There are more and more unmanned stores, but it is too early to subvert traditional retail...

According to industry sources, the price of the products sold by Binguo Box is only 5% of the chain convenience stores , and all the boxes can be profitable in the current month.

Unmanned supermarkets, which are seen as new forms of retailing, are starting to get hot.

The F5 Future Store in Guangzhou Tower is a complete unmanned convenience store. The so-called complete is a store that is completed by machine from sorting to loading, from purchase to shipment, from fresh food production to garbage disposal. These machines are able to reduce costs and improve efficiency to a large extent, and more importantly, they can collect data from various links.

In fact, unmanned retail startups like the F5 Future Store have begun to blossom in the north. On July 3, the Bingo Box, which declared “the world's first 24-hour unattended convenience store for large-scale reproduction”, received more than RMB 100 million in Series A financing. Subsequently, on July 7, Ali's first unmanned supermarket "Amoy Coffee" also began to officially open.

According to Founder Securities 601901, clinics shares statistics, as of now the company has nine incoming nobody retail, including small e home, convenience bee, 24 love shopping, deep blue Technology, F5 Future Shop, Benko box 6 has been obtained financing. According to reports, domestic and foreign giants such as Wahaha, Wal-Mart, and JD.com have also tried water-free retailing in the near future.

Under the accelerated layout of the retail industry, the Internet industry, and the traditional real economy, unmanned retail has become one of the most popular concepts in the July venture circle. In a period of time, the “unmanned retail” concept stocks continued to rise. The most representative Hui Na technology 300609, the diagnostic stocks (300609.SZ) continued to limit for four consecutive trading days, and the remaining stocks such as Yuanwang Valley 002161, Diagnostic stocks (002161.SZ), Shensi software (300479.SZ), Kelan software 300663, and diagnostic stocks (300663.SZ) also all increased by more than 20%.

Is the unmanned supermarket really a new species that subverts the traditional retail industry, as reported by the media?

Traditional retail pain points

Labor costs have always been a headache for retailers. F5 future store partner Lin Xiaolong told reporters that an ordinary 24-hour convenience store needs less than seven clerk three shifts, and the labor cost needs more than 30,000 yuan. For this reason, many supermarket and convenience store owners have to carefully calculate the turnover in order to keep the store above the lifeline.

To make matters worse, with the development of e-commerce, the diversion effect of online shopping is becoming more and more obvious, which is undoubtedly a huge blow to the traditional retail industry. According to data from the China National Business Information Center, the sales of large-scale retail enterprises in China began to decline in 2011, and the growth rate has dropped to -0.5% in 2016. The events of a series of large retailers closing stores and closing down have also hit the nerves of ordinary retailers. "China's retail industry costs are too high, and the cost of storage costs and procurement costs are very high." Xu Haicheng, CEO of F5 Future Supermarket, exclaimed.

Lin Xiaolong told Time Weekly that the goods placed on the shelves of traditional convenience stores are mostly determined by the store manager, but now these jobs will be completed by machines and data. At present, they can adjust the number of products on the basis of the sales volume of the products. In the future, as the data scale gradually expands, it is expected to achieve personalized recommendations.

Lin Xiaolong told Time Weekly: "We are strengthening the function of data. After consumers come to the store in the future, the goods in front of them can be specially enhanced for him and even offer discounts. We hope to make a convenience store that knows you better than you."

Cost solving

Scan the code into the door, select the goods, pass the payment gate, no need to pull out the phone again, the goods will be automatically deducted. In the first Amoy coffee shop, many customers have experienced the magic of Ant Financial Service IoT payment technology. It uses sensors, biometrics, and computer vision technology to aid in the identification of goods and users, allowing users to complete identification and payment of goods in an almost “non-insensitive” situation.

The purpose of this "no feeling" is to eliminate the manual link to reduce costs and make offline payments more natural. At present, various unmanned supermarkets and unmanned convenience stores have different ways to achieve this goal. According to the investment workshop manager of the Innovation Workshop, Fei Fei told the Times Weekly reporter that there are three main ways to solve the payment problem. One is Amazon GO. Using pure computer technology, the second is that the Bingo box uses RFID (radio frequency identification technology) tags, and the third is done by mechanical automation such as the F5 future store. There are also RFID chips in the Amoy Coffee Festival section, but it adds several techniques to enhance the accuracy of the recognition.

However, as an experiment, the exploration of unmanned supermarkets is not limited to solving the labor cost. They hope to reduce costs, improve efficiency and services on a larger scale in order to maximize profits. And the starting point of this change is to start with the store cost.

Xu Haicheng, who is a mechanical automation expert, found that there are problems in resources and energy waste in many links of traditional convenience stores. For example, the cost of a coffee machine needs 50,000, but in the convenience store scenario, only one or two functions can be used. For example, the water for cooking eggs needs to be rolled all the time. On the one hand, water consumption requires energy consumption, and on the other hand, the temperature of the air conditioner is lower.

Xu Haicheng found that these can be solved by the automated production of the old bank, so he is determined to optimize the mechanical structure design to control costs.

They extracted the basic functions of the convenience store and re-integrated the machine into a monolithic design, thus avoiding unnecessary waste. “The cost of a whole family or 7-11 needs 60,000 to 700,000, but the F5 future store only needs 1/4 of them.” Lin Xiaolong introduced.

The person in charge of the Binguo Box told the Times Weekly reporter that because the self-contained lifting system can be moved at any time, the Bingo Box saves high rents and can also effectively reduce costs.

According to industry sources, the price of the products sold by Binguo Box is only 5% of the chain convenience stores, and all the boxes can be profitable in the current month. This is also a benefit for the public. Because of the low cost and no pressure on turnover, unattended convenience stores can boldly increase the coverage density and distribute it to communities with fewer households to achieve more general convenience.

Talking about subversion is too early

Cost and efficiency are the core concerns of the retail industry, but for Internet companies that cross the border, the real meaning of the unmanned supermarket is the data it collects. In the consumption of unmanned supermarkets, every link can be tracked through data. This also means that after a period of operation, the store can adjust the replenishment quantity and the incoming goods category according to the sales data, which were originally operated by the traditional store manager.

Of course, these data can also lead to more accurate services and more efficient commodity circulation. As long as the customer comes once, the store can recommend products based on big data. In turn, customers can help the store to improve the selection process and let the store know what kind of products they like in order to achieve better service.

For e-commerce giants like Ali, these data also have a role in connecting various consumer scenarios. "Using digital technology to achieve full integration of online and offline, providing consumers with a seamless consumer experience covering all channels." The person in charge of "Amoy Coffee" told Time Weekly.

With the concept of new retail blessings, companies in various fields have begun to enter the unmanned supermarkets, which means that there will be a positive confrontation in the future. According to the future strategy of each family, the field of unmanned supermarkets is still a "plot war." After harvesting 100 million yuan of A round of financing, Binguo Box plans to lay 5,000 outlets this year, and the other unmanned supermarkets are also accelerating the speed of distribution. Therefore, some people worry that the field of unmanned supermarkets will repeat the mistake of sharing bicycles.

But Fei Fei thinks that this is not a concern, because the unsold competitors are sold, not unsold. His view is that the current convenience retail industry is a slow-growing market. In a market that is not growing fast, it is actually the original market share. He believes that no one will sell some of the traditional retail market in the future, but it is still too early to say that subversion.

Editor: Cai Jun

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