Chinanews.com, November 11 (Zhongxin Financial Reporter Wu Tao) "Full Discount", "Discount Promotion", "Member Discount"..."Double 2" is approaching, consumers are immersed in the major e-commerce "buy, buy, buy", thinking that they have picked up a big bargain and are complacent, but to take a look at the offline supermarket, you may find that the offline price of the same product is cheaper.
"It's cheaper online" may just be a habitual thinking
Approaching the "Double 11", recently, the reporter visited a number of offline supermarkets. A certain brand of pure milk sold online in a supermarket is priced at 43.9 yuan a box online, but in the supermarket's offline store, the same product is priced at 39.9 yuan a box at the same time.
The price of the same milk at the same time in the same supermarket is different online and offline, and it is cheaper offline. The right of the figure shows the offline price. Chinanews reporter Wu Tao mapping
"Haoli Friendly Multi-Fish Crispy Barbecue Flavor 33g" is priced at 4.9 yuan online, and the same product is priced at 4.5 yuan at the same time in the supermarket.
The same supermarket has different packaging prices for the same product, and the offline cost performance is higher. Chinanews reporter Wu Tao mapping
In addition to price inconsistency, the reporter also noticed in the investigation that supermarkets also distinguish online and offline through different packaging, for example, a certain popcorn is sold offline at 260g, the original price is 13.9 yuan, and the current price is 7.9 yuan, and this package is not sold online at all, only 180g packaging, priced at 15.9 yuan. Obviously, offline prices are more cost-effective.
A number of supermarkets responded, and most of them implemented "the same model and the same price"
Recently, Hema CEO Hou Yi posted on Moments that Hema has different prices online and offline. Because there is a high distribution cost online, the offline cost is low, and the offline price is lower than the online price is reasonable, so the offline price of all Hema standard products has dropped by more than 20%.
"The first shot of different online and offline prices." In Freshippo's view, "discounting" is not about selling cheap goods, but about selling good goods cheaply through the construction of a vertical supply chain, and ultimately it is necessary to achieve "cheap online and offline".
However, this is limited to ordinary Hema stores, and in Hema X member stores, the prices are still the same online and offline. Mu Shengyang, the national director of operations of Hema X membership stores, told China News Financial Reporter that this is because the price of Hema X membership is "low enough".
However, the reporter noticed that most supermarkets currently have the same online and offline prices for the same product. The relevant staff of Qixian and Duodian all told the China News Financial Reporter that the price of the same product online and online is the same, and there is no price difference.
The reporter's investigation found that in addition to Freshippo, different prices online and offline mostly appear in some traditional supermarkets, especially the products that display "buy more and have a better unit price" online, and the same model offline is cheaper than imagined.
Consumer: Noticed, it's been a while
Similar situations are not unique, and they are not only in the e-commerce field, but also widely in the OTA and food delivery fields.
Data map. Photo by Chinanews reporter Wu Tao
For example, during this year's National Day, there were reports that the owner of a homestay in Lishui, Zhejiang Province broke the news that his room room of 680 yuan a night was displayed on the platform as 2780,680 yuan a night. The B&B is not aware of this situation, and the price is still <> yuan a night in the B&B channel.
Some consumers told the Zhongxin financial reporter that when shopping offline, you only need to say that I only sold ** yuan when I saw this one on the Internet, and the salesman immediately said that I can also give you this price. Another consumer said, "I have long noticed that a takeaway that I often eat is about 30% more expensive online than offline." ”
It is worth noting that the reporter also found that although the price is cheap enough, there are not many consumers in the supermarket, and there is no online "Double 11" promotional atmosphere at all.
Why is offline cheaper?
Data map. Photo courtesy of the courtesy of the
Although offline supermarkets have property fees, water and electricity fees, etc., it is not easy to open an online store, in addition to paying "rent", it also needs drainage costs, and the cost of customer acquisition is getting higher and higher. According to the data released by Yiou Think Tank, Alibaba's customer acquisition cost in fiscal year 2021 was 477 yuan, while Pinduoduo's customer acquisition cost was 578 yuan, and JD.com's was 384 yuan.
On the other hand, when Costco, an offline membership-based supermarket, opened a new store, there was a "long queue" of consumers who did not sign up.
How can this type of membership supermarket be profitable? iiMedia Consulting reported that the number of Costco paid members in 2022 will be 6580.1 million, and membership fees are the majority of Costco's profits, accounting for only 9.5% of total revenue, but accounting for more than 90% of total net profit. The membership fee brings Costco a continuous and stable cash flow, and the high-quality service also allows members to continue to renew, and Costco's membership renewal rate in the past <> years has reached more than <>%.
Now Hema is following a similar pattern. "In traditional supermarkets, selling goods is not their main way to make money, but channel fees, entry fees, display fees, etc." The relevant person in charge of Hema said, "In this case, it is difficult to benefit consumers, and we now have to select SKUs, and we must open up channels to reduce costs." ”
It can be seen that in addition to online e-commerce to compete with "friend merchants", offline supermarkets cannot be ignored. (ENDS)