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.
Related research and analysis
2996 articles · Page 55 of 125
A Livestream Room Is a Shelf, and a Shelf Is a Livestream Room
In the article 'Understanding Interest E-commerce vs. Shelf E-commerce in One Article', I argued that the future trend of e-commerce is the integration of interest-based and shelf-based e-commerce. This integration is already happening as platforms and brands merge the two models, with livestream rooms functioning as brand shelves and brand shelves incorporating livestreams.
寻空A 30-Billion-Yuan Blue Ocean: What Kind of Business Are Expiring-Food Stores?
A bottle of French Perrier water, normally priced at 12.8 yuan, sells for 5 yuan here; a can of Lay's chips, usually over ten yuan, can be bought at half price. Expiring-food stores, represented by HotMaxx, are sweeping through first-tier cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. According to iiMedia Research, China's total snack sales reached 3 trillion yuan in 2020, implying a potential market supply of at least 30 billion yuan. With such promising prospects, capital has poured in. In 2020...
李树烽Star Chart Data | 2022 E-commerce Development Analysis Report
This report by Star Chart Data reviews the volatile e-commerce industry in 2021 and looks ahead to the challenges of 2022 amid recurring COVID-19 outbreaks. It analyzes the current state of e-commerce, comprehensive e-commerce platforms, live-streaming e-commerce, community group buying, and new retail.
星图数据Community Group Buying Retreats
Community group buying players have begun their retreat. Since the second half of last year, Dailuobo ceased operations, Tongcheng Life filed for bankruptcy, and Shixianghui has been deserted. Shihui Tuan was reported to have shut down all its business in cities nationwide, entering a cleanup phase to handle supplier payments and employee compensation. Among the 'old three groups,' only Xingsheng Youxuan remains. Giants entering with capital are also struggling, with Orange Heart Youxuan pivoting with difficulty and Jingxi Pinpin cutting jobs. Meituan Youxuan, Duoduo Maicai, and Taocaicai are also contracting.
联商网编辑部Fresh E-commerce, Convenience Stores? How to Break Through the 'Grocery Shopping' Rigid Demand Under the Epidemic?
With the intensified prevention and control measures in March, Shenzhen and Shanghai successively entered lockdown mode. Residents in many controlled communities have made it a daily routine to compete for groceries and takeout orders. The anxiety caused by the inability to buy vegetables on social media is no less than the epidemic itself. Fresh e-commerce, chain supermarkets, offline markets, and convenience stores—all fresh food retail formats are facing unprecedented order pressure under the epidemic. The concentrated rigid demand triggered by the epidemic is an opportunity to observe the current fresh food retail formats, including their respective advantages and disadvantages, and the potential for breakthroughs in the future.
星影Meituan Flash Shopping: A Real Opportunity or a False Need?
Instant retail should not follow the path of community group buying. In 2021, Meituan had 5.27 million riders, which underpins its ambition for 'everything to home'. If Meituan can leverage these riders to solve the 'last mile' problem for e-commerce, it might mimic Pinduoduo and carve out a niche in the established e-commerce market. However, this is challenging, such as attracting users to shop on Meituan and coordinating long-distance transport with riders. Since e-commerce is a long-term endeavor, why not first find business in the 'last mile'?
唐伯虎A Veteran Group Leader's View on Community Group Buying: Accustomed to Exits, Yet Hard to Give Up
Community group buying, once hot in the capital market, has shifted from virtual to real and entered its second half. Except for Xingsheng Youxuan, other veteran players have fallen behind, with Tongcheng Life bankrupt and Shihuituan retreating nationwide. New entrants like Chenxin Youxuan are struggling to transform, while Jingxi Pinpin is downsizing. These contractions, transformations, and closures indicate that community group buying has entered the arena of top players. As the entire track focuses on cost reduction and efficiency, the integration and elimination round in the second half will continue. Community group buying is a business centered on 'people'...
联商网编辑部The Life-and-Death Game of Childhood Flavors: Ovaltine 'Leaves', ColaCao 'Disappears'
Before home quarantine, I happened to see ColaCao's rolled cake at a convenience store near my office. ColaCao? A familiar yet unfamiliar name. Reflecting on it, it seems we haven't seen the iconic yellow can with a red lid of ColaCao's powdered drink on shelves for a long time. Even the rolled cake still on sale is squeezed into a small corner of the shelf. In contrast, Ovaltine is always visible in convenience stores and supermarkets: Ovaltine oat milk drinks, Ovaltine sandwich cookies, Ovaltine sandwich cakes, Ovaltine lava bread, and even Ovaltine-flavored ice cream... However, in our childhood memories, the most common form of Ovaltine was a powder similar to ColaCao's. As the tide of the times surges forward, why has ColaCao, a childhood memory, 'disappeared'? And why has Ovaltine chosen to step out of the powdered drink category? Two international brands with many similarities, yet why do they have such different fates today?
FBIFChina's Retail Industry in 2022: Hope and Survival
Before hope arrives, one must first survive. In the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, many retail enterprises maintained cautious optimism. "Hope and survival" is the keyword for 2022 in the eyes of Li Yanchuan, chairman of Chaoshifa. He believes 2022 should be better than 2021, as some experts suggest it may be the last harsh winter of the pandemic.
楚勿留香10,000-Word Guide: How to Build a User-Centric Brand Through Private Domain?
As the concept of private domain traffic explodes, many brands and companies invest heavily in it. Some use simple, blunt tactics like mass-sending coupons for quick conversions; others adopt refined operations with user tagging, membership programs, and standardized SOPs. While these can boost performance in the short term (1-2 years), they eventually hit bottlenecks, especially after group folding limits coupon effectiveness. The long-term core value of private domain lies in perfectly creating a 'user-centric brand'.
三十Dingdong Maicai and MissFresh: Neither Can Claim the Top Spot
Nine months ago, MissFresh and Dingdong Maicai raced to become the 'first listed fresh food e-commerce company,' with Shanghai as a key battleground. Now, amid Shanghai's COVID outbreak and surging demand, both companies, which rely on the front-warehouse model, are struggling with issues like stockouts, delivery delays, and food safety concerns, raising questions about the viability of their business model and financial health.
开菠萝财经团队Meituan Loses 15.6 Billion Yuan in a Year, Begins to 'Hibernate'
Meituan founder and CEO Wang Xing has been keeping a low profile and encouraging reading over the past six months. In 2021, he became more cautious, spending more time reading, meeting quietly, and reflecting. The company reported a net loss of 15.6 billion yuan for 2021, largely due to a 3.4 billion yuan fine and heavy investment in new businesses like community e-commerce.
苗正卿Nestlé in the West, Luckin in the East!
Amid Shanghai's partial lockdown, the author reflects on the resurgence of online fresh food platforms and the growing dependence on coffee. Luckin Coffee's 2021 annual report shows remarkable recovery, with 6,024 stores surpassing Starbucks in China, and a doubled revenue to 7.9 billion yuan, driven by digital operations and strategic store expansion. Meanwhile, Nestlé's historical rise during wars and its adaptation to consumer preferences illustrate the importance of meeting demand and respecting consumer perceptions.
晓样Returning Offline: The New Street Battle
From the human-wave tactics of traditional deep distribution to the traffic tactics of e-commerce, and now back to offline—this is a process of negation of negation, spiraling upward. The boundary between online and offline is roughly clear: large items, high-value-added products, and long-tail products are online battlegrounds, while FMCG, high-experience products, and instant-consumption goods are offline's stronghold. The future split is roughly 70% offline, 30% online. This is the opening article of the 'Returning Offline' series.
方刚Exclusive | Hunan Stronghold Completely Lost, Shihui Tuan Is 'Disappearing'
Shihui Tuan, a name gradually drifting away from the center of community group buying, has completely exited its home base of Hunan Province. According to multiple independent sources, Shihui Tuan fully shut down its Hunan operations in mid-to-late February 2022, marking the loss of its last stronghold.
张霏Leveraging 70% of Public Domain Orders! Internal SOP Manual for All Roles in Video Account Live Streaming Revealed for the First Time!
This article reveals the internal SOP manual for WeChat Channels live streaming, covering team configuration, pre-live preparation, traffic acquisition, in-live techniques, and post-live review. It emphasizes leveraging private domain traffic to drive public domain traffic and provides actionable insights for improving conversion rates.
零一直播团队Returning to Offline: Channel Coverage Model Layout Strategy for FMCG Enterprises
Returning to offline and the fundamentals are highly popular terms in the FMCG industry this year. Previously, 2C e-commerce optimized the supply chain from brand to consumer; later, B2B optimized it from brand to terminal outlets; and in the past two years, community group buying optimized it from distributor to consumer. Within the entire F2B2b2C supply chain, driven by capital and internet tools, these innovations captured nearly 30% of market sales, prompting a renewed focus on the 70% offline operations.
高级研究员 海游Selling Groceries Is Really Hard
After being quarantined at home, my friend in Shanghai shared several grocery shopping apps in a subdirectory on WeChat Moments, joking about being a 'vegetable snatcher' in the magic city. The pandemic has seemingly boosted fresh e-commerce, but it's only an illusion because selling groceries is extremely difficult. On March 10, Chengxin Youxuan was fully shut down, and JD's Jingxi Pinpin also began major contractions, while independent fresh e-commerce companies face even harsher realities as capital withdraws early.
最话团队Quantum Hema
Hema is undergoing organizational streamlining and layoffs to control costs, shifting from a pure online model to a dual online-offline strategy. The company faces challenges in achieving profitability and is considering independent financing at a $10 billion valuation.
谭宵寒Yonghui's Dilemma
On the evening of March 8, Yonghui Superstores disclosed its operating results for January and February 2022, with total revenue of about 20.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of about 3%, and operating net profit of about 760 million yuan. This article analyzes Yonghui's strategic goals, organizational adjustments, business formats, and category planning, exploring how traditional supermarkets can make choices when facing the dilemma of new competition from fresh food e-commerce models.
我是庄帅The Underlying Logic of Hema Explained in One Go
This article analyzes Hema's supply chain, membership stores, neighborhood stores, independent operation, retail model, valuation, and the impact of economic downturn, arguing that Hema's losses are valuable and its long-term logic is becoming clearer.
蒋文伟Summoned, Debt-Chased, Closed, Downsized... Fresh Food E-commerce Has Narrowed Its Path
Is fresh food suitable for e-commerce? The answer is yes, but the current path seems to have gone astray. Recently, 'fresh food e-commerce' has become an industry focus again, but this time it's not about expansion or IPO, but about being summoned, debt-chased, closed, and downsized. Some industry media predict this is the beginning of its collapse, but in my view, although 'defeat is certain', it's not that the path is wrong, but that it has gone astray. As an industry practitioner and heavy user of fresh food e-commerce, I'd like to share some personal feelings and thoughts.
联商网编辑部In the 40 Billion Yuan Chili Sauce Market, Neither Laoganma nor Hubang Can Save It
Laoganma, which is appearing less frequently, has raised prices, breaking the price benchmark in the chili sauce market. As new brands like Hubang enter, the market may expand, but Laoganma's dominance is challenged by changing consumer tastes and increased competition.
关注老干妈的Understanding Hema: The Key to Retail's Next 20 Years
Hema is planning a funding round, while various new retail models have fought from first-tier to fifth-tier cities over the past two to three years, severely weakening traditional retail giants but also leaving themselves struggling. This outcome was foreseeable before the pandemic, which only created an illusion of prosperity, ultimately benefiting consumers but losing investors money. Today, amid the most intense transformation in China's retail industry, we should consider what retail will look like in 20 years. We believe Hema best represents the future. This analysis is based on interviews with over 20 experts and research on more than 30 Hema stores.
蒋文伟