Titanium Picture News Issue 90
Planning and Production|Titanium Media Visual Center, Editor|Liu Yaning, Drawing|Chu Yanmo
The shared charging treasure meets the rigid needs of people when they go out, and gradually penetrates into various scenes of daily life. After the shared charging treasure has been recognized by consumers and gradually gained a foothold, the price increase has also followed. From the initial 1 yuan / hour charging treasure all the way up to 6 yuan / hour, the charging standard has also changed from "hourly" to "every half hour", and the price is getting more and more outrageous.
Although the shared charging treasure is becoming more and more expensive, the operators behind it are mired in losses. Monster Charging, known as the "first share of shared charging treasure", has lost money for five consecutive quarters, with a cumulative loss of 524 million yuan.
Today, China's shared charging treasure has covered more than one million points, and the number of users is about 400 million, why is the shared charging treasure that has been rising in price losing money all the way? Who the hell made the operator's money from it? Is there any future prospect for the increasingly loss-making shared charging treasure industry? Titanium Media Titanium Picture tries to make some observations and prospects from the perspective of data.
Shared charging treasures are most common in shopping malls, and the rental price is generally 3-4 yuan / hour
Nowadays, the shared charging treasure has become a device that people often use when they go out, and the shared charging treasure has a strong dependence on offline scenarios.
From the perspective of scene segmentation, the highest penetration rate of shared charging treasures in major scenes is shopping malls, with a penetration rate of 61%; followed by restaurants, with a penetration rate of 55%; In third place is the airport, with a penetration rate of 54%; The penetration rate of high-speed rail stations reached 51%. These are places with a lot of traffic and people staying longer.
In recent years, shared charging has become valuable to all. According to incomplete statistics from the Sullivan report, from 2017 to 2020, the hourly rental price of the shared charging treasure increased from 0.5 yuan to 4 yuan, and the price increased by 8 times in 4 years. Around 2021, the price of shared charging treasures has skyrocketed. In August of that year, the State Administration for Market Regulation clarified the pricing rules, so the price of shared charging treasures fell slightly, and the average price of each brand was 2.2-3.3 yuan / hour.
Nowadays, how much does a shared charging treasure cost? According to shopping malls, restaurants, transportation hubs and other major categories, Titanium Media & Titanium Media selected the corresponding top five Beijing landmark locations from "Dianping" according to the popularity order, and counted the prices of monster charging, street electricity, and small electricity.
In Beijing, the average rent of shared charging treasure points is 3-4 yuan per hour. Among them, the rent of scenic spots and transportation hubs can reach up to 6 yuan per hour, and the maximum price per 24 small caps can reach 60 yuan. It can be seen that the price of the shared charging treasure has a lot to do with the passenger flow of the venue. In the points near restaurants, hotels and KTV and other entertainment facilities, the rent of shared charging treasures can be as low as 2 yuan per hour, while the maximum price of restaurants and entertainment facilities per 24 hours is 30 yuan, the lowest price among all locations. It is worth noting that in a shared charging treasure point near Beijing West Railway Station, we can even find a 1 yuan charging treasure.
For the free use time, almost half of the shared charging treasure points in Beijing are free within 3 minutes, followed by free points within 2 minutes and 5 minutes. More than 60% of the spots near karaoke and other entertainment facilities offer free hours of less than 5 minutes.
Shared charging treasure operators do not make money by increasing prices, and more than half of the revenue is distributed to merchants
Shared charging treasures are often criticized as "more and more expensive", and shared charging treasure operators should have made a lot of money, but the fact is that operators have been mired in losses. Nowadays, after experiencing the reshuffle of the industry, the market has basically formed a pattern dominated by monster charging, Zhumang Technology (a merger of Soudian and Street Electricity), and small electricity.
In April 2021, Monster Charging was listed on NASDAQ in the United States, becoming the "first share of shared charging treasure". According to the Monster Charging financial report, from 2019 to 2021, its revenue continued to grow, rising 77.3% in 3 years, performing well; In the first three quarters of 2022, Monster Charging has achieved an operating income of 2.243 billion yuan.
Similar to monster charging, there is also small electric technology. In April 2021, Xiaodian Technology sought listing from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange but was unsuccessful. In its disclosed prospectus, from 2018 to 2020, the revenue of Xiaodian Technology is also growing, rising by 351.8% in 3 years.
Although revenue is growing, net profit is not satisfactory. In the third quarter of 2021, Monster Charging had a net loss of 79 million yuan. Subsequently, Monster Charging began to lose money for five quarters, and the cumulative loss in the five quarters was 524 million yuan. Similarly, Xiaodian Technology was mainly loss-making from 2018 to 2020, and its net profit was -36 million yuan, 137 million yuan and -104 million yuan, respectively.
What do shared charging treasure operators rely on to make money? From the perspective of the revenue structure of shared charging treasure operators, the main sources of income of Monster Charging and Xiaodian Technology are the charging services of shared charging treasures, accounting for more than 97%. In the first three quarters of 2022, Monster Charging's shared charging treasure business brought it 2.181 billion yuan in revenue.
Where does the money from shared charging treasure operators go? From the perspective of the expenses of shared charging treasure operators, whether it is monster charging or small electric technology, most of the money they earn is scattered to marketing expenses, and their expenditure on marketing expenses is more than 70%, including the entrance fees and commissions paid to merchants.
At present, there are three business models of shared charging treasures: direct operation mode, service provider model and agent model, and most operators choose the direct operation model. In the direct operation mode, the operator signs a contract directly with the merchant, and will first pay the merchant an entry fee, and then pay 50%-70% of the revenue as a commission.
From 2019 to 2021, the entrance fees and commissions paid by Monster Charging to offline merchants rose to 928 million yuan, 1.577 billion yuan and 2.113 billion yuan, respectively, accounting for 46%, 56% and 59% of the operating revenue, which means that half of the money earned by operators is handed over to offline merchants.
According to the prospectus of Xiaodian Technology, from 2018 to 2020, the admission fee of Xiaodian Technology increased from 04 million yuan to 302 million yuan, and the proportion of operating income increased from less than 1% to 15.8%; Sharing fees have also skyrocketed, increasing sevenfold in 3 years. In 2020, the fees paid by Xiaodian Technology to offline merchants have reached 53% of the revenue cost.
Lots with a lot of people traffic are a "must-fight place" for every shared charging treasure operator. Therefore, due to competitive pressure, shared charging treasure operators will greatly benefit cooperative merchants in terms of entry fees and commissions.
The shared charging treasure market is gradually maturing, and it is imperative to develop a second growth curve
In recent years, with the rapid expansion of shared charging treasure enterprises, the market scale of shared charging treasure is continuing to slow down, and the shared charging treasure market is gradually maturing.
From the perspective of market size, the scale of China's shared charging treasure market grew rapidly from 2017 to 2021, especially in 2017-2018. In 2017, the market size of the shared charging treasure increased by 419.4% year-on-year, and until 2021, the market size of the shared charging treasure increased by more than 30%. In the future, with the prosperity of smart devices, the market demand for shared charging treasures will continue to grow, and it is expected to be by 2025. The market size of China's shared charging treasure will reach 24.8 billion yuan.
From the perspective of the number of users, the number of users of China's shared charging treasures continued to increase from 2017 to 2021, and the number of users of China's shared charging treasures increased to 368 million in 2021, an increase of more than 2 million people over 2017. In the future, the user group of shared charging treasures will continue to expand, and it is expected that by 2025, the number of users of shared charging treasures will increase to 755 million.
The demand for shared charging treasures is rising, and the number of point coverage is also growing simultaneously, which also means that the coverage of shared charging treasures continues to expand. The number of shared charging treasure points in China is expected to increase from about 300,000 in 2017 to 11.8 million in 2025, and the expansion of shared charging treasure point resources has also promoted the diversification of its coverage scenarios. At present, most of the consumption scenarios covered by shared charging treasure points are commercial districts and scenic spots with dense traffic, and the coverage is expected to be expanded to other scenarios such as office buildings and residences in the future.
As a business that relies heavily on offline traffic, the resilience of the shared charging treasure complements the vitality of the offline consumer market. From the perspective of the general trend, as long as the pain point of smartphone battery life exists, the shared charging treasure market has meaning.
However, the single profit model that relies too much on offline channels is also a problem faced by the entire shared charging treasure industry. At present, some shared charging treasure operators have tried to find a second growth curve, but there are no particularly successful cases. For example, Monster Charging launched a fragrant liquor brand in April 2021; Zhumang Technology, which is the merger of Soudian and Street Electricity, has so far tried many fields such as shared charging piles, smart retail containers, smart lockers, advertising machines, and even live streaming goods, but they have not achieved very bright results since then.
In the long run, with the upgrading of battery technology in the future, the shared charging treasure industry may face an impact, so how to explore diversified income is a problem worth pondering in the future of the shared charging treasure industry.
Data source: "2022 China Shared Charging Treasure Industry Market Research Report", Prospective Industry Research Institute, Monster Charging Financial Report, Xiaodian Technology Prospectus, WeChat Mini Programs of various brands, Zhiyan Consulting.