Hypermarkets closed for two consecutive years, over 20 Sam's stores opened only 29 in 24 years

Wal-Mart fears it will be difficult to rival the group buying trend in the e-commerce community

  Despite the huge investment in the early stage and poor familiarity and coordination, traditional offline supermarkets still "break the head" and squeeze into the community group buying trend.

Recently, Wal-Mart announced to test its community group buying business nationwide.

Wal-Mart’s financial report for the third quarter of fiscal 2021 showed that both operating income and gross profit margins in China declined.

  Some people in the industry believe that "everything must start from scratch" when traditional offline supermarkets enter the community group buying.

On the one hand, the amount of engineering and investment are relatively large; on the other hand, the store personnel's familiarity with picking, sorting, and packing is still low, and the coordination between the store and the general warehouse needs to be cultivated for a long time.

  Text: All-media reporters Zhao Fangyuan and Ni Ming, Guangzhou Daily

  According to the latest news, Wal-Mart has already tested its community group buying business nationwide and has developed more than 10,000 group leaders.

This format has not yet formally established a project. The main purpose is to develop the team leader from the existing employees, operate the group purchase demand through the WeChat group, and provide consumers with delivery to the community, and the team leader will pick up the service.

Incoming community group buying still needs capital strength

  Fresh food group buying has become a super outlet for Internet giants.

Giants such as Meituan, Ali, Pinduoduo and Didi have announced that they have entered the community group buying track with heavy money.

In June this year, Didi’s community group buying brand "Orange Heart Optimal" went online.

In July, Meituan announced the establishment of the "Preferred Division"; in August, Pinduoduo's community group purchase project "Duo Duo Cai" went online; in October, Suning Caichang's community group purchase platform was launched in Beijing.

On December 11, JD.com announced that it would invest US$700 million in the community group buying platform Xingsheng Optimal.

  A senior industry insider told reporters that the current advantage of traditional shopping malls in the community group buying is that there are ready-made physical stores, which have a good experience and can solve after-sales service such as return and exchange in time.

But the difficulty is that "everything must start from scratch."

"Enterprises must reorganize the entire ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system. In this regard, the amount of engineering and investment are relatively large. Enterprises with more outlets need to invest several million yuan to reorganize an ERP system. In addition, store personnel are responsible for picking, sorting, and packing goods. The level of familiarity is low, and the coordination between the store and the warehouse needs to be cultivated for a long time."

  For offline supermarkets represented by Wal-Mart in the community group buying, can it shake up the Internet giants?

The industry insider said that it mainly depends on whether it has sufficient capital.

"The'gameplay' of the Internet giants was to use commodity losses and subsidies to attract traffic at the beginning. Now the giants have joined the community group buying field. The degree of brutal competition is unimaginable. This essentially tests the capital strength of all parties. "

"Recruitment Order" boasting ten thousand yuan is not a dream, the actual income of the "group leader" is only thousand

  Many giants are already "recruiting troops."

A number of recruitment websites such as BOSS direct recruitment recently revealed that Alibaba Group has launched community group-buying job recruitment in Beijing and Shanghai.

In October of this year, Wal-Mart’s WeChat public account called "Promotion of Customers" released a tweet, recruiting community group buying leaders for community moms, community owners, merchant shop owners, and Walmart store employees, mainly responsible for sharing products , Organizing group buying; offline receiving, arranging pick-up and other matters.

In terms of income, the "recruitment order" stated, "Normal income is 1,000-3,000 yuan, earnestly 3,000-5,000 yuan, and working hard to earn 5,000-10,000 yuan. Monthly income is not a dream!"

  The owner of Fengxing Dairy Shop, Ms. Wang, is the group leader of a community in Guangzhou. She told reporters that platform business personnel mostly promote in WeChat groups, or go directly to physical stores in the community to invite the owner to be the leader, including community convenience stores, mom-and-pop stores and express delivery sites. The largest proportion.

According to Ms. Wang, the majority of groups using community group buying are young people, and occasionally there are elderly people.

  Speaking of the income of the group leader, Ms. Wang said that the daily income is about 30 to 40 yuan, and the monthly income is about 1,000 yuan.

  It is also common for a shop owner to serve as the leader of multiple platforms. Ms. Wang is also the leader of three platforms: Pinduoduo, Meituan Buying, and Xingsheng Optimal.

Wal-Mart community group buying has not reopened the product line

  It is worth noting that Wal-Mart community group buying has not reopened its product line, but directly sells the same products in the store at a slightly lower group purchase price and delivers them from the store.

If the test of the model goes smoothly, Wal-Mart may use this to expand its store coverage to make up for the shortcomings of large stores such as geographic restrictions and difficulties in renewing leases when they expire.

  Senior industry insiders said that for Wal-Mart, it can only implement this strategy at present, using the pricing of some sensitive products to attract fans and increase traffic.

  At the same time, the disadvantages of traditional supermarket stores delivery are that the store area is not as large as the warehouse, and the goods are not complete enough. Orders are placed in the store, some with or without, and can only be coordinated with the warehouse. As a result, the efficiency is low and the logistics speed is naturally slow.

"In contrast, Internet giants build positions everywhere, which has obvious advantages." The industry insider said.

Walmart shrinks business in multiple countries

  In November 2019, Walmart China announced at its annual developer conference that it has full confidence in the Chinese market and plans to open 500 new stores and Yuncang in China in the next 5 to 7 years.

However, since the beginning of this year, Wal-Mart has frequently reported "selling China's hypermarket business."

Wal-Mart Nanjing Qinhuai Store and Wal-Mart Chongqing Jiulong Plaza Store closed one after another.

A research report pointed out that Wal-Mart closed more than 20 stores in 2017 and 2018 for two consecutive years.

As of June this year, Wal-Mart has closed 15 hypermarkets.

  On December 1st of this year, Wal-Mart held a press conference in Shenzhen, announcing a comprehensive upgrade of its own brand Member's Mark, and reiterated that it expects to have 40 to 45 stores open and expansion plans under construction by the end of 2022.

So far, Sam operates 29 stores in China and has more than 3 million members.

The first Sam's Club in China settled in Shenzhen in 1996. In the 24 years since it entered China, the Sam's Club only opened 29 stores.

  In addition, Wal-Mart's business in some countries and regions around the world is also shrinking.

On November 16 this year, Wal-Mart announced the sale of most of its shares in Nishiyo Supermarket in Japan.

  Last month, Wal-Mart’s financial report for the third quarter of fiscal 2021 announced that Wal-Mart’s business in China increased its net profit by 0.9%, comparable sales increased by 0.4%, and comparable transactions decreased by 12.4%; both operating income and gross profit margin decreased; overall e-commerce Online sales increased by 63%. This figure increased by 201%, 177%, and 72% in Mexico, Canada, and the United Kingdom respectively.

  Wal-Mart said that sales of all categories in Sam's Club were strong, but they were offset by weaker traffic from large supermarkets.