With the intensified market competition, chaos such as renting membership cards and purchasing agents may persist for a long time.
Text: Li Fenglin丨Editor: Li Wenjie
The Sam’s Club, which has just opened two new stores in a row, has announced that by the end of 2022, there will be 40-45 stores open and under construction. Costco also achieved an operating profit growth of more than 3% higher than sales growth in the most recent fiscal year. In addition, it often attracted a sensational and out-of-control flow of people at the beginning of its opening. Therefore, some people believe that “openers” Successfully verified in China”.
But like the “card withdrawal wave” that once caused heated discussions, member manufacturers such as Sam and Market Openers are still sprinting core KPIs-increasing the number of members and renewal rate, but there are still many things that need to be overcome. problem.
For example, the upgraded version of “membership card rental business” that can handle various review methods, and the purchasing service that does not have to be crowded in line, is bothering the “sams” to further “localize” the membership system.
Under these endless chaos, there are actually not only the test of consumers’ trust in membership-based super-brands, but also the rapid development of giant integrated e-commerce, fresh food e-commerce and traditional in the Chinese market. The squeeze and competition brought about by the online business of the supermarket.
For “Sams”, this KPI sprint may be far more than the current fiery.
Why does a 680 yuan member only spend 11.99 yuan?
“Please provide the Yukang code and membership code first, and then enter in sequence.” The first store of Sam’s Club in Chongqing has maintained a bustling scene since it opened for half a month. For this new species that just arrived, the people of Shancheng invested almost the greatest enthusiasm.
At the entrance of the supermarket, it was crowded with customers pushing a large empty shopping cart while scanning the QR code to register as a member. However, the ordinary members of 260 yuan/year and the outstanding members of 680 yuan/year make some people who have no long-term shopping habits for Sam Supermarket feel a little unnecessary.
At the scene, some customers chose to borrow membership cards from friends who had recharged, and some customers bought “single pass” through online search guides.
Wang Xiaojia chose to buy a “single pass card” online, “Go and try it first to see if the goods in it are of interest to me, and to see if there is a need to come frequently in the future, and then decide whether to recharge.” She said.
The so-called “single pass card” is actually a pay-per-use rental membership card model that can be searched through platforms such as Taobao, Xianyu, and Weibo. Some members rent their membership cards for a fee, and determine the price according to different locations and different ways of use.
After searching, Wang Xiaojia found that the price range on each platform was between 3 yuan and 7 yuan. However, when she specifically consulted the customer service, the other party would say that “you can only use the mini program, the price is 11.99 yuan each time, and the price is changed.” Because the login method of the mini program needs to log in to the other party’s WeChat account first, the other party thinks Increasing the risk requires additional money.
In addition, the customer service carefully asked Wang Xiaojia about the situation before shipping, including the number of peers, the number of men and women, and whether the login member device is an Android phone or an iPhone. Then, the matching account will be sent.
After completing the single purchase service, Wang Xiaojia successfully logged in to the other party’s WeChat and opened the member display interface in the Sam applet. However, after she just showed the membership code to the staff, WeChat was rejected. After asking the customer service, the answer given by the other party was: “There are other customers who are using the membership code to check out. Wait for a while to log in with the password again.”
Later, Wang Xiaojia logged in to WeChat several times and was logged out several times. The back of a member was actually robbed by many people from all over the world. When the checkout came, Wang Xiaojia was about to provide the membership code to the cashier, and the WeChat was logged out again, but he had to wait for the next customer to check out first.
“This method of borrowing members online is actually not recommended. First, it runs counter to the membership system that the merchant originally wanted to create. Second, the user experience is particularly poor, which will affect the overall shopping mood.” Wang Xiaojia mentioned.
The same is true for Hu Jie, who is shopping at the Sam’s Club in Jinji Lake, Suzhou. However, because of the different levels of review in different stores, Hu Jie was checked by the staff three times when he was visiting the supermarket, and one of them was because of WeChat. Being continuously logged out, the scene was a bit awkward.
At the checkout, the cashier told Hu Jie that there are already more than 30,000 points in the account, and he can redeem more than 300 yuan in coupons next month. “People who rent members earn these points difference, but just like the low-cost sharing of website accounts in the past, there will be a risk of banning later.” Hu Jie said.
For consumers who are new to membership-based supermarkets such as Sam and Openers, they always take a wait-and-see attitude at the beginning. Therefore, they choose to rent or borrow membership cards for the experience, which creates a lot of chaos. Elephant.
The membership card rented by Hu Jie has consumption records in multiple cities on the same day
“One willing to make one willing to endure” business opportunity
From Metro, which entered the Chinese market earlier, to Sam, where two stores are now open, membership-based supermarkets have been dissatisfied in China. Even with the continuous upgrade of domestic e-commerce shopping and fresh food online, people The options for “Sams” are getting wider and wider, and there is less and less time for the “sams” to change.
Zinc Scale has found through searching on Taobao, Xianyu, Weibo and other platforms that there are many ways to sell members. Take Sam’s Club as an example. One is to buy times, and the prices are distinguished by different categories of blue, yellow, black, red, white, army green and purple.
Specifically, red is the cheapest one. The content is a single card that supports JD Sam flagship store and JD Daojia. The price is 7 yuan/time; the most expensive one is for individuals who support online shopping malls and physical stores. Real-name master card, the price is 155 yuan/year.
The remaining blue single-use cards with a limited time promotion of 9.8 yuan/time. Currently, there is a buy-on-get-once event covering 14 cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. For Nantong, Chengdu, Tianjin and other stores strictly checked, the price needs to be doubled, and the merchants said that “pass through, Sam’s internal method.”
At the same time, you can also apply for and renew a single primary card and a single secondary card, the price is 168 yuan/year and 135 yuan/year, which is about 100 yuan cheaper than the official price.
When purchasing such products, the merchant told Zinc Scale to determine the number of peers, gender of men and women, and the use of equipment to find a more matching account to avoid failure to pass. In the face of some strictly inspected stores, merchants even let users upload their own photos to improve authenticity and ensure that the pass rate is over 99%.
Some people earn per-time instead of purchase fees, some people earn points only
In addition to renting a membership cardIn addition, many people have started the purchasing business.
Some people set up a special purchasing shop, and add purchasing fee to the original price of each product. For example, the signature product “American Orleans Roast Chicken” at Sam’s Store is priced at 39.8 yuan, but the purchasing price is 88.79. Free shipping from SF Express nationwide; the opening price for 6 roast chicken thighs is 69.9 yuan, and the purchase price is 89.9 yuan, but the postage costs 48 yuan.
There is another group of people who mainly earn points, “Sam APP places an order for 5 yuan per time, less than 299 yuan, plus 15 yuan for shipping.” This is a common advertising slogan on trading platforms. According to their description, the main reason for setting up the service of placing an order on behalf of a single person is that it is not cost-effective to use a membership card, so they want to share the cost in this way.
Such an operating model of “one willing to fight, one willing to endure” does not actually have any restrictions. It is just that for market openers, Sam, and other supermarkets that emphasize membership, such an unacceptable development method will promote Increase sales, but did not increase the membership fees that can bring fixed income.
The “Chicken Ribs” offer can’t be exchanged for the KPI you want
Metro’s failure of membership-based supermarkets is not satisfied in China.
Metro, which broke into the Chinese market as early as 1996, had a glorious moment. At that time, people defined Metro as a high-end foreign merchant super market, but like the difficulties experienced by Tesco and E-Mart, Metro also In the “localization”, he first transferred 80% of the control of its Chinese business to Wumart. Later, the Chinese shareholders of Jinjiang Metro Cash and Carry Co., Ltd., a joint venture of German Metro in China, were also listed on the equity exchange. Of shares.
Similar scenes are constantly being staged.
According to data, in 2014, British retailer Tesco withdrew from China and announced that its business in China was acquired by China Resources Group, ending its 10-year journey in China; in 2016, Walmart sold its online retail business in China. In exchange for JD’s equity; in December 2018, French retailer Auchan’s China business was taken over by its partner RT-Mart; in 2019, Carrefour was acquired by Suning for 4.8 billion.
In the final analysis, the ups and downs of foreign-funded membership-based super giants overseas and the frequent domestic failures are not only due to the inadequacy of “localization”, but also due to the ups and downs of the Chinese market itself in the past decade Changes, such as the entry of e-commerce giants such as JD.com, Tmall, and Suning into the supermarket business, as well as the rise of community group buying and fresh food e-commerce, have provided domestic users with more choices.
Although in the past two years, foreign-funded membership-based supermarkets have also made some system improvements. For example, Metro has relaxed the requirements for membership cards, but it also launched a 199 yuan/year PLUS membership and points redemption activities for Moutai. .
But some insiders also analyzed that:Taiwan has always been a gimmick for small traffic. How to seize the needs of users and increase the frequency of purchases is still a fundamental problem that Metro has not solved. “
Sam’s excellent membership is exactly the same. Ordinary membership is 260 yuan/year, and the function is almost equivalent to an admission ticket.
Excellent members of RMB 680/year are presented with a monthly car wash service, a 1,000 RMB tooth cleaning voucher, 2% rebate and points exchange for goods and other offers. However, the restrictions on the use of some of the vouchers have also been criticized by many consumers as “very tasteless”.
In other words, although membership-based supermarkets such as Metro and Sam have also made efforts to upgrade their membership services, they are relatively fast-developing giant e-commerce, fresh food e-commerce, and traditional supermarkets’ online business lines. In other words, it still seems not so grounded.
In fact, Zhu Xiaojing, President and CEO of Walmart China, clearly mentioned that the core KPIs of Sam’s Club are the number of members and the card renewal rate. The same is true for openers and Metro with the same development model.
It’s just that, before the membership value and service quality are still not recognized by more users, with the intensified market competition, the chaos such as renting membership cards and purchasing agents may persist for a long time.
(The consumer’s name in the text is a pseudonym)