Fruit supermarkets are struggling to operate; can the Internet Plus save them?

The first batch of fruit supermarkets opened quickly and closed just as quickly

Offline fruit supermarkets emerged in 2010. In the memory of industry insider Wang Zongtian, the first batch of fruit supermarkets opened quickly and closed just as quickly. Only one, Guoduomei, managed to survive, and it has now become Beijing's largest fruit chain supermarket. Wang Zongtian told a Beijing Morning Post reporter that Guoduomei survived at the time by selling dried fruit, and only returned to selling fruit after the other fruit stores had all died. Right now, fruit supermarkets are going through a second wave of store openings. Can the Internet Plus wave change the fate of offline fruit supermarkets?

Most owners are wholesalers from Xinfadi

Five fruit supermarkets are distributed along less than one kilometer of Beijing's Tongzhou Yunjing East Road. These fruit supermarkets vary in operating area, but they all fly the banner of "fruit" - Guoduomei, Guoduoguo, Guoxianhui, Guoxianmei... This fierce new business format is cheaper than supermarkets, fresher than traditional roadside stalls, and more convenient than ordering online. As an emerging community commercial category, fruit supermarkets currently have different mainstream brands in different places, and no single one covers the whole country.

As of now, the domestic fruit supermarket chain with the most stores is the "Pagoda" brand. This brand, which originated in Shenzhen, has covered more than ten cities including Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Xiamen and Shanghai, with more than 700 stores. The largest fruit supermarket in the Beijing market is Guoduomei, with more than 30 stores in Beijing.

Industry insiders told a Beijing Morning Post reporter that most owners of Beijing fruit supermarkets are wholesalers from Xinfadi. When they first opened fruit supermarkets, it was to solve a sales problem - some fruit that was too ripe was not suitable for wholesale, so it was taken for retail. After tasting the sweetness of retail, the fruit wholesale bosses of Xinfadi began to do both wholesale and retail.

Offline fruit supermarkets make money relatively easily

Is it easy for offline fruit stores to make money? Industry insiders generally believe that compared with fruit e-commerce, offline fruit supermarkets make money relatively easily. "E-commerce sales are too hard to predict, while the offline consumer group is mostly nearby community residents, which is relatively stable, and profits can also be anticipated," said Wang Zongtian.

However, for operators, running a small fruit supermarket requires controlling very cumbersome details. Every step, from site selection, procurement and loss control to the final sale, determines whether the fruit supermarket can be profitable.

First, an offline fruit store needs a relatively stable supply source so that it can have bargaining power. Some fruit chain stores have their own warehousing and logistics. There is also a trick to fruit placement. The display piles placed at the storefront are generally seasonal fruits with low prices. The display piles are used to draw foot traffic and basically do not make money. What makes money are the higher-priced fruits and dried fruits inside the store, which is also the main reason why the dried fruit section has become standard in fruit supermarkets.

Not allowing customers to pick is to control loss

As with online, loss is also the primary problem troubling fruit supermarkets. In order to control loss, most fruit supermarkets do not allow customers to pick, and some fruit supermarkets that do allow picking always have several pairs of eyes watching customers' movements. Once a customer picks too much, they will be discouraged.

Also to control loss, in addition to cutting prices on fruit that is not fresh, fruit supermarkets have also put up signs for fresh fruit platters and freshly squeezed juice, for example turning a cantaloupe with ordinary appearance into fruit flesh and selling it in secondary packaging. The smaller the fruit loss, the more profit will increase accordingly. Most fruit supermarkets control loss at around 3%, and some fruit supermarkets can achieve 1.5%.

The Internet Plus of roadside fruit supermarkets

While asset-heavy fresh food e-commerce is still pondering how to do O2O, roadside fruit stores have already taken the lead in the O2O path. A Beijing Morning Post reporter found during visits that most fruit supermarkets place an information notice board at the entrance, stating that they provide home delivery service and that customers can scan a QR code to become members.

Wang Zongtian pointed out that when offline stores use O2O to meet users' home delivery needs, e-commerce becomes more painful, because for e-commerce, the problems of returns and loss are very difficult to solve. And for fruit e-commerce with an asset-heavy model, expanding offline is not an easy thing.