You can grasp everything big and small in the venture capital circle
Tencent Venture | ID：qqchuangye
"Trial and error is constantly looking for new ways out."
The source of this article is "Understanding Notes" (ID: dongdong_note), which is reprinted by Tencent Venture with permission.
Author / Kagura
Edited / Qin Yan
A few years ago, when Huaqiangbei was mentioned, I believe that the first label that came to most people's minds would be "China Electronics First Street" and "World Electronic Center". Indeed, for a long time, Huaqiangbei, which "made its fortune" by wholesale digital products and semiconductor products, has become synonymous with the electronics industry.
However, with the rapid development of e-commerce, Huaqiangbei's electronic and digital wholesale business has also been greatly impacted, and wholesalers have decreased, and the passenger flow is also decreasing sharply. The scene that was once difficult to find has gradually been replaced by the picture of sublease and withdrawal of the store in recent years.
Therefore, in the past two or three years, whether it is the mall of Huaqiang North or the merchants, they are trying to transform cross-border, and even extremely brave trial and error, since 2020, there have been mall transformation beauty, cross-border e-commerce and snack wholesale. However, just when the outside world thought that Huaqiang North and "China Electronic First Street" were gradually diverging and seeking a complete transformation, some people found that Huaqiang North had once again seen new changes...
1
Return to "Electronic First Street"?
A year ago, in December, it was a period of great noise after Huaqiang North's transformation of beauty distribution. In the afternoon, the delivery trucks blocked Zhenhua Road and Zhenzhong Road. From morning to night, you can see the "one-meter counter" employees pulling a trolley in and out.
But today, a year later, similar "pomp" is no longer there, and many beauty advertisements on the outside wall of the mall have been removed. Some shopping malls that have transformed into beauty, commercial streets next to subway entrances, and shops along the streets next to the main roads have begun to do back to the "old business" of Huaqiangbei - electronic products.
"(Before moving in) I heard that the mall has transformed several times, the most recent of which was a transformation of beauty." Ah Cheng, who runs a microelectronics counter in Huaqiang North Mall, revealed that about five months ago, his mall was renamed from "Beauty Plaza" to "E-Mall" and re-attracted investment.
His counter was only moved in four months ago. At the beginning of his entry into the mall, he could still see that there were many beauty shops on the floor that had not yet expired and had not yet been evacuated, and even one-meter counters, "Now if you go to visit, you can see three or four beauty shops, all closed but not evacuated." ”
Ah Cheng told him to understand the notes, at present, many shopping malls in Huaqiang North have been transformed again, focusing on electronic products, and they are all through free admission fees, and even part of the rent is free, to attract electronic businesses to settle in.
"When I moved in, the mall's investment department gave me a free entrance fee and three months' rent." It is precisely because the strength of the rent concession is not small, ah cheng's mall in the transformation back to the "electronic mall" to re-attract business in less than a month, the surrounding is gradually filled with wholesale electronic components of the business.
Coincidentally, another fashion complex located in the subway entrance (originally engaged in clothing wholesale, watch retail, foreign trade boutiques), most of the area has also been transformed into "electronic square", settled a large number of electronic component wholesalers.
It is not difficult to see through the promotional materials posted by the store that most of the merchants in the electronic plaza are semiconductor components that control ICs, filters, memory, PA radio frequencies, etc., and are oriented to large wholesale customers.
Among the semiconductor components represented by these merchants, there are many products produced by globally renowned brands such as NXP, ST, Toshiba, and Texas Instruments. Some shops even claim that the product has a large number of spot, sincerely invite procurement customers to consult, to be honest, this time can claim to have a large number of spot semiconductor merchants are not too many.
On the mall channel, the scene of the original single clothing and clothing of foreign trade has long been replaced by boxes of semiconductor components.
Several merchants who have been rooted in Huaqiang north for many years have revealed that today's Huaqiang north seems to go back to four or five years ago, and electronic components are everywhere.
On the main road, a stream of small carts for shipments and deliveries can no longer see the shadow of beauty except for semiconductors, mobile phone accessories and snacks. In some beauty malls that have not yet been transformed and adjusted, you can also see many beauty shops with closed doors, which is in stark contrast to the lively electronic stores around them.
Perhaps, Huaqiang North merchants, which have experienced a series of transformation "trial and error" of beauty, fashion and snacks, seem to have a trend of returning to "China's electronic first street".
So, behind this trend change, what new opportunities are hidden?
2
Merchants dug up the "core" machine?
In the past two years, due to the global "lack of core" caused by the impact of the epidemic, the blow to the manufacturing industry can be described as unprecedented. In order to maintain production, related enterprises and factories are trying every means to "seek" the core, but a "core" is difficult to find.
"Either you can buy the chips in stock at a high price, or you can only stop the production line and stop the workers." The "lack of core tide" also plagued Yu Wei (pseudonym), the owner of a white electricity factory in Xiaolan, Zhongshan. According to him, since last year, the company has continued to scrape chips through up and down channels, but it can only be a drop in the bucket.
For many local white-power factories, the chip product with the largest gap is the IC for power management. The shortage of power management ICs even led to the shutdown of many white electric factories for nearly two months, "Some colleagues in the factory have long suggested that they go to Huaqiang North to have a look, after all, it is the first street of electronics." ”
But at first Yu Wei was very resistant to this suggestion, after a lot of media reports, he knew that the former "China Electronics First Street" has been transforming the sale of beauty and snacks, and there have been many businesses that are completely unrelated to semiconductor components.
"But then I couldn't find the chip, and before the Mid-Autumn Festival this year, I decided to try my luck in Huaqiang North." When Yu Wei arrived in Huaqiang North, he was surprised to find that beauty and cross-border e-commerce had declined, and what came into view was the investment advertisement of many e-malls and street shops.
After asking around in several electronic squares, he finally found a power management IC seller that met his model and specification needs. After this harvest, his white power plant procurement manager also became a regular customer of Huaqiang North.
In the eyes of "Feng Ge", a merchant who operates electronic components in a shopping mall in Huaqiang North, a similar scene has happened almost every day in recent months.
"Yes, the merchants in Huaqiang North have not been doing business for a while, but in the past year, it is not a lack of cores, and small factories that cannot buy chips are still accustomed to coming to Huaqiang North to see if there are any inventory products." Feng Ge revealed to the understanding note that under the impetus of supply and demand, some shopping malls and merchants in Huaqiang North have also begun to "take the opportunity" to transform and move closer to the chip business.
In particular, some of the individual malls that are "slow to beat" in the transformation of beauty and snacks have quickly transformed into a new electronic market before the malls that sell beauty and snacks in the "lack of core" environment, "You know, before switching to beauty (malls), there are many leases that have not expired." ”
So, will the transformation of some shopping malls in Huaqiang North return to the electronic market be as short-lived as beauty?
"Whether it is a flash in the pan or not, no one can say well, after all, there are many factors involved." The merchant "Feng Ge" told him to understand the notes, as long as the "lack of core" has always existed, then the sales of Huaqiang North Semiconductor and chips will not be a problem.
This truth is similar to the beauty industry.
Although there are still a large number of Huaqiang North American cosmetics stores closing their doors to "hedge", because there is still a demand for procurement, it has become an open secret that some beauty merchants have turned into "underground" operations.
"What's more, Huaqiang North's merchants have more experience in making electronics than making up and snacking." He said with a smile that Huaqiang North Avenue, which made its fortune by electronics, has once again set off an "electronic fever", which is more accurate than "transformation" as "return".
Nowadays, there is a general view in the industry that the shortage of chips and semiconductor components may continue until the end of 2022. Therefore, the industry left The Huaqiang North Electronics Market and the one-meter counter, there is still a window period of about one year.
At the same time, under the resurgence of electronic products, a new business has begun to move from "underground" to the surface.
3
If there is a "core" that sells, there is a "core" that receives?