After seven years, Gree once again entered the catering takeaway
Following the entry of Douyin and Jingdong into the takeaway industry, another unexpected player wants to grab the "rice bowl" of the US group.
On August 16, a number of media reported that Gree recently established a new catering management company, which includes takeaway delivery services, food Internet sales and other types.
According to the Tianyancha APP, on August 11, Zhuhai Gechuang Excellent Food Catering Management Co., Ltd. was established, the legal representative is Gan Jinhong, the registered capital is 10 million yuan, and the business scope includes takeaway delivery services; Food & Beverage Management; Sales of daily necessities; Gift flower sales; Sales of agricultural and sideline products; Primary agricultural products purchases, etc.
The equity penetration chart shows that the company is 100% controlled by Zhuhai Gree Property Management Co., Ltd. According to the official website of Gree Group, Zhuhai Gree Property Management Co., Ltd. is a large property management company under Gree Group, founded in 1993, and also operates a variety of services.
Relevant media reports show that this is not the first time that Gree has entered the catering takeaway industry.
As early as 2015, Gree reached a cooperation with Lezhan 517 to jointly launch the "Lezhan" intelligent delivery cabinet that supports the delivery of "ready-to-eat meals".
According to reports, the intelligent distribution cabinet is open to all third-party offline restaurants, express delivery companies, supermarkets, fresh food, e-commerce platforms, takeaway O2O platforms and various community service providers in a platform-based manner, providing localized intelligent delivery services.
Dong Mingzhu, who was the chairman of Gree Group at that time, also attended the strategic cooperation conference and personally stood for this catering smart cabinet project. Their plan is to set up hundreds of thousands of outlets in 50 cities across the country within three years.
Image source: Zhongguancun Online
But in fact, the subsequent development of this project could not be achieved, and Gree's first takeaway attempt experienced setbacks.
It is worth noting that the intelligent food cabinet that Gree entered the game at that time has ushered in the dawn in the near future.
According to the "China Consumer Daily" news, some platform intelligent food cabinets have recently begun to test the water for riders, and riders can choose whether to use them, and have now covered some points in Hefei, Nanjing and other cities. If the charging model can run through, it will further disrupt the takeaway market pattern.
Seven years later, Gree once again entered the catering industry, and the focus should be on the takeaway industry.
Image source: China Consumer Daily
It is worth noting that Gree has once again entered the catering takeaway industry, and the relationship with Dong Mingzhu is not so big.
Because in October 2016, Dong Mingzhu has stepped down as the chairman of Gree Group; Gree Group also sold 15% of the equity of Gree Electric Appliances in December 2019, and is no longer the largest shareholder of Gree Electric Appliances.
But we can clearly see that although Dong Mingzhu is no longer in charge of Gree Group, the idea of diversified exploration seems to remain in gree's genes.
In the eyes of the outside world, there are still inextricable links between the two, and cross-border takeaway, Gree's ambitions are still expanding.
Gree cross-border, continue to diversify and explore
From industrial investment to the catering and takeaway industry, the scope of Gree spans is not small.
However, combined with past experience, the big cross-border is already a common thing in Gree, especially the Gree electrical appliances under Dong Mingzhu.
Since 2015, Dong Mingzhu has begun her diversified exploration path: in 2015, she made mobile phones, in 2016 she acquired Zhuhai Yinlong to engage in new energy and car manufacturing, in 2018 she engaged in chip research and development, in 2019 she explored the reform of e-commerce channels, and in the past two years, she also entered the bureau live streaming with goods.
However, regarding this diversified and cross-border development strategy, public opinion has never understood or optimistic about Dong Mingzhu's choice.
According to previous media reports, even Zhu Jianghong, the former chairman of Gree Group, stood up against it: If he did not retire, he would not let Gree build mobile phones and cars.
Taking the manufacture of new energy vehicles as an example, in 2016, Dong Mingzhu had planned to acquire 100% of the equity of Yinlong New Energy for 13 billion yuan through Gree Electric Appliances, but it was rejected by the shareholders' meeting, and she insisted on investing in the shares in her personal name.
The mobile phone project, which is highly valued by Gree, has aroused heated discussion. However, it failed to get a sharp increase in sales, taking the Gree Taobao flagship store as an example, the monthly sales of Gree mobile phones are only single digits. Even in the case of poor sales, there have been many rumors on the market that Gree mobile phones have been purchased by internal employees and used as prizes.
But Dong Mingzhu still insists on her own judgment, and she firmly believes that "if you persist, you will gain." ”
Gree mobile phone, which was ridiculed by the group, released 6 products in seven years. At the 2021 annual shareholders' meeting, Dong Mingzhu bluntly said that "the mobile phone I make now is not worse than Apple", because Gree does mobile phone not only to grab the mobile phone market, but to plan according to its own home appliance business.
Image source: Xinhua Viewpoint
In the aforementioned new energy acquisition case, Dong Mingzhu used his personal name to pull Wang Jianlin and Liu Qiangdong to jointly increase the capital of 3 billion yuan into Yinlong, and now Yinlong has changed its name to Gree Titanium and officially become a member of Gree.
As for the chip, Dong Mingzhu is also very insistent, she said in an interview with CCTV Finance in 2018, "Even if it costs 50 billion, Gree will also successfully study the chip." Subsequently, Zhuhai Zero Boundary Integrated Circuit Co., Ltd. was established with a registered capital of 1 billion yuan.
In addition to Dong Mingzhu and Gree Electric Appliances, Gree Group has also accelerated the layout of new energy vehicles.
In May 2018, Gree Group plans to invest 5.2 billion yuan to acquire 20% of the shares of Changyuan Group, a new energy vehicle material company; In January 2021, a number of media reported that Zhuhai State-owned Assets planned to invest 2 billion yuan in intelligent car company FF, and Gree Group also participated in the investment.
Of course, the most noteworthy and successful change is Gree's innovation of e-commerce retail channels.
Gree Mall
At the end of 2019, Gree began to reform the sales system, initially explored new retail through Gree Mall, and then promoted the deep integration of online third-party e-commerce platforms, Gree Dong Pearl Stores and more than 30,000 offline stores. Dong Mingzhu said, "We encourage dealers to combine online and offline... Because consumers have changed. "
Taking air conditioning as an example, in 2019, the proportion of online sales of Gree air conditioners in total sales was 10.87%, and in the following two years, this proportion increased to more than 17%, and the effect of channel reform began to appear.
In the change of e-commerce channels, live e-commerce is the most eye-catching.
According to the Financial Associated Press, in 2020, Dong Mingzhu conducted a total of 13 live broadcasts, creating sales of 47.62 billion yuan, accounting for a quarter of the total revenue of the year. Last year's Double Eleven, Gree won the first place in the retail sales of air conditioners in the whole network with sales of 3 billion.
In the process of live broadcasting, Dong Mingzhu also gradually adapted to the new identity of the anchor. In a previous interview, she bluntly said, "Live broadcasting is what the boss should do." To be grounded, it is not okay to be high all day. "
Overall, the diversified exploration of Gree e-commerce and Gree Group is still ongoing. The seemingly "cross-border" business is also constantly adhering to and reaping results.
In the words of Wang Xing, the founder of Meituan, "Too many people pay attention to the boundary, not the core." There are no simple boundaries for all things, so I don't think it's time to set limits on myself. ”
For these traditional enterprises, in the increasingly conservative world, diversification and expansion are actually for the better survival of enterprises.
Giants crossed the border into the game, in order to self-revolutionize
In the field of catering takeaway, in addition to gree's cross-border entry, in recent times, Douyin and Jingdong have also been laid out one after another.
From a larger perspective, Internet companies and many traditional retail manufacturers have begun to carry out various cross-border changes.
For example, Walmart, a traditional retailer, took the initiative to approach the instant retail track in the face of the invasion of e-commerce.
Relevant data show that Wal-Mart's offline hypermarket stores in China are 100% online JD.com and JD.com hourly shopping, and 100% apply The innovative model of "crowdsourcing picking" of Dadayou Picking. On the day of 618 this year, Wal-Mart's sales in Jingdong's hourly purchase reached 7 times that of last year.
Image source: Daily Economic News
A typical consumption scenario is that after shopping at Walmart, consumers can place orders and pay independently through mini programs, which is more convenient than channel checkout, and can also be delivered directly to the door.
In addition to retail manufacturers, automakers have also begun to learn from Dong Mingzhu and build mobile phones. Recently, Geely Group has acquired Meizu mobile phones and new energy vehicle company Weilai announced the manufacture of mobile phones.
E-commerce giants have also begun to re-enter the physical industry, whether it is physical retail, or direct logistics, suburban warehouses, these original "dirty work" once again entered the field of vision.
Industry insiders believe that this is the active revolution of traditional manufacturers.
Taking Taobao as an example, according to a number of media reports, Taobao's fashion collection store in Shanghai has recently reopened to business, combining online and offline with logistics.
As a representative of new retail, Hema Xiansheng decided to strengthen its emphasis on the offline market and learn from traditional physical retail after 6 years of exploration.
At the beginning of this year, Hou Yi, the founder of Hema, revealed in an internal letter that Hema Xiansheng has clearly changed from the original "online development as the mainstay, offline development as a supplement" to "multi-format online and offline coordinated development", increasing the proportion of offline orders from 30% to 50%.
Recently, Hema Fresh has invested tens of billions of yuan in its self-built logistics system, which has also ushered in results. Two major supply chain operation centers in Chengdu and Wuhan were officially put into use.
Overall, in addition to Gree, the giants have entered the track that they have never been or unwilling to involve before. In this context, Gree Group's move into the catering and takeaway industry is easier to understand.
According to the data of the China Commercial Industry Research Institute, the market size of the domestic and foreign selling catering industry has reached 811.7 billion yuan in 2021, and it will continue to grow in the future. The market size of the takeaway industry is constantly expanding.
At present, the pattern of Meituan Ele.me in the takeaway market is relatively stable, but Gree's cross-border entry is still worth looking forward to.
Author | Old electricity