Gaoxin Retail Annual Meeting Vote Result: Huang Mingduan Appointed CEO On the evening of May 17, Gaoxin Retail announced that Mr. Huang Mingduan, replacing Mr. Holinier, was appointed as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company, effective May 17, 2019. Mr. Huang Mingduan, aged 64, previously served as Chairman and Director of multiple companies operating under the RT-Mart brand in China. He received a Master's degree in Business Administration from the College of Management at National Taiwan University in 1984. He is responsible for the overall strategic planning and management of the group. He served as a director of the company from 2011 to 2018. He joined the group in 2001 and has been CEO of Shanghai RT-Mart Co., Ltd. Prior to joining the group in 2001, Mr. Huang served as General Manager of Ruentex Global Co., Ltd. from 1991 to 1997, and as Vice Chairman of RT-Mart Distribution from 1997 to 2001. Earlier, on the evening of March 3, Gaoxin Retail released its 2018 annual results. For the year ended December 31, 2018, Gaoxin Retail achieved total sales revenue of 101.315 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 1.0%; revenue of 99.359 billion yuan, down 2.9%; operating profit of 4.196 billion yuan, down 6.5%; and profit attributable to equity shareholders of the company of 2.588 billion yuan, down 7.3%. Since announcing a 22.4 billion HKD investment in Gaoxin Retail on November 20, 2017, Alibaba's new retail transformation of Gaoxin Retail has lasted for more than a year. The results of Gaoxin Retail, which is undergoing new retail transformation, have also been released. According to the 2018 annual report plan on March 3, a series of measures will be taken to improve the 2019 plan: Integration of RT-Mart and Auchan Dual Brands Gaoxin Retail stated that the further integration of its dual brands, as sister companies under Gaoxin, RT-Mart and Auchan have cooperated in many areas. To improve operational efficiency and effectiveness, respond to the difficult competitive environment, and better serve customers, the group's board of directors decided in December 2018 to integrate the operational headquarters of the two companies and establish a joint operational headquarters. In addition, RT-Mart will assist Auchan in upgrading its IT system and integrating the supply chain. Gaoxin Retail stated that this integration is an internal resource and business integration within the group, not a merger of legal entities. Therefore, the RT-Mart and Auchan brands and their legal entity identities will be maintained. This integration will enhance the application of technology and management experience, and enable the group to utilize overall resources more efficiently, aiming to improve the group's efficiency and ultimately benefit its shareholders and employees. Digital Transformation of Physical Stores The Taoxianda project, a service for fresh food, aims to provide retailers with an integrated online-offline solution, digitize operations, and improve efficiency. After the success of two pilot stores in March 2018, Taoxianda rapidly expanded to all stores under the RT-Mart and Auchan brands within nine months. Currently, each store provides 13,000 to 15,000 items for Taoxianda business, mainly covering fresh food and fast-moving consumer goods. While rapidly promoting Taoxianda, the group also places great emphasis on service quality for consumers. Looking at three key indicators related to customer shopping experience and satisfaction: the punctuality rate for one-hour delivery exceeds 99%, the page out-of-stock rate is below 3%, and the shipping out-of-stock rate is below 0.1%. Restructuring Hypermarkets Functional Restructuring: From now on, physical stores will not only serve offline customers but also meet the needs of online and B2B customers. In addition, hypermarkets can act as hubs, enhancing store productivity by fully utilizing sales space to improve sales per square meter. Category Restructuring: Strive to become an expert in every category. Professional categories should be handed over to experts (for example, home appliances in cooperation with Suning). For textiles and household goods, cost-effective products will be provided, so self-created brands such as Taobao Selection and Life无忧 are introduced. More time will be spent on fresh food and fast-moving consumer goods, with the hope of becoming a food retail expert. Mindset Restructuring: The new positioning of hypermarkets is professionalism, quality, cost-effectiveness, and new retail concepts. Three pilot stores have completed restructuring: two existing stores, RT-Mart Yangpu and Auchan Jiaxing, and one newly opened store, RT-Mart Lucheng. Multi-format, Omnichannel Development Hema Xiaoma: The first Hema Xiaoma store opened in early June 2018. By the end of 2018, it had expanded to 9 Hema Xiaoma stores, of which 3 were self-operated and 6 were cooperative stores. Geographically, 7 are located in East China, with one each in Northeast and South China. Next year, efforts will be made to build a better Hema Xiaoma model, laying a solid foundation for future accelerated development. Hema Fresh: The first Hema Fresh store under RT-Mart opened on September 28, 2018, with a sales area of approximately 4,000 square meters. As of December 31, 2018, online orders accounted for nearly 50%. Home Appliances: In August 2018, Suning began operating home appliance departments in RT-Mart stores and completed the renovation of approximately 400 RT-Mart stores within two months. Before the Double 11 event, Suning completed full entry into more than 70 Auchan stores. Categories include black appliances, white appliances, small appliances, 3C products, and kitchen and bathroom products. Since June 2018, Suning has been renovating stores successively. By the end of 2018, home appliance sales in these stores had shown positive growth. B2B: At the end of August 2018, all stores under the Auchan brand launched B2B business. As of December 31, 2018, revenue generated from B2B had increased by 200% compared to the previous year, with over 480,000 registered B2B users. Leveraging supply chain and procurement scale, the B2B business has achieved slight growth while ensuring its price advantage. RT-Mart: Gradually Improving As of the end of last year, the group had a total of 484 comprehensive hypermarkets nationwide, with a total construction area of approximately 13 million square meters, of which about 70.0% were leased stores, 29.8% were self-owned property stores, and 0.2% were contracted stores. 2018 was the year the group began retail digitalization and also a year of planning for future development. In the future, innovation and digitalization will become key to the industry. Through digital management, supply and demand will be closely linked, providing customers with the right products and good prices, continuously enriching the shopping experience. The group is striving to build new retail and become a leader in digital transformation in China's new retail sector. RT-Mart's Situation in China Gaoxin Retail, with its dual brands, remains the industry leader. According to Kantar Consumer Index's market share of physical retailers, Gaoxin Retail Group currently holds an 8.4% share in the modern trade channel, ranking first. Do you think Gaoxin Retail's future development is promising? Welcome to leave a comment at the bottom. Source: Retail Circle If a tip is adopted, a payment of 400-2000 yuan will be made. China FMCG + Internet Professional New Media Dedicated to FMCG manufacturers' transformation and upgrading and channel digitalization solutions