Is the unmanned retail recovery, is it a gold track or a pseudo -air outlet?

Recently, new actions have emerged in the unmanned retail market.

According to media reports, the domestic unmanned retail leader company Youbao online officially submitted the prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The Vitality Forest has also recently established a retail business center to exert offline channels by adding intelligent retail cabinets ... various trends, or new changes in the industry.

What is the unmanned retail industry now? Where are there any places worth paying attention to? In this regard, the reporter sorted out and interviewed.

Why did the wind fall without a retail that turned off quickly?

Unmanned retail was also a darling of capital, and once went to the wind.

It was recognized as the first year of unmanned retail in 2017. According to the industry data in the second half of the year, more than 30 companies in the industry received more than 3 billion yuan in financing, including Internet giants including Ali, Meituan and JD.com. However, in 2018, the news of the daily fresh and fresh convenience purchase, fruit Xiaomei, orangutan convenience, and seven Koala have reported the news of layoffs, withdrawals, and closing shops. Medium players represented by the frog are used The acquisition and other forms were selected to exit. Si Jianghua, the co -founder of the orangutan convenience, predicts that with the withdrawal of some players, in 2018, the war of unmanned retail will end. However, four years have passed, and unmanned retail tracks have not returned to life.

Recently, Beijing's largest unmanned retail operator Beijing Youbao Online Technology Co., Ltd. officially submitted a prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange to plan to Hong Kong Main Board IPO. According to the news of the Internet, this time it was not the first time that Youbao was seeking listing online. On February 24, 2016, Youbao Online was listed on the New Third Board, and then delisted on March 12, 2019. The company also sprinted GEM, but ended the GEM listing plan on February 25, 2021. According to the prospectus, from 2020 to 2021, Youbao's online cumulative loss of nearly 1.4 billion yuan.

What happened to the unmanned retail track that year, and the flameout was so fast?

"Unmanned retail is a good model, but after capital entry, it has been broken by unlimited subsidies and vicious competition." Jiang Haibing, an angel investor of the collar frog.

"When unmanned retail just appeared, many companies saw the financing and listing opportunities behind the new concept, but some of them had not even done the retail industry. There were problems with the design of the early investment and operation model. Expansion of the scale is the fundamental reason for the large -scale collapse of the enterprise. "Lai Yang, chief expert of the research base of Beijing International Trade Center, told a reporter from the China City Daily," Many companies have started a plan and started to raise funds. There are a lot of money. After the hot money, you buy a large number of equipment and shops, and focus on the indicators that investors such as market share such as market share. The pursuit of scale effects and dispersing cloth points will lead to high operating difficulty and high maintenance costs. It is difficult to achieve profitability. "

Those who follow the entry of the consumer venue to enter the offline channel

"The unmanned shelves in the office have become more, and I want to drink drinks temporarily, just scan the code and open the door to get it." Beijing white -collar workers in Beijing found that the unmanned shelves in life have become more. "Recently, it has been hot. The store needs to go downstairs. In order to take a few steps, I am willing to bear the premium of 1 yuan to 2 yuan. "

In fact, unmanned retail scenes are almost everywhere. The reporter learned that there are retail demand for some people with the flow of people who are not too dense, such as offices, gyms, office buildings, etc. Consumers can simply use mobile phones to scan the code to buy goods, which is consistent with the popularity of mobile payment. However, the cost of opening a convenience store is too high, and an unmanned sales machine just saves labor costs and rent costs.

The iteration of unmanned retail is also related to technological progress. The relevant analysis report of Guotai Junan Securities shows that no cash payment, no contact with shopping and better storage conditions have improved shopping interaction experience, and big data analysis, visual recognition, and artificial intelligence technology have significantly improved operating efficiency.

At present, large players who enter the game can be divided into three types. The first category is to focus on unmanned retail companies, such as Youbao, Convenience Bee, etc.; , Nongfu Spring, etc.; And the third category is cross -border players, such as Feng E full food launched by SF. The above analysis report shows that China's unmanned retail industry is decentralized and there are thousands of market participants, most of which are local small individual operators.

Big players have deeply cultivated channels in recent years and have frequent actions. Feng E sufficient food completed 300 million yuan in Series A financing in February this year, and once again increased unmanned retail; Ruixing Coffee layout unmanned retail coffee machine; Daily Youxian acquired "downstairs"; Nongfu Shanquan in more than 300 nationwide Nearly 60,000 smart terminal retail equipment was put on the city, and some combined sales machines were renamed "Nongfu Spring Sesame Store"; Bubble Mate was even more radical, layout a large number of "robot stores" and "pumping machines", only robots, only robots There are already nearly 2,000 stores.

"The brand bypasses the intermediate channel, extends to a place closer to consumers, and obtains greater profit margin, which is equivalent to‘ win on the starting line ’.” Industry insiders said.

Market prospects Unsurable retail direction to refine cultivation

There are more and more market participants who plan to enter the market, and competition will intensify in the future. Emma Consulting data shows that the sales scale of unmanned retail will reach nearly 2 trillion yuan by 2025, and the consumer groups covered by unmanned retail will also reach 250 million people.

It is worth noting that retail channels close to consumers. Will unmanned retail machines replace each other with community stores? "This is not an alternative, but a supplement." Lai Yang believes that "enough consumer group radius can maintain the survival of the community stores, and the radiation radius is greater, because there are labor and rent and other costs. No one selling machines selling machines. However, you can go deep into many scenarios, capture more subtle consumer needs in places with a small amount of traffic, and even unmanned vending machines can operate and maintain from nearby community convenience stores and couples What does this indicate that unmanned retail machines are selected for the order? "Business has its own logic, and it is difficult to make a balance between the lowest operating cost and the best yield, otherwise it will be difficult to make a profit." Lai Yang said that after the company no longer "burn money", it gradually returns to normal operational thinking and goes. The possibility of long -term is also higher.

New retail expert Bao Yuezhong told the media that Youbao's online impact on the IPO revealed that there is still much room for development in the future of unmanned containers.

"This round of unmanned retail development is fundamentally different from the previous round. Enterprises pay more attention to cost reduction and efficiency. It is not to open a new business from scratch, but to carry out in -depth planning of the operating model. Based on its own advantages, it will reduce the cost of operation and maintenance, and more refined cultivation, rather than simply hype concepts. "Lai Yang said.

■ China City News Reporter: Fang Ziwei

- END -