Recently, the China Chain Store & Franchise Association released the "2019 China Chain Store Top 100" list. According to relevant data, in 2019, the sales scale of the top 100 chains was nearly 2.6 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.2%, accounting for 6.3% of the total retail sales of consumer goods. The total number of stores of the top 100 chains was 144,000, a year-on-year increase of 5.9%. The top 100 chain enterprises provided more than 1.6 million jobs. The top ten enterprises are Suning, Gome, Red Star Macalline, Sun Art Retail, China Resources Vanguard, Yonghui, Walmart, Easyhome, Sinopec Easy Joy, and Chongqing Department Store. Home appliance giant Suning once again topped the list with sales of 378.74 billion yuan. Red Star Macalline performed prominently, jumping from 26th in 2018 to third in 2019. Insiders said this was mainly due to its cooperation with Alibaba. Sun Art Retail, after the brand integration of RT-Mart and Auchan in 2019, also surpassed China Resources Vanguard for the first time, ranking 4th in the top 100 and 1st in FMCG. China Resources Vanguard's sales performance declined for two consecutive years. In 2019, it fell by 6.1%, and in 2018, it fell by 2.3%. In 2017, it only ranked third with a sales growth rate of 0.1%. Carrefour China's ranking dropped significantly, from 12th in 2018 to 21st in 2019, with sales declining by as much as 8.3%. Walmart China had low sales growth and store growth, and its ranking fell from fifth in 2018 to seventh in 2019. Meiyijia, the king of convenience stores in China, ranked 33rd with revenue of 22.6 billion yuan, a sales growth rate of 34.6%, and 19,236 stores, surpassing PetroChina's revenue of 20.7 billion. On May 6 this year, Meiyijia also announced that its stores exceeded 20,000+, and currently ranks third in the number of convenience stores in China. In addition, Hema Fresh, ranked 15th in the top 100, is also developing rapidly. Relying on advanced technologies such as Internet technology, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence, Hema Fresh upgrades the production, circulation, and sales processes of goods, reshapes the business structure and ecosystem, and deeply integrates online services, offline experience, and logistics. This new retail model achieved the largest double growth among the top 100 enterprises, with sales growth of 185.7% and store growth of 67.8%. From the data and the overall performance of chain enterprises throughout the year, chain retail enterprises currently have the following development trends. 1. Overall growth is slowing, but many enterprises still achieve double-digit growth In terms of the situation, the overall growth rate of chain retail enterprises is tending to slow down, but there are still 18 enterprises achieving double-digit growth in both sales and stores, including Red Star Macalline, Yonghui, Easyhome, Hema Fresh, Meiyijia, Kidswant, Pagoda, Dashenlin, 7-Eleven, Lawson, Aeon, Century Hualian, Guangdong Jiarong, Hunan Jiahui, Fujian Dongbai, Hebei Meishilin, Xianfeng Fruit, and Guizhou Heli Huimin Minsheng. 2. Retail is trending towards miniaturization, community-oriented, and convenience Following the front warehouse, the mini store model, based on digitalization and premised on the integration of online and offline, has become a new hotspot. RT-Mart plans to open a new type of RT-Mart mini, positioned as a community supermarket, with the first store in Nantong, Jiangsu; Yonghui Superstores is exploring and opening more than 500 mini stores; Hema, after opening 6 stores in Shanghai, is accelerating its store expansion and plans to replicate nationwide. 3. Actively embrace new channels: live streaming, group buying While actively carrying out traditional offline business, many enterprises are also trying to enter community group buying, live streaming, and other businesses, reaching consumers through more dimensions, sensing consumer demand, reducing costs, reducing delivery costs, acquiring customers at lower costs, and increasing repurchase rates. 4. Home delivery business becomes standard Insiders said that 2019 was the first year for the home delivery business of supermarkets. Many of the top 100 enterprises have generally carried out home delivery business through self-built or cooperative methods, while some enterprises are still in the exploratory stage. However, it is undeniable that home delivery business will become the standard for retail enterprise development in the future. 5. Convenience stores develop rapidly In 2019, convenience stores developed strongly. While the scale continued to expand, the depth of operation also continued to deepen, and they actively tested innovative models. Profitability, store efficiency, personnel efficiency, and floor efficiency also improved significantly. In addition, according to relevant data, as of 2020, the number of chain convenience stores in China has exceeded 130,000, but the overall number is still insufficient to meet people's needs. Convenience stores remain a hot spot for retail development. 6. Digital transformation becomes a new trend In the process of continuous development, enterprises face various internal and external pressures. How to provide customers with better products and services, how to improve consumer experience, and how to optimize business processes have become the main challenges for many enterprises. Sun Art Retail proposed digital transformation in 2018. Through technology and data-driven approaches, it improved the operational efficiency of physical stores and achieved initial results. It is foreseeable that in the future, digital transformation will become a trend for retail enterprise transformation. Attachment: "2019 China Chain Store Top 100" Chart source: China Chain Store & Franchise Association