Click for details This is a typical O2O model 2C e-commerce; the banner that Aixianfeng once held has now been raised in a different posture. From the perspective of the core value of community group buying, the model is very simple and clear: it is a 2C e-commerce platform based on WeChat's social LBS. To put it more simply, it is group buying self-pickup + WeChat group sharing. This article mainly analyzes several core key points of the community e-commerce model: Core Key Point 1: "My Leader, My Group" The platform incentivizes group leaders with about 10% sales commission to move forward/make money, thereby achieving:
User expansion (i.e., pulling community consumers into groups)
Community operation (in-group product promotion, contact, and after-sales)
Assisting delivery (self-pickup points for store owners and mothers) Group leaders are mainly chosen from two groups: community store owners and mothers, each with pros and cons: mothers have high operational enthusiasm and invest more time, but lack standard pickup points and have unstable service, suitable for user development and operation; store owners have physical stores, giving them absolute advantages in customer acquisition and front-end warehousing, but often invest insufficient energy in community operations. Through a period of data observation, group leaders play a crucial role in per-customer transaction value and sales. The same group, operated by different leaders, can see sales differences of up to 100%. It is evident that a group's operation heavily depends on the leader's ability. To improve leaders' operational level, platforms attempt to strengthen training, establish standard scripts, use in-group bots, enhance incentive policies, increase penalties and elimination, and even make leaders employees. This is quite like creating a "Haidilao you can't learn" level of store manager management. Of course, there is also a view that the value of group leaders is prominent in the early stage. Once users form habits, with the accumulation of big data, a group's product selection will infinitely approach the consumer profile of that community, naturally relying on dynamic category recommendations to retain users. Both management models that conform to and activate human nature and big data user demand analysis are the future and core. Core Key Point 2: Pickup Points
Stores outside and inside the community.
Temporary storage points for mothers, such as cooperation with courier stations and property management.
Smart locker pickup points. In practice, pickup points are most suitable for community convenience stores, as they are open year-round and provide stable service. This conclusion seems correct, but it sparked a small-scale heated discussion in a community group buying industry group: Is unmanned pickup point the mainstream model of the future? Proponents believe in the power of technology, while opponents think it is just a supplement. I believe that many problems with pickup points will gradually emerge: future larger order volumes and food safety management requirements will lead to higher demands on pickup points. In the future, good locations, even for self-pickup points, will become more valuable. Of course, there is a fourth view: direct delivery, no need for user self-pickup, delivered to home. But this requires stores to keep inventory, and requires a sufficiently high average order value to cover the cost. At the same time, it overlaps with food delivery services. The cost and risk of 30-minute delivery are still high, and it is difficult to replicate quickly. Core Key Point 3: Categories—What to Eat Tomorrow?! Initially, fresh produce bestsellers are used for traffic, and the pre-sale self-pickup model ensures the lowest loss and delivery costs. Building a full-category (300-500 SKU) supply chain around basic community dining scenarios is very challenging. Later, high-margin, low-frequency products are introduced, using fresh produce to cultivate user habits, achieving high-frequency driving low-frequency. The above view is common in community group buying business plans, and I agree. But the current problem is that product selection needs to change daily; if there is no change, sales will halve the next day! This number is terrifying. "What to eat tomorrow" is the number one problem troubling humanity, and fresh ingredients are within its range. Recommending high-quality, differentiated, and continuously innovative products to your community users daily has long existed in traditional retail store management, called "thousand stores, thousand faces". Supply chain: Because the current stage of platforms is still in the early development of grabbing leaders and users, most use same-city supply chain procurement. The theoretical model of buyer system + direct sourcing from origins nationwide is still a beautiful future; it might be better to try cooperating with professional supply chain companies. Fruit chain stores with inherent supply chain advantages have a clear edge, but unfortunately, they have too few categories with strong supply chain advantages to solve the world problem of what community users will eat tomorrow. Core Key Point 4: Operations The difficulty of operation management lies in leader management and peer competition. How many community group buying groups exist in a community? Currently, in competitive areas, there can be more than three, but since each company's average order value is not too high, they operate independently without affecting each other. That is, in the future, a community will mainly be managed by one platform with multiple leaders and groups. Warehousing and distribution cost control: Given that fresh produce warehouses need to operate 24/7, and with rising labor costs for warehousing and logistics, it might be better to try cooperating with professional supply chain companies. After all, the situation where larger sales lead to larger losses is what investors who favor the core value of community group buying do not want to see: "Didn't they say delivery costs are low?" At this stage, mainstream VCs have begun to lay out this track. The initial round of investment is not large, but top platforms have monthly transaction volumes exceeding 40 million, growing rapidly, replicating the model city by city. The overall industry is in the early stage of rapid development. Wang Jun: Famous new retail expert. Chief retail analysis expert and special columnist for New Distribution. Previously worked at: Quanshi Convenience Group, HNA Zhanghe Cloud Warehouse, Radio and Television Group. Has rich practical experience in FMCG supply chain and new retail channels. Has in-depth research on innovative fields such as community group buying, unmanned retail, and IP commercialization. Author's Community Group Buying Column Extended Reading: If you are interested in the above content, welcome to scan the code to join the New Distribution community. The community includes: FMCG B2B, community group buying e-commerce, internet transformation, marketing innovation, and other themed communities, as well as investor, CEO, and marketing expert communities. Please scan the QR code below to join the group. When adding friends, please indicate your identity and purpose. -END-