After years of rapid development in the snack discount store sector, store formats and models are undergoing a new round of innovation and iteration. Laiyoupin, under Wanchen Group, one of the industry's leading brands, announced its official entry into the full-category hard discount supermarket field. On December 21, the Wanchen Group Laiyoupin Savings Supermarket launch event was grandly held in Hefei! As an in-depth industry observation media, New Distribution was invited to attend and witness the event. At the launch, Laiyoupin debuted with the theme "New Supermarket Concept, Laiyoupin Pioneers", presenting its new vision. In the presence of senior industry media, Asia's top consulting firm Hua & Hua, and Laiyoupin franchisee representatives, Zhou Peng, partner of Wanchen Group's Haoxianglai brand retail, announced the new supermarket concept—Laiyoupin Savings Supermarket—and grandly unveiled the store model. This move by Wanchen Laiyoupin to open savings supermarkets will further consolidate Wanchen's leading position in the industry and accelerate the integration of the entire hard discount sector.

Discount Economy Grows Against the Trend From Snack Discount Stores to Full-Category Discount Supermarkets In just a few years, the domestic discount economy has grown against the trend. Snack discount stores under the discount economy, from being initially underestimated and rejected by manufacturers, to now being spread across the country with all parties reconciling, have undergone multiple transformations. Those who expected fierce competition and mutual destruction among snack store brands instead witnessed strong alliances, expanding the competitive field and extending business to the hard discount supermarket industry. During the same period when snack discount stores were blooming nationwide, full-category discount stores were also developing resiliently, with many regions seeing the emergence of well-known full-category discount stores.

The blank market for full-category discount stores is vast.

**Impacted by the discount economy, a large number of offline supermarkets have begun to decline. The category richness of products sold in supermarkets far exceeds that of snack stores, and a large market needs full-category discount supermarkets with more complete categories to take over. Moreover, the current main consumer group of snack stores is still young people, while consumers of other age groups also have demand for discounted products, which remains unmet. The market's demand for full-category discount supermarkets is growing day by day. Thus, snack stores, also a discount format, have set their sights on a new round of development toward the full-category discount supermarket model.

Laiyoupin Savings Supermarket Brand Triangle Launch At the Wanchen Group Laiyoupin Savings Supermarket launch event on December 21, it was announced that the first super store of Laiyoupin—Hefei Wulishan Tianjie Store—will grandly open on January 10. At the launch, Mr. Zhou Peng shared the reasons for Laiyoupin's move into savings supermarkets, the development strategy for savings supermarkets, and the store image of savings supermarkets. Additionally, He Tianxin, Project Director of Shanghai Hua & Hua Marketing Consulting Co., Ltd., delivered a sharing session themed "Super Symbols, Retail Innovation". Through Hua & Hua's brand triangle concept, the brand triangle of Laiyoupin Savings Supermarket was established from three dimensions: product structure, discourse system, and symbol system, creating the super symbols and super stores for Laiyoupin Savings Supermarket! In the media Q&A session at the end of the launch, the Laiyoupin team answered questions from on-site media and franchisees one by one. One media representative asked: "We see the savings supermarket as a promising direction breakthrough. In this segment, which categories will we focus on?" Mr. Chen Xianzhen, head of supply chain at Laiyoupin, responded, stating that the category planning for Laiyoupin Savings Supermarket is divided into three major modules.

  • First Module **With snacks as the core foundation, continuously optimize the product structure to maintain the market advantage in the snack category.
  • Second Module For daily necessities, three magnet categories have been planned, with direct supply from source factories and origins, relying on the group's strong supply chain advantages to reduce costs and pass on benefits to consumers, truly saving them money.
  • Third Module Private brand development will be one of the key strategies going forward. The goal is to trace back to source factories and origins, achieving the ultimate in product quality and price to meet consumers' daily needs. In the future, Laiyoupin's own brands will be launched successively, along with the "Super Value" and "Super Save" series of products, allowing consumers to "spend less and buy better"!Why did Laiyoupin choose to do savings supermarkets? Why do savings supermarkets? At the launch, Zhou Peng, partner of Wanchen Group's Haoxianglai brand retail, gave a clear answer. He stated that under the new economic situation, "saving money" is a common demand for both consumers and investors. Consumers' demand is to return to products, while franchisees' demand is "less investment, more profit, and sustainable profitability." Under such supply-demand and industry conditions, Laiyoupin analyzed from the population income pyramid model that Sam's Club and Costco focus on the business of 20% of the middle class, while 80% of the mass market still has a supply gap. This is a widely needed but unresolved problem, and also an opportunity for enterprises. To fill the blank market, the Laiyoupin team spent 2 years continuously improving their internal capabilities. The entire project team traveled across most of China and the consumer retail markets of Asia and Europe, ultimately forming the new concept of Laiyoupin Savings Supermarket! New Distribution believes that this move by Wanchen Laiyoupin to open savings supermarkets is likely to push the industry into a new chapter. Discount supermarkets operate with multiple categories and brands, and once they cross regions, they face the differences in demand across various regions in China. Unlike snack stores that concentrate on one category to amplify scale advantages, discount supermarkets often resort to burning money through subsidies. Ultimately, for discount supermarkets to develop rapidly and make money, they need scale support. Since last year, Wanchen announced the merger of its four snack chain brands, becoming one of the industry's leading brands. Now, whether in manpower, product resources, or store locations, it has scale advantages that small and medium brands cannot match. For example, in the current fiercely competitive industry, good locations and stores are scarce, but Wanchen's stores have covered 29 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions (data as of November 2024), providing a foundation of store resources. Another example: currently, most discount supermarkets still rely on diversified channels such as brand owners and distributors for product sourcing, which makes it difficult for them to gain advantages in procurement prices for certain products. In contrast, the development of snack stores has entered the next stage, where leading snack stores can easily bypass middlemen for direct procurement, and Wanchen has the foundation for large-scale procurement. With its scale advantages, Wanchen's entry into full-category discount supermarkets will further accelerate the transformation of China's retail industry.

【New Order · Symbiosis】 The 10th China FMCG Innovation Conference Time: March 17-19, 2025 Location: Chengdu, China