"You mean, a small shop like 711?" Chen Zhiwen asked.

At present, the retail market in the United States is basically monopolized by large supermarkets, such as Wal-Mart, Auchan, Carrefour, Celtic and other large supermarkets, especially Wal-Mart. Costco is an exception, because of the small variety and large purchase volume, the cost is lower than Wal-Mart, and the way to lock in a large number of middle-class people through membership payment has formed an independent means of competition.

But there is another type of supermarket that has survived, and that is the small retail chain like 711. In general, mom-and-pop stores compete with Wal-Mart because the materials of a small store cannot be purchased independently, and can only be exploited by dealers many times, resulting in too high costs, while 711 is a large number of chain stores, unified procurement and delivery, although the cost is still not as good as Wal-Mart, but the gap is much smaller.

And this kind of small store, their competitive advantage is not in the cost, but in convenience, after all, not everyone is willing to go to Walmart or Costco a few kilometers away in order to buy a little thing, especially when buying one or two small things.

Of course, no matter what, the cost still has to be controlled, but it doesn't need to be as extreme as Wal-Mart, and with different positioning, you can live a very nourishing life.

711, which is such an enterprise and the most famous existence in this industry, was established as early as the 20s, and has developed to the present day, and has related businesses in many countries.

"yes, it's like 711." Wu Weibing said: "During this time, I have also been to many countries in Southeast Asia, where there are many other supermarkets, but due to the local traffic environment, not everyone can easily go to the supermarket a few kilometers away, so many people buy things, unless it is a one-time big purchase, or they will choose a small supermarket."

In fact, it can be seen in Hong Kong now, even if we have monopolized the retail of medium-sized supermarkets in Hong Kong, many 711 stores are still operating very well, this is the logic of different market positioning, supermarkets like ParknSHOP or RT-Mart have little impact on 711 enterprises, unless they are very close, but our medium and large supermarkets cannot be built too intensively. ”

"It's really a new market." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said, Hong Kong also has 711, but it was once an agent of the Dairy Group, and now it also belongs to Hongkong Land.

"The idea is that if a city already has ParknSHOP or RT-Mart, then by adding stores like 711, we can share the sourcing channels and transportation costs, so that the cost will be lower." Wu Weibing said again.

"A combination of large, medium and small supermarkets? That's a good way to spread the cost of transportation to the extreme? Chen Zhiwen smiled and said, it seems that no retail giant has played this model, and the general supermarkets will not specialize in this kind of small stores, which may not be looked down upon, but in fact, this market is really not small.

It's just that most companies consume too much capital, energy and resources when developing their main business, and have no time to do other related industries, such as Wal-Mart, in fact, they have long seen the potential of Costco's member supermarkets, but they can't invest too much, because Wal-Mart supermarkets themselves are also developing at a high speed, and before defeating the traditional giant Celtic, Wal-Mart Group cannot have the energy to open up another route, not to mention, when Costco has grown up, they will enter on a large scale. It's the enemy on both sides.

And only companies that are not bad for money can move forward in multiple directions at the same time, similar to that kind of large investment fund, which can make large-scale investments in multiple fields, but the same problem, they belong to wide net fishing, professional is not strong enough, and there are only a few companies in the world that can do a good job.

"Yes, but for the sake of the light operation mode of the management model, this kind of small store still needs to adopt the franchise model, we will directly provide the supply of goods at that time, the cheap supply of goods, will definitely make this kind of supermarket develop very rapidly, enough to achieve the purpose of controlling the market, so that we can not only earn franchise fees, in this part of the material, but also get a large number of new orders." Wu Weibing explained. It is already very laborious to manage medium and large supermarkets, which the whole Watsons has a deep experience, and fortunately in Malaysia or the future Southeast Asian supermarkets, they are all managed together by local and Watsons people, maybe a little bit of power is divided, but it also ties everyone to a boat, and also reduces the pressure on Watsons' management, relatively speaking, Watsons for supermarkets in Southeast Asia, mainly based on supervision, as long as the local management is not too excessive, the company has enough profits, then it's okay.

After all, the biggest profit for the group is the massive industrial orders of Southeast Asian supermarkets in Galaxy Trade, which is the big one.

"Yes, just take the franchise, right?" Chen Zhiwen nodded, a neutral supermarket like a big supermarket or Parknshop, it is no problem to run it well, but tens of thousands of small supermarkets are unlikely to operate by themselves, otherwise the management cost can go up to the sky, and no one can manage it, the best model technology to join, the owner is responsible for himself, the franchisee charges and provides cheap materials, and the same is true for 711.

"In that case, I'm ready to register a brand like this." Wu Weibing said with a smile.

"Wait, it's too hard for us to build such a brand ourselves, no matter what, its potential is still not as good as RT-Mart or Parknshop, and directly acquire a ready-made one on the market, such as 711 in the United States, I heard that the parent company behind it is not very good." Chen Zhiwen thought about it and said, it is not a new technology company, this traditional industry, the fastest development model is mergers and acquisitions, such as the former Hutchisons, it is because of the acquisition of Hutchisons, as well as their own funds, resources and vision, the development of today's Watsons, there are a large number of supermarket chains in several countries, a year's turnover has exceeded 3 billion Hong Kong dollars, on this point, Hong Kong can become the top 20 large enterprises.

If you start from scratch, to build a similar 711 company, the money spent is a small matter, the time and energy required is the trouble, the current Watsons, the main energy is in RT-Mart and ParknSHOP in Southeast Asia expansion, and then in this kind of small chain store waste of energy is not worth it, and 711 Although the scale is large, it is also mainly franchised, and the brand in the Japanese market has been bought out, and it is mixed in other places, and the total price is not worth much.

The American company behind 711 is a traditional ice-making company, called Southern Continent Ice Company, this business was very popular more than 50 years ago, the dairy company, Swire Group, Li Xiaohe family have done this business, and the scale is not small, the same is true in the United States, but when the economy continues to develop, air conditioning, refrigerators are gradually popularized, this business will be abolished, eliminated by the times, in a few years, the whole company will be swallowed by the Japanese Huateng Trading Company, 711 will become a Japanese company.

Rather than cheap Japan, it is better to be cheap now, this kind of small store, even in the era of Internet retail a few decades later, has its own market, and the impact is not very large. It can even be reversed to assist internet shopping platforms, such as JD.com.

"Buying up the Southern Company in the United States?" Wu Weibing asked.

"If you can buy 711 alone, you can buy 711, if not, you can buy it together, the ice-making business has no future, just close it after the acquisition, but there will be a lot of trouble, you first send someone to the United States to contact it, what is the specific situation, you decide for yourself, if there is a problem with funds, just discuss it with Zhou Jiayang." Chen Zhiwen said.

In the original history, 711 has become a significant force in the global retail industry in the 21st century under the management of Japan's Huateng Trading Company, but this is mainly due to small Japan, the American Southern Company does not have this ability, and after 50 years of development, it is okay to mix in the United States, and other countries are selling brand licenses to earn a little licensing fee.

How much it will cost, Chen Zhiwen doesn't know yet, but it shouldn't be a lot, otherwise the entire Southern Ice Company will not be acquired by a small Japanese company in a few years, this kind of small acquisition, he Chen Zhiwen will not concentrate on participating, just let his subordinates do it themselves, he only needs to make this decision, and then his subordinates will implement it.

"Okay." Wu Weibing said again: "But if it is acquired, then 711 on the Hong Kong side is controlled by Hongkong Land, and if we acquire 711, what will happen to the Hong Kong side?" ”

"You don't have to worry about it, I'll take care of it." Chen Zhiwen smiled and said, he is ready to start against each other in many directions, taking advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime economic crisis, if he doesn't succeed, he will be too sorry for the opportunity given by the times, but there are very few people in the whole group who know about this matter, Wu Weibing is in charge of retail, so he naturally doesn't know, as for people in the outside world, they have speculations about this, but that is just a chatter after dinner.

"Okay." Wu Weibing nodded in agreement.

"Wait, if you go to the United States, first look for Costco, buy the retail industry in the United States, maybe it would be better for them to come forward, if the acquisition is successful, Costco will take over the business in the United States, and you will take over other places, so that the resources will be maximized, and it will be more reasonable." Chen Zhiwen thought about it and said.

"It's okay, our Watsons really don't have any foundation in the United States and Europe, so it's better to give Costco, which has been successful." Wu Weibing said.

"Okay, then go ahead, and tell me if you have any news." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.

"Then Chen Sheng, I'll take my leave." Wu Weibing took his leave and left.

(End of chapter)