△Add friend and note "inspection" to register According to Kantar Retail, when per capita GDP reaches $10,000, consumer demand for vending machines will explode. AC Nielsen also predicts that in the coming years, the Chinese market will add 50,000 to 100,000 vending machines annually, and 350 million people in coastal cities will use them regularly. A research report by China Investment Securities last October showed that the number of vending machines in China grew from 62,000 in 2006 to about 200,000 in 2016. If the growth rate of vending machine ownership in China is 25% from 2017 to 2020, the number is expected to reach 1.54 million by 2020. Based on a value of 14,000 yuan per machine, the market space for vending machines in China from 2017 to 2020 is expected to total 51 billion yuan. Among these, the rapid development of brand-specific vending machines by FMCG brands has provided strong impetus for the industry's explosion.

FMCG leaders are laying out their plans 1. Wahaha: Registered a vending machine company, cooperating with distributors In May 2016, Zong Qinghou and his younger brother Zong Zehou jointly invested in the establishment of Zongsheng Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd., bringing together many senior professionals with more than ten years of experience in the industry. Relying on Wahaha's brand and channel advantages, they use vending machines as a carrier to build a nationwide intelligent retail terminal network. In 2015, Wahaha cooperated with Uboss, but later terminated the cooperation. Operating model: Zongsheng Technology provides a comprehensive training system for its selected distributors in first- and second-tier cities, relying on the distributors' existing resources for operation. The average operating cost is about 450 yuan per month. For locations with monthly sales below 1,500 yuan, Zongsheng customers also provide distributors with a subsidy of 200 yuan per machine. Number of placements: Plans to complete 50,000 placements in 2018. According to the company's plan, it will complete 100,000 by 2019 and 1 million by 2026. Focus on fourth- and fifth-tier cities and rural markets. 2. Nongfu Spring: Early layout, initial scale Since starting its vending machine business in 2013, Nongfu Spring has deployed and operated about 30,000 vending machines nationwide, making it one of the more established companies in the domestic FMCG sector in terms of deployment and application in the vending machine business. In machine R&D, Nongfu has also cooperated with CPI, a world-renowned cash register system service provider. Operating model: Mainly operated by partner operators. Nongfu Spring provides the equipment, and the operator is responsible for daily maintenance such as restocking. Nongfu Spring, the operator, and the site provider jointly sign a tripartite agreement. Number of placements: According to plan, more than 30,000 units have been placed. 3. Want Want: Established a vending machine operation center, franchise cooperation In 2017, Want Want Group established a vending machine operation center. These vending machines, produced by third-party manufacturers, can hold 432 items, and inventory status can be displayed on a mobile app. Operating model:

  1. Provide machines and sales subsidies for free to partners, but the partner must handle site selection, warehousing, restocking, and operation. Profits are shared based on sales volume; the higher the sales, the higher the partner's share, up to 25%. 2) Sell the vending machines to partners or lease them with an option to buy. Want Want does not participate in profit sharing. Number of placements: Plans to complete more than 1,000 placements in 2018. Focus on first- and second-tier cities. 4. Uni-President: Heavy investment, key development Uni-President Enterprises entered the vending machine business in 2017, cooperating with distributors for light franchising. In addition, Uni-President cooperated with Alipay to launch the Infinite Treasure Box vending machine, which can be placed in Tmall Supermarkets, with the number of placements expected to exceed 10,000. Operating model: Each vending machine charges a management fee of 2,000 yuan per year. Uni-President does not interfere with the distributor's operations, and profits and losses are borne by the distributor. Number of placements: Specific data not disclosed; in 2018, it will invest 400-500 million yuan to expand vending machines. 5. Coca-Cola: Strong brand, vending machines and freezers complement each other effectively Number of placements: More than 5,000 units in operation. It is worth mentioning that Coca-Cola has always been strict in managing the freezers in every supermarket, ensuring brand exclusivity and, in a sense, ensuring the number of brand-specific terminal cabinets. In addition, Master Kong began piloting in the market in 2015 and will further expand the market in the future. In the same year, Sanquan Foods began testing fresh food vending machines. The platform uses a C2B+B2C operating model, where users can pre-order products and form orders, and production is planned based on the next day's user orders...

Why are brands laying out unmanned retail? 1. Brand influence is everywhere You often find that a person who drinks Pepsi basically doesn't drink Coca-Cola. In fact, these two world beverage giants have been publicly attacking each other in advertisements for nearly a century. This all stems from the penetration and competition of brand power. The most basic point of a brand's vending machine is to ensure the exclusivity of its product brand. Imagine, on a hot summer day, after searching for a store in vain, you see a Nongfu Spring vending machine waiting quietly in the shade. You take out an ice-cold bottle of water. Can this feeling be bought for just two yuan? Strong brand elements will accompany vending machines to any place you want to appear. Compared to the flexibility of convenience stores and the cost of street advertising, vending machines are a unique form of offline advertising for beverage brands. 2. Channel control is pervasive Speaking of FMCG brands, we must mention the transformation of traditional FMCG channels. Brands' attention has shifted from the initial product to channel control, then to deep cultivation of terminal stores, and now seems to be returning to the study of products and consumers. But no matter how it changes, the essence is to use channel outlets to maximize the market share of their products. Moreover, the large number of offline existing outlets remains the main battlefield for various brands. To this day, in addition to sales, another important assessment indicator for brands is "product display." Earlier we mentioned that Coca-Cola spends a lot of manpower to maintain the "cleanliness" of its terminal freezers. Other brands have almost adopted the same measures: whether salespeople can sell into stores is one thing, but they first take out their products and occupy more positions. It is important to note that often these display spaces have to be paid to the terminal stores. With vending machines, will these still be a problem? Adhering to the principle of being closer to consumers, the shorter the distance from generating purchase desire to getting the product, the better. However, no store can cover this perfectly. The total consumption in many areas cannot support a store, but vending machines are just right. 3. Deep insight into consumer profiles Through this inventory, we found that brands have started their vending machine layouts in recent years, thanks to the development of mobile internet and mobile payment. In 2014, Evergrande Spring Water pioneered the "one bottle, one code" marketing model, also opening the era of brands reaching consumers directly. After consumers scan the code, brands can accumulate a large amount of data to make targeted improvements to their products. More importantly, brand advertising is no longer distant film and television ads or rigid offline ads, but a marketing experience that can interact with consumers. If consumers' scanning of product codes is selective, then scanning to pay at vending machines is almost mandatory. Moreover, vending machines at fixed locations can clearly record the time and place of purchase. After a large amount of data is accumulated, brands' product strategies will change from the previous trial-and-error or follow-the-trend new product policies. For consumers, a large number of personalized and fragmented needs will also be met. 4. Future layout and early positioning Currently, most people are optimistic about the development of domestic vending machines, and the market performance in recent years has indeed been so. Since everyone can realize this, planning and laying out in advance is a natural thing within one's capabilities. Moreover, good resources are definitely limited. Just like choosing a store location, good placement points are very critical. A good point can greatly exceed a convenience store in brand sales. 5. Compress levels and reduce costs Judging from the current operating models of most brands' vending machines, they rely on traditional distributors, rarely fully self-operated. But in the future, under the trend of rising costs, whether brands will optimize some distributors after the layout is complete, or whether distributors will transform and withdraw midway, is a question mark. At that time, a brand with an absolute number of vending machines in a region will further highlight its strong survival ability. Expert comments: Wang Jun: Famous new retail expert Previously worked at: Radio and Television Group, Quanshi Convenience Group, HNA Supply Chain. Rich practical experience in FMCG supply chain and new retail channels. Chief retail analysis expert at New Distribution, special industry expert for FMCG Association, Huatai Securities, etc. In-depth research in community group buying, unmanned retail, IP commercialization, and other innovative fields. This is a battle for channel discourse power! Laying out vending machines and controlling their own retail channels has always been a pain point for brands. The most typical reference case is Japan across the sea. In order to counterbalance the chain channels that reached 50% of the market, Coca-Cola actually deployed nearly 2 million vending machines to compete for discourse power! Unfortunately, whether it is the brand-specific vending machine channels or the entire Chinese vending machine market, it has not grown as rapidly as in Japan, Europe, and the United States. Difficulties faced: There are many reasons: entering residential areas is difficult due to property management; placing on streets is difficult due to urban management; placing at transportation hubs is difficult due to high costs; placing in office buildings is difficult due to unmanned shelves and smart cabinets. New opportunities: But from the general trend, retail points are becoming fragmented, and diversified consumption scenarios have become inevitable. The value of near-scene consumption, which is getting closer to consumers, has shown more diversified comprehensive value in today's increasingly high online retail costs: 24-hour convenience; display and advertising value; precise user data collection value; screen interaction value. These all make vending machines, a seemingly traditional retail model, more attractive. New challenges: As a retail point, sales per square meter is the core measure of everything. Cost: The high equipment cost of traditional vending machines is facing a comprehensive challenge from its brother - smart cabinets. Supply chain: Insufficient density leads to high supply chain costs. Category: Single-brand categories are limited and cannot meet users' diversified needs. Franchising: If distributors don't make money, they have no motivation to join. To help franchisees make money, more empowerment is needed, not just abandoning them after joining. Professional teams need to continuously empower. Dimensional reduction attack by internet giants: Alibaba invested in Uboss, and major internet giants are deeply developing visual recognition technology. Under the dual armament of capital and technological productivity, once war breaks out, unexpected dimensional reduction attacks may occur. These are all things that brands must consider in advance in the process of competing for channel discourse power through unmanned vending machines. The 10th B-end E-commerce Inspection - "From Product to Scene" Event time: December 10-13 Event location: Wuhu, Nanjing, Changsha Event process: Morning of December 10: Visit Three Squirrels headquarters + snack store

Afternoon of December 10: Visit Nanjing Squirrel Small Store

Evening of December 10: Visit Nanjing Master Gao Beer Workshop Store

All day December 11: Nanjing-Changsha, or free arrangement

Morning of December 12: Community group buying exchange salon

Afternoon of December 12: Koala Selection Hero League press conference

Evening of December 12 to early morning of December 13: Field visit to Koala Selection logistics center - This time period is the peak of warehouse sorting, allowing direct observation and learning of the back-end operation process of community group buying e-commerce Distributor friends who are interested are welcome to join us to learn and inspect on-site: Organization form 1. Big shot exchange salon**************2. Company visit

  1. On-site explanation
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