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Browse 1976 New Distribution articles about Retail Formats.
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1976 articles · Page 27 of 83
Top 10 Events in China's Retail Industry in 2023
In 2023, China's retail industry underwent significant changes. Hypermarkets continued to struggle, seeking new paths in discount stores and warehouse club formats. Online, traditional e-commerce platforms adopted low-price strategies amid consumption downgrading. Meanwhile, membership clubs like Sam's Club and Costco accelerated expansion, with Sam's planning 6-7 new stores annually and Costco reaching 6 stores in China, putting pressure on local players.
十里Former 'Snack King' Rolls Up Its Mat for Winter
On November 27, Bestore announced its largest price cut in 17 years, reducing prices on 300 hot-selling products by an average of 22%, with a maximum reduction of 45%. This was followed by a public dispute and lawsuit with snack discount chain Zhao Yiming Snacks. These signs indicate that Bestore, once proud of its premium snack positioning, must now lower its profile and make changes to survive. Founder Yang Yinfen previously stated in an open letter: 'Bestore must reduce costs and make prices affordable. If everyone thinks it's too expensive, we must change, or we will die.'
关注零食的DT君Hard Discount: Is Low Price a Tactic or a Strategy?
Low price alone is not a durable strategy. Successful hard-discount retail depends on supply-chain strength, differentiated products, operating efficiency, and a clear value structure for brands, distributors, retailers, and consumers.
New DistributionPrivate Chain Supermarkets: Farewell in Progress
The transfer of Hongqi Chain's actual control has finally been settled, with Sichuan State-owned Capital's Shangtou Investment acquiring shares from the Cao Shiru family and Yonghui Superstores to become the new owner. This follows a trend of private supermarket giants like Better Life and Renrenle losing control to state-owned entities due to financial difficulties.
徐霁Hard Discounts Arrive: Do FMCG Brands Still Dare to Raise Prices?
As private label share grows, some worry that national brands will become redundant. However, private labels and national brands are complementary, as national brands drive store traffic, support retailer profit optimization, and offer consumer choice. Notably, high private label volume penetration and market share in a category do not necessarily maximize category profitability. The answer: In the era of hard discounts, which mainly replace cheap generic brands, FMCG companies should quickly occupy higher price points, but the window of opportunity is fleeting.
刘春雄Consumers Who 'Disdain' Prepared Dishes May Not Be Able to Resist Frozen Baking
Frozen baking, like prepared dishes, is a large-scale, industrialized food solution that is quietly entering our lives. Despite many restaurants advertising 'no prepared dishes,' brands like Sam's Club and Hema are open about their baked goods coming from factories. Frozen baking is the fastest-growing segment in the baking industry, with a compound annual growth rate of 23.87% from 2013 to 2022, and it offers advantages such as cost reduction, consistent quality, and fresh taste, making it hard for both businesses and consumers to resist.
FBIFYonghui Superstores: Contracting for the Winter
After the heavy snow, winter truly arrives, and animals are busy storing food. Business tycoons are no different, weaving a complex network of friendships. On December 12, Wanda announced a reinvestment agreement with PAG and other major investors, trading absolute control for relief, while also selling stakes in Wanda Film and some Wanda Plazas. Yonghui Superstores, facing its own downturn, sold its 1.43% stake in Wanda Commercial Management for 4.53 billion yuan, shifting from expansion to contraction to hoard cash.
徐霁On Survival and How to Thrive: A Conversation with Individual Retailers in Lower-Tier Cities
In China's third-, fourth-, and fifth-tier cities, individual retail seems to be gradually disappearing. Lao Wang (pseudonym), a regional distributor in Zunyi, Guizhou, notes that while large supermarkets in big cities are closing, small supermarkets are proliferating in lower-tier cities, squeezing out mom-and-pop shops. This article explores the current state and future of individual retail in these areas through interviews and analysis.
新商业价值媒体Hard Discount Transformation of Traditional Retail Is Not Simply About Selling Cheaper
Discounting is not just about selling goods cheaper. A category supply chain transformation essentially involves two points: lower prices and a richer assortment. Taking Lai Yifen as an example, in response to competition from bulk retail stores, it attempted discount transformation through price cuts. However, after the price cuts, it found that something was still missing. Where was the problem? Lai Yifen was born during a period of rapid quality upgrade in China's snack demand, but at that time production capacity had not kept up. Therefore, Lai Yifen's store format was small, with about two to three hundred SKUs, only able to support a portion of people's demand for quality snacks in the competitive environment at that time.
连杰Top 10 Keywords in the FMCG Industry for 2023
The recovery of the global economy, the coexistence of consumption upgrading and downgrading, and the explosive growth of the online economy have brought unprecedented challenges and opportunities to the FMCG industry in 2023. New Distribution has compiled the top 10 keywords for the FMCG industry in 2023, interpreting industry trends from multiple perspectives to help FMCG companies review key information and better grasp market changes and development directions.
杨玉琳、冯瑶Why Community Discount Supermarkets May Be the Next Retail Opportunity
China's snack-discount sector still has room to grow, but copying the current format is no longer enough. The next opportunity may be full-category community discount supermarkets built on stronger assortment, supply-chain, and organizational capabilities.
New DistributionLoss-Making Third-Tier Convenience Store Franchisees: Hard to Transfer, Closing Means Losses
Wang Qiang, who franchised a Japanese convenience store brand in Qingdao, Shandong, decided to exit after seven months due to intense competition from discount snack stores and lower-than-promised margins. He faces difficulties transferring his store and will lose at least 100,000 yuan. Zhang Li, chairman of Jianfu Convenience Store, highlights key challenges for franchising and predicts an inevitable consolidation period in the industry.
晴山Intensifying Competition! Dingdong Maicai Ventures into Outlet Format, Ready to Battle Hema?
A new store by the author of Fresh Food Ranking has drawn close attention from the fresh food industry. Recently, the first Dingdong Outlet store opened in Shanghai's Songjiang District. As a leading player in the front-warehouse model, can Dingdong Maicai's trial of the fresh food outlet format succeed?
生鲜榜作者The Dilemma of Hema
In 2018, when Hema opened in Wuhan, Hou Yi tasted a local specialty called "lotus root" and immediately decided to urgently procure it. With a shelf life of only 72 hours, Hema purchased during the day, air-freighted to Shanghai at night, and sold in stores the next morning, theoretically leaving only 24 hours for sales. In later media interviews, Hou Yi often cited this story as a symbol of Hema—from its inception, Hema was a standard product of consumption upgrade; early on within Alibaba, Hema was nicknamed "the second Tmall."
黎铮Ren Wenqing: Hard Discount - Reshaping Future Supply Chain Landscape and Growth Models
On December 6, the first China FMCG Hard Discount Conference opened grandly in Zhengzhou. At the main forum on the morning of December 6, Ren Wenqing, COO of New Distribution and chief editor of the 'China Snack Hard Discount White Paper', shared insights on 'Hard Discount - Reshaping Future Supply Chain Landscape and Growth Models'. The following are key points from the speech.
任文青AndySupply Chain Capability: The Core Competitiveness of Hard Discount Brands
Discount retail is surging, proving once again that if other methods fail, a 'price war' always works. In 2023, the discount store model centered on price wars exploded, kicking off China's retail discount revolution. The core competitiveness of hard discount brands lies in supply chain capability, which determines profitability and survival in the fierce 2024 competition.
陈思廷Snack Discount Stores in County Towns: Undercurrents Surging
Like a spring breeze overnight, snack discount stores have densely appeared on streets and alleys. Lin Ming (pseudonym), a resident of a fifth-tier small county town, recently found several such stores near his home, including two 'Snacks Very Busy' outlets. These stores are more fashionable than ordinary convenience stores and offer lower prices: a bottle of cola sells for 3 yuan in supermarkets but only 2.4 yuan at 'Snacks Very Busy'; a bottle of water priced at 2 yuan in convenience stores costs just 1.2 yuan at 'Zhao Yiming Snacks'. Overall, products in snack discount stores are mostly 20-30% cheaper than in regular supermarkets.
竹铭How Did These Discount Store Franchisees Lose Their Money?
As the hottest retail format of 2023, hard discount has indeed attracted attention. New Distribution has always believed that the discount model will be one of the important retail models in the future. At the same time, we also note that 'low price' is the most impactful competitive means in current retail competition, but the skill of 'making money with low prices' is not easy to master. In a new business form, a large proportion of the first wave of pioneers often become martyrs. The purpose of this article is to remind brand owners, distributors, and discount store franchisees not to only see the opportunities of the hard discount trend, but also to be aware of its huge traps at this stage.
陈思廷Xingsheng Youxuan's Defeat Is Sealed
Xingsheng Youxuan, unable to sustain its competitive edge amid intense industry homogenization, recently withdrew from the Guangdong market, following its closure of Fujian operations in April. The community e-commerce pioneer has shrunk from covering 18 provinces at its peak to just Hunan, Hubei, and Jiangxi, its earliest strongholds. Despite early success and over $12 billion in funding, it now struggles against giants like Meituan and Pinduoduo, retreating to its Hunan base.
RBF编辑部Surviving in the Era of Affordable Prices
A company may collapse for many reasons, but Wang Yumeng never expected that the last straw would be 'low prices.' Her original leaf tea brand Chabiubiu was recently removed by Hema as it pivoted to a discount store model, making its mid-to-high-end positioning incompatible with Hema's new 'everyday low prices' strategy. This shift reflects a broader trend in China's consumer market toward value-for-money products, as seen in the rise of brands like Mixue Bingcheng and Pinduoduo.
李小霞 窦轩Bestore Slashes Prices Drastically! Is High-End Strategy Dead?
The leisure snack industry has been hit again. On November 30, Bestore announced its largest price cut in 17 years, with member prices on over 300 products in stores averaging a 22% reduction and a maximum cut of 45%, focusing on snacks with optimized costs without compromising quality and high repurchase rates. Shortly before, leading bulk snack retailer Snackbusy merged with Zhao Yiming Snacks. In November, both retail and brand sides of the industry made major adjustments, with Three Squirrels having already adjusted earlier, while Baicaowei said it would not follow suit for now.
田静From B2b Transformation to Discount Retail: The Self-Revolution of Traditional Distributors!
Discount retail is a hot topic, with snack discount stores expanding rapidly and traditional retailers and brands exploring how to adapt. Distributors are feeling the impact directly, as aggressive expansion of snack stores has led to significant sales declines. Yu Xiuwei, founder of Tangshan Yihe Trading, shares his journey from traditional distributor to B2b platform and then to launching a local discount chain, offering insights on whether hard discount is a challenge or opportunity for distributors.
周群Bulk Snack Supermarkets Down 30%, Standard Products Down 15%: Can Snack Distributors Survive This Winter?
Hello friends. I'm Yuan Lai from New Distribution. Recently, while preparing for the first China FMCG Hard Discount Conference in Zhengzhou, I spoke with over a dozen major food and beverage distributors. They unanimously reported significant declines: standard snack products in supermarkets down 10%-20%, and bulk snack products down around 30%. One distributor noted that no store is immune, with return rates rising and promotional costs increasing. This article explores whether distributors can open stores, how to maintain local supermarket business, and what else they can do to offset declines.
袁来Zhao Bo: Ten Thoughts on the Discount Retail Model
1. The current discount model is not based on supply chain optimization but on subsidies from investors and low-margin franchise models, leading to unsustainable losses. 2. Discounts and snacks are still in the early stages of the Dunning-Kruger effect, but will likely peak soon, with negative effects possibly emerging by mid-next year as small entrepreneurs can't sustain losses. 3. Discount is a long-term, penny-picking business, not a quick-money scheme; the current aggressive consolidation in snack stores is a VC-driven model that will likely lead to many brand failures.
赵波