NEW DISTRIBUTION RESEARCH TOPIC
How is instant retail changing stores, platforms, and supply chains?
Coverage of flash warehouses, front warehouses, discount stores, supermarket transformation, and local commerce platforms in China.
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2996 articles · Page 24 of 125
Instant Retail Slows Down
Recently, JD.com's instant retail brand 'Hourly Delivery' is rumored to be upgraded to 'Second Delivery', and Dada has also posted a rider recruitment notice. These moves signal a new round of competition in delivery speed. However, as consumer preferences shift from speed to quality and value, the industry may need to slow down and focus on diverse needs.
惊蛰研究所消费组Anxiety on the Snack Shelves
The payback period for snack discount stores is getting longer as competition intensifies. Franchisees face squeezed profits and extended timelines, while the industry undergoes rapid expansion and consolidation.
晴山Lianhua Supermarket's Self-Initiated Renovation: Can It Transform After 10 Years of Losses?
Pangdonglai, which started in a fourth-tier city, has sparked a 'rural surrounds the city' renovation trend in retail, where its business philosophy is subtly integrated into retail enterprises in first-tier and even super first-tier cities through 'assisted renovation' or 'self-initiated renovation'. On September 5, Lianhua Supermarket's Shanghai Huinan store officially reopened after a half-month self-initiated renovation. Our reporter's visit found that this community store is full of 'Pangdonglai flavor', such as 'direct sourcing from origin', 'silver-haired service station', and 'internet-famous mooncakes'.
乾行Chinese Supermarkets Learn from Pangdonglai: What About Top Brands?
Liu Chunxiong says Pangdonglai has the greatest impact on two types of enterprises: supermarkets and brand owners. By helping Bubugao and Yonghui, Pangdonglai removed 80% of SKUs and launched its own supply chain, challenging top brands. Supermarkets are shifting from being outlets for top brands to being outlets for private labels, and Pangdonglai itself is transforming from a retailer into a brand owner.
刘春雄Multiple Stores 'Closed for Renovation': Metro's Troubles Deepen Year by Year
Metro China has been closing stores for renovation across multiple cities since early this year, with some members complaining about refund difficulties and service issues. The company's supply chain arm, Metro Supply Chain, has seen declining revenue and rising net current liabilities, reflecting the challenges faced by the traditional warehouse club operator in China's competitive retail market.
晴山37 Retail Companies Including Yonghui, Suning, and Zhongbai Release Semi-Annual Reports: 26 See Revenue Decline, 22 See Profit Decline
According to data from the China Commercial Information Center, retail sales of 50 key large retailers nationwide fell by 3.8% year-on-year from January to May 2024. In the first half of 2024, among 37 listed retail companies, 26 saw revenue declines and 22 saw profit declines, reflecting the ongoing challenges in the retail sector.
赵胜男After Price Equalization, a New Round of Covert Warfare Among E-commerce Platforms Has Begun
Low prices have been the core capability emphasized by e-commerce platforms since last year, and this focus has been accelerating. Until about two months ago, Taobao, Douyin, and Pinduoduo successively shifted their primary goal to achieving GMV growth. However, value for money is the general trend. The shift from focusing on low prices to emphasizing GMV does not mean platforms no longer value low prices; rather, absolute low prices have completed their stage-specific mission on some platforms—price wars have always been the most direct and effective competitive tool. Also accelerating this shift away from low-price competition is the freezing of the supplier-retailer relationship. When platforms use aggressive tactics to flatten prices to a point where there is almost no difference—essentially leveling the price advantage weapon in addition to traffic advantages—competition inevitably enters a hand-to-hand phase. Moreover, as more suppliers become clearly disadvantaged parties in the entire transaction chain, such low-price competition naturally becomes unsustainable.
窄播The Chinese Dilemma in Retail
Lagging behind means being vulnerable, a harsh reality for China's retail industry. According to the 2023 China Supermarket TOP100 list by the China Chain Store & Franchise Association, over half of the listed companies saw revenue declines, and half of the top 20 saw both sales and store numbers drop. Learning from advanced Western retail practices is a key option, as highlighted by the new book "King of Sales per Square Foot" by Trader Joe's founder Joe Coulombe, which offers lessons for Chinese retailers.
窄播Zhao Bo of New Distribution: A Paradigm Shift in the Discourse Power of China's Commercial Circulation is Inevitable
This is the second article in Mr. Zhao Bo's series column 'China Commercial Circulation Revolution Series'. The series outlines four generations of retail models in China, from traditional mom-and-pop stores and wholesale markets to the current era of e-commerce and community group buying, and discusses the shift in supply chain dominance from brand owners to retailers and distributors.
赵波Major Acquisition! MINISO to Become the Largest Shareholder of Yonghui Superstores
MINISO announced on September 23 that it will acquire a 29.4% stake in Yonghui Superstores for 6.27 billion yuan, potentially becoming its largest shareholder and expanding its offline retail footprint. The deal includes shares held by Dairy Farm and JD.com.
零售圈Douyin E-commerce: The Flow of Traffic Never Recedes
For self-media creators, traffic anxiety is common; for e-commerce businesses, it's even more so—they crave explosive sales but fear unprepared ones. Today, the e-commerce environment and internal rules have changed drastically, yet the core keywords remain user demand, traffic, and growth. Traffic is essentially a manifestation of user demand; meeting demand generates traffic, and mastering traffic secures business growth. With unpredictable traffic allocation mechanisms and ever-changing user preferences, how to solve the question of 'what to do to gain more traffic' is a common challenge for millions of e-commerce operators. Who is best suited to answer this? None other than Douyin E-commerce. In the past year, 3.8 billion daily visits flowed into Douyin live rooms, and a million-selling product was born every 10 minutes. Douyin E-commerce boasts a vast and certain traffic pool, and now they are attempting to provide answers for business certainty. Recently, Douyin E-commerce released the 'CORE Business Methodology,' directly addressing the essence of business, making merchants' operational investments no longer 'testing the waters' but 'clear at a glance.'
科技指北“Small Category” Distributor: Covering 3,000+ Supermarkets, Turning Pet Supplies into “FMCG” with Full Rack Output
Traditional trading businesses are increasingly difficult, so where is the way out for distributors? In the past era of “dividing the cake,” as long as you were willing, it was only a matter of eating faster or slower and getting a bigger or smaller share; but now it is an era of “grabbing the cake,” and distributors must continuously innovate to keep up with market changes. In Zhengzhou, Henan, there is a boss who initially ran a general merchandise trading business, then entered the pet supplies industry, became a supplier to Pangdonglai, and through deep cultivation of the pet category, built strong product solution capabilities, becoming a one-stop, full-store output operation solution provider for pet supplies in supermarket channels.
汪海The Real Secret Behind Pang Donglai's Success: Product Selection is King
I am often asked by business owners: "How can we make customers loyal to our brand? How can we make consumers love our stores like they do Pang Donglai?" Many managers' first reaction is almost unanimous—extreme service. However, from my professional perspective, this understanding, while common, is superficial. Let's first review Pang Donglai's success. Undoubtedly, its service system is an industry benchmark, with employees' smiles, care, and proactive problem-solving leaving a deep impression on consumers. But do you really think this is the only reason for Pang Donglai's success? I don't think so. In fact, the real secret behind Pang Donglai's success lies not in extreme service, but in product selection.
黄鹤鸣Should Distributors Engage in Online Business?
A recent report by New Distribution, '2023-2024 China FMCG Distributor Operating Conditions Survey Report', revealed that among over 300 surveyed distributors, 60.3% operate purely offline, while 38.7% have integrated online and offline operations. Notably, 76.2% of large distributors with sales over 300 million yuan have adopted this integrated approach. Furthermore, 60.7% of integrated distributors met their sales targets, with an average achievement rate of 101.1%, outperforming single-channel distributors in both revenue and profit growth.
何雯Decoding ALDI China's 'Have It Both Ways' Low-Price Strategy
Who would have thought that the 9.9 yuan price point, which first gained traction in the coffee industry, would be executed so successfully by ALDI in the budget community supermarket segment? As of the end of August, ALDI stores had over 500 products priced at 9.9 yuan or below, accounting for about a quarter of all items. This year, ALDI has reduced prices on nearly 300 products cumulatively.
零售氪星球Hitgoo Secures New Hundred-Million-Yuan Financing, Is HotMaxx Falling Behind?
In 2024, amid the rise of hard discount, capital is still betting on soft discount. Recently, soft discount brand Hitgoo announced the completion of a B-round financing of 100 million yuan. The investor has not disclosed specific details but expressed confidence in Hitgoo's development prospects, and this round of financing will be used to further expand business, enhance brand influence, and strengthen team building. In fact, since its establishment on January 19, 2021, Hitgoo has gathered a number of star capital, including Xianfeng Changqing, StarVC, Juezi Investment, Gaorong Ventures, Blueprint Ventures, etc.
黄鑫Front Warehouse Model Gains Traction Again
After abandoning the model four years ago, Hema Fresh's relaunch of front warehouses in Shanghai has reignited market interest. The move aims to address areas not covered by its stores in dense cities, improving user experience. Beyond Hema, more retailers are adopting the model, with Miniso launching its '24-hour super store' format this year, and Sam's Club's success in this area serving as a key inspiration.
楚勿留香Genki Forest No Longer Aggressive
In the fiercely competitive summer bottled beverage market, Genki Forest's traditional Chinese health water product 'Zizai Shui' has become a notable presence on shelves, occupying prominent positions in many convenience stores and vending machines. Distributor Qin Bin in Chongqing told Caijing that Zizai Shui now accounts for 10%-15% of his Genki Forest product sales, achieving this from zero in just 8 months, surpassing the performance of Genki Forest's flagship products at the same stage.
半熟财经“Emergency Doctor” Pangdonglai Cannot Save China's Supermarket Retail Industry
Fang Yu traveled from Zhengzhou to Xuchang and noticed the change in consumption levels. Despite being a fourth-tier city, Xuchang is home to Pangdonglai, a retail phenomenon that has become a national sensation. While Pangdonglai's success is undeniable, its model may not be replicable, and its recent decision to step back from helping other retailers raises questions about the future of China's supermarket industry.
房煜A Supermarket Outperforming FamilyMart and Lawson in Daily Sales Per Store: What's Its Secret?
In Japan's capital region, where competition among supermarkets is fierce, AEON launched a convenience-store-sized food supermarket chain called "My Basket" in 2005. By February 2024, it had nearly 1,200 stores in central Tokyo, achieving daily sales per store that surpass FamilyMart and Lawson, thanks to its low-cost operations and strategic store placement.
联商网编辑部Chayan Yuese Ventures into Hard Discount Supermarkets: Easy to Chase Trends, Hard to Succeed!
On August 31, Chayan Yuese announced via its official Weibo that it had opened a new discount store named "Hard Discount Bulk GO" in Changsha. The store, located at 360 Huangxing South Road, Tianxin District, features a two-story design and offers over 200 selected products, including tea, candies, biscuits, stationery, and cups, which are not available in its standard stores, mostly private label or self-distributed items. It also includes a "water bar" area for a fresh tea experience. For years, Chayan Yuese has adhered to a direct-operated model, and in 2018 received angel investment from Tiantu Capital, followed by investments from Shunwei Capital, Source Code Capital, and Yuansheng Capital. In 2023, it achieved a net profit of approximately 500 million yuan. Despite its strong core business, the company is venturing into an unfamiliar field, raising questions about whether this move is driven by short-term trends or long-term strategy.
赵胜男Prices Plunge 30%, Sales Slump: Are Mid-Autumn Gift Boxes No Longer Selling?
A frontline survey reveals that Mid-Autumn gift box sales have been sluggish since last year, with terminal prices dropping 30% and many stores reducing stock. Despite the downturn, opportunities remain in special channels and community-based stores, with two potential sales peaks expected.
张雨薇Pioneer of Affordable NFC Orange Juice: GanNing Brand Rises Rapidly with Dual Drive of Supply Chain and Market
In recent years, due to the downward economic cycle, consumers have increasingly valued the 'quality-price ratio' of products, posing sales challenges for high-end market categories with high production costs. In this context, quality factories capable of cost control and efficiency improvement will encounter new market opportunities. The case introduced in this article—GanNing brand—started with fresh orange business. In 2022, based on insights into consumption trends, it ventured into NFC orange juice, offering products of uncompromised quality at half the industry price, striving to break the boundaries of the high-end market.
赵胜男“Seemingly Overnight, They're Everywhere”: How This Snack Hard-Discount Chain Is Sweeping Through Communities?
Snack stores are the ultimate test of consumerism. The author, despite being indifferent to luxury goods and Michelin-starred restaurants, finds themselves irresistibly drawn to the bright, clean snack stores in their hometown, where prices are in single digits. They discover that their favorite store, "Haoxianglai," is actually a rising star in the snack industry, known for its vast selection, low prices, and strategic use of IP collaborations like Ultraman to engage consumers. The article explores how Haoxianglai, backed by Wanchen Group, leverages its supply chain and scale to offer "more, closer, better, and cheaper" snacks, achieving rapid growth and becoming a leading player in the hard-discount snack market.
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