Sam's Club, which has been operating in the Chinese market for 25 years, was sent to a hot search by a letter of apology from Carrefour, although Carrefour has not given a precise answer to whether the "competitor" in the apology letter is the Sam's Club that was rumored online, only revealing that it is a relatively large-scale paid membership supermarket of the same kind, but as of now, the spearhead of the "two choice one" accusation is still directed at Sam's Club. In addition, some media reported that Hema X Club also joined the report on sam's club's "two choices" behavior.
In response to the above incident, on the morning of October 26, Zhang Qing, chief procurement officer of Sam China, stressed again in an interview with Nandu reporter that Sam did not do anything to force merchants to choose one or the other, "First of all, all our contract terms are strictly in accordance with Chinese laws, and suppliers have never been prohibited from cooperating with retail counterparts. Secondly, there are new players entering the field of membership stores together, which we think is a good thing, competition can promote the healthy development of this industry, which will also prompt Sam to accelerate the speed of innovation, accelerate differentiation, we want to thank the competition. ”
Supplier: Exclusive supply of customized models only, no exclusive agreement
Carrefour's apology letter shows that on the day of the opening of the company's first member store in Shanghai, it was pressured by competitors to buy empty related goods, making it impossible for many member consumers to buy. In addition, Carrefour affiliates also said that from the time of their establishment to the opening, competitors continued to pressure some brands to remove the brand's competitors' products if the brand was supplied to Carrefour affiliates. In this regard, Carrefour has reported it to the relevant departments.
Since then, some media reports have reported that Hema X Club has also joined the report on sam's club's "two choices" behavior. According to Chang Yin, general manager of Hema X Club, "Since the opening of the first store in October last year, Hema X Club has also suffered from a similar situation to Carrefour for a long time. At the beginning of the opening of the first store in October last year, it encountered the situation of a small number of suppliers 'buying short' goods; so far, from the 3C home appliance category to the individual food category, partners have continued to bear pressure, such as some style restrictions, and some suppliers have been forced to stop cooperation with Hema X member stores under pressure, resulting in us needing to re-find partners and rebuild the commodity supply chain. ”
Carrefour did not disclose the list of suppliers who suffered from "two choices" in the apology letter, and Hema insiders revealed to Nandu reporters that "some commodities such as Hizero moppers, Meikangya hanging ironers, and Shaoyin bone conduction headphones were removed from hema due to malicious competition from opponents, but hema did not communicate with Carrefour to jointly report", according to Hema, hema is still planning and has not yet formally reported to the relevant departments.
However, nandu reporter inquiries found that Hizero tractor, Shaoyin bone conduction headphones these two brands of products are currently sold in Sam's club stores, but also on Taobao, Jingdong there are official flagship stores, normal sales of goods.
On October 26, Nandu reporter contacted a vegetable supplier who is currently supplying Walmart, Sam's Club, Hema, Wanjia Supermarket, Aeon Supermarket, Ole Supermarket and other online and offline retail channels. "We supply other supermarkets, but also supply Sam, did not encounter an exclusive situation", the above-mentioned well-known vegetable supply company executives told the Nandu reporter, "the so-called customization for us is that each channel has its specific requirements, such as packaging, specifications, each supermarket requirements are not the same, we in accordance with Sam's specifications to paste Sam's trademark to supply Sam, according to the requirements of other supermarkets such as ole to supply different channels." ”
In addition, a well-known toy manufacturer cooperating with Sam's Club told Nandu reporter that its cooperation model with Sam's Club is that the customized version is exclusively supplied to the Sam's Club channel, and there is no exclusive agreement in addition to the customized model.
"We haven't encountered a binary or either situation. We currently supply Sam exclusively with a collaborative custom product, and Sam hasn't mentioned anything about Pai Carrefour. Except for a few customized models, we have not promised that any one channel will exclude the supply of other channels, because we are selling with our own brands," the head of marketing of the above-mentioned toy manufacturer told Nandu reporter.
Sam responds: Never barred suppliers from working with their retail peers
As for whether to sign an exclusive agreement with the supplier, Zhang Qing, chief procurement officer of Sam China, made it clear in an interview with Nandu reporter on October 26, "First of all, all of our contract terms are strictly in accordance with Chinese laws and have never prohibited suppliers from cooperating with retail counterparts. Second, with regard to commodity strategy, we will accelerate, accelerate differentiation, accelerate innovation, and when we find that the differentiation of this commodity is not enough, we will accelerate the iteration of the next round of innovative commodities, which is what we will do. ”
As for why the carrefour club will encounter "suppliers buy empty related goods" on the first day of the opening of the store, Zhang Qing told the Nandu reporter, "First of all, many of the actions of the suppliers are based on their business decisions, and I don't know what the reason is. However, we have seen other channels take down because of no brand authorization in history, and what is the reason behind this incident needs to be investigated. ”
"Sam has been in China for 25 years, and a considerable number of suppliers have grown up with us for more than 20 years, and the relationship with suppliers is that people get along with people, and the marriage relationship is very similar, and we follow two principles: The first principle is mutual achievement. Sam has his own expertise, we will empower the insight of members to suppliers, let them develop more suitable for Sam's members of the products; from the supplier side, they have been operating in the industry for many years, there is industry expertise, production technology and production technology, we need to rely on the ability of suppliers, to achieve mutual achievements. In such a process, the trust between the two is time endorsement, time is valuable, and we are a trust relationship formed after many years of cooperation. Zhang Qing said that the second principle is diversification, and as Sam's business continues to develop and grow, so does the supplier. In this process, "we hope that suppliers can diversify and cooperate through multiple channels, because only in this way can we get more inspiration and enlightenment, so as to feed the development of the entire business." ”
"We reiterate here that Sam did not do anything like either/or, and after our self-examination, we would like to express such a point of view, and invite all discussions that go into the public eye to be based on facts." Zhang Qing said that it is a good thing that new players have entered the field of membership stores, and competition can promote the benign development of the industry, which will also prompt Sam to accelerate the speed of innovation and accelerate differentiation. ”
Membership-based stores pile up goods, and the problem of homogenization is prominent
Nandu reporter learned that although Sam's Club has entered the Chinese market in 1996, this model has been tepid, and the early Chia Tai Wankelong, Piercemart and other membership stores once withdrew from the Chinese market. Sam has also been "Buddhist" development, opening only 31 stores in 25 years since entering China.
Until 2019, Costco entered Shanghai to open its first store, and the sales performance of 2.2 billion to 2.4 billion yuan that year made the industry realize that the spring of membership stores had finally arrived.
Subsequently, in October 2020, Hema opened the first Hema X membership store; in May 2021, the first warehouse store under Yonghui Supermarket has been quietly opened in Fuzhou; at the same time, another local retail company fudi also unveiled its first warehouse-style membership store in Beijing. On September 9 this year, Beijing Hualian's first national member store also opened in Gansu. Coupled with the opening of the carrefour member store on October 22, this originally unpopular track has gradually become another area that has attracted the attention of capital after fresh e-commerce and community group buying.
Nandu reporter noted that since the beginning of 2019, Sam has also accelerated the pace of opening stores and brought a number of Internet celebrity products to the fire. 35.8 yuan 24 moschi, 39.8 yuan a whole roast chicken, 68 yuan 16 Swiss rolls with the help of new media such as Xiaohongshu, WeChat and so on out of the circle, has become the standard for young people to punch cards. But inevitably, these influencer products are constantly imitated, copied, and even become standard products by new member store players. Some Wal-Mart insiders told the media that the products copied by other member stores are exactly the same even the packaging and baking products.
"Membership-based supermarkets have the essence of their business, what is the essence? Members pay to come in to consume, the reason why they are willing to pay the membership fee is because they hope to buy differentiated goods in this channel, which means that innovation is very critical, because in this way can bring benefits to members and promote the benign development of the industry. Zhang Qing said that in the past period of time, "we have seen a phenomenon that innovation is relatively small, which makes us a little disappointed, the essence of the innovation of membership stores should be the main line of development." ”
Commodity differentiation strategies remain the same The speed of innovation becomes faster
"Sam and Costco's business model is different from other formats, one of their core competitiveness is product differentiation, and the methods of copying and emulating new entrants may disrupt their rhythm in the short term, but for the membership giants with decades of supply chain accumulation, they have a strong moat." A retail veteran told Nandu reporters.
According to Zhang Qing, Sam's differentiated products come in many forms, one is exclusive products, that is, Sam's own brand products, because it involves unique formulations, packaging and design, this product exists in an exclusive form and is protected by law.
Nandu reporter learned that at present, the sales of Sam's own brand products have accounted for more than 30%, and are still increasing, this part of the product is copied with a higher threshold, to bear legal responsibility, so the risk of homogenization is low.
"The second form of Sam's differentiated products is the way suppliers are willing to make new products in our channel, because the group we are targeting is China's middle-class families, who have a stronger sensitivity to new things and are more receptive to new things, and suppliers are willing to use Sam as a test field to judge the acceptance of the market." Zhang Qing said that there is also a differentiated performance that Sam introduced this trend to the Chinese market after observing the global trend. For example, many channels are doing imported beef, "but we started to lay out this category seven or eight years ago, and it was very differentiated at that time." ”
However, in the industry's view, the homogenization competition that currently occurs in warehouse supermarkets is mainly focused on the differentiation of the second and third non-customized goods that Zhang Qing said.
"The differentiation of Sam's non-customized products comes from its own efficiency." Zhang Qing said, "For example, beef, why do we supply the cold chain -2 to 2 degrees, because it can make beef bleed water is the least, the cost is the lowest, and then for example, the case of potato chips, the entire supply chain involves each step, improving time efficiency and labor costs, each step is accurate to a cent, so that the same goods can be supplied to members at a lower cost," which has become our defensive line. The real source of membership value is our efficient operation, from our low margin operation, which is the essence of the business. ”
Zhang Qing said that Sam is very welcome to develop commodities in a hurry, "for example, the durian mille-feuille cake we developed, when the raw material was changed from vegetable cream to animal cream, the flesh increased by 50% compared with the original, and the one-kilogram cake had more than 300 grams of durian flesh from the best durian origin." Such a product can be overtaken, if other players can copy the same quality, the same taste, and is the same cost of the goods, Sam will bravely give up, this is the essence of competition. ”
According to Zhang Qing, when homogeneous goods appear, Sam's strategy is first to improve quality and maintain differentiation advantages, and secondly, to reduce costs through efficiency and give members more value. If none of the above strategies worked, Sam would decisively abandon the products and develop the next generation of new products. "In fact, many of our influencer products have a new generation of products in the commodity pool to reserve this, especially snacks with a short life cycle, enough to update in a year."
"It's good that new players become more, strategy, price, positioning will not change, it will change is speed, the speed of innovation." We feel the reminder and help from the new players, and we want to thank the competition, which makes us realize that we should become faster. ”
【Event Review】
On October 22, Carrefour China's first member store officially opened in Pudong New Area, Shanghai. Subsequently, he posted an apology letter on Weibo, saying that competitors had pressured suppliers to buy out related goods on the day of the opening of carrefour member stores, so that member consumers could not buy them. The "competitors" referred to in the apology letter point to Walmart's Sam's Club.
Subsequently, Chang Yin, general manager of Hema X Club, also told the media, "Since the opening of the first store in October last year, Hema X Club has also suffered from a similar situation to Carrefour for a long time. At the beginning of the opening of the first store in October last year, it encountered the situation of a small number of suppliers 'buying short' goods; so far, from the 3C home appliance category to the individual food category, partners have continued to bear pressure, such as some style restrictions, and some suppliers have been forced to stop cooperation with Hema X member stores under pressure, resulting in us needing to re-find partners and rebuild the commodity supply chain. ”
On October 24, Sam's parent company, Walmart, said in an interview with the media: "Sam has always paid attention to legal and compliant operations. We welcome healthy competition because it will ultimately benefit our members. At the same time, we also strongly call on and advocate the industry: enterprises should focus on the development of their own characteristics and constantly innovate products and services. This is the basis for the benign and healthy development of the entire industry. Commodity reproduction and homogenization competition, the real loss will be the interests of the majority of consumers. ”
On October 25, Wal-Mart issued a statement again: it should first be based on facts, starting from the overall situation of promoting the benign and healthy development of the industry, protecting the interests of consumers, and maintaining fair competition and harmonious development of the market. At present, we have not seen any direct or indirect facts provided by the parties to indicate that Sam's Club has the so-called "two choices" problem, and it is hoped that the parties concerned can start from the facts and stop the behavior that disrupts the market order and focus on their own operations. (Related reports>>)
At noon on October 26, Zhang Qing, chief procurement officer of Sam China, said in an interview with Nandu reporter that Sam did not force merchants to choose one or the other, "First of all, all of our contract terms are strictly in accordance with Chinese laws, and suppliers have never been prohibited from cooperating with retail counterparts." Second, with regard to commodity strategy, we will accelerate differentiation and innovation. ”
Written by: Nandu reporter Ma Ningning Tian Aili