Retail giant tries to be cautious: Wal-Mart holding No. 1th store has a dubious outlook

International retail giants in China test water net is not plain sailing online supermarket category low threshold high storage shortage

In recent times, Wal-Mart after the home of the earliest online supermarket shop 1th frequent exposure to problems, there are consumer participation in the sea cucumber found that the weight of the problem, played no less than 150 customer service calls, but the delay has not been a satisfactory statement. In addition, "Shop No. 1th" Online mall employees and the separation, external and internal collusion, resulting in some of the customer information leakage, 11 people have been taken to the Public Security Department to receive investigations.

It is also reported that Wal-Mart's investment in shop 1th is being marginalized by policy restrictions, and its founder Gege and entrepreneurial team may leave. This shows that the International retail giants, including Wal-Mart, to enter the Chinese online retail business is not smooth sailing, there is a long time to explore the adaptation process.

For market rumours, store 1th said it was inconvenient to disclose information.

Two questions "NET"

1 investment subjects will gradually be marginalized?

This August, the Ministry of Commerce approved Wal-Mart's holding investment in Shop No. 1th. However, the Ministry of Commerce requested a restrictive clause in the transaction to stipulate that the company of the acquired No. 1th store should not carry out open platform business facing third parties. After the restrictive provisions, many industry insiders believe that Wal-Mart's investment in shop 1th may be gradually marginalized.

However, e-commerce observer Ruzenwang that, in order to circumvent this limitation, shop 1th has stripped open platform business (such as mall 1th, group 1th, etc.), while its own business 1th stores will only be sold by themselves. He argues that divestiture has little impact on store 1th because Wal-Mart's main business is proprietary, and the consortium is not Wal-Mart's global operations.

He believes that store 1th and Wal-Mart's supply chain is similar, the future focus is whether the business can be well combined.

2 Entrepreneurial team is going to stay?

Wal-Mart-led personnel changes have begun. The industry speculated that the founder's eventual departure was not impossible, according to Wal-Mart's usual pies. There is media analysis, no matter whether the future 1th stores flourish or decline, for shop 1th founder Gege and his start-up partners, the era is the end of their own.

Recently, there have been many rumours about founder Gege's departure, and Nier Ash, CEO and CEO of Wal-Mart Global E-commerce, said: "We are bullish on the strong leadership team of shop 1th and the competitive supply chain management system." "In view of the recent exposure of the 1th shop executive position changes, Wal-Mart China senior vice President Bo Rui pointed out that the two sides of talent sharing in the ongoing, shop 1th management team is very good," Wal-Mart will not be replaced. "he said.

Ruzenwang predicted that gege to leave shop No. 1th is not so fast, because he has a lot of experience in supply chain management, which is Wal-Mart's fancy, even if left, there should be a longer transition period.

Reporter observation: Online supermarket distribution amount and prescription difficult to please consumers

The reporter found that "online supermarket" is still less than the physical stores category, it is difficult to replicate traditional stores. In particular, to attract large passenger flow of fresh food is generally "absent" online supermarket.

No vegetables, no meat or no fruit were found under the catalogue No. 1th store. Carrefour Shop in Guangzhou, although there is a "fresh" catalogue, but the number of products under the 0, in Beijing, Shanghai station, etc. there is no fresh this option. In Bu Bee Lotus (Lotus) supermarket shop, "fresh Fruits and Vegetables" category shows only four fruit gift box for sale. More importantly, the amount of distribution "threshold" and aging also let consumers set a hurdle on the online supermarket. Plans to build the logistics of metro its online mall information display, currently only supports Shentong Express and EMS Express two types of distribution, are required to pay, such as Shentong Express Guangdong within the first heavy (5 kg) 10 yuan, continued to weigh 1 yuan/kg; EMS first heavy 11 yuan (0.5 kg), continued to weigh 3 yuan/0.5 kg.

China Chain Management Association released this July, the traditional retailer of the Network retail research report shows that as of late June, a total of 59家百 strong retail enterprises launched the network retail business. However, the 59 enterprises in the network business platform and facilities construction is not complete, of which the distribution capacity can cover 32 of the country, accounting for 54%, and the support of goods to pay the enterprise has 34, just over half.

International Retail giants

The water in China is very cautious.

After holding number 1th, Wal-Mart seems to have speeded up the distribution of electric dealers. Wal-Mart has established E-commerce sites in 10 countries, according to information from Walmart.

In addition to Wal-Mart, foreign retailers, Carrefour, Lotus, Auchan, etc. have already been involved in the electricity business. The "belated" German retail giant Metro also announced the official online shopping mall in China this May.

However, the test water does not seem smooth sailing. Tesco has shut down its flagship store this year and suspended operations for "system maintenance" after two years in 2006 after Carrefour opened its online mall in China. Auchan also suspended the online shopping business because of the pressure of transportation cost.

At present, the supermarket is more cautious to "net". Yesterday, Wal-Mart related people stressed that the Sam's online store and other electronic business sites, "must be a physical store members to shop, in fact, the extension of the physical store." Metro has also said that the Metro Business-to-business model is different from other retailers ' online models and will focus on three core customer groups: The first category is the hotel, catering and canteen, the second category is small and medium-sized retailers and wholesalers, the third category is the service industry, enterprises and institutions.