With the popularization of new energy vehicles, the entry of giants such as JD.com, and the economic environment, the automotive aftermarket has changed, making it difficult for small and medium-sized service providers to survive.
The first financial reporter saw on January 7 at the Yi'an Road store in Haizhu District, Guangzhou City, that the franchise store of this cluster Chebao has been renamed. The relevant person in charge of the store said that the store will continue to provide services for the cluster car treasure business that has been sold to customers.
Another insider who has worked in Cluster Chebao exclusively revealed to reporters the problems encountered by Cluster Chebao in the past few years. In addition to external reasons, the bankruptcy of Cluster Chebao is also related to the poor digital transformation of its own business in the automotive aftermarket.
High cluster: Ten years of entrepreneurship and tearful departure
On January 3, 2024, Gao Cong, as the founder and chairman of Guangzhou Cluster Chebao Digital Technology Co., Ltd., published an open letter to all employees and partners. In the letter, Gao Cluster announced that after the resolution of the company's general meeting of shareholders, Cluster Chebao filed for bankruptcy with immediate effect.
Since its inception in 2013, Cluster Chebao has been committed to using a new generation of information technology to promote the transformation and upgrading of the traditional automotive aftermarket.
At the beginning of its establishment, the high cluster and the entrepreneurial team were ready for the "eight-year war of resistance". He said that with the support of shareholders and the efforts of employees, it took 11 years and 350 million yuan to finally polish a closed-loop and integrated digital empowerment platform for the whole industry chain in March 2023, which was recognized by industry insiders.
The sudden three-year epidemic, coupled with the impact of the domestic and foreign economic environment, has made the living environment of the cluster Chebao even worse. Gao said that he and his team still stick to their original intention and insist on developing digital infrastructure for the automotive service industry. In order to save the company, Gao Cluster and his wife mortgaged all the family's assets to the bank and provided personal credit guarantees; shareholders also mortgaged their real estate to raise funds for the company's development; the company's management did not receive wages for eight months, and the grassroots employees did not receive their salaries for three months.
However, it backfired. Gao Cluster said that today Cluster Chebao had exhausted the last bullet and fell on the road only one kilometer away from success, "working so hard that there was nothing to do, and only to leave the scene in tears."
Gao Cluster said that on behalf of all shareholders and the company's management, he expressed his deep apologies to consumers, employees, and partners, and "ashamed" to bring trouble to everyone's family and career. "For the rest of my life, life will not stop, and the struggle will not stop, and in time, I will have the ability to repay and will give you a satisfactory explanation. ”
Cluster Chebao will set up a bankruptcy liquidation team in accordance with legal procedures to properly handle various matters after bankruptcy.
The relevant person in charge of the original franchise store of the above-mentioned cluster Chebao in Guangzhou told reporters that the store will join the cluster Chebao in about 2020, when the cluster Chebao was the largest automotive aftermarket service provider in the Guangzhou-Foshan area, and the information system was also good. At present, the store has no longer joined the cluster Chebao, so the store operation is not affected by the bankruptcy of the cluster Chebao. The store has already sold the cluster car treasure business to customers, and will continue to provide related services.
According to the official WeChat account of Cluster Chebao, Gao Cluster used to be the vice president of Gome Electric Appliances and the general manager of South China. In 2013, he founded Cluster Chebao and opened 91 directly-operated stores in Guangzhou, of which 82 are community stores and 9 are sheet metal spraying centers. In the past 10 years, it has opened up the upstream and downstream industrial chain of the automotive after-sales service industry, and has conducted in-depth research on the auto parts supply chain, logistics, insurance, and second-hand cars of the traditional automobile industry. On December 18, 2023, Gao Cluster conducted the first online live broadcast of its auto service digital store class.
Insider: Electric vehicles hit the automotive aftermarket
An insider who used to work in the cluster Chebao told the first financial reporter that after the electric car came out, it had a great impact on the automotive aftermarket. For a gasoline car, there are many services related to the engine that need to be solved after the sale, such as changing the engine oil, repairing the air conditioner and brakes. For an electric vehicle, the battery is self-made by the car factory and the supplier, and the community store cannot move the motor, electronic control and other components. Maintenance of electric vehicles, the insulation environment of the workplace, equipment and tools have higher requirements, the general community store can not do, if only to provide electric vehicles with car washing, waxing, car cleaning services, the added value is relatively low.
In addition, the cluster Chebao has also been affected by the epidemic and the economic environment. For example, car owners used to spend 1,000 yuan a year, but after the epidemic, they spent 500 yuan a year, waxing used to be done twice, but now they are hit once, and the frequency of using cars has decreased.
"The automotive aftermarket for gasoline vehicles is also large enough. The above-mentioned person said that it turned out that some husband and wife stores wanted to have more traffic, so they joined Jingdong, Tmall, Tuhu and other car maintenance platforms. However, the cluster Chebao does not have such a high traffic support.
In addition to external factors such as the popularity of electric vehicles, the epidemic and the economic environment, and the involvement of e-commerce giants, the bankruptcy of Cluster Chebao is also related to internal factors such as the consumption of a lot of resources and insufficient funds in the digital transformation of the automotive aftermarket business.
"Gao Zong (Gao Cluster) wants to cover the entire industrial chain of the automotive aftermarket. The above-mentioned person said that a system summarizes so many nodes, extremely huge, car insurance alone is an industrial chain, accessories are also an industrial chain, sheet metal spraying is also an industrial chain, service is also an industrial chain, "we want to do a good job in each link, time cost, labor cost is very expensive."
Cluster Chebao made a simple system in 2015, when the Internet car maintenance was just emerging, and it was on the tuyere. "We have been doing physical stores, when the wind rises, the mobile phone applet outbreaks, we must keep up with the wind, so we recruit troops, find that the more loopholes we do, the more loopholes, continue to add people, improve the system, and strive to do a good job in service, the system also covers the settlement with the upstream supply chain. Said the above-mentioned person.
For example, repair a car and change brake pads. As soon as the car enters the store, you can scan the license plate to identify the model and which accessories are applicable. The system analyzes which supplier supplies the brake pads, how much is the supply price and sales price, and settles the order. The system also covers employee homework, which employee does it, working hours, and how much commission. "The industrial chain is very long, and a lot of money is consumed in the process of improving the system. ”
The above-mentioned person said, "This system we (cluster Chebao) is based on the size of large chain enterprises. Mr. Gao pursues perfection in everything, and system developers are paid high because digital systems are needed in the future. At present, the bankruptcy of (cluster Chebao) is also related to the lack of funds. ”
Industry insiders: The automotive aftermarket is facing consolidation
A veteran of the automobile market analyzed to the first financial reporter that the bankruptcy of the cluster car treasure is first of all because of the trend, and entrepreneurship should take advantage of the trend. Like the automotive aftermarket, especially the automotive aftermarket for fuel vehicles, is shrinking. For example, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles in Guangzhou is close to 50%, while the after-sales demand for new energy vehicles (electric vehicles) is less.
New energy vehicles are different from traditional fuel vehicles and do not require engine maintenance. If a new energy vehicle is a pure electric vehicle, it may not need much maintenance for three years. Then, the service business of the automotive aftermarket will definitely become more and more difficult to do. Also, many cars such as dash cams are self-contained, so the decoration business of the automobile aftermarket will also shrink on a large scale in the future.
"The second reason is that the impact of the epidemic on offline stores is really great. The veteran believes that the third reason is the intensification of competition in the automotive aftermarket. In the field of automobile repair and maintenance, on the one hand, there are still many customers in 4S stores, and on the other hand, giants are involved, such as Jingdong Car Maintenance, Tmall Car Maintenance and Tuhu Car Maintenance (09690. HK), which makes it difficult for small and medium-sized companies to survive.
Another veteran observer of the automotive industry also believes that the early expansion of cluster Chebao was relatively smooth, but it has encountered many challenges in the past few years of the epidemic. Cluster car treasure is now bankrupt, involving many reasons: first of all, the automotive aftermarket competition is fierce, there are so many 4S stores, cluster car treasure low-price competition, but also sell insurance, there is no disruptive technology; secondly, now the rapid development of new energy vehicles, maintenance is very little, it is different from traditional cars, the battery has been guaranteed by the manufacturer, leaving little service space for the automotive aftermarket, you have no maintenance, only car washing, maintenance, it is difficult to make money, selling insurance is not very sticky, it is difficult to grab business with insurance companies. The third is that giants such as JD.com and Tuhu are involved in the automotive aftermarket, and they are stronger in terms of capital and brand awareness. "High clusters from home appliance retail cross-border entrepreneurship, the first few years of financing is easy, in recent years financing is difficult, the digitization of the automotive aftermarket, more difficult than imagined. ”
A car owner in Guangzhou told reporters that his old car was maintained in the cluster car treasure, and the car wash was 20 yuan at a time, and the charge was reasonable. He found that the cluster Chebao store downstairs was still open on January 6, and it may not be wholly owned by cluster Chebao. In the past few years, in the early stage of the development of the cluster car treasure, car owners will receive a lot of services when they buy insurance there. Later, two or three years, the owner no longer received free services when he bought insurance in Cluster Chebao, so his car insurance was no longer bought in Cluster Chebao.
Auto repair shops have big and small things. The owner believes that the most troublesome thing in car maintenance is to find spare parts, and the procurement cost is low, so that there is money to be made. There are many franchise stores such as Jingdong Car Care and Tuhu Car Maintenance, and the purchase cost of auto parts can be reduced due to the large purchase volume. Now the "new forces" of electric vehicles, such as Li Auto, are keeping the maintenance business in their own hands. The sales of Mercedes-Benz, Lexus and other 4S stores are also grabbing the car repair market to share the higher operating costs. The automotive aftermarket is a non-standardized service, it is difficult to reduce costs to improve profits, cluster car treasure charges are not expensive, to retain customers, not necessarily to retain profits.
The above-mentioned insider, who used to work in Cluster Chebao, explained, "You (the car owner) buy insurance from me (Cluster Chebao), and I will return 20% of the commission to you and turn it into a service package." For example, 3,000 yuan insurance, 150 yuan service package includes maintenance, car washing, waxing and other services, and the customer is 'set' in the store. After mixing, once there is any problem with the vehicle, it will be left in the shop to solve. "Old customers are very recognizant of this service, but later various "scalpers" return the insurance commission to the car owner in cash, which is more tempting than the service package. Moreover, as the operation becomes more difficult, some directly operated stores of the cluster Chebao have become franchised stores, and the strength of insurance sales has also weakened.
In the future, will the automotive aftermarket "eat small fish". This insider believes that the automotive aftermarket is essentially a service industry, and the human factor is very important, even if the system is perfect, it is useless to have a bad service attitude. The national chain can not do direct sales, to develop franchise. Tuhu, JD.com, etc. have brand effect and can attract traffic, and Douyin can also attract traffic. The system is poor, the popularity is good, and the owner is willing to spend more money.