Reporter Jiao Yue, trainee reporter Li Wenshan, Wang Jingru
Affected by the economic environment and other factors, consumers are currently replacing old with new ones and buying second-hand mobile phones as the choice of more consumers, which is reflected in the mobile phone recycling market. When the reporter visited one of the important distribution centers for discarded mobile phone parts in the country - Aihua Road in Shenzhen, he deeply felt the same way. So with the huge space for mobile phone recycling, where will these mobile phones go next? How efficient is the mobile phone recycling industry chain?
A number of industry insiders told reporters: "At present, the second-hand mobile phone market is extremely hot. In the total amount of recycling, about 20%-30% of the mobile phones with relatively good functions can enter the sales link of the second mobile phone; the remaining 70% of the recycled mobile phones will generally be disassembled into parts, and then assembled by 'professionals', it will become a new mobile phone again and flow into the market for sale, commonly known as 'refurbished machine'. ”
Wen Zhihong, general manager of Hehong Information, told the Securities Daily reporter: "The electronic consumer product recycling industry market has been in a neglected state in the past, with the popularity of electronic product consumption and the continuous acceleration of iteration speed, the market is in a high-speed growth trend. However, for consumers, the second-hand mobile phone market is still quite 'mysterious', there is more chaos, and the future transparent, standardized and professional operation is the focus of promoting the sustainable development of the industry. ”
The gross profit margin of used hot machines reached 40%
Refurbished machines up to 75%
Recently, the "Securities Daily" reporter visited the 5 communication electronic markets gathered in the 1 square kilometer of Aihua Road with the above problems and found that the transactions in the second-hand mobile phone market have become extremely active. "I can sell an average of 3 to 4 second-hand mobile phones a day, with an average daily turnover of about 15,000 yuan, of course, mainly making popular models like Apple." Xiao Bing (pseudonym), a person in Guangzhou who has been engaged in second-hand mobile phone trading for many years, told reporters.
Xiao Bing told reporters that the recycled mobile phone has two kinds of monetization channels: one is the routine operation, which is the well-known low buy and high sell. Recyclers recycle mobile phones at low prices, and the valuation of recycling generally has no public standards, but the computer system judges that customers have no bargaining power, and customers are not sensitive to price when recycling. Then the recycler after a simple processing and cleaning, the shipment to the second-hand mobile phone market, the popular model gross profit margin of about 40%.
"The second kind of monetization channel is to sell refurbished machines, which is the most profitable." After a middleman recycles the popular model, he will disassemble the parts in the mobile phone, and then some factories and workshops will process and renovate, and after the assembly is completed, he will start bulk goods to online and offline channels, of which online channels account for the largest proportion. Taking the Apple 13Pro as an example, the price of the refurbished machine is at least 3,000 yuan cheaper than the official website price. Under normal circumstances, the gross profit margin of refurbished machines is about 75%. Xiao Bing continued.
In Shenzhen Huaqiang North, the second-hand mobile phone sales market seems to be more "hidden". The reporter observed that rows of computers were neatly placed in the hall on the second floor, but the staff looked like "no one is allowed to enter". Once the inquirer gives an outrageous price, or the question is too "layman", the merchant will think that the buyer is a "living person" and refuse to communicate in a "non-retail" or even drive-away manner.
The reporter made a "breakthrough" on the grounds of purchase, Shenzhen Huaqiang North a person operating a second-hand mobile phone revealed to reporters, "the refurbished machine price is cheap and easy to attract customers, the difference in price earned is very high, after the refurbishment is almost fake and real, it is difficult for customers to distinguish; however, the refurbished machine is new on the surface, and in essence, the interior is made up of parts of various old models." It is recommended not to buy, this model is of poor quality. ”
Mobile phone recycling quietly "became popular"
The standardization of the industry needs to be further improved
The "Securities Daily" reporter learned through an investigation interview that the current recycling chain of discarded mobile phones has become increasingly complete, but because of the lag of relevant regulations, this large-scale and high-profit circular chain has been in the "gray area" for a long time, which not only causes huge waste of resources, but also brings harm to the ecological environment, and even buries the hidden dangers of personal information leakage.
Wen Zongguo, director of the Circular Economy Industry Research Center of Tsinghua University, said, "The main problem of the underground circulation chain is the lack of standards and supervision of reused products, and the quality is not guaranteed. For the public, the biggest concern about abandoned mobile phones not being able to enter the standardized recycling channel is personal privacy and information security of data. Smart phones often involve mobile banking, personal data and other sensitive information security, and enterprises in the gray industrial chain do not guarantee the security of personal information, and it is easy to leak information. ”
According to the CIC (CCC) report, China's second-hand consumer electronics transaction volume reached 188.6 million units in 2020, and will maintain a compound annual growth rate of 23.7% in the next five years, and is expected to reach 545.8 million units by 2025; the total GMV of China's second-hand consumer electronics will reach 252.2 billion yuan in 2020, and will maintain a compound annual growth rate of 30.8% in the next five years, and is expected to approach the trillion yuan market by 2025.
IPG chief economist Bai Wenxi said in an interview with the "Securities Daily" reporter that the current domestic second-hand consumer electronics market has entered a period of rapid growth, whether it is the growth rate of trading activities, or the scale of transactions are quite considerable, the second-hand market is an important way and way to reuse resources, reconfiguration and improve the efficiency of utilization, and it is necessary to achieve sustainable development in encouragement and regulation.
Sufficient supply of second-hand equipment and huge market demand have spawned related enterprises. In June 2021, the second-hand consumer electronics trading and service platform All Things Xinsheng Group (love recycling new group brand) was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in the United States. According to the company's 2021 financial report, the company's total operating income was 7.78 billion yuan, an increase of 60.1% year-on-year; the annual GMV reached 32.5 billion yuan, an increase of 65.8% year-on-year. At the same time, the loss for the whole year narrowed, and the operating loss ratio narrowed to 1.3% compared with 3.0% in 2020.
Bai Wenxi believes that the traditional second-hand 3C industrial chain recycling, circulation and retail links have pain points, the thickness and efficiency of the industrial chain are not enough, with the further development of similar trading platforms such as the new life of all things, the level of industry standardization and scale will be further improved, and the company can also use the listing platform to condense and optimize social resources to support the development of this industry. Out of the inherent needs of sustainable development, it is inevitable that the second-hand consumer electronics market will improve the level of standardized operation by strengthening industry norms and industry self-discipline.
(Edited by Qiao Chuanchuan)