The future ecological blueprint of Helens may be more than just a tavern.
Text｜Guo Jiajia Editor｜Qiao Qian
At the end of March, Helens submitted a prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. If it can ring the bell smoothly, it will be China’s “first tavern.”
Founded in 2009, Helens is an offline tavern with a fully direct chain of stores, with an average store size of about 300 square meters. As of the end of 2020, the total number of stores has reached 351, covering nearly 80 cities in China.
Although Helens has the term “Starbucks at night”, the pub industry has no obvious head advantage compared with the coffee industry. China’s tavern industry is highly decentralized. According to Helen’s prospectus, as of the end of 2020, there are about 35,000 taverns in China, 95% of which are independent taverns. In terms of revenue in 2020, China’s tavern industry is among the top 5 The total market share of tavern operators accounted for 2.2%. Starbucks has about 4,700 stores in China, accounting for about 3% of the Chinese coffee market.
In spite of this, Helens’s advantage still surpasses the second place by a large margin. According to Froth & Sullivan data in the prospectus, Helens’s market share in 2020 will account for 1.1%, while the second-ranked company is only Accounted for 0.4%. So, what advantages does Helens have for reference?
The Secret of “Fair Price”
In 2018, 2019, and 2020, the revenue of Helens was 115 million yuan, 565 million yuan and 818 million yuan, respectively, with a compound annual growth rate of 166.9%, and gross profit margins of 72.35% and 65.32% in the same period. And 66.82%, the net profit margin was 9.42%, 14.01% and 9.26%, respectively. In 2020, under the influence of the epidemic and other factors, the turnover and net interest rate will decline, but overall, the self-hematopoiesis ability of Helen Division is relatively sufficient.
It was previously reported that Helens completed a $33 million financing in February this year, led by the new consumer fund Black Ant Capital, and investment bank CICC followed suit. This round of financing is its first in the private market. This is also the last financing.
From the perspective of revenue structure, Helens focuses on its own products and third-party branded alcoholic beverages, of which its own products account for about 70%.
Helen Division Prospectus
Helence’s own products can be further subdivided into beer, beverages and alcoholic beverages, and snacks. Snacks accounted for 33.9%, 28.8% and 26.2% of the revenue of its own products in 2018, 2019 and 2020, respectively. In other words, beer and beverage-based alcohol drinks account for the vast majority of its own products. Among them, beverage-based alcohol drinks are Helen’s specialty products. In 2018, 2019, and 2020, the proportions of revenue generated by self-owned products are 25.5% and 35.4, respectively. %, 40.1%, This shows that the importance of Helens beverages and alcoholic beverages is increasing year by year.
The average selling price of Helens’ bottled beer products is less than RMB 10 per bottle, which is significantly more competitive than competing products in the industry. The price of 275ml of Helen’s own craft beer is 7.8 yuan/bottle, and the price of a 275ml Budweiser beer in the store is 9.8 yuan/bottle, while the average price of Budweiser beer on the market is 15-30 yuan. The price advantage.
Although the price of Helens is relatively low compared to its peers, the wine itself is a high-margin category, so it is not at a loss. In Helens’s expenditures, raw materials and consumables account for the bulk, of which Helens’s own products account for the largest proportion, and the gross profit of its own products is higher after deducting the brand premium. According to the data in the prospectus, in 2018, 2019 and 2020, the gross profit margins of Helens’s own drinks were 71.4%, 75.3% and 78.4%, respectively, while the gross profit margins of third-party brand drinks were 39.2% and 52.8 in the same period. % And 51.5%. After standardized operations, large-scale store openings can further dilute the cost.
At the same time, Helens inspects the price market and trend of raw materials through internal middle stations, and adjusts the inventory of raw materials according to price fluctuations. The cost is relatively controllable.
Standardization or Standardization
As of December 2020, Helens has 351 stores nationwide. After experiencing the distribution model for a short time, all of Helens’s taverns currently adopt the direct-sales model and achieve a high degree of standardization.
Helens Pub adopts Southeast Asian elements and the decoration of Chinese minority styles, and implements an integrated pub operation model. The headquarters manages the decoration, procurement, music playback and other links in a unified manner, thus greatly improving the efficiency of the pub , A new Helens Tavern can complete the entire process from site selection to specific opening conditions in about 2-3 months. Relying on a systematic store manager training system, it usually only takes 9 months for Helens to train a new store manager. The current number of store managers is 420..
Data is the key to standardized operations. Helen Division internally developed its own business intelligence system (also known as Future BI system), including ERP system and CRM system, forming a unified data analysis and management platform, which can understand the sales, customer flow, and customer flow of each store in real time. Weather, personnel and electricity consumption, etc., determine whether the staffing arrangements and energy consumption of the pub are reasonable. And employees can obtain different levels of data access according to their different intelligences and levels.
Helens said to the public that at present, only 5 employees are required to control the background music of every tavern nationwide, and a unified music library has been set up. Based on the bpm of the music tested by the software, the emotional tags of the music can be marked. According to factors such as business hours, peak hours, consumer groups, holidays, etc., select suitable tracks for playback.
Helen Division provides a unified product portfolio nationwide, mainly supplying 42 products, including 24 alcoholic beverages, 8 snacks, 6 soft drinks, and 3 other products. However, a high degree of standardization means sacrificing some creativity and flexibility. This means that Helens’s diversified needs for sophisticated white-collar workers are more difficult to satisfy than independent taverns.
According to the data in the prospectus of Helen Division, although the proportion of sales in first-tier cities is increasing year by year, in terms of the average daily sales of a single direct pub from 2018 to 2020, the growth rate of second-tier cities and third-tier cities and below Higher than first-tier cities. In addition, from the perspective of the average daily number of users placing orders for a single directly-operated pub in 2020, the number of second-tier cities and third-tier cities and below is higher than that of first-tier cities, and third-tier cities and below have the fastest growth rate. This shows that the sinking market has potential worth tapping.
Helen Division Prospectus
Helens also revealed that it will continue to lay out the sinking market and continue to open more pubs in China’s third-tier and lower cities.
Catch young people
Helen Division was the first to break the circle from international students. At present, the main users are concentrated in the young group of 18-28 years old. These users are more sensitive to brand perception and need continuous stimulation and more interesting marketing methods. .
Helen Division’s prospectus shows that the proportion of marketing costs to total operating costs is declining year by year. But with the marketIt seems that it is difficult to determine whether the marketing cost can continue to decline.
Helens is also trying to do marketing in a way that young people like. The topic of “Helens Coke Barrel” once became popular on Douyin. The “Coke Barrel” is a product of Helens. It is simple to mix whiskey and cola in a certain ratio, add an appropriate amount of ice cubes, and put them in a large container. This method of drinking is popular among young people, and related topic videos have been played more than 1 billion times. According to the external data of Helens, its official WeChat, Douyin and Weibo official accounts have accumulated more than 5.7 million followers.
Backstage screenshot of Helen Division WeChat Official Account
Helen Division has borrowed the gameplay of Internet companies in methods such as fission and pull-out. For example, consumers who are new to the store can get beer for free by scanning the QR code to place an order and establishing their own ID. The backstage of the WeChat official account has functions such as finding stores, viewing menus, and entering the e-commerce platform to purchase. The private domain is also part of Helens’s current layout. Users can find stores according to their location and enter the corresponding tavern fan group.
If e-commerce, private domains, public domains, and offline can be connected, the future ecological blueprint of Helens may be more than just a tavern.