fresh food business war changes tactics! from the hot consumption of hema fresh's first store in xicheng district and jd cold chain, we can see the fresh food market
2024-09-04
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the seven necessities of life are firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea. the fresh food market, which is full of the flavor of life, has always been the focus of the business war of the "big guys" of the business.
in the past few days, the first hema store in jinan west city was crowded with people as soon as it opened, full of the "smell of fireworks". at 7 pm on september 2, reporters found hema staff promoting new products around several communities. "get 10 yuan off for orders over 29 yuan." the staff guided consumers who came forward to ask to download the hema app, and the goods would be delivered to their door after placing an order. the white shrimps at 19.9 yuan per catty were sold out... soon, several popular welfare products were sold out.
at the entrance of some residential communities on weifang road in huaiyin district, hema fresh staff helped consumers collect online benefits.
【status quo】
new and fresh
the “c-position” rule in the fresh food market
from price competition among vegetables, meat and eggs to the launch of affordable desserts and seafood alternatives, the fresh food sector is developing towards a path with more complete categories, greater timeliness and greater uniqueness.
“shopping for groceries now is very different from before.” on september 1, ms. zhang, a consumer who was shopping for products at hema fresh, told reporters that her in-laws are in shanghai, and she usually likes to buy groceries through online channels such as dingdong maicai, sam's club and hema, which is more intuitive and convenient for price comparison.
at the interview, she showed reporters the "xiangshou crab set" that she had previously paid attention to on "dingdong maicai". each set contains two crabs, and comes with an acrylic box, sand, feed and a breeding guide, allowing white-collar workers in jiangsu, zhejiang and shanghai to experience the taste of "cultivated seafood".
"i recently went back to my hometown in jinan for a vacation to visit relatives, and i saw that the newly opened hema fresh nearby was very popular, so i came to join in the fun. usually, consumers like me who like to stay at home can just place an order on the online app." ms. zhang said.
the reporter took a tour of the first hema fresh store in west city, and found all kinds of products available, including fruits, vegetables, flowers, meat, poultry, eggs, seafood, dairy products, baked goods, quick dishes and pastries, prepared food, wine and beverages, snacks and ice cream, beauty and skin care products, as well as full moon mid-autumn festival, organic life, hema cloud supermarket, and global shopping.
the supermarket staff introduced that "in addition to fast-moving consumer goods and fresh vegetables, there are also high-end products such as fish and shrimp, using diversity to retain consumers."
afterwards, the reporter walked into the jia jia yue hongyang plaza store located nearby. the products in its fresh produce area were equally dazzling, ranging from fruits, vegetables, meat, seafood, dairy products to flowers, baked goods, and high-end wines.
"youxiandaojia.com's 'youxiandaojia', community group purchases, live broadcasts, and yunchao also allow you to buy fresh food online." staff members said that the core demand of consumers shopping in physical supermarkets is food consumption, especially fresh food, including vegetables, fruits, fresh fish and shrimp, beef, and pre-prepared dishes. "if you want to occupy the c position on the consumer shopping list, you have to know how to 'make it whole.'" a young consumer spent 29.9 yuan to buy a few pieces of packaged sashimi and shrimp.
zhao xuan, a professional manager engaged in research on the fresh food supermarket industry, looks at the current fresh food market this way: "in the industry, it is divided into two categories: traditional fresh food supermarkets and new retail fresh food supermarkets. today's fresh food supermarkets not only include general agricultural and sideline products such as vegetables, fruits, aquatic products, and grains, but also some strongly related products, such as processed foods and semi-processed foods."
many products entering large supermarkets and chain brand stores are marketed as “sourced from the place of origin”.
【explore】
industry and marketing
the competition behind the “fresh food craze”
by visiting physical supermarkets and some newly opened fresh food stores and browsing the online app products of fresh food e-commerce, the reporter found that "super low prices", "many discounts" and "coupon packages" have become the main products of stores in the "mid-autumn festival gift" fresh food track. these products that can fight a "price war" have covered products that improve the quality of life, such as baked goods and salmon, rather than simple standard products.
"this market situation also shows that the supply chain, product iteration, innovation and other capabilities behind fresh food retail companies have become the key to competition." wang mingyuan, who has been engaged in the operation of online platforms for fresh food brands for many years, introduced that fresh food products characterized by high losses, heavy investments and long chains are regarded as "the most difficult category to digitize." however, fresh food products have high repurchase rates, strong consumer stickiness and high user activity, which have attracted many brands to stick to this track.
on the morning of the 3rd, at a large fresh food store specializing in fruit in shizhong district, staff were promoting mid-autumn festival fruit gift box promotions.
according to zhang qisheng, the person in charge, although the products are sold at low prices, merchants and brands still have room for profit.
"due to various factors such as cold chain costs, the fulfillment costs of fresh food delivery are relatively high. in recent years, with the advancement of technology and the realization of economies of scale, these costs can be effectively reduced. the most important thing is that fresh food consumers have higher requirements for product quality, and these consumers can accept a relatively high customer unit price." zhang qisheng took blueberries as an example, "as a brand, we must not only focus on the planting end of blueberries, but also extend to all links in the upstream and downstream of the blueberry industry chain. we specialize in fresh fruits, and our goal is to integrate agricultural production factors with digital technology to create a full-chain digital solution covering fruit variety cultivation, planting and production, sorting and processing, cold chain warehousing and distribution, and brand marketing."
"if we don't make this change, we won't be able to adapt to the current market." he added that from meituan youxuan, jd cold chain to various live broadcast platforms, the fresh food track has been flooded with sales channels such as live broadcast rooms, cloud supermarkets, app orders, and community group purchases in recent years, which has led to the innovation of the marketing model of traditional fresh food products. "if we don't innovate, we may face the situation of not making money or even being eliminated by the market."
in fresh food stores, fresh ingredients are popular among consumers.
【future】
“fresh food branding”
grasping the trend is grasping survival
when it comes to the future of the fresh food sector, interviewees from offline farmers’ markets, convenience supermarkets, and community fruit and vegetable stores were deeply touched.
in such markets or stores visited by reporters, many merchants said that in the face of increasingly fierce competition in the online and offline fresh food industries, convenience supermarkets and community fruit and vegetable stores must work hard to find long-term ways to survive.
“a lot of fresh produce can be delivered directly to residents’ doorsteps. in a supermarket like ours, if the prices are a little higher, consumers may turn around and leave.” a merchant who runs a fruit and vegetable store said that in order to attract customers, they try to keep prices as low as possible while ensuring freshness.
while facing huge development space, practitioners in the fresh food industry are still solving various pain points.
many pre-prepared meals have entered fresh food chain stores.
"fresh food e-commerce should be combined with the application of technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence." zhang qisheng believes that fresh food e-commerce must have stronger technological innovation capabilities, improve product quality and service quality, and enhance consumers' shopping experience.
"consumers' demand for fresh food is growing, and their requirements for quality and taste are also getting higher and higher." industry insiders analyzed that for online sales of fresh food, due to the particularity of the cold chain, the delivery range will still be limited, and it is necessary to comprehensively consider multiple factors such as cold chain costs, delivery costs and prices acceptable to consumers.
wang dejin, a shandong fruit and vegetable dealer, said that in terms of consumer habits, future consumption will be dominated by young people. these consumers who grew up in the internet wave are more inclined to choose food that is convenient, fast, fresh and delicious. this has also given rise to greater commercial value in the online fresh food market. (reporter sun huijuan of jinan daily)
source: jinan daily
