Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Xinshe
With the semi-annual economic reports of China in the first half of this year, the contribution rate of consumption to economic growth has gradually emerged. Among them, new retail has become a new bright spot to lead residents’ consumption upgrading and a new kinetic energy to promote local economic development. The industry predicts that new retail sales will maintain rapid growth in the next few years and become an important driving force for sustained consumption growth. However, new retail also faces many "pain points" in the development process. How to solve these "pain points" determines how far new retail can go in the future.
New Retail Promotes Offline Consumption
In recent years, various emerging consumption forms in China’s consumer market have been developing continuously, which has opened up a new space for residents’ consumption upgrading. For example, opening up online and offline sales, using artificial intelligence and big data to innovate consumption scenarios, and launching "minute-level" distribution logistics services, etc. These new retail models that emphasize online and offline integration are revitalizing the retail industry in various places and getting "likes" from local economic semi-annual reports.
New retail has become a new force to promote the development of consumption integration. According to the Economic Operation of Hangzhou in the First Half of 2018 released by the Hangzhou Municipal Bureau of Statistics in late July, the total retail sales of consumer goods in Hangzhou in the first half of this year was 267.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.0%. Among them, the new model of "fresh supermarket+catering" represented by box horse fresh students is very popular. At the same time, the retail sales of major electrical stores and supermarkets also rose sharply year-on-year.
"Guangzhou Economic Operation in the First Half of 2018" believes that the new retail model has promoted the development and growth of new kinetic energy. Box horse fresh life, super species, etc. settled in Guangzhou, and new retail formats such as Tmall unmanned car vending machines opened in Guangzhou, which promoted the online and offline integration development of local retail industry.
According to the semi-annual report of Beijing economy, in the first half of this year, online retail sales of wholesale and retail enterprises above designated size in Beijing increased by 22%. Among them, the convenience service model such as "new convenience store+smart container+box unmanned store" represented by convenience bee has been widely welcomed by consumers.
The integration of new retail and physical industries is boosting the latter’s recovery. According to the data released by the Ministry of Commerce, in the first half of this year, the growth rate of convenience stores, supermarkets, department stores and other entities in China accelerated, with sales increasing by 7.6%, 4.5% and 1.6% respectively. Gao Feng, a spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce, believes that this is mainly due to the efforts of retail enterprises to improve the quality and efficiency of supply from four aspects: first, to develop quality retail, and enterprises will return to the essence of retail by changing modes, improving quality and excellent service; The second is to develop cross-border retail, innovate scenes, enrich content and enhance experience for different consumer groups; The third is to develop smart retail and enhance the shopping experience; The fourth is to develop green retail and promote circular development. The concept of green development is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
Experts said that in the era of digital economy, online and offline integration of new retail has great development potential, which will inject new vitality into China’s consumption growth and economic development.
New ideas promote model innovation
Why does new retail become the "fragrant cake" in the semi-annual reports of local economies? The key lies in the innovation of its technology and mode.
In recent years, some new retail enterprises have achieved remarkable results in using information technology to reconstruct the data of "people, goods and fields" in traditional convenience stores. For example, through artificial intelligence and face recognition technology, convenience stores can grasp consumers’ consumption trends more accurately; Through the real-time data analysis of the system, the convenience store goods update faster and the supply chain and logistics system are more efficient; Through the network format management and real-time monitoring of stores, the operational efficiency of convenience stores has been improved.
The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed to promote the deep integration of the real economy and the Internet economy. The person in charge of a new retail enterprise believes that the key is to realize the integration of ideas, talents, capital and technology, among which the integration of ideas is the most fundamental. Only with the concept of attaching importance to the individual needs of each user can we finally achieve the "thousands of stores and thousands of faces" of convenience stores.
Consumption upgrading is also an important reason for the growth of new retail. Statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics show that in the first half of this year, the contribution rate of China residents’ final consumption expenditure to economic growth was 78.5%. In 2017, the total retail sales of social consumer goods in China maintained double-digit growth for the 14th consecutive year. At the same time, a series of recent policies to expand imports and promote consumption have also accelerated the pace of consumption upgrading.
According to insiders, convenience stores are very mature in some countries and regions, and there is huge room for growth of convenience stores in China. In the context of consumption upgrading, convenience stores need to be greatly improved in both quantity and quality.
New opportunities call for accelerated integration
Nowadays, new retail is becoming a weather vane for the development of e-commerce, retail, logistics, commercial real estate and many other industries. Internet giants such as Alibaba, Tencent, JD.COM and Suning are actively deploying.
For example, Alibaba invested in Box Ma Xiansheng and adopted the business model of "online e-commerce+offline stores"; Tencent teamed up with Yonghui Supermarket to try to get through online and offline operations; JD.COM plans to open 1 million convenience stores nationwide within five years; Suning opened the Suning store into the community street.
Then, in the new retail category, how can e-commerce and offline enterprises change from simply selling goods to serving the internal needs of consumers in the new era as soon as possible?
According to industry insiders, the essence of new retail is to transform the retail industry with technology, reduce costs and increase benefits, but at present, the industries involved in new retail are still facing many "pain points". Take chain stores as an example, even the world-class chain convenience stores are facing problems such as insufficient digitalization and insufficient model innovation in the information age. How to solve the "pain point" will determine how far new retail can go in the future.
Industry insiders suggest that new retailers should seize the opportunity of consumption upgrading and practice the four-word formula of "good, fast, more and less". "Good" means to provide users with better goods and consumption experience; "Fast" means convenient service efficiency, and it is necessary to innovate with new convenience stores, smart containers and other formats to open up "sales — Transportation — Production "information chain, and strive to achieve customer shopping" take and go "; "Multi" refers to the rich categories of goods, and it is necessary to establish a full-product class library, intelligently distribute it to stores according to terminal data, and optimize the display; "Province" means reducing costs by improving operational efficiency.
"In short, the integration of new retail and traditional industries in the future should be based on Internet technology and big data drive, and do a good job in technological innovation and model innovation. In this way, new retail must be promising. " Experts said.