---
title: "Meiyijia: Channel Opportunities Amid the Youth Trend"
description: "At the 4th China FMCG Conference held in Shanghai from September 23-25, 2021, Yao Xuhong, General Manager of Meiyijia Holdings, delivered a keynote speech on how Meiyijia addresses the youth trend through online, differentiated, and sovereignty-oriented strategies, leveraging its C-end convenience stores and B-end Yueheji platform to serve consumers effectively."
author: "姚旭鸿"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2021-09-29"
language: "en"
canonical: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/meiyijia-channel-opportunities-amid-the-youth-trend-16fa435c/"
markdown: "https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/meiyijia-channel-opportunities-amid-the-youth-trend-16fa435c.md"
original_source: "https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/knuGl0vVW3jlA9qfVL3XLA"
translation: "https://xinjignxiao.com/zh/articles/%E7%BE%8E%E5%AE%9C%E4%BD%B3-%E5%B9%B4%E8%BD%BB%E5%8C%96%E8%B6%8B%E5%8A%BF%E4%B8%8B%E7%9A%84%E6%B8%A0%E9%81%93%E6%9C%BA%E4%BC%9A-16fa435c.md"
attribution: "New Distribution — https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/meiyijia-channel-opportunities-amid-the-youth-trend-16fa435c/"
usage_policy: "https://xinjignxiao.com/ai-policy.txt"
---

# Meiyijia: Channel Opportunities Amid the Youth Trend

> At the 4th China FMCG Conference held in Shanghai from September 23-25, 2021, Yao Xuhong, General Manager of Meiyijia Holdings, delivered a keynote speech on how Meiyijia addresses the youth trend through online, differentiated, and sovereignty-oriented strategies, leveraging its C-end convenience stores and B-end Yueheji platform to serve consumers effectively.

From September 23 to 25, 2021, the "4th China FMCG Conference" was successfully held in Shanghai, hosted by New Distribution, a professional new media platform for FMCG. Over 2,500 participants from brand owners, distributors, internet companies, technology and service companies across the country attended the conference, with a full house and an unprecedented scale.

_PS: This article is based on the keynote speech delivered by Mr. Yao Xuhong, General Manager of Meiyijia Holdings Co., Ltd., at the conference. It has been organized and published with his review and authorization._

Among the groups served by Meiyijia, in addition to the youth, there are children, the elderly, women, and others. Among these diverse groups, the youth segment is growing rapidly. Therefore, we have chosen a focus for today's sharing: **youthfulness, and how Meiyijia, through its C-end Meiyijia stores and B-end Yueheji platform, provides targeted services to consumers based on the characteristics of the youth trend.**

**Introduction to Meiyijia:**
First, let me briefly introduce Meiyijia: Meiyijia is committed to becoming a convenience store brand that the nation is proud of. We hope to provide convenient services while also building consumers' perception of the Meiyijia brand.

We were established in 1997 and currently have over 24,000 stores across more than 160 cities in China, with a steady growth of 2,000-3,000 new stores each year.

Among these 24,000+ stores, we cover first-, second-, third-, fourth-, and fifth-tier cities with vertical and in-depth coverage. Among the 160 cities covered, first-tier cities account for 45%, second- and third-tier cities for 35%, and fourth- and fifth-tier cities for 20%. In other words, we have vertical and in-depth coverage of various economic, commercial, and cultural city types.

It can be said that we have sufficient vertical and hierarchical diversity across Chinese cities, providing opportunities for testing, serving, and targeting specific segments.

Looking at our franchisees, over the past three years, we have developed more than 10,000 stores. Among the many franchisees, 57% have been operating for more than three years. Overall, our franchisees show strong stability.

In the past, some brands believed that our execution was not fully in place. However, franchisees inherently have strong initiative in their operations. Therefore, we believe that there is significant room for us to work with franchisees to improve execution.

Now, let's look at categories. Despite the impact of the pandemic, over the past two years, 80% of our categories have seen continuous growth for two consecutive years. Among them, more than 30% of categories and over 40% of brands have seen sustained growth in per-store sales over the past two years.

The above introduction of Meiyijia's "stores, franchisees, and categories" can be simply summarized as our main factors of people, goods, and places in the past. With the rapid growth of stores, a stable franchisee base, and continuous category growth, how do we serve consumers well?

Consumer changes and needs are the ultimate focus of the "people" dimension. Therefore, researching and understanding consumer changes, and how to respond to them to provide better services, is the starting point of our entire business thinking.

**Consumer Trends Observed by Meiyijia:**
**Youth trend,**
**characterized by online, differentiated, and sovereignty-oriented features**

The groups we see show a clear youth trend. The post-90s, post-95s, and post-00s together account for over 63% of the total, and their overall size continues to expand. Among them, the post-95s and post-00s are growing faster.

**1. Online**
The first characteristic of the youth group is being online. Among total transactions, mobile payments account for over 80%, and the proportion of payments made by those aged 16-25 is even higher. This indicates that the youth group is essentially online, and we will match this online characteristic with our services.

**2. Differentiation**
The second characteristic is differentiation. The youth group has many commonalities, but in recent years, we have noticed particularly obvious trends in light shopping, health orientation, and sensitivity to new products. At the same time, there are significant differences across categories and cities.

First, light shopping, meaning burden-free shopping. We find that younger members shop more frequently, but each purchase tends to have fewer items and lower spending compared to other groups.

Second, all groups are pursuing a healthier diet, especially the post-90s and post-95s, who show significant growth in health-related categories.

Third, the post-90s and post-95s are more sensitive to new products and relatively less sensitive to promotions. However, the post-00s, who are not yet financially independent, prefer new products even more and are also more sensitive to promotions.

From a city perspective, young people in third- and fourth-tier cities, like the post-00s, also prefer new products and are highly sensitive to promotions.

Of course, we also find significant differences in categories and brands. **The post-00s mainly prefer beverages and snacks; the post-90s show a clear increase in demand for functional drinks; and the post-80s have an increased demand for beer and other leisure entertainment.**

These are reflections of various lifestyles, and although they are all youth groups, they differ. The post-90s, post-95s, and post-00s each have different brand preferences.

**3. Sovereignty**
We have identified a third characteristic: sovereignty. The youth group has a strong sense of sovereignty, and this directly manifests in their shopping behavior.

Taking a public opinion event as an example, we monitored changes in brands of this type before, during, and after the event. We found that the youth group directly reflects their perception of the event in their shopping behavior, with significant changes, especially among the post-90s.

Particularly in first-tier and new first-tier cities, this sovereignty is more pronounced and direct.

To briefly summarize, we have identified three characteristics in the youth trend: online, differentiated, and sovereignty-oriented.

In response, we have implemented corresponding strategies and attempts: **First, online.** Large-scale online presence means many customers are online. We adapt to customer habits; online is not just about people operations but also about place operations.

**Second, differentiation.** Considering the differentiated characteristics of the youth group, offline is not just about providing a "place" but also requires more refined people operations. **Third, sovereignty.** User sovereignty quickly reflects in shopping behavior, so we need to value user experience and feedback, and make listening to users a routine practice.

**Strategies Meiyijia Has Adopted in Response to Consumer Changes**

**1. Online: Adding "Place" Operations Online**
First, online. As mentioned, we add place operations online. Therefore, we jointly promote and launch campaigns across public domains, Meiyijia's private domains, and brand private domains.

Here are some brand cases we have listed: Lay's potato chips, Pepsi, Snow Beer, Budweiser, Yili, Jianlibao, and Alipay, among others. We have conducted joint brand promotions and campaigns.

In terms of sales, we provide sales services around users' omnichannel needs in the first time, including in-store sales, delivery sales, and online sales. Of course, we will further unify our user entry points to enhance the consumer experience.

**2. Differentiation: Adding Refined "People" Operations Offline**
In terms of differentiation, we divide members into four major segments and use six marketing products to meet consumer needs in a targeted manner.

From our over 30 million members, we can see significant differences in monthly per-customer contribution and store visit rates. Therefore, we will continue to conduct targeted and precise operations.

In terms of products, we increase new product development and reverse customization based on customer needs. We co-develop customized products with brands; for new products, we actively launch them with brands at the earliest opportunity.

For offline communication, we create themed stores or themed scenarios in different cities based on the characteristics of users in each city, providing users with close-range presentation, contact, and communication.

Here are some cases: Meiyijia's small bar, Heineken themed store, Tencent's Dou Dizhu themed store, and Pepsi themed store, among others.

**3. Sovereignty: Making User Listening Routine**
In response to sovereignty, we make user listening routine. **Online, we listen to user voices through customer service and consumer touchpoints; offline, we conduct more consumer research. Currently, we do this ourselves in Guangdong. In the future, we hope to collaborate with brands nationwide.**

We are working on a consumer report this year, which will be released in December. We will share and co-create with some important partners at that time.

**Introduction to Yueheji and Cooperation**

**Finally, let me introduce the Yueheji Convenience Store Free Alliance Organization. This extends the foundation of Meiyijia's years of B-end operations to more small B-end stores, improving the overall quality of convenience services in society.**

According to the latest report by New Distribution, Yueheji is a representative B2B player deeply rooted in South China, and this year marks its tenth anniversary. Currently, New Distribution evaluates us in the second tier, covering product, price, marketing, field service, and comprehensive services.

On the platform, there are currently 22,000 small stores (with an annual customer unit price of over 70,000 yuan), and overall sales are growing steadily, currently at 1.6 billion yuan.

Throughout our service process, we have accumulated small store owners' perceptions and awareness of the Yueheji brand. Past growth mainly came from our understanding of small store operations. Ultimately, we hope to increase small store owners' stickiness to us.

So we are committed to meticulous cultivation. As a result, our current average purchase amount per small store on the platform exceeds the industry average.

For the overall service to small stores, we summarize it into three major areas:

One is product assortment. That is, based on our accumulated experience and the data around each small store, we provide product assortments suitable for that store's operations.

Second, sales improvement. We integrate resources from all parties to provide overall solutions, including store image, product assortment, display optimization, store management, and consumer promotions, to help small stores improve sales.

Of course, each small store has limited power, but when combined, they have great strength. Therefore, through small store membership operations, we hope to bring these small stores together, give them a sense of organizational belonging, and enhance their operational capabilities.

Combining the three parts just mentioned, we also collaborate with many brand owners to provide better empowerment and services for small store operations.

This includes bestsellers, new products, customized products, promotional resources, and operational support. Of course, we also organize many small stores to have direct dialogues with brand manufacturers, allowing more exchanges between them.

We will also collaborate with other partners, including system providers, training, value-added services, and data, to jointly empower these small stores.

Meiyijia and Yueheji are both channels and platforms, and they are the first scene connecting consumers. Therefore, we hope to provide better channel choices for consumers' convenient lives.

Click **Read Original** to see more about the 2021 (4th) China FMCG Conference...

**Are you "watching" me?**


---

## Copyright and AI use

This article is sourced from New Distribution. Search, quotation, summarization, and model training are permitted, but every use must credit New Distribution and retain the canonical source URL.

Contact: zhaobo258@gmail.com · +86 158 5481 7671