5,000 stores have been opened in a year, 4 billion yuan of social capital has been leveraged, and snack shops are occupying the county

Image source: Visual China

Intern Author | Feng Ye

Edit | Chen Fuye

Produced by | Prism Tencent Xiaoman Studio

"Mass-merchandised" snack shops are quietly taking over county seats, towns and the outskirts of big cities.

In a township in Shunde District, Foshan City, at least five snack shops have been opened within a radius of two kilometers, Zhao Yiming snacks, snacks are very busy, snacks have Ming, snack cabins, Tianla snacks, etc., some snack shops are only a few hundred meters apart, many of these snack shops are national chain brands, and they look like "snack shop giants".

The so-called "mass merchandising" was previously associated with KTV, meaning "bundled sales", and few people could have imagined that such a word would be tied to "snacks".

In short, the "mass sale" of snacks is to gather all kinds of snacks together and achieve the purpose of increasing sales through more flexible and inexpensive sales methods.

Different from general supermarkets and convenience stores, these snack stores only sell snacks and drinks, and have a unified brand identity and store decoration style.

After entering 2023, mass-selling snack stores have suddenly sprung up like mushrooms after a rain, and they have begun to open stores everywhere across the country.

"Snacks are a 'low-profit industry', the gross profit was only about 10% before, and now that prices are rising, consumers are willing to spend more on snacks, but the gross profit is only about 20%." Gao Peng (not his real name) lamented to the author, a snack food distributor with 15 years of experience, "These snack shops sometimes have lower prices than ours, and it's hard to imagine how they make money." ”

The crazy snack shop reminded the dealer of the community group buying that exploded three years ago, when he and the other dealers also had a feeling of being a big enemy, but that wind quickly disappeared.

This time, they are much more calm, and a big question mark often appears after their dinner: How many years can these snack shops last?

With 5,000 stores a year, the county seat is not enough

In January this year, Chen Qian (pseudonym) almost opened Zhao Yiming's snack shop. She lived in a county town in Guangdong Province, and at that time, she was looking for an opportunity to develop a side business, and Zhao Yiming's snacks in the county town made her see "business opportunities".

"Before the Spring Festival, I observed for a few days and found that the business was very good, and then the county opened a second store." Chen Qian recalled to the author that this gave her the idea of cooperating with her sister to open a snack shop. According to her, at that time, Zhao Yiming's market development commissioner told her that the two snack shops in the county were opened by a boss, and the boss also opened a store in Linxian.

For example, Zhao Yiming Snacks requires the store to be in a business district, commercial street or shopping center with a flow of no less than 50,000 people; Love snacks requires stores in mature business districts with more than 3,000 surrounding households.

At the same time, these snack shops often have a "protective distance". Chen Qian told the author that Zhao Yiming's snack market developer told her that the protection distance was 2-5 kilometers. According to its official website, the protection distance is 400 meters in urban centers and special areas with high population concentrations, and 500 meters in rural areas.

However, the emergence of snack store brands has made these protective distances meaningless.

According to public information, since the beginning of this year, snacks have been very busy and about 2,000 stores have been opened, Zhao Yiming snacks have opened 1,500 stores, and snacks have opened about 1,000 stores.

The author of "Prism" is compiled according to the brand's official website and public information

According to the statistics of the author of "Prism", at present, the number of snack store brands with more than 1,000 stores includes Snacks is very busy, I want to come, Zhao Yiming snacks, Snacks Youming and Love Snacks, etc., and there are at least 5,000 new stores opened this year.

This is very reminiscent of the bubble tea shops that have blossomed everywhere in the past few years, in a business district, there are often multiple bubble tea shops, and these bubble tea shops need to rely on their own unique tastes and products to stand out in the fierce competition. The difference is that these snack shops often sell similar snacks, and they rarely have their own brands.

After seeing the "business opportunity", Chen Qian wanted to open a store in the township, but after inspecting the flow of people in that township, the market development specialist suggested that she should not start easily, and in the end, she also gave up the idea of opening a store.

In fact, when more and more snack shops began to occupy the county, some snack store brands set their sights on the lower towns. An investment manager of Snack Youming told the author that they have recently opened up the township area to join, and compared with the stores in the county, the store investment in the township will be about 150,000 yuan less.

According to a report by Lianshang.com, they have more than 800 stores in townships, accounting for 1/5 of the total number of stores in the country.

Zhao Ding, the founder of Zhao Yiming Snacks, also mentioned in public reports: "Really good business can be opened in the town." ”

The net profit margin is 2.74%, when will it be able to pay off?

Another important reason to dispel Chen Qian's idea of opening a store is the long payback cycle.

She calculated at that time that if she opened a 200-square-meter snack shop, she would need to invest about 800,000 yuan in franchise fees, decoration fees, one-time stocking, store transfer fees, etc. Zhao Yiming, the snack market development specialist, told her that the gross profit of the store is about 20%, and she estimates that it will take at least 3 years to return to the cost.

The author contacted the market development personnel of a number of snack brands, and most of the gross profit margin data obtained was about 20%. Some brands also introduced the gross profit margin on their official website, for example, Snacks is very busy and wrote on the official website that their gross profit is about 18%.

BESTORE used to be an investor in Zhao Yiming Snacks, and in February this year, they invested in Zhao Yiming Snacks and obtained a 3% stake. On October 17, BESTORE issued an announcement to transfer the 3% equity, and the announcement also disclosed part of the financial data of Zhao Yiming's snacks, through which the operation of the leading snack store brand can be seen.

According to the announcement, from January to June this year, Zhao Yiming's operating income was 278591 million yuan, the net profit was 76.31 million yuan, and its net profit margin was 2.74%.

According to public information, from February to October this year, the number of Zhao Yiming snacks stores nationwide increased from 1,000 to 2,500, with an average monthly increase of 187.5 stores. Roughly calculated, as of June this year, the brand had about 1,750 stores across the country, and its single store revenue in the first half of the year was about 1.592 million yuan, and the net profit was 43,600 yuan.

According to the introduction on the official website of Zhao Yiming Snacks, a 150-square-meter store does not include store rent and transfer fees, and the initial investment is about 55-600,000 yuan.

Based on the opening policies of many snack stores, most of these stores are franchised stores, and the store area is generally required to be more than 120 square meters. The start-up capital of a snack shop is generally about 600,000 yuan, and if you add the store transfer fee and rent, it will reach about 800,000 yuan.

5,000 new stores have been opened in a year, which means that since the beginning of this year, about 4 billion yuan of social funds have been invested in this track.

How long does it take to pay for yourself? This is a concern for a lot of shopkeepers and potential shopkeepers. On this issue, the author also consulted the market development staff of brands such as Zhao Yiming Snacks, Snack Youming, and Snacks are very busy, and was told that most of the results are similar, and if the gross profit is calculated according to about 20%, the payback cycle is mostly 1.5-2 years.

"We currently have 2,500 stores across the country, and nearly 98% of them are profitable." An investment manager of Snack Youming told the author, "Our general payback cycle is about two years. ”

In fact, while the major snack stores are staking their ground, some snack stores have closed down.

In March this year, 23-year-old Guan Meiqi noticed that several snack shops had suddenly opened near her home, and she lived in Nancheng, Dongguan, but it didn't take long for her to find that the existing stores had closed, leaving only the more well-known snack shops such as Snack Youming. On social media, some netizens who claimed to be the owner of the store said that if the daily sales did not reach 10,000 yuan, it would be difficult to survive.

"If you choose the right location, it's half the battle." Guan Meiqi sighed to the author, according to her, in a popular business district in Dongguan, there is a snack with a large flow of people, and the business is very hot.

How to sell at a low price

Low price is an important label of these snack shops, taking Sprite and Coke as examples, in supermarkets and convenience stores, the price of canned products is generally 2 yuan/can, but in these snack stores it can be 1.8 yuan/can.

At the beginning of this year, the hometown of the above-mentioned dealer Gao Peng opened a Zhao Yiming snack shop, as an industry person, he was very curious about this model, so on the opening day, he went to visit this snack shop. On the same day, the snack shop was doing a big opening promotion, and the discount was very strong, and the price of some snacks was lower than the price he took from the manufacturer.

"Manufacturers understand that traditional dealers are the main force in their market, e-commerce, community group buying, large platforms, difficult to control, manufacturers have learned smart, and will not offend dealers for these new platforms." Gao Peng told the author.

According to his experience, although these snack shops sell a lot of money, the price they get from manufacturers is not much lower than that of traditional distributors. He once speculated that the reason why snack stores can sell at low prices may be subsidized by investors' money or by the franchise fee of the store owner.

But this speculation may not be true, according to a number of snack store investment personnel, most of their franchise fees are between 30,000 yuan and 50,000 yuan, and some snack stores even waive franchise fees in order to seize the market.

According to public information, there are two large financings for snack shops this year: in February, Zhao Yiming Snacks received 150 million yuan led by Black Ant Capital and followed by BESTORE;

The author is based on publicly available information

In the past, the financing amount was mostly tens of millions, and rarely reached 100 million and 1 billion. This is much more restrained than the wave of community group buying three years ago, when there were not only 1 billion investment events, but also some large manufacturers, such as Pinduoduo, Meituan, Didi, etc.

In addition, some capital has opted out, such as BESTORE.

BESTORE's explanation for this move is that the sale is based on its own business development needs, and the investment income obtained from this transaction is also conducive to the company's cultivation of brands such as "snack stubbornness", and the company will continue to grasp the snack market opportunities through diversified investment layout in the future. It can be seen that BESTORE's "withdrawal" is out of the consideration of cultivating its own brand.

It is worth noting that some snack store brands are inextricably linked to community group buying.

For example, the birthplace of snacks is very busy and loves snacks is Changsha, Hunan, and the leading community group buying enterprise Xingsheng Preferred started in Changsha. Some of the brand public relations staff who are very busy with snacks have participated in the promotion of community group buying, and Tang Guangliang, the founder of Love Snacks, is also the founder of Koala Select, an e-commerce brand for community group buying.

"In order to continue the low-price strategy, there are great challenges to the supply chain management, promotional discount strategy, and operating cost control of snack stores, and snacks are originally a low-profit industry." Gao Peng sighed to the author.

Although he represents a number of brands, he has always compared himself to a "stevedore", because these brands give dealers very low profits, and they can only make money by moving volume, and they can earn a loading and unloading fee for a truckload of goods.

According to Gao Peng's observation, in recent years, supermarkets and convenience stores have indeed shown a trend of "verticalization", for example, stores focusing on tobacco and alcohol, fruits, and catering condiments have appeared. However, he believes that compared with tobacco, alcohol, catering ingredients, etc., snack consumption is impulsive, and consumers often buy snacks when they see what they want to eat when they visit the supermarket.

"Before, it was hard to imagine a person going to the supermarket just to buy snacks." Gao Peng lamented to the author, "The emergence of mass-market snack stores needs to educate and change consumers' habits of buying snacks." ”