Fresh e-commerce is mixed. Is self-built supply chain the next stop？

　　Our reporter Li Li reports from Shanghai.

　　The vigorous fresh e-commerce war seems to have come to an end, and the more arduous supply chain war has begun to compete for endurance.

　　In the past eight years, fresh e-commerce, whose growth rate once exceeded three digits, is welcoming a bottleneck period. According to the Data Report of Fresh E-commerce Market in China in 2023 (I) by the E-commerce Research Center of NetEconomy Society, the transaction scale of fresh e-commerce exceeded 600 billion yuan in 2023, but the growth rate reached a new low.

　　According to the big data of "Dianshubao" e-commerce, the transaction scale of fresh e-commerce is expected to reach 642.76 billion yuan in 2023, a year-on-year increase of 14.74%. At the same time, in 2023, the penetration rate of fresh e-commerce industry also declined for the first time, only 8.97%.

　　Mo Daiqing, director of the online retail department of the E-commerce Research Center of NetEconomy & Society, told the reporter of China Business News that fresh e-commerce and community group buying are experiencing "two days of ice and fire". On the one hand, Ding Dong will buy food and close the store and withdraw from the city, and the daily fresh food will be delisted; On the other hand, Box Horse started the listing plan, and Prosperity preferred to engage in group stores. The fresh e-commerce track is still mixed.

　　The reporter found that after the rapid development period of attacking the city, the self-built supply chain is becoming the key point for fresh e-commerce to build a moat. At the beginning of the year, Ding-dong, who has been evacuated from the city continuously, has been transformed into a "food company". According to the reporter's understanding, the key point of building a moat is to build its own supply chain.

　　The growth rate is low

　　The reporter combed the relevant data of "Digital Treasure" and found that the growth rate of fresh e-commerce hit a new low in the past eight years. Since 2014, the transaction scale of fresh e-commerce has only reached 29 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 123.07%. In 2022, fresh e-commerce plates expanded to 560.14 billion yuan, with a growth rate of 20.25%.

　　Mo Daiqing told reporters that "the penetration rate of fresh e-commerce refers to the percentage of fresh e-commerce transactions in the market size of the fresh industry. The penetration rate of the fresh e-commerce industry in 2023 is expected to be 8.97%, down 12.75% year-on-year."

　　However, after years of development, the overall plate of fresh e-commerce is also stabilizing. In 2023, the number of users in the fresh e-commerce industry is expected to be 513 million, an increase of 11.52%. The proportion of fresh e-commerce transactions in urban residents' food consumption expenditure has steadily increased in the past three years. In the first half of 2023, domestic urban residents' food consumption expenditure was 1,059.4 billion yuan, and the proportion of fresh e-commerce transactions in urban residents' food consumption expenditure was 27.6%.

　　For the reasons behind the low growth rate of fresh e-commerce, Mo Daiqing told reporters that the growth rate of fresh e-commerce is the lowest in the past five years. On the one hand, the slowdown in growth rate lies in the overall environment, and consumers' desire for consumption has not been released; In addition, the development of fresh e-commerce is not smooth. Ding-dong buys food and closes the store and withdraws from the city. Every day, Youxian announces that it has received the Nasdaq delisting decision. It is expected that the growth rate of fresh e-commerce will continue to slow down.

　　At the same time, the fresh e-commerce track is surrounded by wolves. Pinduoduo, Meituan, Alibaba, etc. own more food, Meituan Youxuan, Box Horse, Taobao and so on. The overweight of the giants has intensified the competition of the fresh track.

　　Supply chain promotion: competition for commodity power

　　The reporter's investigation found that although the market scale and growth rate returned to calm, the real competition was under the water.

　　Whether it is the competition of giants or the layout of independent fresh e-commerce, they all start to deepen the supply chain. Unlike the single model of establishing good cooperation with suppliers before, fresh e-commerce tends to dominate in it, competing for the gold content and commodity power of its own brand, and even the self-built supply chain with stronger independence.

　　In July, the old fresh e-commerce company had just passed its 11th birthday. Qian Zhenshu, former vice president of Life Group and former executive general manager of Life Network, summed up one of the survival experiences, that is, "starting from direct mining of producing areas, taking commodity strength and supply chain construction as the core, fully participating in the upstream transformation and upgrading of fresh food industry from variety improvement, production upgrading and new product development, and getting closer and closer to thousands of upstream production partners."

　　The reporter noticed that well-known agricultural products brands such as Chu Orange and Guoxin Aquatic Products, and well-known brands such as Guangzhou Restaurant and Wufangzhai have established long-term and stable cooperation with their original lives. Chu orange, in particular, became famous in World War I and entered the field of vision of consumers in first-tier cities with the help of the marketing and promotion of original life.

　　Some insiders told reporters that establishing good relations with well-known brands and suppliers is only the initial model to ensure the stability and quality of the supply chain. With the gradual intensification of competition for fresh e-commerce, while striving for upstream suppliers, everyone will be more involved in the transformation of the supply chain. One of the most common forms is to push "joint payment" or exclusive customization, so that people can compete for goods.

　　The argument of competing for commodity strength and "demanding flow from commodities" was first put forward by Box Horse. In 2022, Hou Yi, CEO of Box Horse, shouted to suppliers, "Commodity strength is the only core competitiveness of retail industry, and Box Horse will build commodity strength in an all-round way." According to the data exposed by Box Horse at that time, the sales of Box Horse's own brand accounted for 35%.

　　How can we become a box horse supplier? Zhao Jiaxuan, the chief commodity officer of box horse, told reporters at that time, "The selection conditions of the supplier pool are strict, first of all, it must be compliant and can meet the current demand. Secondly, we will pay more attention to suppliers with distinctive advantages. "

　　It is worth noting that at the beginning of 2023, a fresh e-commerce company that was listed in the "pre-warehouse mode" bought vegetables and announced its transformation to "food e-commerce" at the supplier conference.

　　Xu Zhijian, Chief Merchandise Officer (CMO) of Ding Dong Shopping, told reporters at that time that Ding Dong Shopping had hatched 18 independent brands in the platform, with more than 1,200 products on sale. Among them, through self-development and co-creation with high-quality brands, a total of 288 platform-featured products were put on the shelves, and 215 explosive joint-name products were promoted.

　　Shen Qiang, vice president of Ding Dong grocery shopping and head of commodity planning and innovation center, told the reporter, "Since the establishment of the wholly-owned company Ding Dong Grain Rain, we have made up our minds to make food direction." Ding-dong's ambition to buy food as a food company is not just to "demand flow from commodities". According to Shen Qiang, it is expected that a number of independent brands will grow from Ding-dong to buy food and can be sold in more channels across the country and even around the world.

　　According to the reporter's information, Shanghai Yusheng Baigu Food Co., Ltd. was established in 2020. The major shareholder is Shanghai Yibaimei Network Technology Co., Ltd., and the legal representative is Liang Changlin, the founder of Dingdong Shopping. At that time, the registered business was mainly wholesale.

　　Next stop, self-built supply chain?

　　Now it seems that it is not enough to tap high-quality suppliers and develop their own brands. The self-built supply chain is bringing fresh e-commerce into the deep water area.

　　"The competition point of fresh e-commerce will focus on the management of supply chain and quality. Fresh is expensive, so it puts high demands on the supply chain." Mo Daiqing believes.

　　However, in the eyes of the industry, the self-built supply chain is not only to satisfy users, but more importantly, it can have more control over the price of fresh food. The loyalty of suppliers and users in the field of fresh food is not high, and most users are still very sensitive to prices. Once subsidies stop, they will be lost quickly.

　　Compared with the high-profile marketing on the commodity side, the reporter found out that Box Horse has been building a three-dimensional supply chain in a low-key manner.

　　According to public information, as of May, 2023, there were 185 villages in Box Horse, which were distributed in 25 provincial administrative regions of China. The products of 699 SKUs from Box Horse Village went to urban consumers through Box Horse.

　　According to the introduction of Box Horse, "Box Horse Village" is a new model of order agriculture that has been explored in four years. Box Horse uses digital technology to guide the whole link of agricultural production, processing, transportation and sales, so as to fix production and form a stable supply relationship with Box Horse.

　　According to the reporter's understanding, in addition to Box Horse Village, Box Horse has more than 500 direct mining bases in the country. However, in addition to solving the upstream of the supply chain, logistics cold chain distribution is also the focus of fresh e-commerce competition. A few days ago, Box Horse made a low-key exposure of the Shanghai Supply Chain Operation Center in hangtou, Pudong, Shanghai. According to the exposure video, the center integrates agricultural product processing, research and development of finished ingredients, frozen storage of semi-finished products, central kitchen and cold chain logistics distribution, with a total construction area of about 100,000 square meters. It is the largest single project of Box Horse with the largest investment so far.

　　According to a person close to Box Horse, "There are 9 such operation centers in China, and 7 of them have been completed and put into production, all of which are real investments and serve long-term value."

　　Not only is the box horse, which is rushing to go public, building its own supply chain drastically, but Ding Dong, who emphasizes "forgetting the stock price and being friends with time", is also continuing to "build roads".

　　In the first quarter of 2023, Ding Dong's grocery revenue was about 4.998 billion yuan, down 8.2% year-on-year; The net loss was 52.4 million yuan, compared with 477.4 million yuan in the same period in 2022.

　　In order to make a profit, we have to scrimp and save food, and Ding Dong, who has experienced the storm of withdrawing from the city, is still making efforts in the supply chain. The reporter checked the Ding-Dong grocery shopping APP and found that after withdrawing from Sichuan and Chongqing, the number of shopping malls in Ding-Dong is currently only 25 cities, mostly concentrated in the Yangtze River Delta region.

　　Regarding the latest progress of the supply chain, Ding Dong responded that it has transformed into a food company with its own channels and its own R&D and processing capabilities. At present, the direct mining scale of Ding Dong's fresh vegetables is maintained at over 80%, and there are several self-owned farms, including more than a dozen self-owned production and processing plants, including grain processing plants and pork processing plants.

　　"The development of fresh e-commerce has not been a short-term track until now. It is a light mode of profit by opening stores, fighting price wars and circling users. In order to survive for a long time, self-built supply chain is a necessary move. " The above-mentioned insiders told reporters.

　　In Mo Daiqing's view, "fresh e-commerce has invested heavily in self-built supply chains and has great financial pressure. Not all fresh e-commerce companies have this ability. For integrated e-commerce, it is natural to build a self-built supply chain, but fresh e-commerce still needs a comprehensive evaluation to build its own supply chain. "

　　Despite the huge investment, whether it is a box horse that sprints to the market or a Ding Dong that still faces a profit crisis after listing, it is soberly aware of the importance of self-built supply chain. In 2023, the low growth rate of fresh e-commerce may be just a signal. Fighting for prices and grabbing territory can only solve short-term problems, and perhaps the most important thing is to be friends with time.