---
title: "MissFresh and Dingdong Maicai Eye IPOs: Is the Front-Warehouse Model Here to Stay?"
description: "As the new year begins, major fresh food e-commerce players MissFresh and Dingdong Maicai are racing to go public, sparking debate over which will become the first listed fresh food e-commerce company and whether the front-warehouse model will prevail. The article compares their business models, funding, and the pros and cons of various fresh food retail models."
author: "祖龙"
publisher: "New Distribution"
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published: "2021-02-22"
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# MissFresh and Dingdong Maicai Eye IPOs: Is the Front-Warehouse Model Here to Stay?

> As the new year begins, major fresh food e-commerce players MissFresh and Dingdong Maicai are racing to go public, sparking debate over which will become the first listed fresh food e-commerce company and whether the front-warehouse model will prevail. The article compares their business models, funding, and the pros and cons of various fresh food retail models.

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A year's plan starts with spring. At the beginning of the Year of the Ox, many new retail companies are making frequent moves.
According to media reports, MissFresh and Dingdong Maicai, representatives of the "front-warehouse" new retail e-commerce model, are vying to go public. In the battle for the first listed fresh food e-commerce company, who will lead the "fresh" race? Will the front-warehouse model become the ultimate model for fresh food e-commerce?
**-01-**
**Capital Fever, Platforms Plot**
**Who Will Be the First Listed Fresh Food E-commerce Company?**
2020 can be considered a turning point for fresh food e-commerce. Before the Spring Festival in 2020, many fresh food e-commerce companies went bankrupt, laid off staff, or suspended operations. The special consumer demand during the pandemic gave fresh food e-commerce companies that combined online and offline operations a new lease on life by leveraging their natural advantages. Some companies with clear models and good service showed even better results.
Entering 2021, capital has been closely watching the two tracks of fresh food e-commerce and community group buying. Shihuituan received financing from Alibaba, completing four rounds of financing in 2020 alone. Xingsheng Youxuan was reported to be raising $3 billion, causing a stir in the industry.
In the fresh food e-commerce sector represented by "front-warehouse" models, there has also been good news. On February 18, 2021, media reported that Dingdong Maicai would go public in the U.S. within the year at the earliest. The next day, MissFresh was reported to have initiated its IPO plan and had already contacted multiple investment banks, with Goldman Sachs as the lead underwriter.
Retail is inherently an industry that aggregates cash flow, foot traffic, and product flow, so it's understandable that capital keeps a close eye on hot tracks in this sector. Fresh food e-commerce with "front-warehouse" instant delivery and community group buying with "pickup points" for delayed delivery are both essentially e-commerce, focusing on the two keywords: community and fresh food.
**-02-**
**MissFresh vs. Dingdong Maicai**
Dingdong Maicai's predecessor was the "Dingdong Community APP" launched by Shanghai Yibaimi Network Technology in 2014, similar to a mini version of "58.com," mainly for posting second-hand trading information, housekeeping recommendations, property fee payments, and package collection.
Three years later, in 2017, the Dingdong Community APP transformed into a community fresh food e-commerce model and received angel round financing from Gaorong Capital in 2018. Subsequently, it completed seven rounds of financing from Pre-A to B+. Investors include Capital Today, Sequoia Capital, Gaorong Capital, Starquest Capital, CMC Capital, BAI, and others.
Public data shows that by the end of 2020, Dingdong Maicai's daily order volume exceeded 900,000, the number of front warehouses reached 900, and monthly revenue reached 1 billion yuan. Currently, Dingdong Maicai's services cover 27 cities, and in November 2020 alone, it entered nearly 10 new cities.
As the pioneer of the "front-warehouse instant delivery model," MissFresh was founded in 2014. After consumers place orders on the MissFresh platform, goods are shipped from warehouses within a 3-kilometer radius, with delivery within 1-2 hours.
In terms of attracting capital, MissFresh is currently an absolute star in the fresh food e-commerce field. Tencent has participated in five rounds of financing for MissFresh, and other capital heavyweights include Goldman Sachs, CICC, ICBC International, and Abu Dhabi Capital Group. In July 2020, MissFresh obtained $495 million in what was described as "the largest financing in the fresh food home delivery industry to date." In December of the same year, it received an olive branch from Qingdao state-owned capital, investing 2 billion yuan and establishing its headquarters in Qingdao.
Previously, MissFresh CFO Wang Jun said in a media interview that the company had achieved overall profitability by the end of 2019. In July 2020, MissFresh's investor CICC Capital revealed that MissFresh had achieved positive operating cash flow nationwide for six consecutive months.
In the fresh food new retail sector, there are diverse models and continuous innovation. The front-warehouse model, which requires heavy asset investment, has been questioned by the industry. Is the front-warehouse model, designed for delivery efficiency, an advantage or a chicken rib?
**-03-**
**Front Warehouse: Advantage or Chicken Rib?**
After years of development, fresh food new retail has multiple models with different gameplay: MissFresh and Dingdong Maicai with the front-warehouse as the core model; Hema and Seven Fresh with online+offline integration, offering both in-store and home delivery services; community group buying platforms like Xingsheng Youxuan and Shihuituan that use community mom-and-pop stores and small supermarkets as pickup points; and community fresh food stores like Qian Dama and Rou Lianbang.
Regardless of the model, they all revolve around consumer experience in terms of delivery efficiency, product quality, after-sales service, etc.
Currently, there are three mainstream models:
The first is represented by new retail companies like Hema Fresh, which have both online platforms and offline experience stores, allowing consumers to shop both in-store and via home delivery.
The second is the front-warehouse model represented by MissFresh and Dingdong Maicai, where orders are placed online and delivered offline, using front warehouses to improve delivery efficiency and reduce product loss.
The third is community group buying represented by Xingsheng Youxuan and Shihuituan, where orders are placed online and picked up offline. Although delivery efficiency is lower, they have advantages in product price, and due to low delivery costs and low loss, they are favored by more merchants.
Comparison of New Retail E-commerce Models
Model | Representative Companies | Delivery | Advantages and Disadvantages
Front Warehouse | MissFresh, Dingdong Maicai | Home delivery | Advantages: Self-operated warehouses are controllable; Disadvantages: High warehouse construction costs
Store + Warehouse | Hema Fresh | Home delivery and in-store | Advantages: Good consumer experience; Disadvantages: High operating costs
Community Group Buying | Xingsheng Youxuan | Self-pickup | Advantages: Delivery and loss; Disadvantages: Quality, price
Community Store | Qian Dama | In-store | Advantages: In-store experience; Disadvantages: Lack of home delivery
We can see Hema's "store + warehouse" model as an upgraded version of the front-warehouse model, leveraging network advantages and home delivery advantages to innovate the consumption model more reasonably. Consumers can shop in-store or order through the Hema APP, with delivery within 3 kilometers in as fast as 30 minutes.
The community group buying model of Xingsheng Youxuan and Shihuituan can be seen as a light-asset version of the front-warehouse model. By "co-operating" with mom-and-pop stores and using commission rebates, they reduce the cost of setting up front warehouses, and the pre-sale system reduces product loss. However, because product control is relatively loose and delivery time is longer, they have their own disadvantages compared to front warehouses.
Hema CEO Hou Yi once told the media that Hema had abandoned the "front-warehouse" model of Hema Xiaozhan and switched entirely to Hema Mini (store + warehouse), claiming that Hema Mini is the ultimate model for fresh food e-commerce. This view sparked intense discussion about the evolution of fresh food e-commerce models.
"Retail Circle" believes that no matter how fresh food e-commerce develops, from the consumer's perspective, delivery efficiency, product quality, after-sales service, and price discounts remain the focus. As for merchants, reducing delivery costs, reducing product loss, optimizing product structure, and improving after-sales service are still their goals.
Source: Retail Circle (ID: retailsphere)


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