He Chang of Sina Technology

Since the second half of this year, there have been frequent movements of box horses. After the steps of large-scale replication of box horse mini and box pony, box horse has hatched a "new species"-- box horse X member store.

Box Horse defines it as "the new retail format of online and offline integrated membership system". Like the birthplace of its existing innovative formats, the first Box Horse X member store, located in Shanghai, covers an area of 18000 square meters and uses warehouse shelves covering more than 20 kilometers around the store, which can achieve "half-day" online distribution.

Hou Yi, president of the box horse, once mentioned on Wechat moments that the box horse X club is the first project in China to match Costco and Sam. Although compared with the latter two big brothers, the box horse X club is still a newborn, but the time of the same competition is coming-- the first box horse X club will officially open on October 1st. Now, it is waiting for users to arrive and is also looking forward to competing with international giants.

Merchandise SKU about 1500

Before the official opening of the Box Horse X member store, Sina Technology visited the store. Although some of the shelves are still vacant,

From the goods that have been put on the shelves and the signs in the store, we can see that the products of the Box Horse X member store cover many categories, such as aquatic products, meat, wine, snack food, flowers, daily necessities and so on.

According to the box horse, the first X member store builds goods around "eating" and relies on the supply chain resources of 84 countries around the world. at present, there are about 1500 SKU of goods in the store, of which self-owned goods account for more than 40%, and direct purchases account for nearly 10%. Take Evian, one of the imported direct water from Hema as an example, Hema is connected to the source of the brand supply chain, and through the supply chain network managed by Hema, it can go directly to the Shanghai Free Trade Zone from foreign factories, and can be cleared into the store quickly. without intermediate wholesalers, traders and importers, logistics costs and procurement costs can be reduced by 15% and 20% respectively, ensuring low prices.

In addition, its own brand "Box Horse Max" is more prominent, involving not only global direct-picked products such as American pistachios and Peruvian blueberries, but also local flavor goods such as Chongming rice, fresh meat and diced bamboo shoots. Zhao Jiayu, general manager of box horse merchandise procurement and sales, believes that in addition to purchasing, we can also use it to promote research and development according to consumer demand. "We have been talking about commodity power and buyer system, and the core is to find the best goods for consumers and whether we can establish purchasing standards for some industries that do not have standards."

Unlike other contestants on the track, Box Horse X Club introduced freshness. "We know more about the Chinese stomach, so the goods in the X member store have the attribute of localization." Zhao Jiayu said.

It is worth mentioning that the Box Horse X member store uses two kinds of distribution methods: car delivery to home and distribution station connection. Yang Yifei, head of the Box Horse Logistics Planning Project, showed on the scene a special distribution box with ice plates used to insulate refrigerated and frozen goods, which were distributed by refrigerated vehicles, while the connection was first delivered by refrigerated trucks to stores, and secondary distribution was completed by distributors in stores.

"one plate" and integration

From the site selection to completion, the first Box Horse X member store took only four months. However, as early as 2018, the "Box Horse X member" program began to test the waters in Shanghai and was introduced to Beijing, Xi'an, Chengdu and other places in 2019. According to the data provided by Box Horse, the current number of Shanghai X members is close to 500000-they are high-frequency repurchase users who spend about nine times a month.

Talking about the role of the X member store in the box horse system, Zhao Jiayu said in an interview with Sina Technology that no matter the X member store or the box Ma Xiansheng store, it is rich in entrepreneurial formats, but it uses a unified supply chain system and is "a plate of goods." "the biggest difference between us and Costco and Sam is that Sam and Walmart IncAlthough it is a group company, it is two sets of goods and belongs to two sets of operating systems. "

Another point is the ecological difference between users, which Zhao Jiayu describes as "integration". In her view, whether online channels, offline channels, or member channels, community channels, from the point of view of box horse, the operation is actually the same group of users, but the life scene and time scene of the service have changed.

Hou Yi has said that the new retail 2.0 will be an integrated supply chain system as the core, supporting online and offline omni-channel operation and sales, in the new retail 2.0 era, the needs of users can be met anytime and anywhere. Zhao Jiayu also believes that box horses are touching offline multi-scenes and online multi-ports through various formats, and its essence is an insight into consumer behavior. Through the collation and analysis of these consumer insights, it will help to push back the landing of C2M goods.

Cui Lili, executive director of the Electronic Commerce Research Institute of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, analyzed to Sina that Hema X member stores can open up cross-border product sales based on existing data and supply chain capabilities. Not only that, what she values more is that the box horse can use the existing big data to explore more new consumer products, screen out new consumer segments, and further enrich the shopping scene.

The imagination space of the future

The core competitiveness of warehouse member stores is commodities, but not just commodities. But Zhao Jiayu revealed that at present, the box horse X member store does not consider the profit problem, the most concern is the creation of paid member rights and interests. She told Sina Technology that there is still more room for expansion of membership rights and interests.

One of them is the ratio of performance to price. Zhao Jiayu stressed that it is necessary to ensure that the most favorable price strategy is introduced to members throughout the channel. On the other hand, it is also important to lead the consumption and the attitude towards life, which is also reflected in the support for the expansion of emerging commodities. She pointed out that things like detergent and dishwashing liquid, which are not first-tier products in many traditional stores, may be expanded as a cost-effective brand line in member stores to refine their operations and encourage users to improve their lives. In other words, how to create consumption upgrading is regarded as a very important point.

Compared with Costco and Sam, one of the major advantages of Box Horse X member store is the understanding of users, is localization, but if you want to fight "arm wrestling", Box Horse must be prepared for a protracted war. After all, member stores need brand loyalty and identity, and can not just be seen as a platform, and whether it is the continuous improvement of users' loyalty to the brand or commodity ability, it will take time.

Hou Yi hopes to improve the ability of Hema itself quickly and efficiently in the face-to-face confrontation with Costco and Sam. In his eyes, Hema's goal is to become a world-class enterprise rooted in Shanghai and constantly broaden the boundaries and imagination of China's new retail. "We have no hesitation and have been working hard for this goal."