---
title: "New Retail Proposer Ma Yun, Architect Zhang Yong, Practitioner Hou Yi: Where Is Freshippo Heading?"
description: "This article examines the trajectory of Freshippo (Hema), from its inception as an Alibaba experiment to its current status as a model for New Retail, and discusses the roles of Ma Yun, Zhang Yong, and Hou Yi in its development. It also explores the challenges Freshippo faces as it navigates internal dynamics and external competition, questioning its future direction."
author: "吉光先生"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
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published: "2021-03-27"
language: "en"
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# New Retail Proposer Ma Yun, Architect Zhang Yong, Practitioner Hou Yi: Where Is Freshippo Heading?

> This article examines the trajectory of Freshippo (Hema), from its inception as an Alibaba experiment to its current status as a model for New Retail, and discusses the roles of Ma Yun, Zhang Yong, and Hou Yi in its development. It also explores the challenges Freshippo faces as it navigates internal dynamics and external competition, questioning its future direction.

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Earlier this month, Hou Yi, Vice President of Alibaba and founder and CEO of Freshippo, wrote on his social media: "New heights, new journey," accompanied by a celebratory video for Freshippo's fifth anniversary produced by Retail Business Finance. This move clearly shows Hou Yi's boundless aspirations for Freshippo, Hema X Membership Store, and Hema Mini, yet notably absent from his words was any mention of "Hema Marketplace." Earlier, media had reported that "Hema Marketplace might be changing its leadership," but as of this writing, the source has deleted the report. Nevertheless, five years on, for Freshippo and Hou Yi, everything is indeed a "new beginning."

**-01-**
**New Species: From Alibaba's "Experimental Field" to New Retail's "Showcase"**
This veteran has spent nearly three decades in the retail sector, with commendable achievements. He served as supply chain general manager at Shanghai Kedi Convenience Stores, then as logistics director at JD.com and general manager of the O2O business unit. In 2015, due to a non-compete agreement, Hou Yi returned to Shanghai from Beijing, bringing with him a retail model he had long pondered. After several in-depth discussions with Zhang Yong, he received strong support and subsequently joined Alibaba, secretly incubating Freshippo.

**In January 2016, the first Freshippo store opened at Shanghai Jinqiao Plaza, along with the launch of the Freshippo app.**

In the early days, to test whether the "store + e-commerce" integrated model could succeed, Freshippo operated independently without leveraging Alibaba's retail resources. With high-quality fresh produce, on-site seafood processing, and a tech-savvy ambiance, this "neither fish nor fowl" concept quickly became Shanghai's new darling.

It wasn't until 2017, when Ma Yun, Zhang Yong, and others visited the store and sampled the offerings, that Freshippo's relationship with Alibaba came to light. No longer keeping a low profile, Freshippo officially became a new member of Alibaba's "zoo." Through integrated online-offline operations, it achieved three times the sales per square foot of traditional supermarkets in similar locations. What exactly was this new species? It seemed Ma Yun had already provided the answer in 2016: "Offline enterprises must go online, online enterprises must go offline, and together with modern logistics, they must combine. Pure e-commerce is dead; the next decade will be the era of New Retail."

**The era of "New Retail" had arrived.**

With Alibaba's full support, Freshippo accelerated its expansion. In 2017, through joint ventures and other means, Freshippo opened 25 stores in seven cities nationwide and announced plans to open 30 stores in Beijing in 2018. From 2017 to 2020, Hou Yi spent three years transforming Freshippo, proving its front-end business model viable in practice. Freshippo gradually evolved from Alibaba's "experimental field" to a "showcase" for New Retail.

**-02-**
**The New Six Veins: From Founder Generation to Guardian's 102-Year Dream**
The once-aspiring youth has felt the ruthlessness and cruelty of capital, yet also harbored the innocence of an entrepreneur. Since his public speech at the Shanghai Financial Summit, Ma Yun has disappeared from public view.

**From 0 to 1**, this seasoned serial entrepreneur has created countless legends, laying the foundations for China's e-commerce, logistics, payments, cloud services, and many other fields. With sheer strength, he toppled countless "rules" that constrained entrepreneurs, directly or indirectly changing the rules of many business markets.

In Alibaba's Ma Yun era, which coincided with China's economic boom, the company rode the fast train of the times. Combined with Alibaba's own efforts and Ma's ability to identify and employ talent, he gathered a host of outstanding individuals, building Alibaba into what it is today.

**From 1 to N**, Zhang Yong, who took over, faces a more arduous task of guarding the legacy than Ma Yun did during his entrepreneurial days.

Zhang Yong is a professional manager. To some extent, he may not be able to act as boldly as Ma Yun. Ma Yun could focus 100% on the vision, but Zhang Yong cannot; he also has to watch the financial reports. As the saying goes, "the monarch and minister have different roles."

As the ancients said, "It is easier to conquer a kingdom than to rule it." This saying fits Zhang Yong perfectly.

Looking back at Zhang Yong's career, his most impressive achievement is undoubtedly the creation of the "Singles' Day Shopping Festival" (Double 11), a golden brand. Many people may not know Zhang Yong, but everyone in China knows Double 11.

In September 2013, Zhang Yong became Chief Operating Officer of Alibaba Group, fully responsible for the operations of Alibaba's domestic and international businesses. In March 2014, Zhang Yong also took charge of Alibaba's wireless business. During this period, he pushed for "All in Wireless," turning mobile Taobao into the world's largest mobile consumption and lifestyle platform, marking a crucial node in Alibaba's shift from PC to mobile internet.

On May 7, 2015, Alibaba Group announced that Zhang Yong would succeed as CEO. Just a week later, Zhang Yong clearly articulated Alibaba's new direction: globalization, rural areas, and cloud computing/big data as the three strategic directions. At the same time, Alibaba planned to build more new economy service platforms in logistics, import/export, and marketing, in addition to e-commerce and finance.

In 2019, on Alibaba's 20th anniversary, Ma Yun officially stepped down as chairman. The founder generation left, and the "New Six Veins" arrived. In turbulent times, strict measures are needed. In Alibaba's history, the defense of values has always been the guarantee of its continuous talent emergence. Zhang Yong said, "The birth of the 'New Six Veins' took 14 months, and the most important purpose is to find our fellow travelers, to move toward the future, toward 102 years, and to walk well the next 5, 10, 20 years with our fellow travelers."

**From "making it easy to do business anywhere" to the industry's sarcastic "making it impossible to do business anywhere," can the "New Six Veins" truly protect Alibaba and make it a great company spanning three centuries?**

**-03-**
**Three Men Walking Together: Is There "New Retail"?**
Zhang Yong and Hou Yi had a "love at first sight," akin to the story of high mountains and flowing water meeting a bosom friend. They are fellow townsmen, and more importantly, a Bole and a thousand-li horse.

But between Ma Yun and Zhang Yong, the relationship is one of "keeping precepts and breaking precepts." A media person once said: "Xiaoyaozi (Zhang Yong's nickname) speaks softly. If Ma Yun is like fire, Zhang Yong is like a piece of jade." "Fear not heaven, fear not earth, but fear a CFO becoming CEO." Zhang Yong became the successor that Ma Yun "feared," and he is also the outsider who is said to have the most Alibaba flavor.

In 2015, during a chat with Hou Yi, Zhang Yong sparked the concept of "online-offline integration." The two talked non-stop for three months, like Qu Liang and Shang Yang. After confirming the direction, Hou Yi set about creating "Hema Fresh" (later Freshippo), a brand-new retail format.

In 2016, during a chat with Ma Yun, "as they talked, Ma suddenly came up with the term 'New Retail.'"

The emergence of "New Retail" Freshippo might have been a coincidence from two conversations, or perhaps it was a case of great minds thinking alike among the trio. Thus, Freshippo became one of the most representative New Retail projects.

Hou Yi can be described as a **professional manager chosen by a professional manager**. Regarding Freshippo's growth path, Hou Yi once said: "Group CEO Zhang Yong helped me bear all the pressure." From the outside, Freshippo went from "running desperately" to "filling pits" to "survival battles," with Hou Yi displaying the demeanor of a great general, full of passion and fighting spirit, working day and night, overcoming obstacles.

In my opinion, the name "Hema Fresh" (Hema Xiansheng) seems to hide a pun on "Mr. Ma" (Ma Xiansheng). After receiving Ma's approval, he vigorously promoted Freshippo, and the new business burned with the energy Hou Yi had accumulated over the years and his influence in the industry. Leaping from the shoulders of giants, Hou Yi was pushed to the "altar," and many halos such as representative of New Retail and father of New Retail came one after another. Of course, Hou Yi also showed extraordinary combat effectiveness, firmly catching this heavy glory.

**At the end of 2020, with events unfolding in Shanghai, the red line trembled sharply, and Hangzhou was fraught with crisis.** Alibaba's textbook-level public relations suddenly froze and collapsed. The professional manager's decision-making power tightened, and the Arhats (old Alibaba executives) came back to take the lead and activate emergency plans.

Suddenly, community group buying was in full swing: Wang Xing's Meituan Select, Cheng Wei's Orange Heart Select, Huang Zheng's Duoduo Maicai, and even the long-silent "Brother Dong" (Liu Qiangdong) made a comeback, personally leading his team into the melee. Everyone could see clearly that this community group buying business was a huge traffic pool, too lucrative and tempting. Xingsheng Youxuan, the "honest fool," entered the game earliest and had the most solid fundamentals, but unfortunately lacked a strong background. Sensing prey, Alibaba **mobilized six armies to encircle and suppress Xingsheng Youxuan**, reportedly because Xingsheng Youxuan was unwilling to be "recruited." Then came the story of Brother Dong investing $600 million in Xingsheng Youxuan. It seems that Xingsheng Youxuan was not opposed to investment; it was just that Brother Dong had more charm.

In Hou Yi's view, community group buying is a brand-new e-commerce model, still in its infancy. What people see today is definitely not the final model. Many people have seized on some form of transaction in community group buying, but these are not worth mentioning. Because retail is about product richness and product stickiness. Although this is an era of crazy giants, this is definitely not the final outcome.

For Hou Yi, Freshippo is his biological son, his heart and soul. He wants to create a New Retail unicorn of this era, following the thinking of Sam Walton, and he wants to go deep. Zhang Yong wants more; Freshippo is the base for Alibaba's New Retail, carrying too many missions, requiring both width and depth. In Ma Yun's eyes, Freshippo is no different from Xiami (a music app), both are chips for him to tell stories in the capital market. He only wants breadth.

For Ma Yun, Freshippo is merely a key to unlock the treasure trove of wealth. Its role is to facilitate quick money-making and cheap financing. Looking closely at Alibaba's operations in recent years—acquisitions, investments—these are, to some extent, about breadth, thereby exchanging for more money to invest in more industries. From Ma Yun's style, with enough money, theoretically one can do anything in the world, disrupt any industry, and manipulate anyone.

But for Zhang Yong, the original business must grow, new business lines must expand, and forward-looking industrial layout must be made. Failure in any one of these could be fatal for a professional manager. The so-called mission, vision, and values are just for the onlookers. As the saying goes, Godzilla has no rivals, not because it is strong but because it is big.

Now let's look at Freshippo. Freshippo was originally a good model that catered to the times. Under the arm of the group company, support and constraints coexist. A one-year-old Freshippo ran at the speed of a teenager, seemingly a bit like pulling up seedlings to help them grow. At three, it bore the pressure of an adult, fighting on all fronts. At five, it entered its twilight years, with descendants all over!

In my opinion, Freshippo needs time, needs to review and adjust, needs to slow down and cultivate meticulously.

It should be noted that Freshippo has only been established for five years. As of March 12, it has opened 225 stores nationwide and incubated multiple business formats. This five-year-old startup has covered such a wide range of fields and integrated so deeply that, to some extent, it has far surpassed Walmart, which has been established for over half a century. However, Ma Yun is not satisfied with all this.

Today's Freshippo is institutionally infinitely close to the Taobao model, losing the vitality of a startup. Its overall development increasingly relies on the parent company, and decision-making power gradually shifts to the group. From initially reporting to Zhang Yong to now reporting to Dai Shan of the business group, this is too hurtful for Hou Yi; for Zhang Yong, perhaps only he and Hou Yi truly understand Freshippo. As for why it now reports to Dai Shan, it might be because she is closer to Ma Yun.

From the current situation, the good news is that Hema Marketplace is under Dai Shan's responsibility, allowing Hou Yi to devote himself fully to Freshippo. After all, Freshippo needs Hou Yi; after all, it is a child he raised himself. Although it is tall, it is still a child.

Alibaba's e-commerce is essentially a traffic business. Pinduoduo is not as deep as Alibaba, but it is on the verge of surpassing it. JD.com is not as broad as Alibaba, but its reputation is much better. A company that does business with traffic only ever thinks about one thing: how to capture traffic.

Zhang Yong is learning from Amazon while laying out traffic. Hou Yi is looking at Pang Donglai while generating traffic. Ma Yun only cares about traffic: I buy, I collect, I invest, I squeeze you dry. I wonder if Ma Yun has ever considered this question: Is Alibaba's traffic sufficient? If it is for social development, to make it easy to do business anywhere, then Alibaba's traffic is sufficient. If it is for self-development, to "make it impossible to do business anywhere," then this path is destined to have no end.

The decline of Youku, the slide of Ele.me, and the fall of Xiami share a common logic. And Meituan's departure is precisely because it realized the huge threat. "Those who do not share the same path cannot plan together" is Wang Xing's bottom line.

**And Freshippo, the so-called leader of "New Retail," where is it heading?**

**-04-**
**Conclusion**
In the venture capital circle, there is a big shot who connects half of China's internet industry, having participated in giants like Tencent and JD.com.

In February 2021, according to data released by the U.S. SEC, Hillhouse Capital cleared its position in Alibaba, the number one e-commerce stock, in Q4 2020.

Zhang Lei wrote in "Value": "If a person feels he is very successful, he often begins to go downhill; if an investment company thinks it can make money lying down, it often begins to abandon the essentials and pursue illusory things."

No matter what stage of development we reach, we should always remind ourselves: Can we continue to innovate in the future? If we want to maintain the continuity of growth, what should we insist on most? What should we not keep?

Source: Retail Business Finance (id: Retail-Finance)


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