(Wen / Chen Kuangran)

When it comes to membership stores, Chao Sam, an American warehouse membership merchant who entered China in the mid-1990s, is probably the first representative that Chinese people can think of. Due to the large quantity, high quality and low cost of goods, paid membership stores targeting the middle class have increasingly become popular with many domestic consumer groups.

Last August, another American warehouse membership store giantCOSTCOLanding in Shanghai triggered a frenzy among the local people, and at one point it was forced to take measures to limit the flow on the day of business. Only three days after opening, the number of members registered exceeded 100000. Less than a year after the first store opened, COSTCO announced months ago that it would open new stores in Shanghai, Suzhou, Shenzhen and Hangzhou.

Veteran Sam has also accelerated the pace of store opening this year, opening two new member stores in Ningbo and Kunshan in the first half of the year, and three more stores in Chengdu, Hangzhou and Chongqing in the second half of the year. You know, from the first store in China in 1996 to last year, the number of Sam's Club Store in China was only 26 in more than 20 years.

Although the warehouse membership system is becoming more and more popular in the domestic market, it is a pity that there are no Chinese brands in this track. Some analysts believe that the success of membership stores depends on brand awareness, strong funds and a sound supply chain system, and there are very few domestic enterprises that can meet the three aspects.

However, recently, the new domestic retail representative Box Horse announced that it will officially operate its new business type Box Horse X member store in Shanghai on National Day. The first store is located on the B1 floor of Senlan Shangdu Center in Pudong, Shanghai, covering an area of 18000 square meters, using warehouse shelves and integrated online and offline operation.

It is reported that it only took more than 4 months for the X member store to choose its location and decide to open for business. In such a short time, why do we have to shoulder the member store giants Sam and COSTCO in front of us? why does the new species box horse have the strength to come from? With such doubts, Sina Finance and other media visited the X member store on the eve of its business, and communicated with Zhao Jiayu, the national general manager of box horse merchandise purchasing and selling.

Support from the government of Pudong New area

As a new retail enterprise that focuses on online and offline integration, especially online dominance. The operation model of the box horse is quite in line with the policy to promote the development of the online economy launched in Shanghai in the first half of this year.

In April this year, the General Office of the Shanghai Municipal Government issued the Shanghai Action Plan for promoting online New Economic Development (2020-2022) (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan"). The plan points out that by 2022, Shanghai will be built into a highland for the development of the new online economy with international influence and a leading position in China. In the key areas of online economic development mentioned in the plan, there is fresh e-commerce retail.

"it took us only four months to complete the Hema X member store from the site selection to the current model of such a store, which is inseparable from the policy environment of Shanghai municipal efficient service enterprises." Zhao Jiayu revealed that the Box Horse X member store has received strong support from the Pudong New area District Party Committee and the district government, and the government's tolerance for innovative formats has enabled the box horse to spread its legs to do a lot of innovative research and development.

In fact, all the formats of Box Horse Xiansheng, Box Horse mini, Box pony and so on are first hatched in Shanghai, and then promoted to the whole country. In this process, the Shanghai municipal government has given a lot of support.

It is reported that in 2016, Ma Xiansheng openedPudong Golden BridgeBecause of the integration of supermarkets, takeout, logistics, catering and other industries, it was once difficult to apply for a food hygiene license or a food and beverage license. For this reason, the Shanghai Municipal Government has taken the initiative to innovate the supervision mode and try out the "integration of two certificates", which has greatly accelerated the progress of the project.

All formats share a common supply system

Although it only took more than 4 months to complete the location of the box horse X member store, as the representative of the new retail, the box horse has worked for nearly 5 years around the innovation of the retail format of eating, and has tried many kinds of business models, such as box horse Xiansheng, box horse mini, box pony and so on, and has a relatively mature supply chain system.

Although there are some differences between Box Horse X member store and these formats in store scale, time period and consumption scene, they share the same supply system behind them.

"whether it is the X member store of Box Horse, the Yuncang store, the O2O store or the fresh store, it is a plate of goods in the whole supply chain system." Zhao Jiayu said that the biggest difference between us and Sam or COSTCO is that Sam andWal-MartAlthough it is a group company, it is two sets of goods and two sets of operating systems.

Some people in the industry said that sharing a system may have certain advantages in cost, such as reducing the operating cost of personnel. However, the advantage of using the two systems is that the style division of the selection will be more reasonable, so it is not easy to judge which is good or bad for the time being.

It is understood that in addition to the integration of the supply system, the user ecology of box horse operation is also integrated. At present, there are a total of 500000 paying members registered in Shanghai for Box Horse App. In fact, 500000 of the paying users are also users of X member Store, that is, the members of Box Ma Xiansheng and the members of Box Horse X member Store are universal.

Box Horse said that 500000 of the users have a very high stickiness, every month there are nearly 9 times of high-frequency repurchase capacity and consumption capacity.

"Today, we have opened online channels, offline channels, member channels, community channels, but from the perspective of box horse, the core of the retail end is that we operate the same group of users." Zhao Jiayu said that the member users of the box horse come entirely from the existing user ecology, and the box horse only serves his different life scenes and different time scenes, which is very different from the traditional retail.

Know more about the Chinese stomach

"compared with the international giants in this track, we know more about the Chinese stomach and have more local characteristics." Zhao Jiayu believes that compared with COSTCO, Box Horse still places great emphasis on the needs of the Chinese people in making local selections.

It is understood that the supply chain of Box Horse covers 84 countries around the world, and the first X member store in Shanghai accounts for more than 40% of its own goods, and launched its own brand "Box Horse Max". These products include not only American pistachios, Peruvian blueberries and other global direct-harvested products, but also the strong Shanghai flavor of old Shanghai Butterfly Cookies, Chongming rice, fresh meat and diced bamboo shoots and so on.

"when we start business, we will also have a lot of handmade products, lo mei products and cooked food products." Zhao Jiayu believes that traditional stores may rely on a roast chicken to win all over the world, but for the Chinese people, we want a table of dishes, not a chicken. Today, the research and development of the merchandise end of the box horse has taken into account a very local category route.

In addition to adding some local elements to the category, box horses specialize in customizing products at the source in order to pursue the quality and performance-to-price ratio of member stores. For example, 10% of overseas goods are purchased directly from foreign factories to the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, which can be cleared into the store quickly, eliminating the links of intermediate wholesalers, traders and importers, and reducing logistics and procurement costs.

In addition, the Box Horse X member store has also expanded the scope of online distribution to cover more than 20 kilometers around the store for the first time, through the distributed warehousing of existing stores, using two ways of car direct delivery and distribution station connection to achieve "half-day delivery".

"We are also slowly walking out of 3 kilometers to see if there is a more efficient way to cover more member users." Zhao Jiayu said.

October 1 of this year is not only the Mid-Autumn Festival but also the National Day. Box Horse X member store is chosen to open on this day, which is quite symbolic. as the first member store of the national brand, it is really worth looking forward to whether it can find a way out in the face-to-face confrontation with the international giants.