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Highlight moments for community group buying
The development of community group buying has experienced "roller coaster" ups and downs
In the case of the maturity of WeChat Mini Programs and the increasing difficulty of online customer acquisition, community group buying uses "fresh" drainage, quickly gathers orders to the platform, reduces the cost of intermediate links through collection, and provides consumers with cost-effective products and services.
The fresh model of community group buying has attracted a large number of VCs and industrial capital to enter, industry competition has intensified, mergers and acquisitions, and clearance have accelerated, but also presented a chaotic and disorderly competition phenomenon, the regulatory authorities issued policy guidance, and the development of the industry gradually returned to rationality.
Community group buying enterprises are growing rapidly, and capital is competing to enter the game
In 2018, the number of community group buying enterprises increased explosively, and the headquarters of group buying enterprises were concentrated in first- and second-tier cities, and the business operation areas were mainly distributed in second- and third-tier cities. The retail market space in low-tier cities is large, the degree of competition is small, and the consumer groups are mainly post-70s and 90s, familiar with mobile payment, the pursuit of quality of life, and still have a large consumer demand for fresh products.
In 2018, community group buying enterprises obtained financing of about 4.5 billion yuan, attracting many first-line VCs and industrial capital to enter the community group buying market. Enterprises are in the early stage of development, and financing is mainly concentrated in angel rounds and A rounds. Capital is optimistic about the transformation and upgrading of the fresh supply chain by the community group purchase model, as well as the huge market demand space for local life in lower-tier cities.
The community group buying enterprises have received the blessing of Ali and Tencent, and the market has shown the first "merger" case
The entry of Ali and Tencent has accelerated the competition between industries, and some community group buying enterprises have begun to enhance their market competitiveness by holding groups and merging.
Internet platform enterprises personally went down, competition intensified, chaos, community group buying ushered in strong supervision
The market has accelerated its clearance, and the first-line echelon community group purchase enterprises have ushered in a major reshuffle
Since the Internet platform enterprises personally entered, the competition in the community group buying market has been extremely fierce, from Tongcheng life to dude has declared bankruptcy or stopped operation, and the market elimination game has accelerated.
The reasons for the bankruptcy of Tongcheng Life are chaotic internal financial control and strong enemies in advantageous areas. The reason for the bankruptcy of the carrot is that after obtaining capital financing, it blindly expands, resulting in a break in the capital chain.
In addition to the price war, the industry reshuffle also lies in the weak ability of the fresh supply chain of each company, which requires a long period of accumulation. In the future, the community group purchase model will continue to iterate, gradually return to the essence of the retail industry, strengthen supply chain capabilities, and provide customers with quality and distinctive products, which is the key to winning.
Internet community group buying enterprises have opened strategic reforms, optimized organizations, and deeply cultivated business chains
Since 2021, the state has continued to promote the implementation of anti-monopoly policies, prevent the disorderly expansion of capital, and guide healthy competition in the market. Internet community group buying enterprises have opened strategic reforms, organizational optimization, adjustment of business strategies, optimization of service quality, improvement of supply chain service efficiency, no longer blindly pursue market share, do deep and fine industrial chain, regional differentiated operation has become the development consensus of enterprises.
The current situation of the development of community group buying
Community group buying evolved from fresh e-commerce and ushered in explosive growth
Fresh e-commerce originated in 2005, after several ups and downs still has not explored a mature and stable business model, mainly affected by the cost of customer acquisition and high cost of performance. Driven by reducing costs and optimizing the experience, fresh new retail has experienced continuous evolution from pure e-commerce, front-end warehouses, to stores, to homes, and community group buying. Community group buying benefited from the maturity of the WeChat Mini Program ecosystem and the low cost of customer acquisition, ushering in explosive growth.
Community group buying is still stagnant in the "0-1" stage at this stage
Community group buying head enterprises, each with 20-30 people direct procurement team, after trying to directly mine upstream, the proportion of direct procurement is still very low; the launch of white-brand, small brand products, but consumers do not recognize.
The commodity structure is unstable, the small and medium-sized suppliers change too quickly, and the quality of performance is unstable, especially in the summer, the single volume will drop significantly, mainly because the cold chain layout is lacking.
On the whole, community group buying is still stuck in the 0-1 stage at this stage, and the platform is still stuck in the state of traditional retail rent collection.
The supply chain and the head of the group are the core links of community group buying
The rise of community group buying, thanks to the operation of weChat Mini Program mature, its fresh fruit high-frequency, just need products as the entry point, through The WeChat Mini Program, WeChat group quickly collect user demand orders, the platform side through the existing supply chain system to complete the procurement, processing, packaging, transportation, distribution of products, and finally delivered to the site, the next day users pick up. In the short term, it is difficult to sustain large-scale subsidies, but in the medium and long term, the core lies in creating a fresh supply chain system and training and empowering the professionalization of the head of the group to improve product characteristics and service levels.
One of the development factors: the business model has reshaped the upstream and downstream systems of the fresh supply chain
Community group buying has changed the 6 price increases of the traditional fresh chain into a new chain of 3 price increases, and its markup rate has been reduced from about 1 times to about 0.5 times, and the human freight yard under the channel reconstruction has also undergone corresponding changes.
The second development factor: the positioning of each manufacturer is different, but its business moat has its own advantages
Duoduo buys vegetables is positioned in the deep integration of the agricultural product supply chain created by Pinduoduo and takes a cost-effective route.
Meituan prefers to focus on Meituan's "retail + technology" strategy to acquire new customers and consolidate the local life base camp.
Orange Heart Preferred transformed into in-depth distribution, cooperating with brand owners to serve small and medium-sized convenience store groups.
Jingdong and Xingsheng Preferred strategic cooperation, Xingsheng Preferred deep ploughing advantageous areas, Jingxi spelling misplaced development, Xingsheng Preferred as the pioneer of Jingdong's sinking market.
Alibaba integrated hema market and Taobao shopping into Taocai cuisine, and launched an online focus on the first- and second-line business Hema neighborhoods, reusing Hema fresh supply chain resources. In addition, Ali MMC and the Shihui Regiment have carried out partial regional mergers and joint operations to strengthen the market competitiveness of community group buying.
The third development factor: users prefer the "province" of community group buying, but they are still full of expectations for "more, better and faster"
The cost of community group purchase performance is low, and the effective "SKU" and "quality" need to be further improved
Analysis of typical manufacturers of community group buying
Xingsheng Preferred relies on the resources of Furong Xingsheng convenience store to accelerate the market layout and grow rapidly
Xingsheng prefers self-built logistics system to improve the efficiency of performance and gain the favor of all kinds of capital
Xingsheng prefers to build a three-level logistics system of "central warehouse - grid station - store" through self-built logistics to ensure the quality of goods and the timeliness of distribution.
Xingsheng Preferred received multiple rounds of capital injections, and the annual GMV increased significantly. JD Group's strategic investment of US$700 million is prosperous and preferred, and JD's e-commerce platform resources and urban distribution advantages are deeply integrated with the prosperous township and rural logistics system, enhancing the competitiveness of Xingsheng Preferred in the community group buying market and helping the stable development of Xingsheng Preferred.
Xingsheng Preferred starts from the essence of the business, deeply cultivates the regional market, and develops steadily
Xingsheng Preferred optimizes the category structure of the store, increases the drainage, helps the store profitability, cooperates with suppliers in a focused way to create explosive products, and quickly delivers them to consumers through self-built logistics system; and deeply cultivates the regional market to provide consumers with "high-quality and low-cost" products and services.
Xingsheng's strategy of preferring deep ploughing in the region is in line with the development essence of the retail industry. Community group buying belongs to the retail business, simply through the Internet to quickly burn money to cultivate the market to consider, the complexity of the superimposed fresh supply chain is high, and it needs to be deeply polished and improved from all links. In addition, the localization characteristics of the retail industry are more obvious, and it is necessary to differentiate the operation according to the place, and it is the correct development method for community group buying to do a deep and refined regional market.
The strategic merger and acquisition of you and me by the Ten Hui Group complements each other's advantages and enhances market competitiveness
The advantages of Shihui Group lie in its product technology, warehouse supply chain management, financing capabilities, you and I, your advantages lie in community operation, fresh direct procurement capabilities, the strategic merger of the two sides, will help to further enhance the competitiveness in the community group purchase market.
The merger and reorganization of the head enterprises in the market will further accelerate the clearance between industries. After this integration to increase market share, it is conducive to the gradual optimization of all aspects of the supply chain and the improvement of the current situation of enterprise operation.
Alibaba's strategic resources help the development of the Ten HuiTuan, and the business positioning between the two sides is the key
Shihui Group creates a fresh supply chain, systematically raises the group, and prepares for future development
At this stage, Shihui Group is in the stage of fresh expansion plate, and the product SKU provided can basically meet the daily household consumption. In the future, through the growth of SKUs and the construction of warehouse distribution network, the future group will provide consumers with diversified product needs and same-day delivery services.
The fresh supply chain ability and the comprehensive ability of the head of the group are the key to the ultimate success of community group buying. Through continuously building a fresh supply chain and systematic group, Shihui Group enhances its competitiveness and gradually realizes its development plan.
Meituan's three major business layouts in the same city retail, Meituan preferred to undertake the main force of customer acquisition of the platform
The three major business layouts of Meituan's same-city retail are Meituan Grocery Shopping, Meituan Flash Purchase, and Meituan Preferred, and its strategic play is relatively clear. Through the combination of "self-operation + platform", a relatively complete multi-format layout such as front-end warehouse, vegetable market operation, and community group purchase has been formed.
Meituan Preferred backed by Meituan's huge offline push network to obtain customers, Meituan Preferred is expected to bring 300-400 million new users to the Meituan platform, the first and second quarters of this year's Meituan financial report conference call disclosed that the number of new users reached 120 million, Meituan Preferred has become the main force of new customers on the Meituan platform.
Meituan is preferably positioned in meituan's "first-level strategy" project, and the new revenue growth is responsible
Meituan Preferred's 2021 GMV target value is 200 billion yuan, but as of September this year, it has not reached 100 billion yuan, and the earnings call disclosed that the preferred business has lost 4 billion yuan. Through organizational adjustment and strategic focus, Meituan preferred to obtain more resource input from Meituan and continue to deepen the fresh retail industry.
Meituan Preferred is better than Meituan's new customer acquisition and revenue growth contribution over other new businesses such as Meituan Grocery Shopping and Meituan Fast Donkey. Through heavy asset investment, the construction of a direct procurement base for fresh aquatic products, the establishment of an aerobic transportation system and other measures, Meituan strengthens the infrastructure layout of community group buying, improves the service quality of community group buying, and better consolidates its own moat of local life services.
The loss of new business continues to increase, prompting Meituan to return to rationality, and the preferred business will firmly adhere to the goal of high-quality development
Meituan focuses on the "retail + technology" strategy and continuously expands new business investment, especially in retail. In the third quarter of 2021, the growth rate of new business and other revenues and the number of new trading users are slowing down, but new business and other operating losses are increasing, new business and other operating losses including community group buying have expanded to 10.9 billion yuan, single-quarter operating losses exceeded the whole of last year, superimposed community group buying industry supervision is becoming stricter, meituan through organizational adjustment, business change, high-quality development as the long-term goal of Meituan's preferred choice.
The essence of community group buying is retail, which requires enterprises to optimize all aspects of the supply chain for a long time, refine operations, and maintain the speed of rational development, which is not matched by the development strategy of the Internet blindly burning money to quickly occupy the market.
Pinduoduo has tested the community group buying business many times, and Duoduo's purchase of vegetables has been given public expectations
Pinduoduo has repeatedly tested the community group purchase business, pinyin small station due to improper site control, the platform loses the constraint on the site; fast tuantuan is not systematic enough management of merchants and orders, orders are scattered or frequently missed, and the user experience is extremely low. On the surface, it is the improper management of the merchants at the end, but in fact, the customer needs in various regions are obviously differentiated, resulting in the site being difficult to effectively feedback the needs of users to the platform.
Pinduoduo launched Duoduo to buy vegetables, positioning is not a simple community group purchase, duoduo buy vegetables is an important role participant in Pinduoduo's continuous construction and improvement of the agricultural product supply chain system for many years.
Buy more vegetables to provide cost-effective products and services as a measure to attract users
Pinduoduo has been deeply involved in the agricultural industry chain for many years, empowering Duoduo to buy vegetables in the supply chain of agricultural products, and helping Duoduo to provide consumers with cost-effective products and services.
Buy more vegetables to pursue a cost-effective development strategy, its commodity price comparison system requires daily bidding, the low price is obtained; in addition, try to collect, attract white cards to enter the main station of Pinduoduo, get traffic exposure, and then import more to buy vegetables as a provincial bidding, with the main station and group purchase traffic to attract white-label merchants to settle in, so as to achieve a lower price.
In terms of organization and management, the headquarters has delegated authority, and the provinces and autonomous regions have fought independently. Affected by the operating consumption attributes of fresh retail, the consumption in different regions is quite different, and the excessive pursuit of low prices in many provinces and regions may lead to the singleness of the supply chain commodity side play, which is more difficult to make a profit.
Supervision continued to strengthen, and the development of duoduoduo vegetables returned to stability
After experiencing rapid growth, under the background of strong supervision policies, duoduoduo has opened business adjustments, strengthened supplier assessment, and reduced costs and increased efficiency have become the main rhythm of development, gradually returning to stability.
In the fourth quarter of 2020, Pinduoduo's transaction service revenue increased by 70.1% month-on-month, and its marketing expenses increased by 46.1% month-on-month, which can be seen that Duoduo's rapid acquisition of customers, occupation of market share, and achieved a certain degree of effect.
In the first quarter and the second quarter of 2021, pinduoduo's transaction service revenue and month-on-month growth rate gradually slowed down, and marketing expenses also decreased during the same period, during which the community group purchase market supervision policy was strengthened, competition intensified, and some head platforms went bankrupt and liquidated.
In the third quarter of 2021, the growth rate of Pinduoduo's transaction service revenue increased by 15.6% month-on-month, and the rate of decline in marketing expenses rebounded. The reduction in marketing expenses is also strongly related to Pinduoduo's long-term R&D investment. Mainly because of its business strategy adjustment, focus on the essence of the business, reduce costs and increase efficiency, open price increases, and no longer blindly pursue market share.
The future trend of community group buying
Under the background of strong regulatory policies, the community group buying business of Internet platform enterprises should actively exert economic and social effects
Community group buying is about to enter a stage of rational development
The main characteristics of community group buying entering the stage of rational development are: the monthly GMV is still more than 10 billion yuan, but the loss is greatly reduced; the supplier is stable and can be profitable at the same time; through heavy asset investment, the upstream processing capacity is sufficient; and the organizational personnel of various enterprises are stable and will not be greatly adjusted. After the initial stabilization, the community group buying enterprises can learn from the membership store model, lock in the target customer group, and serve the majority of sinking market users.
The future development of major community group buying manufacturers may show a variety of directions
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