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It's mid-autumn soon.
Happy holidays in advance.
This year's Mid-Autumn Festival is quite special.
During the Spring Festival, due to the epidemic, many people stayed in the big city for the New Year and did not go back to reunite with their families.
Now that the epidemic situation has eased, some friends may have been prepared to go back to the wrong peak (compared to the Spring Festival) to make up for the regret of going home during the Spring Festival.
When you go home, you have to have a family banquet, and the family banquet is still a test of family affection.
A few days ago, I brushed a video of a Mid-Autumn Festival family banquet on Weibo, the video content is that the grandfather and the juniors bet to lose, gamble and do not eat, and then because they were planted Wellington steak but did not want to be found by the family and chose to steal it.
It's really straight,obviously I want it, but my mouth is hard.
The bet made by the grandparents was that the granddaughter could not complete the family banquet in an hour, but the granddaughter completed it "unexpectedly".
Of course, if you follow the fundamentalist "cooking", it is not complete, because many netizens recognize through the video that this is an ingredient purchased directly at Sam's Club, and it can be eaten with a little heat.
To be precise, Grandpa lost not so much to his granddaughter as to Sam.
It's not so much a loss to Sam as it is to a well-developed food industry, a developed cold-chain transportation infrastructure, and your market competition.
Lost to the volume.
No shame.
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In the era of e-commerce, the competition in the retail and consumer goods tracks is becoming more and more fierce.
Retail is the end of commodity circulation, but also the most important link, is the most fierce track of business war (including e-commerce war).
All over the world, the supply of goods is showing an increasingly abundant trend. As a supermarket channel for secondary dealers, profits are getting thinner and thinner.
In the past few years, many small and medium-sized stores have been continuously crippled by the newly emerging shelf e-commerce, live e-commerce, same-city retail, and fresh e-commerce.
Even fresh food, a category that is difficult for e-commerce to penetrate, is also being harassed by community group buying.
Retail (channel) rolls, brands also roll.
New consumption is rolled into a twist, and the amount of money bought is afraid.
Now the very small tracks are crowded with entrepreneurs who are new to consumption, packaging design, products, advertising, all rolled.
But many traditional retail channels and new consumer rolls are a bit crooked. They don't pay much attention to improving the quality of products, and don't want to solve the new needs of consumers, but put their minds on customer acquisition, and how to reach more and wider users.
For these brands that engage in traffic, the price is pressed to the extreme, and even the worse products may be paid.
If one promotion is not enough, it will be done twice, and it will continue to be carried out.
Under the traffic playing method, it is not difficult to sell cheap things at a good price, but it is difficult to sell good things at a good price.
It is not difficult to lower the price, but the difficulty is to provide good products after lowering the price.
The current popular warehouse-style club is the dark horse that stands out in this kind of life and death, and it is this kind of format that sells good things at a good price.
The so-called warehouse store refers to the integration of storage and marketing.
In addition to supermarkets like Sam's, typical warehouses include IKEA and Decathlon.
The warehouse is also a shelf, which does not require the cost of adjusting the flow of goods from the warehouse to the shelf, and also accelerates the efficiency of commodity circulation.
The simple industrial style of large space and high shelves also allows consumers to focus on the goods and save decoration costs.
This is one of the main reasons why warehouse member store products are cheap.
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The old naughty boy grandpa in the video also has no way to distinguish that this is actually a prefabricated food provided by the supermarket, obviously because the quality is good enough to be PK with the takeaway of the big hotel.
Providing good products is the core meaning of warehouse-based member supermarkets. In order to complete this important "KPI", most warehouse-type member supermarkets only offer a very limited selection of items.
In the case of Sam, for example, the number of goods in China has been reduced to about 4,400, less than half the number of traditional hypermarket SKUs. With the same energy, the SKU is reduced, the difficulty of quality control will be greatly reduced, and the product quality that customers get in their hands will also be improved.
Packaging is also a secret of warehouse-style clubs. The unique large packaging can speed up the turnover rate of goods, and the turnover rate can be accelerated, which is also to allow customers to get the freshest and best things every time they go to the store.
To put it bluntly, the real warehouse-style club engages in these two measures in order to allow customers to buy really good products. But it also has the effect of killing two birds with one stone: while improving product quality, these two operations will also reduce prices.
Every time a merchant reduces a single product, the difficulty of the supply chain is reduced by one point, and labor, logistics, and operating costs will also decrease. The large packaging will increase the volume of collection, increase the bargaining chips with suppliers, and reduce the purchase price.
Limited SKUs and large packs are must-have options for warehouse-based clubs, as they do save money and costs in the first place.
Some of the new warehouses just imitate the skin and do not learn the essence. I just want to save costs, and I don't want to invest the money I saved into improving product quality.
The title of the warehouse-style club is not the word "warehousing", but the word "member".
The price parity is only secondary, the real kernel is not to save money, but to enhance the "membership value" and increase the gold content of the membership card.
Sam's global supply chain, warehousing integration and low-cost operation, and large packaging streamlined SKU sales model determine that Sam has enough cost space to "rebate" to members.
If you're not a member, you won't be able to enjoy high-quality, cost-effective global goodies.
This exclusive "value" reinforces the identity and long-term stickiness of members.
Established warehouse-style clubs like Sam don't make money on retail merchandise, but on membership fees.
Sam is not actually a retail company, but a service company. All the actions it does, whether it is differentiating the global selection of high-value goods, unique shopping experience, unique value-added services, are actually to serve members, so that members feel that the "card" is worth it.
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There are two ways to make consumers feel "valued".
One is the sinking, only provide functional products, the simpler the better, the price is hit to the lowest, and it does not care what quality is not quality.
For example, the category of prepared dishes, many pre-made dishes on e-commerce platforms, is to first set a minimum profit margin and minimum cost, as long as the most basic functions are guaranteed. In doing so, it was eventually made into a white-label product.
The other is the warehouse member supermarket.
Even if the SKU is small, the link behind it is very fine, first set a high-quality standard that can be mass-produced, and then cut out the cost from the rent/decoration/turnover rate/collection, and set a price that is almost unprofitable. Taking the protagonist Wellington steak mentioned in the video as an example, the approach is very complicated.
Wellington Steak is a famous Western European dish. The "Wellington" in the name of the dish is the British Duke of Wellington who defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo, and it is not uncommon to name historical figures embedded in the name of the dish, and the "Gongbao Chicken" in Chinese food and the popular "Zuo ZongTang Chicken" in Chinatown are also similar naming combinations.
The main recipe for Wellington Steak is to cook beef tenderloin in a rich pastry skin and garnished with foie gras, truffles and cognac. The raw materials involved in this product are not common, the supply chain is several times more difficult than similar products, and the raw materials are complex.
This dish is also cumbersome, there are two heating processes, in the roasting temperature slight deviation, puff pastry is easy to paste, steak reheating is also prone to deviation, too tender and too old will affect the taste. You can't go wrong with both heatings, which is a great test of the chef's skill.
Sam has developed this dish, preserving the classic four-layer delicacy of butter puff pastry, fresh black truffle sauce, Parma ham and succulent beef fillet that kitchen whites can make in the oven.
All I can say is, this is not a steak, this is a real beef beer.
In addition to the advantages of the above-mentioned international supply chain, it is also due to the mining of the hidden needs of its own members under the "membership system" model. When members find that the "Wellington Steak" in the restaurant outside is often thousands of yuan, and Sam can enjoy the "world-class" dishes for only 188 yuan and go home to the oven for 30 minutes, he will feel what is "membership value".
Members think of it, I want to engage.
What members didn't expect, I also want to do.
Doing it, a retail channel like Sam may become a cattle X consumer goods brand. For example, the small lime of Sam's Club is already a very well-known word-of-mouth product on social networks, and with the continuous launch of these super popular products, everyone's impression of Sam is no longer just a terminal for retail, but also a brand with premium ability.
Nowadays, the new consumer brands that have emerged are invested in the amount of money they burn, so that the new consumption bubble is getting bigger and bigger.
In contrast, a channel brand like Sam is a clear stream in the traffic era, relying on a huge membership base and the repurchase rate of Bull X, which is itself a channel with a lot of traffic.
This is a Sam's growth flywheel: Sam's continuous introduction of high-quality and priced products will attract more and more loyal members, more and more members will allow Sam to put more costs and energy on research and development of goods, and because the increase in the number of members will bring more sales will better share the cost, improve quality, and make more word-of-mouth consumer goods and differentiated experiences, which is a virtuous cycle of business growth and a healthy model for the foundation.
The greatest business model is companionship, which is to integrate into the lives of users.
The reason why a century-old brand can build evergreen is also because of the value of companionship. The ability to continue to accompany consumers is because it can bring continuous trust to consumers. Consumers can pass this trust from generation to generation to their next generation, the next generation, companionship brings trust, brings stickiness, and brings repurchase.
Trust is the highest threshold.
In order to gain this trust, it is necessary for the merchant to invest for a long time, regardless of gains and losses, and to spend a lot of money. Not one influencer product, not ten, but a continuous introduction of good products that allow consumers to feel respected, cared for, and taken seriously.
Sam didn't do it when the warehouse-style club was on fire, but spent twenty-five years working on the supply chain and products, never trying to change his model.
The sun arch is endless, and the merit is not donated to the sea.
Continuous companionship will eventually make users have needs, and the first reaction is you.
Continuous companionship will actually allow this trust to be passed on from generation to generation.
The "Sam's Feast" is a manifestation of this intergenerational transmission of trust.
To some extent, "Sam's Family Banquet" is a link of intergenerational communication and connection, saving time while ensuring the sumptuous dishes, and also taking the opportunity to share and introduce new things in the new era to the elders, so that the elderly can also enjoy the convenience and richness of the new consumption era.
From the perspective of business logic, in the face of family consumer groups, Sam can assume this bond and influence role, which is to snare the "common trust" of the whole life cycle of the family, rather than letting the elderly become an island and let them integrate into the wave of new consumption. This "shared trust" bridges the gap between alienation and generation, home and everything.
In order to make this "home peace", Sam has also set up a sam health center, which provides free vision, hearing and blood pressure test services for the elderly, and also introduces a special area for children that is easy to ignore in ordinary optical stores. It's all about better providing [membership value].
This is the true value of a good consumer product.
The word "new consumption" is only temporary, and the word "good consumption" will last.
I just never expected that one day it would be the old membership format like Sam who would hit the new consumption.