As consumption evolves, the way consumers obtain products has shifted from 'people move, goods don't' to 'people don't move, goods move.' Combined with the development of the internet, consumer spending patterns have transformed from centralized visits to physical supermarkets, community convenience stores, and top e-commerce platforms into diverse, decentralized forms, with new channels emerging one after another. Brand owners can no longer rely solely on traditional channels; they must seek out where consumers are, because wherever there are consumers, wherever they can be reached, there is consumption.

1. Livestream selling becomes normalized 2019 was dubbed the 'first year of livestream e-commerce' because during that year, major platforms successively launched livestream selling models. Besides Taobao, short-video platforms (Douyin, Kuaishou), JD.com, Pinduoduo, Xiaohongshu, and others entered the fray. Top streamers such as Taobao's Li Jiaqi and Viya, and even celebrity streamers like Li Xiang who just entered, and Kuaishou's Xin Ba, all delivered impressive results. Data shows that in the last two months of 2019, the number of Taobao streamers reached 108,800, with 3.2042 million sessions, an average of 2,161 viewers per session, and an average of 410 viewers per hour. A single livestream by top streamers like Li Jiaqi and Viya attracts over ten million viewers. Given the current trend, Taobao Livestream is no longer dominated by various 'internet celebrities'; many merchants, especially Tmall brand stores, have made livestreaming a daily operational tool.

2. Community group buying continues to heat up In the past two years, community group buying has been a hot topic, and more and more people have moved from being bystanders to participants. The outbreak at the beginning of 2020 acted as a catalyst, pushing this model to more distributors and brand owners. Suddenly, ads like 'Recruit community group leaders with zero cost, zero inventory, zero risk' flooded social media and groups, pushing products to more consumers through community group buying. However, typical brand owners often have too narrow a product mix, and setting up community group buying requires time and labor costs, and most lack experience in this area. Therefore, brand owners may consider partnering with national or regional community group buying platforms, leveraging their platforms and strengths to quickly distribute goods, recover cash, and alleviate some of the pressure caused by the pandemic.

3. Food delivery channels continue to grow, with food companies rushing to enter the market According to data, in the fourth quarter of 2019, the food delivery market transaction scale reached 206.45 billion yuan, with active users penetrating 13.4% of the internet population. According to the '2019 First Half China Food Delivery Industry Development Analysis Report' released by Trustdata, a mobile internet big data platform, the capacity of China's food delivery market will continue to expand, with 'sinking markets' becoming new opportunities for platforms, and usage scenarios becoming increasingly diverse. Under multi-scenario consumption, full-category demand becomes a key focus. Wherever consumers have needs, companies are attracted to enter and seize the market; wherever companies gather, competition forms. So in recent years, besides traditional markets, the food delivery market has become a key battleground for food companies. In addition to Hubang Chili Sauce, which has been deeply cultivating this channel for years, more companies are entering the food delivery market, and to adapt to its consumption scenarios, they have launched new packaging products.

4. Convenience store channels are gaining momentum Convenience stores are one of the channels closest to consumers, typically located near residential areas, serving surrounding residents with timely and convenient consumption, usually small daily necessities. However, the development of this channel cannot be ignored. Data shows that in 2018, China's convenience stores achieved sales of 226.4 billion yuan, with 120,000 stores, and industry growth of 19%. Recently, the state and local governments have paid increasing attention to the convenience store industry, with a series of policies and measures introduced. The market is gradually maturing, and the continuous upgrading of consumer demand is adding momentum to the industry's development. In 2020, the convenience store industry will continue to accelerate its evolution, leveraging digital technology to enhance comprehensive operational capabilities across front, middle, and back ends through deep member management, supply chain reshaping, and ecosystem collaboration, providing customers with a more convenient, safe, and seamless shopping experience.

5. Hypermarkets are miniaturizing Amid the global economic downturn and e-commerce impact, traditional supermarket formats like Walmart, Carrefour, and Yonghui have begun transforming to adapt to market changes. Slimming down stores, compared to traditional hypermarkets with 'full categories and one-stop shopping,' better highlights the 'small, simple, convenient, and quality service' concept of a lifestyle supermarket. According to Professor Lü Benfu from the School of Economics and Management at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, the adjustments made by Walmart and Carrefour are more about responding to the impact of e-commerce. 'Now Walmart and Carrefour cannot compete with online retailers like JD.com in terms of product range and price, but JD.com still cannot replace convenience stores like 7-Eleven on street corners. So Walmart and Carrefour plan to move toward convenience and miniaturization. For traditional hypermarkets, this is an exploration of a new business model.' Data also shows that in recent years, hypermarket growth has slowed, and the trend toward miniaturization has been incorporated into the strategic planning of many retail brands. For example, since last year, Yonghui has focused on developing Yonghui mini stores while shrinking its Yonghui Life fresh food store format.

6. B2B channels: two giants show strong momentum B2B is the electronization, networking, and informatization of all aspects of traditional business models. After continuous development, by 2018, the number of B2B platforms nationwide reached 239, with leading platforms like JD New Channel and Alibaba Retail Link covering over 20 cities, with GMV exceeding 5 billion yuan. In 2019, the two giants continued to lead the B2B industry. In August 2019, at Alibaba Retail Link's third strategic launch conference, it officially announced coverage of 1.3 million small stores, becoming the leading FMCG B2B platform in China, and set a goal to reach 100 billion yuan in business scale by 2021. Additionally, JD New Channel announced partnerships with 8,500 brands, with over 4,000 joint warehouses covering more than 300 cities and 1,800 county-level administrative regions. In 2020, New Channel will continue to strengthen its offline layout and deploy 10,000 'six-unified' stores across multiple scenarios. In 2019, B2B, led by the two giants, continued to advance and deepen its presence in more markets.

7. E-commerce dividends have disappeared; new retail rises When e-commerce first emerged, many people were skeptical about the authenticity and quality of online products, and few dared to get involved, so dividends were relatively small. With continuous development and customer accumulation, consumers and e-commerce merchants gradually tasted the benefits, and more merchants began to enter online e-commerce. Dividends exploded, and merchants entering at this stage grew rapidly due to low customer acquisition costs, high traffic, and little competition. However, as e-commerce development entered a white-hot stage and the latter half, e-commerce dividends peaked, and online operating costs even exceeded offline costs. Traditional retail was first hit by e-commerce, and then e-commerce also encountered growth difficulties, with major e-commerce platforms seeking new growth points. Thus, retail entered the new retail era. New retail, simply put, is the internet-based transformation of traditional retail, retaining its advantages in experience, timeliness, and service, while leveraging advanced means like big data and artificial intelligence. The development of new retail is also a shift centered on customers and users. New retail encompasses various business models, such as O2O, B2B, store-warehouse integration, front warehouses, and community group buying. O2O is one of the earlier business models considered part of new retail, with Hema Fresh as a typical example. Although there are many fresh food e-commerce platforms in China, few are profitable because fresh products are non-standardized, have short shelf lives, and are prone to damage during transportation, making it difficult for pure e-commerce models to build consumer trust in products and brands. To seek new growth points and keep up with the trend, Hema integrated online and offline channels. Users can experience products directly in offline stores, and once they build trust in the brand's offline product quality, they can be guided to the online fresh food e-commerce. Compared to traditional e-commerce, this builds higher trust and is more appealing to customers. The O2O model found new growth points for Hema and kept Hema Fresh at the forefront of the industry. Additionally, the front warehouse model is another hot new retail model recently, with Miss Fresh as a typical example. Miss Fresh's front warehouse model simply involves turning large warehouses that were previously far from consumers into small warehouses placed closer to consumers, such as near office buildings or at the community level, improving the efficiency of last-mile delivery. Moreover, due to their small size, they have no sales function, saving labor, and using a low-cost small-store model to achieve the category breadth and service depth of large stores. During the pandemic, thanks to its advantages in communities, Miss Fresh became the first choice for fresh food purchases in many second-tier cities.

The above seven types are a non-exhaustive list of recent common channel innovations compiled by the editor. As consumers shift from centralized consumption to decentralized consumption across multiple platforms and channels, and from traditional offline shopping to online shopping, channels are becoming increasingly diverse. As long as you can reach consumers, there is potential to develop new channels. So in the future, more channels may emerge, but regardless of the channel, the goal is undoubtedly to better reach consumers and make consumption more convenient. So follow the footsteps of consumers, and there will be more possibilities in the future!

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