Local and foreign retail companies have entered and expanded——
Why does the warehouse-style member supermarket become popular?
During this period, regardless of the after-dinner talks of people around you or the hot posts on social media, the frequency of appearance of warehouse-style membership stores has increased.
Not only have traditional giants such as Sam and Costco accelerated their expansion in the Chinese market, retail companies such as Hema, Metro, Carrefour, Beijing Hualian have also opened or announced that they will open stores, warehouse membership stores, and other retail companies. The format becomes lively.
In fact, warehouse-style membership stores are not new. They have started to grow in the Chinese market more than 20 years ago, but there are not many outlets and a single brand.
Why are traditional supermarkets constantly shrinking under the impact of e-commerce, but warehouse-style membership stores are becoming more popular, attracting many brands to grab the beach?
Has the spring of warehouse-style stores come?
How do you see the rapid evolution of retail formats?
The store was bustling for a while
——The expansion of old brands is accelerating, and new companies are entering one after another; consumers’ enthusiasm for buying increases
Yang Shoucheng, 35, lives in Chaoyang District, Beijing. When he walks around, he finds a warehouse-style member supermarket opened by a local retail company near his home.
On the afternoon of the opening of the store in May, he rushed to check in.
As soon as he enters the door, there are warehouse-style shelves. The selection of small but refined products, large-scale packaging, abundant imported goods, and the buying crowd after hearing the news make him feel that this store is full of life and convenient.
After the initial experience, Yang Shoucheng bought the membership card at a half-price discount of 182.5 yuan and became a frequent visitor here.
Shopping requires membership, which is one of the significant differences between mainstream warehouse-style member stores on the market and ordinary supermarket hypermarkets.
"I still feel that the membership card is very cost-effective. Now everyone's living standards have improved, and the supermarket has raised the threshold appropriately, and the service and environment will be better." Yang Shoucheng said that he now buys once or twice a week. Membership is equivalent to spending money to buy a better shopping experience, which is worth it!
The reporter visited several stores of different brands in Beijing. During the working hours on weekdays and ordinary weekends, the passenger flow in the stores was not small.
Consumers are mostly family-based, with two or three people traveling together, and the shopping carts larger than ordinary supermarket models are filled with dangling.
In response to consumers' enthusiasm for buying in stores, on the supply side, many retail companies are opening stores one after another.
Accelerated expansion of established brands-Sam, who has been rooted in China for many years, is about to open Asia's largest flagship store in Shanghai. It is estimated that there will be 40-45 stores in China open and under construction by the end of 2022; after marketers settled in Shanghai, they soon decided to set up a second store , And quickly deploy in Suzhou, Hangzhou and other places.
New companies have entered in succession-since last year, Hema, Metro, and Fudi member stores have opened one after another, and Hualian and Carrefour have announced that they will open new stores soon.
The track of the warehouse-style membership store was unprecedentedly lively for a while.
The operating performance is also outstanding.
Take the first Hema X member store opened in Shanghai last year as an example. The store achieved profit within 2 months of opening (not including membership fees), and the unit price was close to 1,000 yuan after 3 months of opening.
According to data from the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Commerce, the recent average daily sales of a single store in Beijing’s warehouse-style membership stores are 600,000-800,000 yuan, and more than 1 million yuan on weekends, which is an increase of 20%-30% over the original supermarket model.
Aiming at consumer market demand
——Selected products, imported products and private brands bring a different shopping experience, and the paid membership store market gradually matures
In fact, as early as the 1990s, warehouse-style membership stores began to appear in the Chinese market.
What made this early "tepid" retail format suddenly accelerate?
Zhao Ping, vice president of the Research Institute of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, believes that this format has three significant advantages: mostly located in the suburbs, large shopping area, relatively low rent and decoration costs, and obvious cost advantages; relatively fewer categories of products and larger packaging. The unit price advantage under economies of scale is outstanding; innovation, self-owned brands, cost-effective products, etc. have won the favor of consumers.
Looking around the current mainstream warehouse-style membership store formats on the market, they basically show the above characteristics.
For example, in terms of the quantity of goods, the number of hypermarkets of the same area can reach 10,000 to 20,000, while the number of warehouse member stores is generally around 3,000 to 4,000. Among them, a considerable proportion of them are private brand products.
"Choosing the best among the best is equivalent to helping consumers think about and choose in advance, what kind of products are more cost-effective." said Cai Ronghong, the person in charge of the Hema X member store.
Chang Fei, vice president of Carrefour China and general manager of Carrefour member stores, said that compared to hypermarkets, member stores will select products to help members make choices and save time.
The characteristics of these stores are responding to market demand.
In the words of consumers, it is "more willing to buy."
Selected products, imported products and private brands bring a shopping experience that is different from ordinary supermarket open shelves, making consumers more willing to take out their wallets.
Zhao Ping believes that in the context of the global epidemic, consumers' consumer psychology and purchasing behavior have also changed. First, they are pursuing more cost-effective and more rational consumption; second, the frequency of purchases has decreased, and the single purchase of daily necessities may be greater. Make large-package, cost-effective products more attractive.
In addition, the growing number of car owners in China facilitates centralized purchases in the suburbs, and objectively improves the convenience of shopping in warehouse-style member stores.
On the other hand, after years of market cultivation, the paid membership system has become more recognized by consumers.
In recent years, many brick-and-mortar stores, such as online shopping and payment for knowledge, have launched membership options, offering many member rights and benefits, and membership systems have become more and more popular.
"The improvement of the entire market has created a development environment for warehouse-style member stores, and consumers no longer feel unfamiliar." Zhao Ping said.
"In China's retail sector, the membership store format is not a new concept, but it was previously a niche demand. In recent years, the retail market has undergone structural upgrades, users' demand for quality consumption has continued to grow, and the paid membership store market has begun to mature." Chang Fei thinks.
In addition to shopping, many warehouse-style member stores have also provided value-added services such as car washing, pet care, and laundry care, making the "gold content" of members' rights even higher.
The rapid evolution of retail formats
——Economic and social development and income level improvement are the foundation, the industry explores new ideas, and consumers have more choices
From online retail, fresh food e-commerce to community group buying, new retail formats are emerging in the Chinese market in an endless stream.
How to look at the changes in retail formats?
From the perspective of the national economy as a whole, economic and social development and the continuous improvement of national income levels have promoted the rapid evolution of the retail industry.
According to a report issued by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Research Institute, according to the development experience of retail formats in various countries, a certain level of national income corresponds to a dominant retail format.
The per capita GDP is about US$10,000, which is the period of growth for warehouse stores and shopping centers.
In recent years, the rapid growth of China's per capita GDP also shows that China's retail business is in a period of rapid evolution and rapid change.
From the perspective of industry development, under the background of the rapid development of online retail, traditional supermarkets are exploring transformation.
In addition to the integration of online and offline development, more attempts at new formats have also become industry choices.
Cai Ronghong said that “membership stores are regarded as the second growth curve of Hema” and plans to open 10 member stores nationwide within this year.
This time, the major retail companies are gearing up to compete on how to do a good job in "membership" business.
However, industry insiders have pointed out that in order to allow members to continue to pay, it is necessary to do the best possible membership services and use the best selection of products and the best prices to enhance the shopping experience. What is behind this is the test of the global supply chain capabilities.
How to move from "big and complete" to "less but fine" is a question that warehouse-style member stores need to answer.
The participation of more companies is injecting more vitality into the warehouse-style membership store business.
"Since the beginning of this year, many companies have entered this track, which is essentially a good thing. On the one hand, everyone has begun to bravely try and innovate their own business formats; on the other hand, the formation of healthy market competition is of great benefit to consumers. To better meet the needs of middle and high-income consumers." Cai Ronghong said.
Indeed, consumers' shopping choices are becoming more abundant with the expansion of retail formats.
Yang Shoucheng found that in addition to his daily purchases, visiting the warehouse-style membership store at his door also became one of the reasons for him to meet with friends. The social frequency actually increased invisibly while visiting the store.
"I feel a little happy as a neighbor of it (a warehouse-style member supermarket in front of my house)." He said that this membership card intends to continue.
Li Jie Luo Jingying