On October 26th, compared with Ali, Tencent’s exploration in the field of E-Commerce has been difficult to say. With the current offline retailing becoming a new way for the B-end layout of Internet companies, Tencent has repeatedly cooperated with traditional retail enterprises, intending to seize the bridgehead of smart retail online. However, how to fight after the occupation of the stronghold has become a new test for Tencent.
On the evening of October 24, Yonghui Supermarket announced that it and Baijia China and Tencent intend to establish a Sino-foreign joint venture in China, and will hold the equity of Guangdong Yonghui and Shenzhen Yonghui held by Yonghui Supermarket. As well as the shares of Guangzhou Baijia, Jiangmen Baijia, Dongguan Baijia and some cash held by Baijia China, the joint venture company was placed. All the stores under the joint venture company will use the “Pokka Yonghui” brand in a unified manner. From the perspective of the shareholding ratio of the three parties, Yonghui Supermarket holds 50% of the shares, Pokka China holds 40%, and Tencent holds 10%.
Yonghui said in the announcement that the joint venture company will integrate the supermarket business of Yonghui Supermarket and Baijia China in Guangdong Province of China, with a view to further improving the operational capabilities of related businesses and assets, and achieving greater commercial benefits for all parties. .
It is not difficult to see that the main purpose of the establishment of the joint venture company by Yonghui Supermarket is to integrate the store resources of Yonghui and Baijia in the Guangdong market, thereby enhancing the business operation capability in this market. From the perspective of Tencent’s participation in the shareholding movement, Tencent is obviously interested in burying the future of smart retail layout expansion in this market, similar to the previous 5% shareholding tactics.
In December last year, Yonghui Supermarket announced that Tencent intends to transfer 5% of the company’s shares, while Tencent will increase its capital to the company’s controlling subsidiary, Yonghui Yunchuang Technology Co., Ltd., to obtain a 15% stake in the latter. Since then, the two sides have been transforming and upgrading around the retail model, and online and offline business cooperation has continued. In the middle of this year, the two parties focused on the needs of Yonghui’s offline home business and launched a new model of “Yonghui Living Satellite Warehouse”.
Some analysts believe that in the context of traditional business super-discovery to open up online and offline channels, effective online traffic entry has become a short-board for Yonghui Supermarket to transform into new retail, and cooperate with traffic giants such as Tencent. The purpose is obviously to fill this gap. For Internet companies like Tencent, the strategic significance of the B-side business is constantly becoming prominent, and its smart retail strategy needs more anchor points. This is why Tencent has been seeking cooperation with the offline giants in the past two years. one.
However, from the performance of Yonghui Supermarket in the first half of the year, its smart retail business leveraging Tencent does not seem to bring immediate transformation results for the company. Yonghui Supermarket’s financial report for the first half of 2018 showed that the company’s operating income during the period was 34.397 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 21.47%, and net profit was 933 million yuan, down 11.54% year-on-year. After deducting income and expenses unrelated to its operations, net profit declined. From 20.33% to 826 million yuan, the net loss of the Yunchuang segment, which focuses on the new retail business, reached 389 million yuan. For Tencent, which provides numerous resource blessings, the performance of this close comrade can only be said to be “shameful.”
In addition to Yonghui Supermarket, this year, Tencent Wal-Mart, Carrefour, BBK and other retail companies have formed a relatively large intelligent retail offline alliance. However, some analysts believe that the retail enterprises from the landing of the store, the transformation of the supply chain, to the development of consumer habits, it takes time to precipitate, which is also doomed to the new retail transformation of Shangchao is not a flat road. Especially for Tencent, which lacks E-Commerce genes, the technical empowerment of online traffic is a destructive power, but it is not a contraceptive. In the second half, Tencent’s smart retail will be played, depending on whether its teammates’ performance is “powerful”.