250 million yuan of consumer coupons to be paid. What's wrong with this old online red shop?

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Product aging and insufficient innovation

Maybe it's the real reason why Klissin falls into trouble

Recently, the chain baking brand Christine was exposed to suspected operations. Almost all stores in Shanghai had suspended business, and the prepaid amount of not payment was as high as 250 million yuan.

This means that before many consumers have time to finish the prepaid coupon, they have been invalidated. Among them, some units purchase or recharge cards that are purchased early for employees' benefits, and they have not even had time to send them in the hands of employees.

Why is this chain bread brand that has survived in Shanghai for nearly 30 years, why is it going to the end?

250 million yuan to be redeemed

Krisine can be regarded as the memory of a generation of Shanghai people.

"Christine is an old brand. It is quite famous in Shanghai. When I was young, my parents would send it, and most of the time I bought it with coupons. His annual rotation, and coffee flavors of toasts. They are from snacks to big. "The native Shanghai Mena told China News Weekly.

According to the data, Krissetin's production and sales baking products since 1993 are one of the earliest baking companies to enter the Chinese market. In 2012, Klissin landed in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and was hailed as the "baking first share". During the heyday, Krissin had nearly a thousand stores in the country, more than half of which was located in Shanghai.

However, it is such a company that has recently fell into an abnormal business storm.

Krisine's official website shows that the brand currently has a total of 184 stores in Shanghai. Through the public comments software inquiries, the most stores in Shanghai in Shanghai are currently showing "suspension of business".

On July 20, according to the Shanghai prepaid card service platform, Christine's credit rating has been D, and the company's credit code is a red code, which has been included in the credit red warning unit. The credit grades of Shanghai single -purpose prepaid card are divided into five levels: A, B, C, D, and E. Among them, "D -level" indicates that "there is obvious credit signal to display the single -purpose prepaid card normal payment normal payment of uncertain factors or risks "".

Liu Yan worked in a state -owned enterprise in Shanghai. During the Spring Festival, the unit issued a 500 yuan Krissin cake card to each employee. "There is a Christine of Hanzhong Road Station near our family. Sometimes I will buy some bread for my family when I get off work."

March this year was Liu Yan's last time to Cletein. At that time, she heard that some stores had stopped business, so she wanted to spend it quickly. But there was nothing to buy in the store, and I only bought two packs of toast in the end. "After the epidemic was unblocked in June, the shop was closed. Now I regret that it should be spent at one time." Now Liu Yan's card has more than 100 yuan.

On July 21, Luo Tianan, the founder and shareholder of Christine, told the media, "As the founder of Klissine, the company that is almost 30 years is very distressed and very reluctant. Here I said sorry for all consumers, employees, suppliers, and stores. I didn't take care of this brand. "

According to Luo Tianan, the size of the prepaid consumer coupon to pay for Krissetin is about 250 million yuan. In his opinion, the hope of resumption of work is slim, because funds have been misappropriated elsewhere.

Figure/Krusten official website

On July 22, Shanghai Krusten Food Co., Ltd. issued the "Notice": "The new crown epidemic since 2020 brought a heavy blow to the operation of Klissin. It was stagnant for a time. "

As for whether the prepaid coupon that consumers are most concerned about can still be used, Christine also replied that the card coupon that expired during the epidemic period can still be used, but the premise is that the store resumes operations. "At present, the preparations for the re -work of the hand -made factory will be operated on August 1st."

After listing for 9 years after listing

Li Weihua, an associate professor at the Business School of China University of Political Science and Law, said that the prepaid card exists in many industries, including catering, retail, education and training, beauty and hairdressing, sports fitness, pastry baking, etc. One of the main reasons or benefits for the reason why companies adopt a prepaid card receipt and payment model is that they can get a large amount of cash flow in the short term and "stick" consumers at the same time.

In fact, Klissine has been keen to open a store since its establishment, and the opening of the store has high requirements for cash flow. It is understood that around 2000, Klissine was the only company in the baking industry to be close to thousands of chain stores, and the first 880 stores were all direct -operated stores, mostly in the golden section of the urban business district.

After the listing in 2012, Christine continued to promote a series of expansion plans: 41%of the fundraising income was used to open new stores, and 220 retail stores were opened within two years, involving capital expenditure of 125 million yuan, and the new store opened. To Hefei, Ma'anshan, and Shangqiu in Henan in Anhui.

However, the expansion did not achieve the expected effect of Klissine, but became a burden. According to the Cleussin's financial report, from 2013 to 2021, Krissin achieved revenue of 1.380 billion yuan, 1.253 billion yuan, 1.062 billion yuan, 926 million yuan, 805 million yuan, 664 million yuan, 552 million yuan, and 552 million yuan. 404 million yuan and 292 million yuan; net profit was -37.415 million yuan, -151 billion yuan, -148 million yuan, -121 million yuan, -129 million yuan, -232 million yuan, -224 million yuan, -1.100 100 million yuan and -170 million yuan. Along with the performance of the performance, there are also stores that continue to close. According to 2019-2021, Krissin closed 117, 99, and 55 stores. According to the narrow door meal eye data, the number of Krissin brand stores is currently 279, less than one -third of the peak.

Regarding the reasons for the decline in performance, Christine explained in this annual report: In 2021, the epidemic of new crown pneumonia continued to spread, which has a greater impact on various industries, especially the consumer industry, and consumer confidence is still to be boosted. The company actively adjusted the production and sales strategy and responded to the adverse effects of the epidemic, but due to the consumption environment, the annual revenue still declined. At the same time, during the reporting period, it continued to implement the strategy of closing the losing money store and closed 55 stores, and the reduction of stores' overall overall affecting annual revenue. In addition, the company actively tries to transform the traditional marketing model, but it takes a certain period of time due to the brand's revitalization and the spreading exhibition of new sales channels, which also affects revenue.

Zhu Danpeng, vice chairman of the Guangdong Food Safety Promotion Association, analyzed to China News Weekly that scale expansion is an important means for chain companies to achieve revenue growth, but Krissetin's expansion timing is wrong. "At that time, the trend of consumption upgrades had not been fully emerged. The consumption level of the sinking market was difficult to match the high price of Christine. Therefore, the situation of 'soil and water is not convinced'. It would be much better if it expanded after 2018."

Krisine has also tried to transform and upgrade. In 2014, the company stated that the newly upgraded stores adopted a variety of business models to integrate breakfast, light dining, afternoon tea and other models. At the same time, stores have also added leisure seat area, new product series and leisure atmosphere explained the different ideas and new business models of the company and the past. But this move did not promote the recovery of performance.

Insufficient product aging and innovation

In Mina's view, the reason why Klissine could rise that year was more because of the dividend of the times. "When I was a kid, there were not many choices. The old brands of Shanghai on Christine, Commander Kai, and rubies. Now there are more new brands, and they do not have competitiveness, and the taste is not as good as many products now."

The domestic baking industry has risen in the 1980s and has flourished between 2000 and 2010. Ai Media Consultation data shows that the size of the Chinese baked goods market in 2021 was about 260.8 billion yuan, a year -on -year increase of 19.9%, and it is expected that the scale of the Chinese baked goods market in 2023 will further increase to 306.99 billion yuan.

Under the huge market potential, the market has ushered in a good opportunity, and a large number of new brands have emerged. Nai Xue and Lele Tea, which started with tea, are even more popular than their own tea drinks; driven by the national tide, new Chinese cakes such as Huntou Bureau, Mo Mo Dim Sum, and Luoxi River are young. Consumers favors; more brands are focusing on subdivided tracks, such as Xuan Mom's egg yolk crispy, Akoko cookie and so on.

However, there are still only a handful of baking companies that truly realize brand chain and large -scale. The narrow door meal eye data shows that there are only one brand with more than 1,000 brands in western dotted stores in my country, and the industry is still in a state of "small, scattered, weak".

While the baking industry is on the rise, the inside of the industry is becoming more intense. Meituan takeaway data shows that the elimination rate of baking stores in 2021 reached 23.77%. In recent years, many well -known baking brands such as 85 degrees C, Yizhi Duo, Donghai Hall, and Food's Mystery have begun to go downhill, or closing a shop for layoffs, or closed down.

Zhu Danpeng said that my country is vast and it is difficult to have a variety of tastes. In addition, the entry threshold for the baking industry is low, which leads to high homogeneity, which further exacerbates industry competition.

Behind the crisis of Krisine is a major problem in front of all traditional baking brands: how to re -embrace young consumers?

In Zhu Danpeng's view, under the continuous request of the consumption side, if the baking brand wants to have the right to speak in the market, on the one hand, it is necessary to improve the integrity and product quality of the industrial chain, and on the other hand In this way, we can maintain customer stickiness and meet the requirements of the new generation of consumers. "On the other hand, Krissin does not have much innovation iterative iteration, away from mainstream consumer groups."

According to Liu Yan, from the perspective of the product menu, Krusten's bread and cake style are relatively old. They are still based on Tiramisu, creamy small squares, mousse cakes and egg tarts. In recent years Although the bags are provided, there are not many styles. In addition, Christine rarely markets in the way young people like, such as Xiaohongshu and Douyin.

On August 1, Christine's announcement was getting closer and closer.However, Li Weihua said that even if the store can be reopened, Krissetin is hard to say.Due to the storm, consumers who hold prepaid coupons are likely to concentrate on paying. Even if they use products to pay, it is not small for enterprises."The income of prepaid coupons may have been digested, and enterprises may not have cash subsequent reserves or inflows, so it may further increase the capital burden of the enterprise." Author: [email protected])

Edit: Li Zhiquan

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