Fresh food is a meager profit business, but internet players have squeezed into this track, which may be strange to some laymen.
In the eyes of Internet players, fresh e-commerce is the "last blue ocean" of e-commerce. They believe that the fresh food industry is just needed for high frequency. After all, everyone has to eat every day.
20 12 is the first year of fresh e-commerce. At that time, fresh e-commerce "originally lived" and planned the "Orange into Beijing" activity. The former tobacco king planted oranges, and the ups and downs of Chu's life story turned an ordinary orange into an "inspirational orange".
In 165438+ 10, Chu Orange came to Beijing from Yunnan. In five days, 20 tons of Chu oranges were sold out. 165438+1October 1 1, originally, 20 tons of goods arrived. 165438+1October 12 sold 1500 boxes, about 7 tons.
This event is also a milestone in the history of fresh e-commerce. Today, "life" is still selling Chu oranges, Tamia Liu of Liu Chuanzhi and Pan Apple of Pan Shiyi.
By 20 14, major internet giants have laid out fresh markets. Baidu invested in me to buy a net, Tencent invested tens of millions of dollars in fresh fruit every day, JD.COM invested 70 million dollars in orchard every day, and Ali also invested in easy fruit.
Guo Yi Fresh is the first fresh e-commerce company in China, which was established in 2005. Recently, Guo Yi Fresh has filed for bankruptcy and reorganization.
The oldest fresh e-commerce company is such a fate, and other fresh e-commerce companies are not much better. In 20 19, many fresh e-commerce companies closed down, and the once blue ocean became a "blood sea".
The style of painting reported by the media has also changed from the original "fresh e-commerce market is hot, is there business in the vegetable market?" "Why fresh e-commerce can't be a vegetable market" and "For whom the bell tolls: an inventory analysis of the death list of fresh e-commerce on 20 19".
Are those vegetable markets that are "messy" in some people's eyes really so difficult to subvert?
Commercial code of ancient food market
How intimate the topic of the southern vegetable market is, the hot search in Weibo has triggered a great discussion among netizens about the service of the northern and southern vegetable markets in China.
When you buy meat at the Southern Vegetable Market, the boss will help you beat the beef into steaks and use 10 yuan to help you shred the beef. After cutting, he will marinate it with soy sauce, starch and oyster sauce, but he won't help you cook it.
Netizens jokingly commented that this service is comparable to the real Kansai, cutting ten pounds of lean meat, ten pounds of fat meat and ten pounds of cartilage.
Some people may just treat it as a joke, but it also reflects that the service in the vegetable market is really good. And it is often said that the vegetable market smells like fireworks.
In Gu Long's Passionate Swordsman's Ruthless Sword, a desperate iron heiress inadvertently walked into the vegetable market. A woman with a child in her arms, an old woman with a cane, a greasy cook, and all kinds of people crowded around him with food baskets. The village woman who sells vegetables and the butcher who sells meat are flushed for a penny, and their mood suddenly becomes clear.
This is actually a shopping scene created by the vegetable market, and it is also a place where the fresh e-commerce platform is lacking.
In 20 17, supermarkets, convenience stores, food markets and other channels accounted for more than 97% of the fresh market share, while the penetration rate of fresh e-commerce channels was only 2%. According to the "Dianshubao" e-commerce database of the Net Economic Society, the penetration rate of fresh e-commerce industry in China reached 4.67% in 20 19.
Of course, you can understand that fresh e-commerce has a huge market prospect in the future, but it is unclear whether this is the cake of capital or reality.
But we can analyze why the penetration rate of fresh e-commerce is growing so slowly.
First, the traditional fresh sales channels are all physical stores, with real consumption scenes, and food is tangible. You can tell at a glance whether it is good or bad. But on the fresh e-commerce platform, you only see beautiful pictures, and you won't know until the food is delivered.
Second, traditional sales channels have price advantages, especially in the vegetable market. The wholesale channel of the traditional vegetable market is already the most favorable in the fresh market. At this time, the price advantage of the fresh e-commerce platform is difficult to reflect, and there is also a delivery fee, which is why fresh e-commerce is difficult to sink.
Third, the closure of many fresh electric stores has also affected the expansion of fresh e-commerce. The reason for the closure is that the capital chain is broken.
But there are few such problems in the vegetable market, at least we haven't heard the news that the vegetable market is bankrupt.
In fact, the vegetable market has transferred the risk of operation to every vendor. They have earned and lost, but they can achieve a delicate balance. Manufacturers will try their best to make themselves profitable. If they can't do it, some people will quit, but new people will come in. The whole system is running in a benign way.
The fresh e-commerce itself bears all the profit pressure and adopts a completely different style of play, that is, first expanding the territory, then considering the issue of profit, and even disdaining profit at the early stage.
The CEO of Guo Yi Fresh once vowed to the media that it is not particularly difficult to make a profit. He said that large-scale profit is valuable, otherwise a fruit shop can also make a profit, but this profit is of little significance to himself or the whole industry.
Of course, capital still supports his dream. Guo Yi Fresh has completed seven rounds of financing, with accumulated financing exceeding 5.93 billion yuan, but now Guo Yi Fresh has a debt of 2.3 billion yuan and has to go bankrupt.
Guo Yi Fresh poured cold water on the Internet industry, which is keen on burning money, and all the investors' money went to Shui Piao.
Burning money to be a fresh e-commerce company
Fresh e-commerce frequently thunders, and capital is losing patience.
According to the monitoring data of "point reading treasure" of the network economic society, the financing of fresh e-commerce reached a historical high of 70 times in 20 15, but in the following four years, the number of financing declined step by step, only 22 times in 20 19.
Without capital support, fresh electricity merchants will gradually become self-reliant. Under this circumstance, fresh e-commerce must change the thinking of blind expansion in the past, but step by step, and then continue to expand its territory after achieving profitability.
After getting the financing on 20 16, the original life, which was famous for Chu orange, chose a road that didn't burn money, controlled the development speed, stopped excessive subsidies and services, and made a fortune silently.
Originally, life was profitable in the full fiscal year of 20 18, and the company earned 1 100 million yuan in fiscal year 2020.
Originally, the founder of life said that it was not faster than burning money now, but longer than living. You burn fast, and it's meaningless to burn yourself to death.
Fresh e-commerce clamors to subvert the vegetable market, but the vegetable market still stubbornly exists on the land of China, while fresh e-commerce encounters the dilemma of avalanche.
This is because the vegetable market has achieved long-term profits in the process of pursuing short-term profits, while fresh e-commerce has died halfway in the process of pursuing long-term profits.
Author | Song Qing