Reviewing the three years of the ups and downs in the shared power bank industry, can the image of its attackers be conclusive? Article reprinted from the micro-channel public number: hunting cloud network (ID: ilieyun) , author: tea m, Head picture source: Picture Worm Ideas
“The company’s cash flow is more than expected, and it can‘ wean ’capital early, but capital is also a valuable value for listing. I believe we will also see the news of capital entry later.”
In September of this year, Liu Bo, a partner of Qingliu Capital, made a preliminary judgment on the financing of the shared power bank industry in an interview. Qingliu Capital participated in the angel round, round A and round B financing of monster charging on the shared charging platform in 2017.
In the past two years, there has been little news about the financing of the shared power bank industry, which once made the outside world question whether investment institutions have abandoned the industry.
On December 24, Monster Charge announced the completion of 500 million yuan in Series C financing, which once again brought a little “waves” to the industry. The last time the outside world paid more attention to this industry was the collective price increase of the operators of the shared power bank three months ago.
Monster Charging This round of financing was led by Softbank Asia Ventures (SoftBank Ventures Asia) , with BOC International and Goldman Sachs following. The old shareholders Yunjiu Capital, Gaoyu Capital, Shunwei Capital, Shangyu Capital, and Qian Jiawei continued to add weight in this round.
The shared charging treasure greeted the outbreak of the “wind of the sharing economy” and gained a lot of capital in the early days. Afterwards, it was questioned by the public as a false demand. In the voice of doubt, it also low-keyly verified the profit model and collectively raised prices. Investment institutions have entered. In the three years since the outbreak, the shared charging treasure has gone from the climax to the quiet to the eye-catching inverted parabolic curve (upper opening parabola) .
Looking back at the three years of the ups and downs of the shared charging treasure industry, can the image of its counter-attacker be concluded?
The first year of the industry in 2017: the first-generation “rich overnight”
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Calling technology CMO Ren Mu’s words in 2017 can broadly summarize the early development of the shared power bank industry: “The end of 2013 to October 2016 is the budding and cultivation period of the shared power bank; November 2016 to 2017 May 2015 is the industry outbreak period, with players from all walks of life entering and financing; the second and third quarter of 2017 is the windfall period, and shared charging treasures are rapidly developing horse racing enclosures among everyone’s questions; currently
2, the average daily use frequency of a single cabinet is not high, and non-partner merchants remain unstable
According to multiple media reports, the cost of a single power bank is 30 ~ 50 yuan, the wholesale cost of a 6-port cabinet without LED screen is about 800 yuan, 8 ports are about 1300 yuan, and 12 ports are about 2500 yuan. This cycle is 2 to 4 months, and each charging cabinet is used 0.7 to 0.8 times per day.
Roughly calculated based on the public data of Street Power, the average payback period of a single shared charging cabinet is more than 6 months. To be able to recover the cost within half a year, it must be achieved by a cabinet placed on a core point with a high frequency of use.
Sceptical about the propaganda suggestions that attract fast-track franchisees.
The author understands that some non-core points of shared power bank rental income is not optimistic.
A medium-sized medical and aesthetic institution in Nanning, Guangxi (covering more than 700 square meters, 2 floors) has been connected to the street since a year ago Electricity, and get 50% rebate points (Some merchants take 30%, even 70%) , but so far, the The total revenue of medical and aesthetic institutions is less than 900 yuan.
(A medical institution in Nanning: income in the past year)
In the latest news, according to the founders of the above-mentioned medical and aesthetic institutions, after knowing that the hospital can get the rebate points, these customers think that since they have already spent in the hospital, why they have to pay for their own charges is very unreasonable. In the end, the medical beauty agency withdrew the shared power bank and provided a socket for customers to charge for free.
While charging a monster in a bar in Wuhan, Hubei, the charge is 50%, and the monthly dividend is basically maintained at about 100 yuan.
(Wuhan Bar: The monthly income of monster charging, the income is halved after the introduction of small electricity technology)
(Wuhan Bar: Number of Rentals of Xiaodian Technology in a Month)
Ren Mu said that the current shared charging treasure startup has verified profitability, as long as it stops laying the market, it can quickly achieve profitability.
Ren Mu also said that the previous horse race enclosure was a verification process, but by 2019, everyone has no doubts in mind, and firmly invested more resources to spread points, especially the competition of core points is more intense.
The first operation and maintenance personnel of Beijing Street Electric also said that the competition for market promotion has become increasingly fierce.
From the perspective of the fierce competition, operators mainly seize high-quality scenes and sink to third- and fourth-tier cities. In Ren Mu’s words, the cost of “siege” is at most the compensationMoney for a device.
Operators try to increase market share by expanding scenarios and points, thereby establishing market barriers.
But the high market share is not the high merchant retention rate.
I find that if it is not a long-term fixed cooperation model, merchants can freely change their presence in other shared power bank brands.
A Xiabu Xiabu in a business district in Beijing previously placed an incoming call. However, after the cooperation between Xiedian and Xiabu Xiabu, the street phone replaced the call.
A KTV in Beijing used street electricity last year, but this year it reached a cooperation with Xiaodian. The person in charge of the KTV project said that due to the patent wars between Street Electric and Caller last year, and considering that user use may be affected, the brand cooperation was changed.
While the Wuhan bar mentioned above is also charging with monsters, it later introduced Xiaodian Technology, because I heard that Xiaodian can see the background usage data.
Compared to quickly grabbing the market, how to retain merchants to keep the market is also a core issue that operators should consider.
Imagination for the future: product innovation is not full
How much imagination does this industry share?
Ren Mu said that in order to compete for the core point, everyone uses the ability of the bottom of the box, such as a call will provide value exchange. Businesses have many needs, to provide added value to the business, and even to empower the business. These are things that the caller prefers to consider, which is much more valuable than the entrance fee for the business, and it is very tempting.
The specific method is, Advance advertising on value-added services; open up mall members, exchange points for charging, and put coupons for merchants, or organize shopping malls for ground promotion activities, etc .; also give shopping The center provides indoor navigation and more.
Liu Bo, a partner of Qingliu Capital, said that from the perspective of the deployment of shared charging treasures, there are not many new ways for the basic model, but there will be new explorations in data applications and scenario services in the future; current aspects of traffic development The shared charging treasure operators have not had time to deepen, which is also the space for imagination in the future.
The advantage of sharing the user data of Powerbank is that in addition to a large number of C-side users, there are also a large number of B-side users (Resident Merchants) , and can reach the B-end merchants who are not covered by Meituan, are you hungry?
It is worth noting that the habit of cultivating users to reach these innovative services through shared power bank has not yet been formed, so whether innovative services can make shared power bank operators stand out from the crowd remains to be verified.
Providing value-added services to merchants is also exploring the boundaries of shared power bank and future business imagination. The short-term market demand forces the entire shared power bank industry to think long-term and make breakthroughs.
Comparatively, the shared charging treasure is a good push forward.
The article is reproduced from WeChat public account: > , author: Tu m