co., Ltd. ...... Representatives of Distributor Transformation (Tentative) In no particular order Jiangsu Huashang City Distribution Network Co., Ltd. Chairman, Rong Jun Hubei Yijiaren Logistics Co., Ltd. Chairman, Wang Bo Sichuan Chengdu Xingrenxing Trading Co., Ltd. General Manager, Jiang Shuming Shandong Yunbang Warehousing and Logistics Co., Ltd. Chairman, Liu Jichen Chongqing Lingyu Consumer Goods Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd. Chairman, Tu Mingyu Guangzhou Zhongshan Wanrong Marketing Co., Ltd. Chairman, Yang Su Sichuan Bajie Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd. Chairman, Yuan Xia Hubei Pengdun Meiyitian Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd. Co-founder, Li Qiangyun Henan Xuchang Jiulegou E-commerce Co., Ltd. Chairman, Zhang Jianyong Hebei Changyi Logistics Co., Ltd. Founder, Ma Haichao Hebei (Chengde) Wulian Yuncang Co., Ltd. General Manager, Meng Yucun Xinjiang Urumqi Su'an Jinchi Logistics Co., Ltd. Chairman, Zhang Xun Jilin Sansheng Lianguo Chairman, Zhang Hailing Hebei Dunjie Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd. Founder, Qiang Huitao Hunan Damei Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd. General Manager, Liao Lei ...... -END-