△Scan the QR code to follow New Distribution's video account and reserve the live broadcast Core Guide: 1. Lianjia crosses over to convenience stores and community group buying? 2. Convenience store crossovers are not new? 3. What challenges lie ahead? Recently, according to Lianshang.com, Lianjia, a real estate agency giant, has crossed over to operate a convenience store in Beijing and also launched community group buying for fresh products such as eggs, attracting attention. -01- Lianjia's Cross-industry Move It is reported that the store is located outside the Sixth Ring Road in Daxing, Beijing, with an area of only 20 square meters. The main products include rice, oil, eggs, milk, beverages, snacks, and other daily necessities. The convenience store is managed unmanned, with consumers self-checkout. A "Lianjia Community" message board is posted in the store, where consumers can leave messages about the products they want to buy and their addresses, somewhat similar to the community group buying model of pre-order + self-pickup. As a well-known real estate agent, Lianjia has witnessed the rise of China's real estate over the past two decades, and it is not an exaggeration to describe it as financially strong. Lianjia Real Estate Brokerage Co., Ltd. was established in 2001. It is a data-driven value chain real estate service platform integrating real estate transaction services and asset management services, with business covering second-hand housing transactions, new housing transactions, leasing, decoration services, etc. Founded in 2001, Lianjia currently covers 28 regions including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Wuhan, Chengdu, Qingdao, Chongqing, Dalian, and Hefei, with more than 8,000 stores nationwide and over 150,000 agents. To continuously improve the home-buying service experience, Lianjia has previously actively laid out online platforms, which now cover PC, Lianjia APP, Lianjia mobile web, and other terminals. The online platform pipeline is basically in place, which can provide online support for the "convenience store + community group buying" in the future. -02- Convenience Store Crossovers Are Not Uncommon This year can be called the first year of crossovers. Cross-industry new business formats and expanding business territories are not exclusive to Lianjia. Sinopec crossed over to sell coffee, promoting Easy Joy Coffee to scale up its entry into gas station consumption channels. Sinopec was previously just gas stations. Introducing Easy Joy convenience stores is similar to "Lianjia + convenience store". So far, Sinopec has more than 30,000 gas stations, covering more than 27,000 Easy Joy convenience store outlets. Introducing and combining various coffee products and services enriches the service functions of gas stations and expands new business formats. This can also inspire Lianjia: introducing coffee into convenience stores may be a profit growth opportunity. The combination of convenience stores and real estate agents is undoubtedly a new species. In terms of operation, it saves many costs by leveraging existing advantages, such as rent, utilities, and management costs. In existing business models, "two-in-one" is not uncommon, especially in community stores, where it is normal to sell breakfast at the front door and groceries at the back door. Moreover, convenience services are even more of an auxiliary for real estate companies to extend services, increasing customers' consumption stickiness and trust in the company. For migrant workers who first arrive in big cities, after renting a house, they may not have extra money to buy daily necessities. Lianjia can help by giving a "life gift package" after renting, solving problems for workers. This warmth makes it easier for workers to choose and trust Lianjia. Lianjia also has a trump card: 150,000 real estate agents. Each agent has a customer base. If they naturally develop into group leaders, when talking with customers about buying, selling, or leasing second-hand houses, they can directly promote mini-programs for grain, oil, rice, noodles, frozen foods, and daily necessities. This convenient life service model is highly integrated with the "house selling" service and can prosper together. Calculating with a normal group efficiency of 100, the target consumer group that 150,000 agents can leverage is at the million level, which is by no means inferior to the user base of current mainstream community group buying platforms. -03- What Challenges Lie Ahead? Whether it is a real estate agent or Sinopec, crossing into new fields inevitably faces difficulties and challenges, especially in the supply chain. It is understood that Lianjia's convenience store is almost unmanned. Products are shelved by dedicated personnel, and the store uses electronic price tags with backend price management and self-checkout. But can the unmanned retail market accept this? Will technology updates and operation and maintenance cause more cost investment? Does it have competitive advantages? Does Lianjia have experience in managing retail inventory? Could it conflict with the "service" purpose? These are all worth discussing. At the same time, if it enters community group buying now, although the market has been educated and there is a certain dividend period, doing community group buying inevitably involves fresh products, and it may even need to heavily invest in the fresh supply chain to survive fierce competition. However, it cannot be simply denied that Lianjia can't make it because it lacks a fresh supply chain foundation. For example, Meituan crossed over from food delivery to selling vegetables, and its fresh supply chain also started from scratch. In fact, the online penetration rate of fresh products is currently not high. Lianjia is a leader in domestic real estate agents and already has a certain brand effect. New business formats, new branches, and new attempts will all carry the brand halo. Entering at this time is also seizing the trend. If the cross-industry trial succeeds and it enters community group buying on a large scale, its power will be unstoppable. Source: Fresh Food Ranking (ID: sxbgfwx)