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 85 of 125
One Step Closer to Hema's Dream of 'Over 50% Private Brand in Three Years'
As competition in China's retail industry intensifies and product homogenization becomes more severe, developing private brands has become a key breakthrough for differentiation. However, most retailers are blindly following others, leading to poor positioning, weak branding, and ineffective marketing, resulting in excess inventory and a 'dabble and quit' approach. Hema, a leading new retail player, has achieved over 10% private brand penetration, offering valuable lessons for traditional retailers.
宋九亮Instant Noodles in China: A Comeback from the Brink
Two years ago, the joke that food delivery had killed instant noodles was popular. Now, instant noodle sales have surged past 40 billion packs, while Meituan suffers huge losses. The revival is not due to premium products but to consumers tightening their belts amid economic uncertainty.
肥肥猫2019 Kuaishou Short Video & Live Streaming E-commerce 'Launch Class' · Yiwu Station: Join Us to Create the Future Together!
In 2018, Yiwu saw the emergence of China's first internet celebrity live-streaming village, rapidly forming an ecological industry chain and incubating numerous mid-tier带货 influencers. By August 2019, Yiwu ranked second nationwide in express delivery volume, with the lowest costs. Meanwhile, Yiwu Commodity City, the world's largest small commodities market, provides strong supply chain support. On the Kuaishou platform, beyond top influencers with sales exceeding 100 million, new accounts can quickly gain followers within a month, and a single short video can drive a product to millions in sales, continuously replicating sales miracles.
美品树Community Group Buying: A Battle Royale
Behind the impressive order numbers lie losses, and once financing fails to keep up, the surviving players in community group buying will face an even more difficult game. A year ago, the wave of community group buying startups surged, and capital gave rise to many entrepreneurial stars, one of which was Songshu Pinpin. Among these startups, Songshu Pinpin launched the latest, officially going online in August 2018. However, thanks to the halo of its founder Yang Jun, a former Meituan veteran, Songshu Pinpin secured $61 million in financing within just one year. Tu Fanfei, a former employee of Songshu Pinpin, still remembers the scene when he joined the company last September, describing it with four words: chaotic and messy.
星莹 晋源 钟微The 'Risks' and 'Opportunities' Behind Nongfu Spring's Coffee Venture
From OYO Hotels launching 'Fenran' coffee, Sinopec partnering with Lian Coffee to release Yijia Coffee, to Suning Xiaodian entering the coffee business, more and more companies are interested in the coffee business, seemingly everyone believes the coffee market is worth occupying. Nongfu Spring, which started with bottled water, has shown great interest in coffee, launching Tanbing in May to enter the ready-to-drink coffee business; after partnering with Wumart to place fresh-ground coffee machines in Wumart convenience stores and supermarkets, it recently continued its 'persistent' pursuit in the coffee field by launching three new coffee products: low-sugar latte, sugar-free black coffee, and no-sucrose latte.
丹丹Entrepreneur's Journal: A Brutal Battle in E-Cigarette Sales
This is a first-hand account from a frontline salesperson, chronicling their journey from late July 2019 when they joined the e-cigarette brand Snow+ (雪加). Su Xiaowen, a native of Jiangsu, and his team carried over 20 kilograms of materials daily, walking 40,000-50,000 steps to persuade thousands of mom-and-pop store owners to stock their products. Within two months, Snow+ became the top-selling e-cigarette brand in their city, which ranked among the top five in national sales.
New DistributionShort Video + Live Streaming: Seven New Weapons for Manufacturers/Distributors to Drive Sales!
In the internet age, wherever users spend their time, business opportunities explode. On one hand, with the spread of mobile internet, user time is more fragmented, and the rise of 'micro' and 'short' new forces is irreversible. On the other hand, history keeps repeating itself: live streaming e-commerce continues TV shopping, show live streaming revives 1930s nightclubs, and 'laotie' economy interprets new master-apprentice fan guilds. Selling products has become the best monetization model for short video + live streaming. Is the grassroots + platform rhythm another opportunity to disrupt tradition, or just a flash in the pan?
王军Setting High Prices Online: A Win-Win or Digging One's Own Grave?
Currently, many companies have significant differences in how to integrate online and offline channels, and how to position the future market landscape for in-store purchases versus home delivery. Some companies, either due to habit, focus on existing offline markets, or the complexity of omnichannel transformation, have adopted strategies that favor offline and neglect online, such as setting high prices on online platforms to drive customers to offline stores. This approach may yield short-term results but is fundamentally flawed and dangerous in the long run. The future lies in omnichannel integration, and companies must adapt to changing consumer purchasing habits, especially the shift toward online and home delivery, to avoid strategic errors.
鲍跃忠It's Not That Community Group Buying Doesn't Work, But That a Large Number of Platforms Got It Wrong from the Start!
Community group buying is in a dilemma: while some platforms secure funding and expand, others face closures and consolidation. The key issue is that relying solely on fresh produce for profitability is unsustainable, and the future lies in evolving into regional community service platforms that offer a broader range of products and services.
新经销刘少德Three Squirrels and Others See Significant Price Cuts; Nut Industry Faces Shakeout Amid Severe Homogenization
A major battle is inevitable. Recent investigations by Beijing Business Today found that nut products from snack brands such as Three Squirrels, Haoxiangni, and Qiaqia Food have seen significant price cuts, with the lowest discounts falling below 50% of the original price. Industry insiders say the nut industry has low entry barriers and severe product homogenization. As more companies enter the market, some small and medium-sized enterprises will inevitably be eliminated or acquired, and the nut industry is on the verge of a shakeout.
李振兴Pinduoduo and Three Squirrels: Who Is Lying?
On the first day of the National Day holiday, Three Squirrels issued a statement accusing Pinduoduo of selling unauthorized products, while Pinduoduo responded by framing the issue as a battle between 'new consumption' and 'new retail,' hinting at forced 'either-or' choices. The dispute highlights the intense competition among e-commerce platforms ahead of the Double 11 shopping festival.
郭晓康Carrefour China's Past: Suppliers Pay 10,000 Yuan to Enter, E-commerce Impact Causes 1.5 Billion Yuan Loss in Two Years
This article is authorized to be republished from Finance World Weekly (ID: cjtxzk); author: Wang Can, editor: Hua Ji. As a veteran retail giant, Carrefour China, after enjoying the initial consumption growth dividend, failed to complete its business transformation in time and eventually sold its business, which is indeed regrettable. On September 27, Suning.com announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary Suning International had completed the acquisition of Carrefour China's equity. It is understood that Suning International acquired 80% of Carrefour China's shares for 4.8 billion yuan in cash equivalent to euros, and paid on September 26...
财天作者The "Half-Hour" Retail War!
The topic of new retail has been around for three years. During this time, innovative models and capital have driven progress, with some companies leading the race while others have exited. The process aligns with initial expectations, focusing on efficiency upgrades and online-offline integration. This article explores the rise of new consumption trends and the half-hour retail model, supported by case studies like Hema and Luckin Coffee.
零售商业评论Hema Turns Positive, Hou Yi Keeps a Low Profile!
On September 23, Hou Yi, President of Hema Business Group, announced at Alibaba's Investor Day that stores operating for over one year have achieved positive EBITDA, which Hema interprets as reaching break-even. As of August 31, 2019, the number of stores exceeded 171. This is a small step for Hema but a big step for new retail, as profitability has been a sword of Damocles hanging over Hema and similar ventures.
商仲永Convenience Stores: A Chaotic Battle in the "Eye of the Storm"
No one expected that convenience stores, initially an extension of large supermarkets, would become the most prominent retail format today. Since entering China in the 1990s, the sector has grown rapidly, with sales up 8.3% year-on-year in 2018, the highest among retail formats. However, in China's fast-changing business landscape, the idea that "even pigs can fly when standing at the eye of the storm" does not apply universally; convenience stores are no exception, with some thriving and others struggling.
周刊猫A Hair Therapy Store Earns Over 4 Million Yuan a Year: The Hair Loss and Gray Hair Market Is Booming
According to data from national health authorities, China's hair health industry will grow at an annual rate of 260% over the next decade, with urban residents' spending on personal head care surging 30% annually, far exceeding the 9% GDP growth rate. Experts estimate the next 10 years will be a golden decade for explosive growth in China's hair growth, hair care, and hair transplant markets, with professional investment analysis showing the hair care product industry's demand capacity will grow 20%-25% annually from 2019 to 2023, leaving a 500 billion yuan blue ocean market gap.
New DistributionManaging Warehousing and Logistics: How Can Cross-Border E-Commerce Be Efficient?
Cross-border e-commerce has become increasingly popular among consumers. For platforms and related enterprises, cross-border e-commerce logistics involves multiple links, long lead times, and high costs, making supply chain management a bottleneck that must be overcome. How can cross-border e-commerce enterprises efficiently manage warehousing and logistics? As a pilot city for cross-border e-commerce, Pingtan in Fujian has successively launched bonded import and direct purchase import businesses in recent years, attracting a large number of upstream and downstream enterprises in the industry chain. As of now, Pingtan has over 90 e-commerce enterprises, with an increasingly prominent industrial clustering effect. In the first half of 2019, the value of goods entering the bonded import zone for cross-border e-commerce in Pingtan Comprehensive Experimental Area exceeded 300 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 64%, while the value of goods leaving the zone exceeded 420 million yuan; international express parcels totaled 1.67 million items, up 90.6% year-on-year, with a value of approximately 450 million yuan, up 154% year-on-year.
New DistributionCan 6 Million Small Stores Become 'Pinduoduo'?
A friend named Wang Hua has opened seven 'Pinduoduo-style' stores in Y province, following the model of Hunan-based supermarket Leerle and snack chain 'Snacks Busy', which use low prices to attract customers and achieve rapid growth. This article analyzes the common logic behind these successful low-price retail models and questions whether China's 6 million small stores can be transformed with new supply chain systems.
任小东Community Group Buying Heads Consolidate: Who's Most Anxious?
As of September, with the merger of 'Ni Wo Nin' into 'Shihui Tuan' to form the new Shihui Tuan, and Squirrel Pinduoduo entering a strategic adjustment period, the community group buying track is forming a duopoly with only Xingsheng Youxuan and the new Shihui Tuan. This has put pressure on small and medium players and group leaders, prompting excellent leaders to start their own operations using SAAS tools and social infrastructure, evolving from KOC to KOL and KOT. The article suggests that for small players, focusing on high customer unit prices and niche marketing is key, and introduces the JD Community Group Buying Alliance as a solution to provide infrastructure and support.
任小东5 Salespeople, 280+ Stores, Annual Sales of 70 Million: How Did He Crack the Tourism Special Channel?
A Chongqing-based distributor specializing in the tourism special channel grew sales from zero to 70 million yuan in three years, with projections to exceed 100 million in 2020. His success hinges on unique approaches to customer relationship maintenance, product selection, display, and team management.
李青林Inside the 24-Hour Convenience Store: High Turnover, One Year on the Job Is the Norm
A look at the lives of 24-hour convenience store clerks in Chongqing, who work night shifts to serve customers, facing low pay, limited promotion, and high turnover, with many leaving after just one year.
李国Revamping County Town Shopping Malls with Private Domain Traffic
During the Mid-Autumn Festival, I visited a county town mall owner to discuss opportunities in lower-tier markets. Instead, he complained about the tough business environment, but we eventually explored how to use private domain traffic to revitalize his mall. By building a private traffic pool of 30,000-50,000 WeChat contacts and creating viral products, the mall can become a local consumption landmark.
杨不坏Three Squirrels: Behind the Scenes
As school starts, the author, away from home, decides to send snacks to their kids and becomes intrigued by the brand Three Squirrels. After seven years, the company has evolved from an online-only brand into a digital supply chain platform enterprise, with impressive financials and a strategy focused on product diversification and offline expansion.
郭之富If You Don't Get Packaging Right, You're Dead
Driven by consumption upgrades, packaging has elevated the aesthetics of Chinese FMCG products. It's a necessary trend: without investing in packaging, you can't attract consumer attention in channels, leading to high channel costs and a single high-cost channel situation. Packaging now must go beyond basic functions to drive sales, execute strategy, and engage consumers directly.
王超