Source of this article: time Finance and Economics author: Xu Xiaoqian

Sharing portable battery, there are new changes in the war situation.

On July 13th, it was rumored that Meituan shared portable battery's head elevation and recently left to join the entrepreneurial team, and many BD in this department have been transferred to Meituan's preferred position. At the same time, 33 self-operated cities of Meituan were picked up by agents.

However, the relevant person in charge of Meituan told time Finance that the above rumors were false reports by the media. Another agent Meituan portable battery told time Finance that there was no such thing as the departure of the person in charge.

However, in a further interview, time Finance found that it was true that Meituan and portable battery's self-operated city was taken over by an agent. The agents who take over can get the lowest equipment prices in history, but only if they pack all the proprietary locations in the city.

The agent accepts the offer at a low price and needs to pack the self-supporting points of the whole city.

"the agent who picked up Meituan and portable battery is going to become cannon fodder. At present, Meituan's main attack direction has turned to taxi hailing and group buying." Huihui, which has been engaged in sharing portable battery industry for three years, sighed to the times of finance and economics on July 14.

Although Meituan denied it, the news still spread widely in the circle. According to statistics provided by sources in previous media reports, Meituan and portable battery are giving up their own positions and handing them over to agents to take over the operation. At present, 33 cities, including Tianjin, Chongqing, Hangzhou, Xi'an, Harbin, Changchun and Changsha, have been transferred to agents and payments have been received because of their low market share.

On July 14, time Finance saw that Xiao Kai, a channel manager of Meituan portable battery, announced a national Meituan portable battery "low transfer" project on Wechat moments, with more than 100, 000 self-supporting sites waiting to be transferred.

Xiao Kai said frankly that the direct reason for the transfer of self-supporting points is the great operational pressure in some areas. "in the past, these points were self-operated by Meituan. An internal salesperson usually has to manage and maintain hundreds of equipment in a city. If the company expands its own team, the entire operating cost will increase a lot. Letting the agent take over is tantamount to having more promoters, which is more conducive to the development of the entire business." Xiao Kai told time Finance.

According to the rules laid down by Meituan, the price of the equipment will be linked to the quantity purchased by the agent. for example, when there are more than 100 units, the unit price of the equipment is 850 yuan, no more than 100 units, and the unit price is 900 yuan. On the other hand, the price sold at the self-supporting point is even lower, and the resale price of a piece of equipment is only 800 yuan, provided that the agent must cover all the self-supporting points in the city.

Compared with the average equipment price of 1000 yuan per unit on other platforms, the terms offered by Meituan are not small temptations for agents.

Judging from a set of preferential policy materials provided by Xiao Kai to time Finance, the proportion of profits distributed by Meituan to agents is more than 90%. If the monthly flow of a single cabinet exceeds 2000 yuan, it will be divided into 100% of profits, which means that the profits are all shared by merchants and agents. "for the business side, another advantage of choosing to stay in Meituan portable battery is that it can increase the exposure of resident merchants, that is to say, those who settle in Meituan to share portable battery will have more high-quality takeout search recommendation positions." Xiao Kai said.

Meituan is not short of money, but he is late.

From sharing portable battery's big battle to the initial formation of the market competition pattern, Meituan's layout came long overdue. In fact, Meituan joined the game to share portable battery as early as 2017, but he was called off because his earnings fell short of expectations. At the beginning of 2020, Meituan restarted the business of sharing portable battery.

Meituan's move still follows the strategy of "high frequency and low frequency". Because of its own traffic base, Meituan can quickly occupy a certain market without spending a lot of money on user subsidies. Portable battery's business can also guide hotel tour guides and catering takeout in the future.

Sharing bicycles, online car-hailing, shopping... Meituan is committed to building a "borderless" platform for local life.

"Meituan's entry is equivalent to a dimension reduction blow, and its offline channel has adopted an ultra-low score, or even no share strategy. In particular, I promote the second-tier brand, there is not much room for survival. " After Meituan entered the arena, Huihui felt obvious pressure.

In April 2020, shortly after Meituan entered the market, a businessman said bluntly to time Finance: "the takeout and cash register in the store are all left to Meituan. We dare not use Meituan and portable battery. We don't spend money anyway."

Internet observer Yin Sheng once said publicly that as the largest local life service platform in China, Meituan has established a good connection with businesses and users. Meituan's high brand awareness helps him to promote offline. This is its advantage in portable battery's business.

In the net economic and social-e-commerce research center life services e-commerce analyst Chen Liteng, profit is not Meituan's primary goal. "Meituan can realize the offline conversion of users' online traffic through the layout of portable battery business, enhance the number of daily active users and brand influence of App, and improve the value of 'single guest'." Chen Liteng told time Finance on July 15.

However, Meituan's existing advantages did not put him in the top position of sharing portable battery. During the two-year absence of Meituan, the shared portable battery market has formed a competitive pattern of "three electricity and one beast" (small electricity, street electricity, incoming calls, monsters). According to data from Ai Media Consulting, the market share of the four companies has reached 96.7%.

According to the Industry Research report of China shared portable battery in the first half of 2019, Street Power ranked first in the industry with 40.5% of the share of users of China's shared 2019 in the first half of 2019, while small Electric Technology and Monster charging ranked second and third, respectively. By 2021, monster charging will be at the forefront, ranking first with a market share of 36.4%, according to a report from Euromonitor International.

The "golden age" is no longer, second-tier agents used to earn 60,000 a month.

Yezi, an agent for Sodian and Meituan portable battery in a second-tier city, felt the pressure to share portable battery's revenue from the end of the sale.

Of the 500 sets of equipment laid by Yezi, Meituan accounts for only 20%, with a price of 1000 yuan each. "Last year, Meituan entered the local market. I also thought about laying out a few hundred more equipment. Later, I found that the money was no longer so easy to make, so I was much more cautious."

Yoko, who joined the Bureau to share portable battery in 2019, was already a lucky one, and it took him only half a year to recover the cost. "when the market was at its best, the book could earn 60,000 yuan a month, but now it has missed the golden stage of being an agent, and there are agents who want to withdraw and change hands every month."

Recently, Yezi put two sets of equipment in a store in the local clothing mall, and the revenue was only 37 yuan a week later.

The agents interviewed unanimously attributed the business pain point to the sharing pressure with the merchants: "the internal competition is very fierce, and in the early days, we can basically achieve 50-50% of the profits, but now the agents can get up to 30% of the profits. Agents and businesses are constantly testing each other's bottom line."

Huihui added: "the share of high-end bars, business circles and KTV may exceed 90%, and some portable battery enterprises will win the exclusive cooperation of high-end consumer places at high prices."

Soon after a new business in Shanghai, a digital facade of a shopping mall was placed with Monster and Meituan portable battery. The shopkeeper revealed to time Finance, "now, the two brands are split between 30% and 7% (the store collects 70%). If the efficiency of the store is good, merchants will have a strong say, and they can talk to agents about 20% or 8%." According to the shopkeeper, the revenue of one piece of equipment per month in the store is only maintained at about 300 yuan.

Agents continue to transfer the proportion, behind which is the dispute over the channels and points of sharing portable battery. As a terminal channel, merchants have the greatest value in the whole industry chain, because the passenger flow in different scenes and different locations directly affects the flow of portable battery.

When competition within the industry tends to be fierce, and sharing portable battery's high dependence on offline channels, several major brands have to raise prices to maintain profits.

On July 14, time Finance visited several landmark scenic spots such as Shanghai Lujiazui and Nanjing West Road and found that the rental prices of Monster, small Power, Street Power and Meituan are generally 5 yuan / hour or 6 yuan / hour. Compared with the fee of 1 yuan per hour when it first entered the market, it increased by 5-6 times.

The financial data of several companies also reveal the awkward situation of sharing portable battery. According to the prospectus, small Power's distribution and marketing spending reached 1.472 billion yuan in 2020, up 40 per cent from a year earlier. From 2019 to 2020, the annual entrance fee of small Power Technology soared from 141 million yuan to 302 million yuan, up 114.5 percent from the same period last year, and the sharing fee increased from 574 million yuan to 710 million yuan, an increase of 23.7 percent over the same period last year.

In addition, after several years of ups and downs, the shared portable battery track has not yet got rid of the dilemma of a single profit model. Monster charging service revenue of 2.711 billion yuan in 2020, accounting for 96.5%.

"sharing portable battery's profit model is single, which makes it unfavored for a long time," Chen Liteng told time Finance. "in order to seek further development, portable battery companies urgently need to build new growth paths and do deep ploughing in data, traffic and scenarios. If you can build a strong network channel based on a large number of users and merchants, there is still room for imagination to share portable battery. "

(in the article, Huihui, Xiao Kai and Yezi are all aliases.)