Will it rise again?
Editor’s note: This article is from the micro-channel public number “APPSO” (ID: appsolution), Author: Zhu Hai.
I went to a shopping mall for dinner some time ago, and my phone almost ran out of power, so I borrowed a shared power bank.
I also borrowed a shared power bank several times in the same place before, so I didn’t look at it carefully when I borrowed it. When I returned it, I was shocked. I charged a total of 10 yuan for charging for more than 2 hours, and the price increased again. .
▲Charge for 2 hours, charge 10 yuan< /span>
I used the iPhone 12 mini at the time, with a battery capacity of 2227mAh, which was charged from 2% to 100%. In other words, every 1% of power (22mAh) is approximately equal to 0.1 yuan. A rough estimate is that if the charging power remains the same, it will cost about 20 yuan to charge a 4500mAh mobile phone.
And a 10000mAh Mi power bank, the price is only 69 yuan.
The latest news shows that Street Power continues to make a profit, and Monster Charging may go public in the United States. One can imagine how “sweet” the shared power bank business is, and then users question: Who gave them the price increase courage? !
If it rises and then rises, will it rise again?
This is not the first time that the price of shared power banks has increased, but the business was actually free at the beginning.
In 2015, shared power banks gradually appeared on the streets. In order to dispel users’ doubts, various brands of shared power banks adopted a free strategy to cultivate user habits.
In this period, the shared power bank business has been in the money-burning stage. Wang Sicong once repudiated in a high-profile way: “If the shared power bank can become my favorite, I will post it as proof.”
▲Chen Ou publicly shouted Wang Sicong. Picture from: Chen Ou (Weibo)
What Wang Sicong did not expect was that by 2018, someone estimated that the annual revenue of the street electricity family alone exceeded 500 million yuan. According to statistics, the number of users in the entire shared power bank market exceeded 100 million that year.
Since then, the shared power bank has entered the fast lane of development, and the number of users has increased by 50-100 million person-times per year. Some research reports even show that the number of shared power bank users will reach 400 million in 2020.
▲Data show, shared power bank users in 2020 The scale may reach more than 400 million. Picture from: iiMedia Consulting
At the same time, the cost of shared power banks has increased from free to 0.5 yuan/hour, then 1.5 yuan/hour, 3 yuan/hour or even higher, and a strategy similar to big data algorithms has been introduced. In hotspots, the higher the peak business period, the higher the cost of sharing power banks.
At the end of 2020, the price increase of shared power banks again during the Spring Festival triggered large-scale protests. Many people complained that “shared power banks will start harvesting after they occupy the market.” “It charges 3 yuan per minute” and so on. This business, which initially focused on “convenient charging”, has become a target of criticism.
▲30 minutes charge 3 yuan, the price increase of shared power bank is concerned by CCTV. Picture from: CCTV Finance Channel
The survey results of CCTV reporters show that some shared charging treasures are placed in crowded shopping malls and scenic spots. During the peak period of borrowing, the charge can even reach the level of “charging for 2 hours and charging 30 yuan.”
After the matter was fermented, some shared power bank brands responded: “(This) is the charging standard adjusted by stores in different regions according to market conditions, not a unified price increase by the platform.”
The implication is that price increases are in line with market laws, and the possibility of continued price increases in the future is not ruled out.
How “sweet” is the business after the price increase?
If you know that users are upset, you still want to increase the price. Why does the shared power bank “go all the way to the dark”?
Because it makes money, it’s too much money.
▲Xi’an reporters show their orders for shared power banks Cost, the maximum one-time charge is 16 yuan. Picture from: Xi’an Putong (Weibo)
Taking street power as an example, analysis of “David Big Corn” users of Xueqiu.com:
In 2018, Jumei Youpin’s New Business had a total revenue of RMB 880 million. Some calculations are needed here. Since Fulfillment accounts for a more accurate proportion of Merchandise Sales, based on the Fulfillment Cost in the first half of the year, it can be calculated that Merchandise Sales in the first half of the year was 2 billion, that is, new business revenue was 365 million.
The company stated that TV drama income has been included. Therefore, the new business income in the second half of the year should be pure street electricity. Using the new business income for the whole year minus the business income for the first half of the year, it will be 514 million yuan.
Note that in the second half of 2018, street electricity revenue was already 514 million yuan, so even if it doesn’t increase, this year (2019)Preparatory listings require dazzling financial reports and other factors, which are also part of the driving factors for price increases.
How to solve battery life anxiety?
In order to avoid being “harvested” by the shared power bank again, I bought a two-in-one power bank with a charging head. I usually use it as a charging head and always plug it into the socket. Unplug it before going out to get a full-charged power bank. The shared power bank is rarely used.
Also, we buy mobile phones with fast charging and high battery capacity to reduce the charging time and increase the battery life of the mobile phone, which is also a feasible solution.
▲Many mobile phones come standard with fast charging and Large battery. Picture from: OPPO official website
However, these two methods treat the symptoms but not the root cause. The battery life anxiety is still there. Sometimes you are lazy and don’t want to carry a power bank with your backpack. You still have to use a shared power bank obediently.
Some people think that the shared power bank can’t be used several times a year, “Even if it rises from 1.5 yuan/hour to 15 yuan/hour, it actually doesn’t cost much”, but from the perspective of the increase, even if it increases from 1 yuan To 2 yuan, then the increase is as high as 100%. This kind of seemingly painless price increase is precisely the “gentle knife” and the “harvest” more concealed.
▲Monster Charging and Shanghai Disney’s “Magic Full battery” theme marketing campaign, I don’t know how much it costs to share a power bank in Shanghai Disney for 30 minutes. Picture from: Monster Charging official website
At the time of writing this article, we checked the official websites of the price bureaus of four first-tier cities.Regulations on the price of shared power banks. Perhaps this is the reason why the price of shared charging treasures has risen “willfully” and confidently responded to doubts about the price increase.
“Harvest” in common
There are many phenomena that start to increase prices after occupying the market.
From express delivery to home, to express delivery to cabinets, the express cabinets are covered in various communities, and free of charge has become a charge, no overtime storage fee is charged, and express delivery cannot be taken out.
From huge subsidies to high-priced dispatch fees, taxis are convenient, but the charges are more expensive than taxis. When users are not paying attention, they need to “cut a knife” for big data.
From buying food offline to delivering food to home, I want to use a low-price strategy to bring down the hawkers. Fortunately, this time users have opened their eyes, “The subsidies before, will be doubled after the monopoly.” The user’s protest was seen by the relevant departments, and they directly imposed an administrative penalty of 6.5 million yuan on five community group buying companies that had improper price behavior.
It is not difficult to find that the new type of monopoly established by enterprises using the Internet is being warned by more and more people. This is a good trend.
If the enterprise is the dragon-slaying warrior, and the Internet is the dragon-slaying sword, I think everyone hopes that the dragon-slaying warrior will keep his original intention and resolutely burn the script that will eventually become a dragon.
Note: Analysis of Street Telecom’s 2018 financial report comes from Xueqiu.com user “David Big Corn”