Written by Qi Zhiying
Editor/Liu Minjuan
Producer/Yang Hui
Looking back at 2021, the shared charging treasure industry has entered the stage of chaos. In this year, the industry ushered in the "first share", the merger of sodian and street power, the market pattern was reshaped again after experiencing the pattern of "three electricity and one beast" and "four electricity and one group and one beast", and gradually changed to the pattern of "small bamboo beast".
After many price increases, the shared charging treasure industry finally ushered in standardized operation in 2021. But this year is also a year of industry shocks, monster charging began to show losses, industry competition intensified, gradually shifted to the agent model, each launched a "price war".
When the single problem of the industry's profit model needs to be solved, the platforms began to look for a second growth curve and launched refined operations. But it's worth noting that whether the new model works or not remains to be verified.
The industry pattern was reshaped into a "small bamboo beast", and the industry entered the second half
According to iResearch, China's shared charging market size will be 9 billion yuan in 2020, and it is expected to grow to 106.3 billion yuan by 2028, and the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2020 to 2028 will reach 36.2%.
At the same time, the penetration rate of shared charging treasures still has a lot of upside. According to the data of the Prospective Industry Research Institute, the penetration rate of shopping malls and catering scenes is high, reaching an average of 60%, while the penetration rate of consumption scenes in KTV, shopping places, cinemas, scenic spots and other places is about 30%.
At a time when companies are expanding rapidly, the industry landscape is changing again. In April 2021, Monster Charging was officially listed on the NASDAQ; on the same day, Street Power and Sodian officially announced a merger, and the two sides jointly formed a new group company Zhumang Technology; Xiaodian Technology has also disclosed a prospectus on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Sullivan and the Head Leopard Research Institute jointly released the "China Shared Charging Treasure Industry Market Pattern Insight Report in the First Half of 2021" (hereinafter referred to as the "Industry Market Pattern Insight Report"), which analyzes that the shared charging treasure industry has gone through the pattern of "three electric and one beast" and "four electricity and one cluster and one beast", and is gradually changing to the "small bamboo beast" pattern.
Chen Liteng, a life service e-commerce analyst at the E-commerce Research Center of the Network Economic Society, once pointed out to reporters that the competition for shared charging treasures continues to intensify, the industry head effect is becoming more and more obvious, and the future competition will also be carried out around the head platform. Some analysts also pointed out that the shared charging industry will enter the second half, and the competition mode will change from "single soldier combat" to "group heating".
It is worth noting that after entering the second half of 2021, the days of shared charging treasure companies do not seem to be good.
In the 8 months after the listing, Monster Charging, which was successfully listed, experienced a dilemma in which the stock price continued to decline, and the stock price shrank from $9.75 / share to $1.2 / share, a contraction of 88.7%.
Xiaodian is also in a dilemma, and its listing plan has disappeared since the disclosure of the prospectus on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange at the end of April 2021. Recently, the reporter learned from many insiders that at the end of 2021, the original street power marketing department employees have been dismissed.
The problem of price increases has been alleviated, and prices tend to be transparent and standardized
The shared charging treasure was initially welcomed by the majority of consumers because of the price of one yuan, but then the industry has experienced many price increases, and the price increase problem has become a groove that is widely criticized by consumers.
According to the reporter's investigation, the price of shared charging treasure rose to 4-6 yuan / hour in 2020, and special scenes such as scenic spots, movie theaters, bars and so on even reached 10 yuan / hour, and the price increase of shared charging treasure in 2021 was repeatedly on Weibo hot search.
According to the analysis of the Prospective Industry Research Institute, although under the ideal state, the shared charging treasure operating enterprises can recover their investment within a few months by only relying on the shared charging fee, but the authenticity needs to be considered; although the advertising revenue is the profit focus of most shared charging treasure companies, in the early stage of the development of the industry, many advertisers are holding the coin and waiting, and the income potential is not certain. As a result, the price increase of shared charging treasure has also become an attempt to develop a profit model in the market.
With the rise in the price of shared charging treasures, user complaints have become a common occurrence. Enter the shared charging treasure keyword on the black cat complaint platform to search, the search results are more than 11,000, and most of the complaints involve problems such as arbitrary charging.
This has also attracted the attention of regulatory authorities. In June 2021, the Price Supervision and Competition Bureau of the State Administration for Market Regulation, together with the Anti-Monopoly Bureau and the Cyber Supervision Department, held an administrative guidance meeting in the field of "shared consumption", which was attended by the business entities of shared charging treasure brands such as Monster, Small Electricity, Incoming Electricity, Street Power, and Sodian. The meeting solemnly pointed out that at present, the "shared consumption" industry generally has improper behaviors such as unclear pricing rules and irregular price marking, requiring enterprises to enhance their awareness of compliance and regulate price behavior and competitive behavior.
At the end of August of the same year, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued a document saying that 8 shared consumer brand operating enterprises such as Monster, Small Electricity, Incoming Call, Street Power, and Sodian have actively rectified and achieved results, and the price increase in the shared consumer field has been effectively curbed, and the price has been gradually transparent and standardized.
A number of industry insiders pointed out that in 2021, the market price of shared charging treasure has entered a new stage of development that is transparent, standardized and emphasizes cost performance.
The emergence of the agency model, the industry "price war" began
Although the industry is generally in a price increase trend, shared charging treasure companies are becoming less and less profitable. This may be slightly known from the financial report of monster charging.
In the second quarter of 2021, the net profit of Monster Charging was 8.2 million yuan, down 73% year-on-year; in the third quarter, Monster Charging turned from profit to loss year-on-year, with a net loss of 79.4 million yuan, compared with a net profit of 109 million yuan in the same period of 2020. Why, exactly?
At the beginning, Monster Charging took a different path from other shared charging treasure companies: direct operation + agent. According to the analysis of the industry market pattern insight report, in the post-epidemic era, the competitive advantage of the agency model is gradually prominent: the charging treasure enterprises based on the direct operation model have shown a downward trend in revenue due to high cost pressure during the epidemic period, while the cash flow and cost control advantages of the agency model in this period have become the focus of attention in the industry, and the agency model has become one of the competitive advantages of measuring the head players.
The reporter noted that in 2021, major shared charging treasure companies began to develop an agent model. Zhumang Technology uses the point advantage of Sodian in third-tier cities and below to deepen the sinking market; Monster Charging promotes business sinking through the "direct operation + agent" model; Meituan shrinks direct operation and turns to the agency model to sink and infiltrate into third- and fourth-tier cities; The small power direct operation model occupies a leading position and focuses on the agency model in July 2021.
In this regard, the industry market pattern insight report pointed out that from the perspective of the adjustment strategy of major brands, as the business of the shared charging treasure industry gradually developed from first- and second-tier cities to third-tier cities and below, the agency model used to expand the sinking market and maintain small and medium-sized merchants has become the focus of the layout of various players. In addition, the agent channel is not easy to develop, and the player who grasps the advantage of the agent's resources has a competitive advantage.
Yu Xin (pseudonym), a person in the shared charging treasure industry, said that in the direct operation mode, the competitive pressure of shared charging treasure enterprises is very large, mainly manifested in the higher and higher share of merchants, "Sometimes merchants will not notify shared charging treasure enterprises, and will directly withdraw the TELLER machine, and let the brand that gives it a higher share is settled." Therefore, shared charging treasure companies sometimes take the initiative to increase the proportion of shares to merchants to prevent merchants from being robbed by other companies. ”
It is reported that the current cooperation model between shared charging treasure enterprises and merchants is divided into three modes: admission fee, admission fee + commission, and commission. "A year or two ago, the merchant commission was about 50%-70%, and now it is generally 70%-90%, and this share of the 'price war' has intensified." Yu Xin revealed that due to the gradual increase in merchant commissions, in fact, the income of each point of the shared charging treasure enterprise is the same as before.
Companies began to look for a second growth curve
In terms of profit model, as early as the rise of the shared charging industry, Ai media analysts pointed out the problem of its single profit model. As of now, the profit model of shared charging treasure is concentrated on rent and advertising.
The drawbacks of this model have been evident during the pandemic. In February 2020, Tang Yongbo, founder of Xiaodian, issued an internal letter from employees pointing out that due to the extremely high dependence of the enterprise model on upstream merchants, a large number of cooperative merchants across the country have not yet opened their doors, and the entire industry has entered the "red panic" model. With the improvement of the epidemic situation, the flow of people has gradually recovered, but industry insiders have analyzed that if they do not increase the profit path, shared charging treasure companies may enter a difficult period.
Due to the single profit model, all shared charging treasure companies are also exploring new growth paths. The industry market pattern insight report shows that the main players in the industry have formed differences in urban areas and enterprise types at the level of strategic adjustment direction, refined operations in first- and second-tier cities, and expanded the agent model in third- and fourth-tier cities into important directions.
In July 2021, at the 100-day meeting site, Zhumang Technology once again proposed the strategic plan of "forward-looking layout of the second growth curve", and announced that Zhumang Technology and Baitian had developed and launched mask machines, AED in vitro defibrillators and other products. At the scene, Liang Kai, chairman of Zhumang Technology, systematically disclosed the "four full" planning of the second growth curve of Zhumang Technology: all scenarios, all products, all channels, and full coverage. At the same time, Zhumang Technology said that in the next three years, it will also create at least three smart hardware flagship products in addition to sharing charging treasures.
At the same time, the competition between the head players has also changed from a simple dispute over the number of points to a competition between refined operations and high-quality partners.
Taking Monster Charging as an example, following the multi-year strategic alliance agreement between Shanghai Disney Resort and Monster Charging in November 2020, at the end of September 2021, Blue Whale TMT reporters exclusively learned from informed sources that monster charging won the bid in the project of a number of shared charging treasure companies bidding for the first shared charging treasure partner project at Universal Studios Beijing. From this point of view, Monster Charging has raised the cooperation with large high-quality brands to the key layout.
In the future, can the shared charging treasure industry really open up a second growth curve? Who will be the next industry winner? Time will still be up for it.