After a six-year absence from Fuzhou, Hema is set to open its first flagship store in Fujian at Fuzhou Suning Plaza. This location is in the central area of the Suwanbao business district and the bustling Minjiang North CBD, precisely where Pupu's penetration exceeds 70%. Hema's move is a genuine frontal assault. Many people's first reaction is: Is Hema, which was 'chased out' six years ago, returning for a rematch? But the actual situation is far more complex than 'revenge.' This return battle is never a simple confrontation between Hema and Pupu, but rather another contest between nationally standardized new retail and locally rooted, development-focused instant retail.
An Old Score: Hema's Exit in 2020
In 2018, Hema was the 'outstanding player' of Alibaba's new retail. It arrived in Fuzhou with king crab, Boston lobster, and a refined store-warehouse integration model, promising to make millions of Fuzhou residents live in 'Hema zones.' At that time, Fuzhou's new retail concept was just taking off; Yonghui was deeply rooted offline, while Pupu remained quietly focused on local operations. Hema's arrival in Fuzhou was once a novelty that people flocked to check in. But the excitement lasted only two years. In 2020, Hema hastily withdrew from Fuzhou, reportedly due to overly distant supply chain nodes and lack of product advantages. Industry insiders knew this was just a face-saving excuse for its partners. Back then, Hema's loss was not unjust. It transplanted the mature model from the East China market wholesale, and cooperated with Fujian Xinhua to open stores, but their interests were not fully aligned. Hema's prices were significantly higher than local wet markets and Yonghui; its positioning was always mid-to-high-end, with elaborate decor and premium goods, targeting urban middle-class consumers, but it failed to consider the core of Fuzhou's consumer market at the time—pragmatism and value for money. More seriously, the aftermath of blind expansion: Hema, which opened many stores nationwide, indeed lacked the energy to deeply cultivate Fuzhou's local supply chain. With high rents in commercial districts and fluctuating customer traffic, before Hema withdrew from Fuzhou in May 2020, its single-store average daily online orders were about 1,900–2,200. According to Fuzhou News Network, at that time, Pupu Supermarket's daily orders in Fuzhou could reach up to 200,000, and Yonghui's home delivery in Fuzhou could reach up to 60,000. Hema had only 3 stores, with total online orders less than 10,000—how could it compete?
Pupu's Moat:
Never the Front Warehouse, but a Local Touch Rooted in Hearts
Pupu, a local enterprise founded in Taijiang District in 2016, never planned national expansion. Instead, it focused on deeply cultivating Fuzhou and Xiamen, truly making front warehouses an indispensable part of local life. Its core advantage has never been the 800–1,000 square meter warehouses or over 10,000 SKUs, but its ever-increasing localization. Its suppliers are almost all from Fujian, with a short supply chain radius, low fresh produce loss, and controllable costs. Its product selection does not chase internet-famous items but focuses on the actual needs of Fuzhou people. Items with folk customs, like sugarcane and red rice barrels, are details many external platforms overlook. Riders' attentive service greatly enhances user stickiness—remembering floors, ringing doorbells softly, and taking out the trash—these make Pupu more than a 'grocery platform' but a 'life partner.' Data is most convincing: Pupu's penetration in Fuzhou and Xiamen exceeds 70%, with annual sales in a single city surpassing 10 billion yuan, and fulfillment costs down to 17.5%. In 2024, it achieved profitability with annual revenue of 30 billion yuan, successfully running the difficult profit model for front warehouses. But Pupu also faces challenges. Online traffic dividends have peaked; from late 2024 to early 2025, it took over old Yonghui stores and expanded offline, but it lacks rich experience in offline store operations. Pupu's regional focus also reflects its 'inability' to expand nationally; even with expansion to 9 cities, it has never broken out of the core South China region. Facing attacks from Xiaoxiang and Hema, it continues to increase investment to protect its market, challenging its profitability. There is no perfect business model; Pupu's 'small but beautiful' model is both a protective barrier and a potential invisible shackle.
Hema's 'Bowing': Six Years Changed, but Not Completely
Hema has indeed changed. The player that once burned money for scale achieved full-year profitability in 2025, with revenue growth exceeding 40%, successfully escaping losses. It launched dual business formats: Freshippo big stores for mid-to-high-end experiences, and Hebox NB for community value-for-money, striving to cover consumers of all ages. It has also learned the knack of rooting locally, mastering localized operations in cities like Dongying and Puyang, understanding different regional consumption preferences, and no longer using a one-size-fits-all model. This time returning to Fuzhou, Hema has clearly made full preparations, focusing on the shortcomings of Fuzhou's consumption upgrade, aiming to fill gaps in the local market with immersive experiences and diverse formats. Despite changes, old problems persist. Hebox NB opens franchise channels; fresh produce is non-standard and perishable, leaving franchisees with limited profit margins and ongoing risks of quality control failure. Its insistence on mall store locations means the rent burden and customer conversion difficulties from six years ago remain unresolved. In Guangzhou and Shenzhen, despite earlier entry, Hema is caught between Pupu and Xiaoxiang, becoming a secondary player. The adaptability required for the South China market has never been its strength. Although Hema has learned to 'stoop,' it may not truly understand Fuzhou's everyday life. What Fuzhou people want is not a refined check-in in a mall, but fresh delivery within half an hour downstairs, thoughtful care, and everyday convenience—these cannot be easily recreated through format adjustments and supply chain optimization.
The Battlefield Has Changed:
Fuzhou Retail Is No Longer a 'Two-Player Show'
Hema's reappearance is just a small part of Fuzhou's changing retail landscape. Today, Fuzhou's GDP exceeds 1.5 trillion yuan, making it a quasi-first-tier city. The wave of consumption upgrade is sweeping in, but the retail landscape is vastly different from six years ago. The former offline giant Yonghui is mired in a difficult transformation. From 2022 to 2025, it closed over 500 stores. Even with adjustments based on Pangdonglai's model, some stores see customer flow recovery, but its online business lags behind Pupu. Having just completed initial transformation, it faces new players' impact and can only defend with difficulty. There are rumors that Meituan's Xiaoxiang Supermarket is also preparing to enter Fuzhou. Xiaoxiang's model is very similar to Pupu's: large warehouses, full-category operations, 30-minute delivery, backed by Meituan's 600 million active users and 5 million riders. It could be Pupu's most direct competitor. Fuzhou's retail market, once a 'Pupu and Yonghui' duopoly, may become a multi-party contest among Pupu, Hema, Yonghui, and Xiaoxiang. Hema wants to capture the high-end experience market share, Xiaoxiang wants to overwhelm local players with traffic, Yonghui guards its offline base, and Pupu tenaciously defends its city. No one has an absolute advantage.
Final Thoughts
In the Retail Siege, There Are No Absolute Winners.
Hema's arrival at Fuzhou Suning Plaza is bound to be a contest without absolute winners. Hema brings six years of evolution but still must deal with old problems of localization, quality control, and costs. Pupu guards its seemingly impregnable base but faces pressure from peak online dividends, difficult offline expansion, and competitive attacks. Yonghui struggles in transformation, while Xiaoxiang eyes the market with capital and traffic. Whether Hema can pry open Pupu's home turf depends not on short-term sales and buzz, but on whether it can truly lower itself to embrace Fuzhou's everyday life. Whether Pupu can hold its market depends not on how perfect its model is, but on whether it can preserve the small details that make locals dependent. This battle in Southeast retail has just begun.