Click image for details World's first face-scanning payment restaurant KFC KPRO store in Hangzhou 1 "The era of eating by face" is here! It turns out that one day, you can just "scan your face" to eat—don't overthink it, you still have to pay, but without cash or a phone, payment can be completed via facial recognition. Just now, Alipay announced the launch of "face-scanning payment" at KFC's KPRO restaurant. This KFC KPRO store in Hangzhou MixC is the world's first restaurant to accept face-scanning payment, and it's also the first commercial application of this technology globally. Two years ago at the Hannover Messe trade fair, Jack Ma's smiling face was captured on a big screen, and seconds later, the screen showed a successful payment. He demonstrated Alipay's "face-scanning payment" technology to guests, including the German Chancellor. Now, this technology has finally left the lab. At the world's first KFC KPRO restaurant, the process of "eating by face" is as follows: 1) Select your meal on the self-service ordering machine, go to the payment page, and choose "Alipay Face Scan Pay." 2) Facial recognition takes about 1-2 seconds. 3) Enter the phone number linked to your account, confirm, and payment is complete. It also gives you your fortune for the day. KFC General Manager Johnson Huang said that if face-scanning is well-received by consumers, it will certainly be considered for wider adoption in the future. "Enhancing the dining experience through new designs, fresh flavors, and trendy technology has always been KFC's strategy for business growth in China," he said. Wei Chuan launches new scale-marked bottle, a juice bottle with music 2 Alibaba partners with Heilan Home for full transformation based on Tmall's new retail solutions 3 On August 30, 17 days after Jack Ma visited Heilan Home, Tmall announced a comprehensive strategic cooperation with the latter. In the future, Heilan Home's over 5,000 physical stores will undergo a full transformation into "smart stores" based on Tmall's new retail solutions. Driven by the mission of "making it easy to do business anywhere," Alibaba has built a vast business empire encompassing online retail, big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, financial payments, logistics networks, and credit systems. The goal is to integrate all advanced technologies and become a provider of digital commercial infrastructure. Compared to the buzz around new retail, the other four "new" concepts proposed by Jack Ma (new manufacturing, new finance, new technology, and new energy) have not received equal public attention. But if you systematically consider these five parallel concepts, you'll see the true ambition of Jack Ma and Alibaba. We can further understand Alibaba's front, middle, and back office strategy: the back office consists of centralized infrastructure platforms like big data and cloud computing, providing infrastructure for all businesses; the middle office includes specialized empowerment platforms like retail and finance, supporting innovation and expansion of front-end businesses; the front office includes agile business platforms like Taobao and Tmall, which continuously develop and expand with support from the back and middle offices. But Alibaba's ambition is not just to empower its internal business platforms; its true goal is to digitize and intelligently transform all traditional industries. So from this perspective, Alibaba's entry into any traditional industry is logical, especially the apparel industry, which is a basic consumer good, worth trillions, and a stronghold for Tmall categories. Drones everywhere coming? JD.com and SF Express both receive airspace approvals 4 On August 31, JD.com received a written airspace approval covering the entire province of Shaanxi, the first such approval for drone operations across a whole province in China. The last major drone news was at the end of June: "SF Express and Nankang District of Ganzhou jointly applied for a logistics drone demonstration zone, and the Eastern Theater Command officially approved the airspace, making it the only officially approved demonstration airspace in China, jointly promoted by an enterprise, central regulatory authorities, and local government." Is it going to be drones everywhere from now on? Currently, JD.com has achieved regular operations of small drones with a payload of 10-15 kg and a range of 15-20 km in Suqian, Jiangsu, and Xi'an, Shaanxi. A JD.com staff member said: "Drone delivery can approach the cost of manual delivery. But the scale is still small. As JD's drone delivery range expands and the cost of drones themselves drops significantly, we expect drone delivery costs to fall by about 50% compared to current manual delivery." This figure is more conservative than what JD.com founder Liu Qiangdong said in an interview in June. At that time, Liu said that after promoting drone delivery, logistics costs in rural areas could drop by 70%, and in JD's future rural logistics model, every village would have a JD courier to receive these drones. "Today, we employ 70,000 couriers on the streets, which is a high cost. If we can use drones to deliver packages, the cost will be very low." The arrival of drones is starting to make China's over 2 million couriers uneasy. Better Life's Fresh Food Legend trial operation kicks off "Greater Southwest" new retail trilogy 5 On September 2, Better Life's new retail sample, Fresh Food Legend, opened its fifth store—the third-generation premium hypermarket at Zhonghai Huanyu City—to a booming reception. This is the fifth store opened by Better Life in supermarket areas (after Changsha Meixi Lake, Changsha Wangfu New, Loudi Wujiang Country Garden, and Yiyang Wanda). In the future, Better Life hypermarkets will adopt a combination model of supermarket + Fresh Food Legend, with 10 stores to be renovated this year, and in 2018, the top 50 stores by sales will undergo this model transformation. Leveraging Better Life's global direct sourcing supply chain advantages, Fresh Food Legend's sections—international cuisine, local cuisine, seafood experience hall, and street snacks—all offer a large number of specialty signature dishes. The grand opening and affordable prices for domestic and international delicacies have completely won over consumers' taste buds. Fresh Food Legend is not so much a new retail format of "premium supermarket + quality dining + Yunhou Select APP" as it is an upgrade of Better Life's global supply chain, a necessary choice to leverage its global supply chain advantages to cater to future consumption trends. No plans to spin off or divest Yanjing Beer; interested in becoming Winter Olympics sponsor 6 At the interim results meeting, Zhou Si, Vice Chairman and CEO of Beijing Enterprises (00392), said there are currently no plans to spin off or divest Yanjing Beer, as the business still contributes to the group and investors. As for market rumors that Yanjing Beer intends to become a Winter Olympics sponsor, Zhao Xiaodong, Chairman of Beijing Yanjing Beer, said it would depend on cost-effectiveness. According to Yanjing Beer's financial report, in the first half of 2017, Beijing Yanjing Beer Co., Ltd. achieved operating revenue of 6,338.4343 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 0.71%; profit of 700.612 million yuan, up 8.29%; and net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company of 491.6115 million yuan, up 8.78%. Bianlifeng lays off 50 employees; official response: normal performance review 7 According to multiple sources, Bianlifeng, invested by Zebra Capital, laid off about 50 employees at the end of August, accounting for nearly one-tenth of its total headquarters staff. This includes 20 people from the public affairs department and 30 of the 36 people in the development department. Most of those laid off were still on probation or were interns. This week, Retail Frontier News received a response from Bianlifeng's PR department: "Recently, the company is conducting a semi-annual human resources review. A small number of employees whose performance does not match business needs have left, accounting for about 2-3%. At the same time, more excellent talent is joining every day. This personnel adjustment is part of normal performance assessment." MUJI launches 5th round of price cuts in China; may match Japan prices next year 8 On August 26, MUJI's fifth round of "new pricing" price cuts in China officially began. The cuts focus on the general goods category, especially furniture, electronics, and health & beauty. Furniture prices have been cut by up to 67%, electronics by up to 21%, and health & beauty by up to 24%. This is MUJI's fifth price cut since its first "new pricing" campaign in mainland China in October 2014. MUJI expects to achieve roughly the same prices in China and Japan by 2018. CTR report: FMCG market grows 2.6% 9 On August 30, CTR (CCTV Market Research) released its latest report on China's consumer market, advertising and marketing, and media trends. The CTR report shows that in the first half of 2017, China's FMCG market grew moderately by 2.6%, a slowdown from 2016. Online shopping sales saw a significant increase of 28% in the first half of the year. Traditional large retail entered a consolidation phase. Young people are more willing to pay for entertainment and social marketing, and the ability to "show off" has become a major driver of shopping among youth. JD Supermarket announces it is now the largest supermarket; unmanned stores don't represent the future 10 On September 1, at the 2017 China FMCG Industry Annual Summit, JD Supermarket announced that based on second-quarter sales, it has become the largest supermarket in China's online and offline market. Additionally, JD Supermarket announced the upgrade of its "Double Hundred Billion Club," with a goal to help 500 FMCG brands achieve sales exceeding 100 million yuan in the next year. In just half a year after Amazon Go appeared, the unmanned convenience store track is now crowded with players. There are internet e-commerce retail giants like Alibaba and Suning; traditional retail enterprises like Wahaha, Lawson, and Haoneighbor; and emerging startups like BingoBox and Xiaomai. However, Feng Yi, Vice President of JD Group and President of JD Mall's Consumer Goods Division, said, "Current unmanned supermarkets do not represent the future of supermarkets. The future supermarket should be borderless and precise." Click image for details The 3rd China FMCG + Internet Conference (CFIC) will be held in Chongqing in October 2017. At this conference, New Distribution has invited 1,000+ distributors, 500+ brand owners, 200+ B2B platform founders, and 100+ investment and financing institutions to participate. The theme of this conference: New Forces, New Ecosystem. We will invite well-known domestic B2B industry experts, mentors, and B2B platform founders to discuss the following topics: Core topics of this conference:
How can the FMCG industry leverage B2B to achieve new growth opportunities
How to build the new supply chain behind new retail
How can intra-city logistics help B2B achieve leapfrog development
Highlights of this conference:
The industry's first "2017 China FMCG B2B Industry Competitiveness White Paper"
Case sharing of excellent distributors in transformation and upgrading
Conference + exhibition upgrade: Hall 6 Internet Technology Exhibition strengthens networking
Leaders from Alibaba Retail Link, ProLogis Finance, Eternal Asia Supply Chain, Best Store Plus, Yijiupi, Unilever, Hitech, and Yunmei will deliver keynote speeches sharing pioneering insights.
October 17-18, 2017 Chongqing International Expo Center Registration is now open. Long-press the QR code below or click "Read Original" to register. Early bird tickets before September 15 enjoy a 30% discount! Add friend and note "Conference Registration" Click the links below to review the highlights of the first and second FMCG + Internet conferences: 2016 "FMCG + Internet" Summit Forum 2017 (2nd) China FMCG + Internet Conference Click the links below to review the highlights of the first and second FMCG + Internet conferences: 2016 "FMCG + Internet" Summit Forum -END-