Author 丨 Su Min
Editor 丨Fang Yu
Image | Sam's Club
Recently, the incident of "Carrefour and Hema jointly denouncing Sam for suspected of choosing one of the two" rushed to weibo hot search, causing concern.
First, on October 22, the day carrefour's first member store opened, Carrefour said that because competitors pressured suppliers to buy empty related goods, many member consumers could not buy. Carrefour resolutely opposes forcing merchants to "choose one of the two" by using its market position and has reported it to the relevant departments.
Subsequently, Hema revealed that Hema X member stores have also suffered a similar situation with Carrefour for a long time, and Hema intends to report to relevant departments in conjunction with Carrefour.
The competitors that Carrefour and Hema jointly point to are Walmart's Sam's Club.
On October 25, Sam's Club issued a statement that so far, no parties have been seen providing any direct or indirect facts that indicate that Sam's Club has a so-called "either-or" problem. It is hoped that the relevant parties can proceed from the facts and stop the acts that disrupt the market order.
That night, Carrefour also expressed its willingness to work with industry partners to resolutely resist unfair competition in any business field.
In fact, "two alternatives" is not uncommon in the Internet field, and some giants have been fined for this.
In this context, Rashomon, which still breaks out of the "two to choose one" of member stores, involves supply chain issues, and there is still a precedent in physical retail. It is clear that although the incident is still inconclusive, the very important ability of the supply chain as a member store makes these retail giants hesitate to "defy the wind".
Carrefour and Hema jointly reported
On October 22, Carrefour China's first member store was officially opened in Pudong, Shanghai. Late that night, however, the official Weibo of the Carrefour Club posted a special "letter of apology."
Carrefour apologized, saying that on the first day of operation, competitors pressured suppliers to buy empty related goods back, making it impossible for many member consumers to buy.
In fact, from the establishment of the Carrefour club to the opening, competitors continue to put pressure on some brands, and if the brand is supplied to the Carrefour club, they will remove the products that the brand is competing for. Even on the opening day, some brands were under pressure to go to the scene to sweep up all their products, and we frequently received news that brands would no longer continue to cooperate. ”
According to relevant media reports, Carrefour insiders also said that as early as October 15, after the Carrefour member store held a "member open day" activity, some suppliers proposed not to cooperate anymore, this is because another company gave them a "two choice one" rule, that is, if they cooperate with Carrefour, they will "break" the relationship with another company.
According to the relevant person in charge of Carrefour, as of now, a total of 7-8 products have been repurchased by suppliers, mainly in the field of cosmetics and toys.
Carrefour also said in the apology letter that Carrefour Club firmly opposes unfair competition in the commercial field and opposes forcing merchants to "choose one of the two" by its own market position, and has reported it to the relevant departments.
Carrefour's response went directly to Sam's Club, owned by another retail giant, Walmart.
Three days after the incident fermented, Hema, which also owns a member store, also stepped forward.
Chang Yin, general manager of Hema x club, said that since the opening of the first store in October last year, Hema x club has also suffered a similar situation 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 be under 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. Therefore, Hema intends to report to the relevant departments, hoping to jointly promote a fair competitive market environment. ”
In the face of rumors and doubts, on October 25, Sam's Club issued a statement saying that when we learned of this rumor, we immediately launched a self-examination at the first time. So far, we have not seen any direct or indirect facts provided by the parties that indicate that Sam's Club has the so-called "either-or" problem. We hope that the parties concerned can proceed from the facts, stop the behavior that disrupts the market order, focus on their own operations, and benefit more consumers.
In addition, Sam said that 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 their own characteristic development and constantly innovate goods and services. Simple commodity reproduction and homogeneous competition really harm the interests of consumers.
Soon, Carrefour Club also made the latest response to this, and its person in charge said that Carrefour Club called for fair and adequate market competition, which can bring consumers more cost-effective goods and services, and will better promote the development of the industry. Carrefour is willing to work with industry partners to resolutely resist unfair competition in any business sector.
In fact, "two to choose one" is very common in the Internet field, and Tmall and JD.com have also been "fighting" for many years. According to the analysis of relevant legal personnel, to determine whether competitors are involved in monopoly or unfair competition, further evidence is needed and the authoritative determination of relevant departments is required.
Can clubs save traditional supermarkets?
Although the incident is still inconclusive, all parties are calling for healthy competition, that is, the competition in warehouse clubs is already very fierce.
On the one hand, looking at the general environment of the offline retail industry, under the impact of multiple channels in recent years, including community group buying, coupled with the impact of the epidemic, it can even be described as "dismal operation".
In the relevant data released by the China Chain Store & Franchise Association, the sales scale of the top 100 chains in 2020 was 2.4 trillion yuan, down 7.2% from the previous year. The sales scale of the top 100 chains accounted for 6.1% of the total retail sales of consumer goods, down 0.2% from 2019. This is also the first time since the Statistics of the China Chain Store and Franchise Association in 1997 that the overall sales of the top 100 have shown negative growth.
On the other hand, the rapid growth of warehouse clubs has made them a "life-saving straw" for traditional supermarkets.
According to Wal-Mart's latest financial report, Wal-Mart's total revenue in Q2 was $141.028 billion, an increase of 2.4% year-on-year, of which Sam's Club increased by 7.7% year-on-year, e-commerce net sales increased by 27%, membership fee income increased by 12.2%, and the total number of members hit a record high. Prior to this, Wal-Mart's performance in China was also in a state of decline.
Zhu Xiaojing, president and CEO of Walmart China, has revealed that it will try to build new or some qualified Walmart hypermarkets in first- and second-tier cities and transform them into Sam's City Center stores. Sam is expected to have 40-45 open and under construction stores in China by the end of 2022.
In 2020, Hema also opened its first X-club in Shanghai, and founder Hou Yi said at the time, "From today onwards, we are going head-to-head with Costco/Sam" and plans to open 10 stores in 2021. METRO, which was acquired by Wumart, opened 12 new stores and increased sales by 8%. Yonghui Supermarket is also actively testing the waters in 2021, and has successively transformed a number of storage stores...
Zhuang Shuai, an expert in the retail e-commerce industry and founder of Bailian Consulting, told Chuang Chuangbang that the current domestic member stores are entering a period of rapid development, mainly for three reasons: First, the most important thing is that the development of China's retail e-commerce industry for decades has continuously changed consumers' concepts, and consumers have become more receptive to the collection of membership fees Third, the bulk shopping form of the warehouse member store format is also in line with China's household consumption.
However, in terms of operation, from the frequency of consumption to the shopping scene to the user portrait, the difference between the club store and the hypermarket is very large. Taking the supply chain issues involved this time as an example, Zhuang Shuai mentioned that at the level of "goods", warehousing member stores generally adopt the business strategy of "wide category shallow SKU".
For example, Costco selects 1-3 brands in a single category, each brand is less than 4 SKUs, and there are about 3700 active SKUs in the store. Costco averaged $270 a week, better than Walmart and Carrefour's $100.
"The business strategy of 'wide category shallow SKU' is low cost and high efficiency, so that it can achieve sales in a certain scale in a short period of time through a single store, and it is not necessary to open multiple chain stores to achieve strong bargaining power for upstream suppliers and gradually increase supplier market share."
After the cooperation with suppliers has reached a certain depth, the most important profitability of warehouse members is to rely on supply chain management experience to establish their own brands. Private labels take high-margin, high-demand items as the entry point to complement high-quality products. Zhuang Shuai said.
Private labels have the advantages of product differentiation and high cost performance. It is understood that Sam's Club's own brand, Member's Mark, currently has about 700 items, covering almost all categories.
Sam's response, "Companies should focus on their own characteristic development and constantly innovate goods and services." Simple commodity reproduction and homogenization competition, the real damage is the interests of consumers, "also reflects from the side, in terms of commodity differentiation and supply chain capabilities, Carrefour and Hema as a latecomer, not as experienced as the former."
In the view of many industry insiders interviewed by Chuangbang, Carrefour's move also has the "suspicion" of creating momentum for itself, after all, there are Internet giants involved in "two choices one" to be punished, and Wal-Mart does not have to "fight against the wind".
Although Carrefour is the pioneer of the hypermarket format and is still the largest retailer in Europe, since Carrefour China sold itself in Suning in 2019, it has not made a big wave in China and has long lost its former glory. Even if it is a test of the waters, it is a self-help act after the complete decline of the hypermarket.
Looking at the development process of China's retail industry, after international retail giants such as Carrefour and Wal-Mart entered China, they brought various tolls for suppliers such as entrance fees and bar code fees, which have always occupied a strong position for suppliers. It is not uncommon in the retail industry to use exclusivity clauses to ensure the uniqueness of their own goods when entering into agreements with suppliers.
Today is not the past, who ever thought that the retail giants who once had an absolute advantage will also encounter the situation of supplier supply cuts. However, the market environment and consumption habits have long since ceased to exist.
"From the current consumption environment, warehousing clubs are indeed a good format for China's retail industry, but also a good business, referring to the number of member stores in the United States, China still has twenty or thirty years of development space." In the end, it is still in-store operations, membership services and supply chain integration capabilities. Zhuang Shuai said.