[Economic Observation] Facing the changing situation, where does the supermarket industry go from here?
Our reporter Yang Zhaokui
Since the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, great changes have taken place in consumers' consumption psychology and consumption behavior.
Faced with omni-channel diversification and fragmentation trends, as well as the rise of new formats such as discount stores and instant retail, how should the supermarket industry develop in the future?
Recently, at the CCFA New Consumption Forum - 2022 Supermarket Development Strategy Summit Forum hosted by the China Chain Store and Franchise Association, the participants conducted in-depth discussions on "reform in adversity, transformation and upgrading".
The voice conveyed by this summit forum will help us understand the exploration and transformation development of some leading supermarket companies, and have a glimpse of the future development trend of the industry.
With regard to the digital transformation, omni-channel marketing, self-owned brand building, and prefabricated dishes that the industry has paid attention to in the past two years, Hou Yi, CEO of Hema Xiansheng, said that digitalization is only an effective means to improve retail efficiency, but digitalization cannot solve the problem for enterprises. The value of core customers cannot solve the core competitiveness of the retail industry and other issues.
In terms of omni-channel, the commercial structure of retail itself needs to undergo fundamental changes to bring new value.
As for private brands, Hou Yi believes that today's retail industry is only a means to increase gross profit margins, and most private brands are submerged in the vast ocean.
The prefabricated dishes are just a supplement, and the prefabricated dishes are delicious.
Zhu Jun, Senior Vice President of Wal-Mart China and Chief Procurement Officer of Wal-Mart Hypermarkets, said that Wal-Mart Hypermarkets has been committed to reshaping the value chain of commodities, maximizing value, and allowing customers to more intuitively feel the power of Wal-Mart products.
At the end of September this year, the global shopping business of Wal-Mart Hypermarket was upgraded again, relying on the advantages of Wal-Mart's global supply chain and efficient centralized procurement and fulfillment model.
In addition, Wal-Mart hypermarkets are currently deeply implementing the reform of commercialization, that is, standardization.
These difficult but correct things all point to one goal, which is to rely on digital tool empowerment to improve the end-to-end efficiency of the supply chain and increase the output of single products.
In recent years, discount stores, as a new retail model, have become one of the new trends in the industry, and have also attracted retail companies such as Hema, Yonghui, and Wumart to enter the market to test the water.
The products in the discount store are divided into two parts, one part is short-term discount products, which are mainly used to attract traffic, and the gross profit margin is relatively low; the other part is regular price discount products, which is the main source of profit.
In this regard, Chen Liping, a professor at the Capital University of Economics and Business, said that discount stores are not a retail industry that only relies on selling goods at low prices, but an innovative format in the development of supermarkets.
The core of business innovation for discount stores is how to create low-cost operating systems and systems.
In response to the hot topic of real-time retail in the industry, Lu Guangyuan, head of the IT enabling business of Meituan Flash Shopping, said: "Users' demand for real-time consumption has extended from ordering takeaways to 'ordering everything', and new consumer demand is driving physical retail. Enterprises are engaging in instant retailing. Now more and more merchants are starting to cooperate with Meituan Flash Shopping to open the instant retail model.” According to the data of Meituan Flash Shopping, as of October this year, the number of supermarket merchants that Meituan Flash Shopping cooperates with has increased by 35% year-on-year.
In the retail industry, there is a saying that “region is king”.
Despite the impact of the epidemic, some regional retail companies have taken a series of measures and still achieved growth in sales and gross profit.
The exploration of these enterprises can be used as a reference for other supermarkets.
For example, Li Dexiang, chairman of Guizhou Heli, said that Guizhou Heli mainly focuses on good products, good scenes and good experience. So far, sales and net profit have both increased; It is more beautiful and has a more sense of the scene, thereby increasing the unit price of customers and bringing about a year-on-year increase in profits; Lin Yongqiang, chairman of Fujian Guanye, revealed that Guan Supermarket is looking for incremental business, focusing on online, focusing on group buying and To B (oriented to enterprises) ) business, and even supply to retail peers, and do wholesale business, bringing about an increase in sales and gross profit.
(Source: Workers' Daily)