Produced ｜ Tiger Sniff Business Group
Author ｜ 刘 然
Title map | IC photo
Haidilao and Xibei have successively made a wave of price increase and withdrawal.
On the eve of the recovery in consumption, Haidilao and Xibei could not wait to raise the price first, but Haidilao publicly apologized and adjusted back to the original price within a few days. Yesterday, (April 10) , Haidilao ’s official Weibo released news that it apologized to consumers for the recent price increase of dishes and expressed and expressed the dishes The price will return to the standard before the store closed on January 26.
Simibe, who also had price increases, immediately apologized today and said that the original price was restored. Xibei Chairman Jia Guolong issued an open letter: Yesterday, Haidilao’s official Weibo released news that it apologized to consumers for the recent price increase of dishes and expressed and said that the price of dishes will return to the standard before the store closed on January 26.
What are the reasons for this?
Is the price increase reasonable?
The reason for the price increase in Haidilao is still about cost. At that time, Haidilao responded to the media that due to the epidemic situation and rising costs, the company adjusted the prices of some dishes. The overall price increase was controlled at 6%, and different cities implemented differentiated pricing.
The price increase of Sibey also seems to be expected. Two months ago, Jia Guolong’s remarks raised the voice of a company’s “sorrow”: “It is estimated that one month before and after the Spring Festival, (Xi Bei) will lose revenue of 700 million to 800 million yuan; in the case of little input, the salaries of more than 20,000 employees need to be paid as usual. The cash on the account cannot last for three months. “
The chain catering industry is one of the industries most affected by the epidemic. The “Research Report on the Impact of the New Coronary Pneumonia Epidemic on the Chinese Chain Catering Industry” released by the China Chain Store & Franchise Association in March shows that from January to February 2020 (Chain Catering) < / span> The company’s turnover has fallen sharply.
In the face of severe cash flow, catering companies still have major cost challenges such as rent, loss of ingredients, employee compensation and store management, costs have changed from order to order when the industry has not recovered Have to be out of control. At the same time, people ’s actions have not been completely unblocked, the production capacity and consumption capacity from the supply chain to the consumer side have not been restored, and even the restaurant ’s dine-in has not been completely liberalized, and there are still many people and time limits.
It can be said that The end of the epidemic is actually just the beginning of the self-help of catering companies. From the perspective of the catering companies themselves, what they have to do now is to find ways to recover their losses, and to prepare sufficient cash flow and personnel for the future comprehensive unsealing.
The price increase sounds right. So why in the end, the cost pressure seems to be defeated by users?
Why withdraw?
First of all, Leading catering companies like Haidilao and Xibei have the influence of the industry vane.
In Haidilao, which you can’t learn, the total number of stores has reached 768 by the end of 2019, which is equivalent to opening a new store every 1.2 days. Xibei Catering Group has now grown to more than 100 stores nationwide, with more than 10,000 employees.
It can be said that their products, management, and values are already industry benchmarks. When Haidilao took the first step of price increase or price reduction, the small and medium-sized enterprises that were not as capable as Haidilao started to imitate future or Not a few. If the price increase becomes the general trend, restaurants have entered the next era of customer unit prices, and it is also a bad signal for those who do not want to follow suit.
Just like in 2008, Vanke, which is also a real estate leader, took the lead in price reduction, which led to crusade across the industry. The individual behavior of Haidilao’s price increase or decrease will involve many peers, supply chains, etc.Interests. Even Sibei ’s decision to withdraw has more or less the influence of Haidilao in it.
Furthermore, The strong reaction of users has given Haidilao an unoptimistic feedback.
For a restaurant, although the cost is very important, the turnover rate, the number of customers and word of mouth seem to be more important.
Facing 1.5 yuan a piece of potatoes, more than 50 yuan a plate of small crispy meat, it is not cheap and the price of the pot is increasing … People will hesitate for a longer time before entering the sea fishing . After all, in this epidemic, in addition to companies, also faced cash flow challenges, and there were consumers standing in front of the menu.
The price increase of catering companies means that this time the pressure of rising costs is transferred to consumers who are also “too difficult”, and while waiting for the recovery, they have to rely on the release of new passenger flows and old The customer’s caress came to really survive this dark moment. Rising prices when it ’s time to find a way to acquire users is, in part, refusing to return customers, or even pushing users to competitors who do n’t have price increases, so this decision is not wise.
In addition, unlike Xibei, Haidilao needs a positive voice from the capital market at this moment.
Oriental Wealth has data to show that Haidilao ranks first in the industry with a market value of HK $ 158.2 billion among all A-share and Hong Kong-listed catering companies. In the case that neither the passenger flow nor the turnover rate can be guaranteed, the increase in the unit price of passengers is a positive feedback to the capital market. This may also be a reason for the price increase of Haidilao. But once the gains are not paid by consumers, no strategy is useful.
For a catering service company like Haidilao, The basis of capital market feedback is user voting.
Perhaps for various reasons, Haidilao recalculated the consequences of the price increase and made a caliber not to increase the price.
Interestingly, this is not the first time Haidilao has withdrawn his decision. In September last year, Haidilao said that it would adjust the discount for college students, but the result was also changed due to the fermentation of public opinion. before.
This withdrawal may have an unexpected public relations effect for Haidilao, and some netizens in this wave of operation circles have called for the next door Xicha to come and learnIt can be seen that the biggest effect of this incident is to remind people: “It is open for business, no price increase, you can go to eat Haidilao.”