It's that time again when the typhoon passes, and the ground is littered with pigs that fell and broke their backs. Since 2019, the biggest business story has been the failure of various 'New Retail' concepts. Alibaba's Hema is adjusting and filling pits; Sanjiang is divesting Hema, and Hema Xiaoma has fully ceased operations. 7FRESH, which claimed to open 1,000 stores in 3-5 years, has recently had its president reassigned and halted expansion. Meituan's Xiaoxiang Fresh is closing stores, and Yonghui's Super Species losses continue to widen. If even these 'new species' with internet giants as backers are struggling, the 'monsters' without support are left to face the market's 'golden cudgel'. Small entrepreneurs in the unmanned shelf business have almost all lost their shirts; countless 'unmanned retail' and 'unmanned shelf' ventures that got funding are singing 'cool cool' in unison. Some entrepreneurs who fell into the O2O pit years ago, who still had a few breaths left, used the 'New Retail' concept last year to stand up and take a few steps, but this time, they're completely done. When 'New Retail' was overheated last year and the year before, Lao Miao already tore apart the various unreliable aspects: 'Rebuilding the people, goods, and place' is correct but meaningless. 'Providing consumers with value-for-money content at all times' is nonsense, anti-intellectual and against business laws. 'Online-offline integration' is a formality, irrelevant. 'Using big data and AI as main technical means' is the only valuable part; but how to apply it to improve efficiency is currently poorly done by most; many use it for the sake of using it, which actually reduces efficiency. 'Fully integrating payment, membership, inventory, and services' is a beautiful vision, but for certain business formats, we need to see the necessity of full integration, and more importantly, the cost and path of full integration. 'Platform empowerment' is a scam; channel cooperation is a game of chess. If you lack bargaining power, you're at the mercy of others. Other forms under the banner of New Retail are either gimmicks, O2O variants, WeChat business, or even pyramid schemes, which are beyond tearing apart. It's that time again when the typhoon passes, and the ground is littered with pigs that fell and broke their backs. So, a friend came to me and said, 'Lao Miao, you're right. New Retail is a big scam. We should just do our own thing.' After hearing this, I felt life was not worth living, and I had the urge to delete all my previous articles on terminal construction and New Retail: As a science student, I worked hard to write tens of thousands of words, and all I got was this simple conclusion—New Retail is a big scam? Marketing is always faster than marketing theory. New and old are relative concepts; of course, there are new forms of retail. Department stores were new retail compared to traditional markets, supermarkets were new retail compared to traditional wholesale and retail stores, and e-commerce was new retail compared to traditional offline. Not only does New Retail exist, but there will always be new New Retail. Not only is there New Retail, but also new marketing, new brands, new communication, new channels, and even new products. Especially today, because mobile internet has brought huge changes in behavior, communication, and even social values, there will certainly be huge changes in retail methods, communication methods, marketing methods, brand building methods, and product innovation methods. Whether it's called 'New Retail', 'New Marketing', or 'New Brand' is not that important. What Lao Miao tears apart is the 'New Retail' that is only new in form and concept, but outdated in essence, and those that use the name of New Retail to practice 'channel hegemony'. 'Online + offline', 'fresh retail + dining', 'store + instant delivery'—these are all changes in form. They are neither new nor old. As Kotler said about retail: the form is irrelevant; the function is what matters. Only when there is an efficiency improvement over traditional retail can it be considered truly New Retail. These improvements should be reflected in functions: lower costs, more efficient logistics and transactions, more complete product display, and better information communication. Business operates on information flow, goods flow, and capital flow. In marketing, Teacher Shi Wei summarized it as the three-dimensional space of cognition, transaction, and relationship. Teacher Liu Chunxiong, based on the three-dimensional space, created his own new marketing system. Whether it's New Retail, New Marketing, or New Brand, the newness lies in not only improving the efficiency of cognition and transaction but also connecting the three-dimensional space, at least partially integrating it. We say TV is a traditional medium because it is a one-way, indoctrinating communication channel, a loudspeaker that can only provide cognition, not transaction or relationship (TV shopping is an exception). We say supermarkets are traditional terminals because they are purely places for purchase, with little effect on building user relationships or conveying communication information. Whether it was the early supermarket expansion, the later crazy e-commerce, or last year's hot 'New Retail', none could shake the market position of mom-and-pop stores, because small shops naturally have a relationship advantage with nearby customers. In this regard, small shops are closer to New Retail than Hema. As long as communities exist in a society of acquaintances, mom-and-pop stores will remain competitive. Pinduoduo, through group buying, connects social traffic with transaction traffic, which is more like New Retail. IKEA strengthens its relationship with customers through the IKEA effect and scene experience. COSTCO's deep membership system is an effective way to bind customers. These methods are old, but the essence is new. The biggest problem in the retail industry is the 'absence of retail entities'—everyone loves tolls, but no one wants to face end users and sell goods. Manufacturers, who are farthest from customers and least skilled at selling, have to roll up their sleeves and do it themselves, even though they have the worst control over terminal resources and the lowest efficiency, but there's no choice: They have to sell the goods they produce, even if it means crying while doing so. However, the four major functions of retail terminals: logistics (including transactions), product display, information transmission, and consumer education, are all indispensable. Traditional retail emphasizes logistics, transactions, and product display, while New Retail places more emphasis on building relationships with customers, that is, paying more attention to information transmission and consumer education. From a 2016 article: From logistics operations to compound operations of information flow and logistics, and the most efficient combination of retail terminals for information flow and logistics for products—this is the New Retail mindset. A brand's medical-grade toothpaste and mouthwash laid out retail channels around deep terminals—hospitals and clinics—without tolls or 'exorbitant taxes', with low costs and high returns. Recently, the boss reported that the results are very good. The form is ancient, but the thinking is truly 'New Retail'. What we see as 'New Retail' failing are those wearing the 'New Retail' hat but with backward or even regressive thinking. Some so-called new species are actually freaks formed by genetic mutation and random combination, which are just scary-looking and will soon be eliminated. Those truly New Retail forms have either proven successful, like IKEA and Costco, or have made significant progress on the exploration path, like Pinduoduo, or are conducting beneficial explorations, like community retail. Retail entities cannot be absent; information flow, logistics, and capital flow need more efficient integration; the three-dimensional space of cognition, transaction, and relationship needs to be connected. Those 'old retail' forms that represent inefficiency, channel hegemony, and regressive history are about time to be liquidated. Source: Lao Miao Tears Marketing (ID: yiheyingxiao) Tips will be paid 400-2000 yuan once the tip is adopted. China FMCG + Internet Professional New Media Committed to FMCG manufacturer and distributor transformation and channel digital solutions