"Can't afford" to share charging treasures, and it is difficult to resist the profit circle of price increases

[Global Network Science and Technology Report Reporter Lin Mengxue] Recently, the topic of sharing charging treasure prices has once again attracted the attention of the public, a number of shared charging treasure brands, from the initial 1 yuan per hour to 3-4 yuan, in scenic spots, bars and other popular places, hourly rent can even reach double digits, and other netizens sigh "too expensive" and "unaffordable".

From the "horse racing staking" in the 1 yuan era to the "group ridicule" in the 3 yuan era, the pattern of shared charging treasures has been continuously reshaped, and profitability has become its survival dilemma.

The "1 yuan era" is far away, and after multiple rounds of price increases, users directly call "can't afford it"

In 2018, when the shared charging treasure was just put on the market, it used to be the "savior" of the mobile phone without electricity, and the price of 1 yuan for an hour made consumers gladly accept it, and gradually cultivated the habit of use.

Recalling the scene at that time, Ms. Li of Tianjin said, "Because the price of sharing the charging treasure was not expensive at that time, the maximum amount of money for going out shopping for an afternoon was 3 yuan, plus it was very convenient to obtain, shopping malls and restaurants could be seen everywhere, and slowly I got used to going out without a charging treasure and using the habit of sharing the charging treasure in the store." ”

After March 2022, many consumers found that the price of shared charging treasures has risen to 3 yuan / hour or even 4 yuan / hour, directly calling: can not afford.

When the reporter visited on March 24, he found that in a shopping mall in Chaoyang District, Beijing, the price of using the Meituan shared charging treasure was 3 yuan / hour, free within the first 2 minutes, less than 1 hour was calculated as 1 hour, every 24 hours was capped at 40 yuan, and the total cap was 99 yuan. The reporter used 1 hour and 38 minutes, and the total cost was 6 yuan.

The billing rule of the small electric charging treasure used by Ms. Tian in the Dongcheng District of Beijing is 2 yuan / 30 minutes, the first 5 minutes are free, less than 30 minutes are calculated according to 30 minutes, every 24 hours is capped at 40 yuan, and the total cap is 99 yuan. Ms. Lin used a total of 1 hour and 9 minutes, and the total cost was 6 yuan.

The street electric charging treasure used by Ms. Liu in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, cost a total of 9 yuan for 2 hours and 7 minutes, and the monster charging treasure used by Ms. Jin in Nanjing in Xuanwu Lake Park cost a total of 10 yuan for 1 hour and 33 minutes.

Comparing the bill, it can be found that most of the shared charging treasure use prices are between 3-4 yuan / hour, and it is worth noting that because the use time is not noticed, many consumers will charge a full fee of 30 minutes or 1 hour according to the billing rules, so that consumers feel that charging is "expensive".

"Charging a battery basically starts from 6 yuan, and even sometimes it costs 10 yuan, 20 yuan, many times you can't find the return point or forget, the cost will be more, and the price of buying a brand charging treasure is 80 yuan." Ms. Liu said.

In fact, since 2019, the shared charging treasure has begun to set off a wave of price increases, and in the second half of 2019, the shared charging treasure has begun to bid farewell to the "1 yuan era" and the price has risen to 2 yuan / hour.

From the second half of 2020, the average charging standard of platforms such as street power, small electricity, monster charging, and Meituan charging treasure will be 3 yuan / hour. In March this year, the charging standard of 3 yuan / hour or even 4 yuan / hour began to be spread on a large scale, so that more consumers have a personal feeling, causing heated discussion.

Behind the price boom: the industry is caught in the "strange circle" of cost and profitability

In the early stage of industry development, in order to cultivate user habits and seize the market, most of the merchants rely on price war drainage, when the market pattern is basically fixed, profitability begins to become the main consideration.

Profitability is still a common problem in the industry. Monster Charging, as the "first share of shared charging treasure", shows that the revenue of monster charging in the third quarter of 2021 was RMB930 million, an increase of only 0.6% over the third quarter of 2020, and its operating net loss in the third quarter reached 79.4 million yuan. According to the prospectus of Xiaodian Technology, its operating income in 2020 was 1.911 billion yuan and its net profit loss was 104 million yuan.

In the face of the "crusade" of price increases, relevant enterprises have responded that first, the huge subsidies spent to seize the market need to be returned, and second, the impact of the epidemic and the increase in the price of entry fees increase operating costs. It can be seen that price increases have once become the first choice for enterprises to solve cost problems.

In the field of shared charging treasures between 2020 and 2021, enterprises have frequent actions: monster charging has been listed, street power and so-electric have officially merged, Meituan has restarted the shared charging treasure business, the market pattern has undergone new adjustments, and the concentration has been continuously improved.

According to the "Insight Report on the Market Pattern of China's Shared Charging Treasure Industry in the First Half of 2021" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report") jointly released by Sullivan and the Head Leopard Research Institute, the shared charging treasure industry has experienced the pattern of "three electricity and one beast" and "four electricity and one group and one beast", and is gradually changing to the pattern of "small bamboo beast".

According to the report, from the perspective of merchant points, the top three rankings in the first half of 2021 are Bamboo Mang Technology, Monster Charging and Xiaodian Technology. Among them, as of September 30, 2021, monster charging services cover 820,000 points, and the number of online shared charging treasures is 5.8 million. By the end of 2020, Xiaodian Technology has covered more than 1,700 counties and cities across the country, laid 715,200 points, and put more than 6 million shared charging treasures. In the same period, Zhumang Technology's shared charging treasure online shop points nationwide exceeded one million.

However, behind the large-scale laying of points, it also means high operating costs, and the fierce competition in the market has directly led to some settled stores sitting on the ground. Some insiders said, "The expansion of shared charging treasures relies on merchants relatively largely, and the entry fee for merchants accounts for most of their operating costs, and the competition in the industry has intensified in recent years, and the proportion of entry fees for settled merchants has been rising." ”

Monster Charging's prospectus shows that in the direct-operated model, expenses including entrance fees and commissions account for about 50%-70% of its charging equipment revenue. Its financial report shows that in the third quarter of 2021, the sales and marketing expenses of Monster Charging in that quarter reached 814 million yuan, accounting for 87.53% of the revenue in the quarter, an increase of 23.8% year-on-year, which was caused by the increase in incentive fees for promoting network partners, the expansion of POI (point) coverage and the increase in personnel-related expenses.

According to the prospectus of Xiaodian Technology, the incentive fee of Xiaodian Technology increased from 105 million yuan in 2018 to 1.013 billion yuan in 2020. The share rate increased from 24.2% to 38.2%, while the entry rate increased from 1% to 16.3%.

Therefore, shared charging treasure companies have to toss and turn in cost and profitability to seek a breakthrough.