Click on the image for details According to an authoritative report by iiMedia Research, the transaction volume of unmanned retail stores is expected to reach 38.94 billion yuan in 2017, and the next five years will usher in a period of development dividends for unmanned retail stores. iiMedia Research also predicts that by 2020, the transaction volume growth rate of unmanned retail stores will reach 281.3%, and by 2022, the market transaction volume will exceed 1.8 trillion yuan. Image from iiMedia Research Amazon launched its unmanned supermarket Amazon Go, Ma Yun proposed "New Retail" and recently showcased its unmanned retail solution "Tao Coffee". Recently, unmanned retail companies such as F5 Future Store and Bingo Box have secured large financings exceeding 130 million yuan, sparking a wave of heated discussions about New Retail and unmanned retail in the market. Among them, the most attention-grabbing is Alibaba's unmanned retail solution "Tao Coffee", which not only attracted countless visitors to experience the store but also caused waves in the capital market, leading many trading platforms to create new "unmanned retail sectors", with stocks like Yuanwanggu, Huina Technology, and Shensi Electronics hitting their daily limit. But have you noticed that with Alibaba's unmanned retail being so hot, why hasn't Tencent come out to compete? This doesn't make sense. Looking back over the years, Alibaba and Tencent have fought in ride-hailing, bike-sharing, social platforms, mobile payments... Wherever there is profit, there is smoke of war; it can be said that neither side is willing to let go of any market or concept. But why is it that today, with unmanned retail being so hot and Alibaba and Ma Yun at the forefront, even JD.com and Wahaha have started to lay out offline retail, yet Tencent remains surprisingly quiet? Could it be that Tencent doesn't care about Alibaba's unmanned retail? The answer is definitely no. Once unmanned retail like "Tao Coffee" scales and becomes widespread, Alipay will inevitably play a crucial role in the entire operation process, because whether it's entering the store or settling payments, both buyers and sellers cannot do without the entire Alipay ecosystem. Even if other unmanned retail companies have no affiliation with Alibaba, their store operations and settlements will inevitably require related technology and mobile payments, and as sellers, they are more likely to choose to cooperate with Alibaba, which has the relevant technology. And once Alipay's user base surges, the first to suffer will be Tencent's WeChat Pay. In fact, Tencent has not been inactive; it has been methodical. From offline retail to unmanned retail, I believe it was Tencent that ignited the war first. On the evening of April 26 this year, WeChat officially announced that users can quickly create a "store mini-program" exclusive to their enterprise or store on the platform. You see, there are tens of thousands of stores in China, and if store owners all join Tencent's mini-programs, it would be equivalent to absorbing a large number of customers from O2O platforms like Meituan and Dianping, while also collecting massive data from these offline stores, and WeChat would gain even wider application. Tencent probably wants to first understand the operations and data of these offline stores, and then wait for the right moment to strike in offline retail. On July 3, a vending machine brand called "Sweep Goods Special Sale" (Saohuo Tema), which focuses on clearance goods and imported FMCG products with half their shelf life remaining, secured nearly 20 million yuan in pre-A round financing, co-invested by Tencent Zhongchuang, Zhen Fund, and Advantage Capital. It is understood that the funds from this round will mainly be used to advance its main business and lay out offline New Retail. Additionally, the offline New Retail system under "Sweep Goods Special Sale", the "Sweep Goods Planet Xmall Unmanned Retail Store", will also compete with other similar brands. At the same time, we finally see Tencent starting to make moves in unmanned retail, but this investment is not large, showing caution and reluctance to enter easily, or perhaps just testing the waters. Alibaba and Tencent are truly in a love-hate relationship: one flaunts its unmanned retail, the other acts low-key and watches from the sidelines, but both are eyeing this new trend. Finally, I want to say, don't forget that Amazon, JD.com, Wahaha, Xiaomi, and other companies are also eyeing this piece of cake. It's still uncertain who will emerge victorious. Source: Fortune Red Journal (ID: zy1610128) For more unmanned retail information, we recommend following the WeChat official account: -END-