Author丨Li HuanhuanEditor丨TangerineAs a channel closer to consumers, community milk stations are valued by more and more dairy companies and concerned by the industry. However, in the context of oversupply of dairy consumption and the normalization of the war, it is far more difficult to run a milk station than imagined.
I can't afford to sell milk alone."
From this month, in addition to milk, our store has also begun to sell all kinds of children's toys, **affordable, welcome to the door. Zhang Hong is in a milk station group of more than 400 people @ everyone. Subsequently, she sent the sorted milk ** information of the day to the group: the original price of Yili Chang light yogurt is 85 yuan a bottle, now 105 yuan for 2 bottles;Simple and alcoholic sucrose yogurt, original price 139 a board, the current price is 98 yuan;The small bottle is fresh, buy 5 get 4 free, and 5 after discount5 yuan a bottle.
Some of these ** activities were directly issued by Zhang Hong's headquarters when she joined the milk station, and some were formulated by her herself according to the validity period of the product. Zhang Hong told Nei Sanjun that winter is the off-season for the consumption of low-temperature milk, the sales of products in the store are relatively poor, and the shelf life of low-temperature milk is limited. ”
In mid-to-late December 2023, Wuhan ushered in a cold wave, with temperatures below zero for a week, making it more difficult to sell low-temperature milk in Zhanghong's store. "Due to my lack of experience, I picked up the goods as usual that week and it didn't sell at all. Like Yuexianhuo, it was originally the best-selling product in the store, but during that time, I couldn't sell a few bottles a day, and finally bought 5 get 5 free, so I sold the six boxes of goods I had hoarded in my hand, barely keeping the cost, and selling it lonely. Zhang Hong said.
** information released by Zhang Hong's circle of friends).
Zhang Hong was originally a graphic designer, but she briefly left the workplace for a period of time due to pregnancy and childbirth, and when she returned, she and her family planned to open this small shop near the community in line with the idea of better balancing work and family.
In October last year, I saw that the milk station in the adjacent community posted the transfer information, and after a brief inspection, I took over. There are a lot of milk stations in our area, and we have also opened one in our community, I think that people have not closed down for two or three years, and the income should be okay, but I haven't done in-depth research. Zhang Hong said that before she took over, the milk station was self-operated by the headquarters, and she took over by joining.
The milk station is only 18 square meters, but due to its location on the street of the community, the rent is not cheap, 4800 a month. Coupled with the deposit and service fee of 50,000 yuan paid to the headquarters when joining, plus store decoration, equipment and the purchase of the first batch of goods, Zhang Hong's milk station invested about 120,000 yuan in the early stage.
When I took over, I thought I would be able to return to my capital in one year, but now I can't return to my capital in two years. Zhang Hong calculated the accounts to the internal staff, and since taking over the milk station for three months, the turnover in the first two months has been 2About 50,000 yuan, about 30% gross profit margin, about 8,000 yuan, excluding rent, water and electricity, and product loss, add up to almost 6,000, and the actual profit received each month is only 2,000 yuan. "If you count the manpower, it is actually a loss every month", in order to save costs, Zhang Hong did not hire employees.
2,000 yuan, it's not as good as a private order I received when I was doing design before", talking about the profitability of the milk station, Zhang Hong couldn't cry or laugh, and was also full of remorse for his impulsive behavior of opening a store. But now that it's open, she doesn't want to give up easily.
Some "seniors" told her that she could add more categories other than dairy products and find a way to make the store flow, otherwise she would not even be able to pay the rent. There are more than 4,000 households in the community where Zhang Hong's milk station is located, basically all of them are families who just need it, young people go to work, and the elderly help take care of their children. "After school and dinner, there are indeed more people who buy toys than those who buy milk", but the unit price of toys is too low, basically within 10 yuan, and you can earn 20 yuan a day if you sell well.
In addition, Zhang Hong also discussed with her family to put a few game consoles at the door of the milk station. Recently, a "senior" asked her to find a way to apply for a cigarette sales license, "if you can get one, at least you can ensure that the store does not die". Some dealer friends suggested that she bypass the headquarters and go directly to the manufacturer to talk, and find a few more manufacturers to support the display fee. In the face of these suggestions, Zhang Hong, as a novice, accepted and tried at the same time, "In short, it is necessary to make the flow of water and reduce the cost."
There is no minimum, only lower".
Nei Sanjun noticed that since last year, there have been more and more milk stations like Zhang Hong's on the streets of the community. Some milk stations are only a dozen square meters, and the store only sells dairy products, covering room temperature milk, low temperature milk, cheese and other categories. There is also a slightly larger store, with an area of 60 or 70 square meters, in addition to dairy products, it also sells bread, ice cream, fresh fruits, snacks, pre-made dishes and other daily consumer goods, but dairy products still account for at least half of the volume.
As a community vertical format, the rise of milk stations is similar to snack mass stores, mainly in that it undertakes part of the consumer groups of traditional supermarkets. In addition, some of the dairy products sold at the early milk stations were also cheaper than supermarkets and chain convenience stores, and were favored by community residents. This is related to the pick-up channel of the milk station.
After communicating with a number of industry insiders, Nei Sanjun learned that the ** dairy products in the community milk station mainly come from several different channels. The first is the inventory tail goods provided by the dealer, which is finally sold to the store at a low price as an expiring product, which is mainly based on room temperature milk. There is also a channel return, such as unsalable old goods generated by large supermarkets and e-commerce, which will be processed and sold through different channels within a certain period of time.
Franchise stores like Zhang Hong are supplied by the headquarters. Zhang Hong joined the brand in Wuhan has more than 100 milk stations, the headquarters with the advantage of large volume directly to the manufacturer to get the goods, and then sell to the franchisee, some products are a little cheaper than to get the dealer.
Coupled with the low expenditure of labor costs and store rents compared with traditional supermarkets, the early milk stations did rely on the low-price model to support the revenue of the stores in some areas. "I know a friend, one store can sell 50,000 or 60,000 yuan, and six stores have been opened, and in good times there are about 500,000 sales a month," said a dealer in the southwest region. Among the franchisees that Zhang Hong knows, there are also more than 40,000 stores sold a month, "they do it early, and there are more than 1,000 members", and there are only more than 200 members of Zhang Hong's milk station.
According to some ** reports, as well as the observation of Song Liang and other industry insiders, in Beijing, Shanghai and other communities with strong consumption power and the elderly, some milk stations are really good, and the dynamic sales are very good, injecting new vitality into the consumption of dairy products.
But these stories heard or seen have nothing to do with Zhang Hong, "In our community, maybe I had stores that sold well before I joined the industry, but it feels difficult now, and it may be even more difficult in the future." Zhang Hong told Nei Sanjun that although the difficulty in dynamic sales is related to the season, the main reason is that the competition is too fierce, "Before I took over this store, several snack stores opposite had not yet opened, and Pupu Supermarket did not cover here, after taking over, they all came, and the milk was sold cheaper than the other."
Nei Sanjun noticed that there are three communities within a radius of one kilometer in the community where Zhang Hong's milk station is located, but there are also at least two large supermarkets, a number of small and medium-sized fresh supermarkets, four or five snack mass stores, plus online Pupu supermarket, Meituan Maicai, Hema and other near-field e-commerce channels, Zhang Hong's competitors come from all directions. The key is to compare prices between various channels, "big platforms use low-priced milk to attract traffic, which is simply a dimensionality reduction blow to us, and the lethality is very great."
According to Zhang Hong, Junlebao's Yuexianhuo was originally the most profitable product in the store, but the profit of this product was also much lower, "one bottle can only earn one or two yuan". Nei Sanjun noticed that the 450ml Yuexianhuo sold for 13 in a single bottle in Zhang Hong's store9 yuan, buy three get one free can achieve a unit price of 104 yuan, but the snacks opposite her are very busy, snacks are stubborn, and a single bottle can be sold for 109 yuan, Pupu and Meituan supermarkets sell 99 yuan, Hema ** even sold for 84 yuan a bottle. Such a difference undoubtedly makes some consumers who will compare prices between multiple platforms lose.
And Zhang Hong's predicament is not unique. Some dealers revealed to Nei Sanjun that although dairy companies are paying more and more attention to the format of milk stations, some dairy companies encourage and even force dealers to open their own milk stations, and many dealers have also made money, but he does not recommend ordinary people to open milk shops. "It is difficult to make a profit without 60% of the gross profit of an individual milk station, and the loss of low-temperature milk is too great", or it is to increase the category to increase the revenue of a single store, but this will increase the pressure on rent.
With the encouragement of the manufacturer, the above-mentioned dealers also opened two milk stations in the local county, and the revenue and gross profit margin of each store are similar to Yang Hong's stores, the difference is that he can make some money, "find a way to apply for subsidies such as labor and display expenses from the manufacturer, and distribute the cost, and basically the gross profit every month is the net profit."
Open a store now, don't use your own money if you can," said the dealer. But ordinary people like Yang Hong don't have so many resources to deploy, so they can only invest real money**. Although the monthly income of 2000 made Yang Hong feel far away, she decided to stay up first, "When the weather is warmer and the peak season of low-temperature milk consumption comes, the situation may be better."