Recently, it is reported that the community group buying platform Shihui Group has been completely shut down.
In this regard, Yicai contacted the relevant person in charge of the Try Shihui Group for verification, but the other party has not responded as of press time.
At present, the Shihui Group applet is in an unmaintained state, and the main page of the Shihui Group App is also blank.
The departure of Shihui Group is another proof that the community group buying industry has entered a cold winter.
Multiple rounds of layoffs
There are already signs of the fall of the Ten Hui Group.
In November 2021, Shihui Group stated that starting from November, on the premise of ensuring the basic salary and basic living needs of employees, the company's middle and background employees, including performance-based wages, will be delayed and paid at a rate of 70%.
For the delayed issuance, the company will accrue interest at an annualized rate of 3.0%, and will reissue it in the first quarter of 2022, while matching the same amount of equity incentives.
But many employees didn't wait for the first quarter of 2022.
Zhang Xin (pseudonym), a former employee of the Ten Hui Group who was laid off, told the First Financial Reporter that on December 20, 2021, she received the "Notice of Unilateral Termination of Labor Relations" from the Ten Hui Group, which showed that "due to the company's The market environment and objective situation it faces have undergone major changes, and the company has decided to lay off the position after the evaluation."
Zhang Xin said that after being laid off, the company not only did not give corresponding compensation, but even owed wages in the fourth quarter.
The company paid 70% of fourth-quarter wages at the end of February this year after the laid-off workers defended their rights, and said it would settle the rest by May.
Zhang Xin said that between December last year and February this year, the company laid off at least 400 people. "There were 800 people in the company's large group before in December, and in February, as far as I know, there are only 400 people left." After this round of layoffs , Zhang Xin's department has been reduced from 20 people to 2 people.
Regarding the company's situation, Zhang Xin said, "When the main body of the company was changed at the end of October, basically everyone felt that the company was dying." According to Zhang Xin's recollection, at the end of October, the main body of the company's contract with employees was changed from Beijing Qunxianhuihui Technology Co., Ltd. to Beijing Shihui Technology Co., Ltd., "In the past, employees basically used Qunxian for daily reimbursement, and many large projects, such as business transactions in various places, used Shihui Technology." As for the main body of the change, the company said at that time that it was preparing to go public, but because it has been carried out before After three rounds of layoffs, few employees believed the claim.
As an employee of Shihui Group for more than 2 years, in Zhang Xin's opinion, the company has gone downhill since it received the D round of financing.
On March 31, 2021, Shihui Group received USD 750 million in Series D financing.
Zhang Xin said, "I feel that it has swelled after receiving the financing. The salary of a group of new employees in April is very high."
Another person, Li Jia (pseudonym), who was laid off in August last year, told Yicai that the reason given for the layoff of HR was that the economy was not good.
In the recording provided by Li Jia, HR said, "It's not that we don't give you (compensation), the company's office space is rented, the bank has no loan, and everyone knows that computers and office equipment are rented. Now the company has no money. I Now I can only guarantee that the information of the partners I signed will be given to the finance as soon as possible, so that they can set aside funds for everyone to get it next month, and now I can only strive for this for everyone."
Suppliers still awaiting settlement
Not only employees, but also suppliers are in a state of anxiety.
A supplier from Chongqing told the First Financial Reporter that after the rise of community group buying, he supplied food to several community group buying platforms, among which Shihui Group is one of the platforms with the largest sales volume, with a monthly turnover of 100,000 yuan during the peak period. .
Since September last year, he has stopped supplying Shihui Group.
Judging from the background screenshots he provided, there are still more than 30,000 yuan in payment and 10,000 yuan in deposits that have not been settled.
From the perspective of the above-mentioned suppliers, the problem has already begun in July 2021. "In June and July, there were successive reports of suppliers' inaccurate payment of goods and deposits in cities. We went to the headquarters at the end of August. Informed that there will be no problem, and will settle the settlement with the supplier. The staff of Chongqing docking settlement resigned at the end of August, and there is no answer until now." As of press time, the above-mentioned supplier said that the payment for the goods has not yet been settled, and they have been unable to contact them. principal.
There are also suppliers who reported that Shihui Group had previously said to him that the company had no money to advise him to sue him to protect his rights.
For suppliers waiting for settlement, the platform's approach is to settle at a discount.
There are more than 100 suppliers in a WeChat group called "Ten Hui Group Suppliers Deposit Payment Rights Protection".
Some suppliers said that in January this year, Shihui Group provided a "supplier one-time settlement plan". The plan shows a one-time settlement of 30% off the amount owed by suppliers, and the reporting termination time is February 10.
After February 10, a 20% discount plan will be implemented for merchants who have not yet settled.
Many suppliers said that in order to reduce losses, they have signed the plan and received 30% off the payment.
However, many suppliers said that they did not know how to contact Shihui Group and missed the opportunity to get 30% off the payment.
For suppliers, it is not the first time that community group buying has collapsed.
In July last year, Fresh Orange Technology, the main operating company of the community group purchase unicorn "Tongcheng Life", issued an announcement that it planned to file a bankruptcy application and abandon the original community group purchase business. The new brand name "Micheng Life" will be launched from now on.
A supplier said, "Tongcheng's settlement was 60% at that time, and it was only 30% at Shihui Group."
Big ups and downs in two years
Even though it only got $750 million in financing in March last year, Shihui Group still owes a lot of money and wages.
The money-burning of community group buying is evident.
This can also be felt from the financial reports of other platforms.
On December 30 last year, Didi released its financial results for the second and third quarters of 2021.
According to the third quarter financial report, Didi’s net investment loss in the third quarter was RMB 20.8 billion, mainly due to the unfavorable changes in the Orange Heart business in the third quarter of 2021, compared with a profit of RMB 830 million in the same period last year.
When the prospectus was submitted before, Didi said that it would split Orange Heart Preferred.
In 2021, the new business of Meituan Select will increase its losses every quarter.
In the first quarter of 2021, the loss of new business reached 8.04 billion yuan, and the loss increased by 489.9% year-on-year.
The loss in the second quarter reached 9.24 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 532.9%.
The loss in the third quarter reached 10.91 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 437.5%.
The fourth-quarter loss reached 10.2 billion yuan, an increase of 70% year-on-year.
An industry insider told Yicai that "in 2021, this track will burn at least 100 billion yuan." And the industry that burns money can only burn large-scale industries, so many platforms will withdraw in 2021.
In addition to the same-city life and the Ten Clubs, last year's Food and Enjoyment Club also announced that it would move to the track.
Recently, Jingxi Pinpin also reported the news of layoffs and business reductions.
In just two years, the community group buying industry has experienced ups and downs.
In 2020, a number of Internet companies have entered the community group buying industry aggressively, and even threatened to "set no upper limit on investment", which is in sharp contrast to the current situation of withdrawal and abolition.
Zeng Ying, a senior analyst in the circulation industry of Analysys, told Yicai.com that there are certain problems in the business model of community group purchases. First, low prices have become the main advantage of community group purchases, and users attracted by low prices are also more loyal. Low, the repurchase rate is difficult to guarantee.
Second, in the environment of low-price competition, the faster the expansion of community group buying, the greater the loss.
Third, some companies here do not have rich experience in commodity supply chain before, so if the supply chain and operation do not have advantages, companies that cannot keep up with the capital chain will withdraw from the community group buying market in advance.
At the same time, in 2021, a number of community group purchases were interviewed by the State Administration for Market Regulation about the negative impact of low-price competition. After that, many regional governments, including Shaanxi and Chongqing, have also formulated relevant guidance policies and standardized standards for organizing community group purchases. The seminar aims to regulate the order of competition in the online group buying market.
The savage growth period of community group buying has passed, and it will enter healthy competition in the future. Standardization and standardization are the main trends of future development.
The above analysts believe that the community group buying industry will enter a precipitation period in 2022, and the industry will return to the essence of quality. The first-tier companies will continue to expand their business, including strengthening supply chain management, optimizing user operations, improving contract performance capabilities, and diversifying business layout. Wait.
Among them, supply chain capabilities, cost reduction and efficiency enhancement of contract performance capabilities, and value mining of existing users are the keys.
At the same time, some platforms choose the strategy of "intensive cultivation in some areas". In the future, there will be regional giants in community group buying. The platform will create special supplies for different regions, deepen the local supply chain, and continue to consolidate the advantages in the region. Different regions will have different platforms occupying the market. Advantage.
In the eyes of industry insiders, 2022 is still a year of supplementary lessons for many giants. "The giants have to make up for infrastructure construction. The giants may also shrink and focus on key areas in certain areas."