In two and a half years, 4 warehouse member stores, 2 boutique supermarkets, 1880,000 paid members – that's how fast Fudi is growing.
The founders of FUDI are Wang Xingshui, Wang Xingyu and Wang Xinghai, who have been working in the fresh food industry for more than 20 years. In 2014, the three brothers of the Wang family established Beijing Yaodi Agriculture, officially started the supermarket business, and opened the first vegetable fresh fruit beauty community boutique supermarket. Up to now, Caixian Guomei has 10 stores in Beijing.
In 2021, the warehouse membership store exploded in China, and the traditional supermarkets were losing ground, and the three brothers of the Wang family launched a fudi membership store in Beijing, attracting young people to check in, take pictures, and consume with highly aesthetic architectural design, product display, and 1 yuan ice cream.
FUDI member store product display.
Fudi Little Red Book.
In this way, Fudi became popular on social platforms, and it has a lot of hot discussion on platforms such as Xiaohongshu and Douyin. The Fudi Club is firmly in the top five of Dianping's "Supermarket Convenience Hot List" in Beijing.
Dianping Beijing's "Supermarket Convenience Hot List" list.
Dianping app
In 2023, Fudi+ boutique supermarket will open two stores in Beijing in a row, as a supplement to the membership store, creating a Fudi ecosystem and realizing complementary scenes.
Fudi is still accelerating. Fudi's plan, the next stage of the target number of paid members is 1.88 million, is expected to add 5 fudi member stores, 10 fudi+ selected supermarkets in 2024, and is expected to go out of Beijing in 2025. [1]
When combing through the relevant information of fudi, it was found that fudi is special, it is not a typical warehouse membership store, but the soul of a warehouse membership store is loaded in the body of a traditional supermarket. Fudi said in an interview that Fudi is trying to integrate warehouse stores and boutique supermarkets to make a new local business form.
The life and death of supermarkets are tied to the ** chain, and we try to find the answer to the rapid growth of fudi from the perspective of fudi** chain. By the end of this article, you will understand:
1. How did Fudi take root and grow up in Beijing?
2. Compared with warehouse membership stores and traditional supermarkets, the similarities and differences of Fudi are in the first place
3. What is the chain structure of Fudi?What is the connection with Beijing Yaodi Agriculture and its supermarket brands?
4. What are the advantages of Fudi's **chain??
2021 is the year of the outbreak of domestic warehouse membership stores.
This year, traditional supermarkets have been retreating. At the beginning of the year, Carrefour reported that it had withdrawn from Zhuhai, Jinan and Hangzhou. In December of the same year, Wal-Mart closed its four stores on the same day: Shenzhen Honghu store, Wuxi Taihu store, Chongqing Beicheng Tianjie store, and Taiyuan Gablewall Road store. The same is true for local supermarkets, according to incomplete statistics, in the first half of 2021 alone, the veteran retail company Renrenle closed 19 stores.
Contrary to the "loneliness" of traditional supermarkets, warehouse membership stores began to "run wild" in China.
First of all, foreign-funded warehouse membership stores have accelerated the pace of expansion, Sam's opened 5 new stores in 2021 alone, and Costco has also bought land in many cities. At the same time, local warehouse membership stores have also shown explosive growth: in October 2020, Hema opened its first local warehouse membership store in Shanghai, Hema x Member, and in June 2021, the second Hema X Membership store landed in Beijing.
In addition to Freshippo, traditional supermarkets also tested the waters of warehousing membership stores in this year: Yonghui Supermarket tested the waters in Fuzhou and transformed the original store into a warehousing membership storeThe first warehouse-type membership store of Beijing Hualian Comprehensive Super (BHG) was stationed in Lanzhou Shanshan Outlets PlazaJiajiayue's first member store in the country opened in Jinan.
It is against this background that Fudi emerged. On May 18, 2021, the fudi club located near Yaowahu Park in Beijing's East Fourth Ring Road officially opened.
At that time, in Beijing, the direct "opponents" of Fudi members were Sam's and Hema X Club. By 2021, Sam's has been rooted in Beijing for 18 years, with three stores in Shijingshan, Yizhuang, and Shunyi (west, north, and southeast of Beijing). In the second month of Fudi's opening, the first Hema X Club store in Beijing opened in Daxing District (south of Beijing).
However, the fledgling Fudi "survived" in Beijing and "lived" well.
In two and a half years, Fudi has opened 4 warehouse membership stores and 2 FUDI+ select supermarkets. In January 2022, Fudi's second store landed in Xiangyun Town, Shunyi;On October 1, 2022, Fudi's third store landed on Chaoyang North Road, outside the East Fifth Ring Road;On September 28, 2023, Fudi's fourth store landed in Wukesong Wanda Plaza. In addition, on May 1, 2023, the first FUDI+ Select Supermarket officially opened in Beijing Wudaokou Shopping CenterOn June 18, 2023, the second FUDI+ Select Supermarket opened in Jingxi Joy City.
The opening scene of the Fudi Chaoyang North Road store.
Fudi Little Red Book.
Judging from the expansion speed of Beijing warehouse membership stores alone, Fudi has made great strides. After all, as of now, Sam's has opened 5 stores in Beijing and 2 Hema x members.
The growth rate of Fudi's membership is another set of data worth paying attention to. According to Fudi's public data, three days before the opening of Fudi's first store, the number of member registrations has exceeded 40,000. As of June 2022, the number of paid members of Fudi with only two stores has approached 100,000. By August this year, the number of FUDI members had reached 1880 thousand. [1]
According to "Walmart WeChat*** news, in November 2021, Sam's, which has been in China for 25 years, operated 36 stores in 23 cities, and the number of paid members has exceeded 4 million.
Sam's adds about 160,000 members a year on average, compared to 940,000 yuan. Considering that Fudi only operates in Beijing, it can be shown that the growth rate of Fudi's membership is not much slower than that of Sam's.
On social **, the discussion about fudi is also hot.
On Dianping, in the popular list of supermarket convenience, whether it is on the list of Beijing, or on the list of Chaoyang, Shijingshan, Shunyi and other regions, Fudi member stores and Fudi+ boutique supermarkets are basically on the list.
The first and second places have thousands of comments.
On Xiaohongshu, Fudi is labeled as "Affordable Sam" and a photo mecca. "Affordable Sam" refers to the fact that Fudi, also as a warehouse membership store, is closer to the taste of domestic consumers in some fresh bakery products, with small portions and low portions. In Fudi, a donkey rolling and sauce cake is about 10 yuan, but Sam's baking is mainly bread and cakes, and most of them are more than 30 yuan.
Fudi's appearance is also the most discussed. Unlike simple industrial warehouse member stores, Fudi has put a lot of "careful thought" into the appearance and product arrangement. A fresh mint green low-rise building, with a great sense of design, has attracted many fashionistas to take pictures.
Fudi Little Red Book.
The internal merchandise display, FUDI is pre-packaged according to a unified dopamine color scheme such as green, red, and blue, and the neat and unified display is regarded as a "paradise for obsessive-compulsive disorder" by young people.
There are many sellers of **fudi shopping bags on Xianyu. Daily 8The 9 yuan shopping bag is 20 yuan on Xianyu, and the 2022 Qixi limited edition shopping bag is sold for 99 yuan a piece, and the 2023 Spring Festival model is 75 yuan a piece.
On short ** platforms such as station b and Douyin, many bloggers will deliberately fly to Beijing to take a check-in of "FUDI", such as "Liu Yuxin Jason", "Vasa Beibei", etc.
Screenshot of Liu Yuxin's jason Douyin.
Food blogger "Liu Yuxin Jason" visited Fudi in November 2022, and as of press time, this issue** has 5 likes on Douyin20,000, with 4 likes on Kuaishou60,000, with more than 160,000 on station B.
The body of Fudi's traditional supermarket carries the soul of a warehouse membership store.
People who have visited Fudi have the same feeling: Fudi is a warehouse membership store, but it has the feeling of a traditional supermarket, but it is a little "different".
In terms of site selection, warehouse membership stores are generally located in the suburbs of the city, but the location of Fudi is not like warehouse membership stores, but similar to traditional supermarkets. The choice of FUDI is often closer to the urban area and residential areas, and the choice of FUDI+ boutique supermarket is in the urban supermarket.
Interestingly, Fudi and Sam's are mostly located in the same direction, and the distance between them is only about 10 kilometers, while Fudi is closer to the inner ring than Sam. For example, Sam's Shijingshan store is located on Beijing's West 5th Ring Road, and Fudi Wukesong store is located on the West 4th Ring Road, both of which are near Line 1 across Beijing. This kind of site selection method is not uncommon in past business cases, and FamilyMart and Lawson in convenience stores, Hey Tea and Nai Xue's tea in New Tea Drink, are all located in the same area, competing for high-volume locations.
Sam's and Fudi's Beijing store layout.
FBIF is based on AutoNavi maps.
In terms of store size, the size of the Fudi club store is similar to that of a hypermarket-style supermarket, but it is smaller than the area of Sam's and Costco. The four FUDI club stores range in area from 10,000 square meters to 1Between 50,000 square meters, the size of Fudi+ boutique supermarket is about 3,000 square meters.
The opening model of fudi membership stores is still similar to that of traditional supermarkets, but fudi's membership system, extreme cost performance and self-developed ** chain are the core of warehousing membership stores.
Membership fee is the core income of warehouse member stores, not the gross profit margin of goods. This is the concept that Costco has always adhered to: not relying on commodities, relying on members, membership fees should maintain an absolute high proportion in net profit.
The logic of the warehouse membership store is: to save time with selected product SKUs, to reduce the frequency of repeated purchases with large packaging, to improve bargaining power for bulk shopping, and to attract target groups who pursue high efficiency and high quality to pay for it. [2] This can be understood as the membership fee paid by consumers is to pay for the bargaining power and product selection ability of the warehouse member store.
In terms of gross profit margin of goods, Fudi said that the comprehensive gross profit margin of goods "does not exceed 10%". This figure is even lower than Costco's 13%.
In terms of membership fees, at the beginning of its birth, there were only two levels of fudi members**, namely 365 yuan for Fu members and 680 yuan for Fu Xing members. Membership levels at different prices correspond to different services, including dental services, free car washes, parking, online shopping shipping coupons, birthday gifts, etc.
Fudi's membership fee is slightly higher than that of other warehouse membership stores. Sam's has two levels of membership, and the membership fee is 260 yuan and 680 yuan;Costco membership fee is 299 yuan;The membership fee for Hema X membership is 258 yuan.
In August this year, Fudi said that in order to serve service consumption Xi some users who are accustomed to lightness and rigid demand launched a 188 yuan lightweight version of ordinary members. In fact, this is also to cope with the future expansion of Fudi's stores and online business.
The special thing about Fudi is on the SKU.
In terms of SKUs (Stock Keeping Units), according to official public information, there are about 5,000 SKUs in Fudi member stores and about 7,000 SKUs in Fudi+ selected supermarkets. This is higher than that of foreign warehouse membership stores such as Sam's and Costco, whose SKUs are 3,000-4,000, and also higher than the SKUs of about 3,000 Hema X members. However, Fudi SKUs are lower than those of large supermarkets, taking Yonghui Supermarket as an example, the number of SKUs in its stores is 8,000-9,000.
The SKU of the warehouse membership store is controlled at about 3,000, and the logic behind it lies in the thinking of "high-quality products" and "explosive products". It's like a category, only one or two brands are put on the shelves, and then it is made into a popular product, and because of the high repurchase rate and high turnover rate, it can have bargaining power, and cost-effective products are born.
However, Fudi did not fully practice this set of play, but took a median value between traditional supermarkets and warehouse member stores. Taking the egg category as an example, on the Fudi Mini Program, there are 9 products to choose from, Costco has 4, Sam has 6, and Yonghui Supermarket has 19.
Li Xue, vice president of Beijing Yaodi Agriculture, once said in a public interview: I always think that Fudi is a new business form, which integrates warehouse stores and boutique supermarkets.
This can be understood as the fact that Fudi is actually building a supermarket ecology in the blank area of traditional supermarkets and warehouse member stores, that is, conforming to the trend of warehouse member stores, and at the same time not abandoning the essence of traditional supermarkets.
The logic behind the warehouse membership store is the thinking of explosive products, the ultimate cost performance and the best chain management. Behind the explosive product thinking and the ultimate cost performance, it all points to the first-class chain ability. Therefore, the control of the ** chain is actually the top priority of the warehouse membership store.
In order to improve the ability of the first chain, Sam's, Costco and Hema have all chosen to develop and build their own chains and become their own brands. Sam's member'S Mark, Costco's Kirkland Signature, Hema X member's Hema MAX, these self-branded SKUs can even account for 20%-40% of the total SKUs.
Creating explosive products in self-operated brands, attracting consumers, improving member retention rate, and bringing higher gross profit margin and revenue have gradually become the core play methods of warehouse membership stores. For example, the gross profit of Sam's bakery can reach 20%-25%, and the gross profit of some exclusive products can be as high as 30%. [3]
FBIF observes that Fudi's ** chain management is self-contained:
1. Rooted in the ground
As a home-grown Chinese brand, Fudi has effectively avoided the problem of localization of foreign warehouse membership stores to the Chinese market.
In terms of product categories, with an in-depth understanding of local consumer preferences, Fudi has selected product categories that are more suitable for the Chinese market. For example, traditional Chinese foods such as steamed buns, steamed buns, and wraps can be found in the fudi baking area, and pork is the main meat section, which caters to the tastes of Chinese consumers.
In terms of product specifications, Fudi's product specifications are more suitable for small domestic families. Unlike multi-child families in the United States, the domestic family composition is generally about 3-5 people, and the large-size products of foreign warehouse member stores are often not suitable for Chinese families. Taking eggs as an example, the size of a box of eggs in Fudi is generally 15-20 pieces, but the size of an egg serving by Sam and Costco will be as much as double that of Fudi.
In terms of commodity brands, whether it is vegetables and fruits, meat, poultry and eggs, grain and oil seasonings or casual snacks, etc., many local brands can be seen in Fudi.
2. Self-developed ** chain
In addition to fresh fruits and vegetables from the parent company Yaodi Agriculture, Fudi has also begun to explore self-developed ** chains in other categories. For example, bakery products.
Fudi once said that Fudi has an experienced baking team from Taiwan, and 100% of its bakery products are self-developed and nearly 90% are produced by themselves. Only when the capacity of individual production lines is insufficient, Fudi will entrust external manufacturers to produce in strict accordance with the formula and requirements. In 2023, Fudi will also expand a larger-scale roastery in the suburbs of Beijing, which will soon be put into production. [4]
In addition, in the categories of meat, poultry and eggs, convenient fast food, and oil and grain seasoning, you can already see three or five products labeled with fudi, for example, fudi black pig loin, fudi rice, etc. This is related to Fudi's self-built ** chain.
Fudi rice.
Fudi Little Red Book.
3. Globalization ** chain
When FBIF sorted out the FUDI category, it found that although FUDI is currently dominated by domestic brands and there are relatively few types of foreign brands, FUDI has not given up the exploration of international brands and is trying to expand the ** chain to the world.
Take the newly opened Fudi Wukesong store as an example. Inside the store, FUDI has dedicated an area to Coles, Australia's largest retail group. It is reported that Fudi and Coles will cooperate from 2023, and Coles has provided 18 products for Fudi, including Manuka honey originating from New Zealand, MGO50+, Rainforest Alliance certified dark roast coffee beans and salted smooth peanut butter and other key products. [4]
Fudi Wukesong store Coles merchandise display area.
fudi's official WeChat***
Fresh fruits and vegetables are the hole cards of the fudi** chain.
Fudi fresh fruits and vegetables are "homeown"**. Fudi's parent company, Beijing Yaodi Agriculture, has established more than 100 bases in many places in China, and has its own agricultural product bases in the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand and other places, with a cumulative planting area of 2690,000 acres.
It is reported that Beijing Yaodi Agriculture was founded in 2014 by Wang Xingshui, Wang Xinghai and Wang Xingyu, and is an agricultural technology company integrating fresh retail, smart agriculture, warehousing and logistics.
Fudi fruit and vegetable agricultural products are purchased from the source of planting, and the direct procurement mode of the production area reaches the terminal retail warehouse in one step, which saves the intermediate circulation cost, saves money and ensures quality.
fudi member store WeChat***
This has also affected the "preference" of Fudi and Fudi+ in the category to a certain extent, and at the beginning of the opening of the first Fudi member store, the proportion of fresh food category reached 50%.
In addition to fruit and vegetable agricultural products, Beijing Yaodi Agriculture has accumulated many years of experience in supermarket retail.
Before the emergence of the FUDI brand, the three brothers of the Wang family had accumulated more than 20 years of experience in the fresh supermarket track. In 2014, Beijing Yaodi Agriculture launched the "Fresh Vegetables and Fruits" boutique life supermarket, especially fresh products.
In Beijing, Caixian Guomei has maintained a steady pace of expansion. By 2021, before the emergence of the FUDI brand, Xian Guomei Boutique Life Supermarket had a total of 12 stores in Beijing, and its annual sales had exceeded 1 billion yuan.
On the Meituan takeaway food fresh fruit beauty interface, we can find the following product categories: fresh vegetables, fresh fruits, meat, poultry and eggs, aquatic seafood, dairy baking, convenient fast food, wine and beverages, snack food, grain and oil seasoning, beauty and personal care, household daily use, ice cream and ice products, and pre-made dishes. It is not difficult to find that the categories of fresh and fruity vegetables are very complete.
FBIF sorted out the top manufacturers of all products under the classification of vegetables and poultry eggs and small degree of meat and poultry eggs on the FUDI line, and found that in the meat, poultry and egg products, more than 50% of the ** merchants of FUDI are the same as those of fresh vegetables.
The influence of fresh and fruity vegetables on fudi does not stop there. Caixian Guomei has a certain influence on Fudi in store decoration, product display design, and pre-packaging of fresh products.
What's more important is the creation of channels. At the end of 2018, Caixian Guomei opened an online terminal business to provide users with delivery services within 1 hour within 3km of the store. All of these have accumulated a lot of experience for Fudi to build online channels.
In 2023, in addition to the layout of the membership store, the Fudi brand will also open two new FUDI+ boutique supermarkets.
Fudi Little Red Book.
Talking about the planning of the Fudi brand, Wang Xingshui, founder of Fudi and chairman of Beijing Yaodi Agriculture, said in an interview that Fudi+ and Fudi member stores constitute the Fudi ecosystem, and the scenes complement each other. In urban areas where it is not possible to open a large-scale fudi membership store, through fudi+, we can jointly serve members in multiple formats and scenarios. [5]
Fudi Club Store and Fudi+ form an integrated warehouse store distribution network, which also paves the way for instant retail in Beijing. Fudi revealed that it is expected to open a city-wide delivery service in Beijing in May 2024.
The layout of Fudi's line channels can also be understood as following the trend. Since 2017, Sam's has started the layout of instant retail and e-commerce, and has now formed a large-scale store + front-end warehouse model, with online and offline dual-channel development. Hema X members are backed by Freshippo's front-end warehouse and delivery model, and Costco has also begun to test the waters of instant retail this year.
There is a lot more to Fudi planning for the future. According to Fudi, 2024 will be the fastest year since the establishment of Fudi, with 5 new Fudi member stores and 10 new Fudi+ stores unveiled in Beijing, and will go out of Beijing in 2025. 100 help plan