Kunpeng Project
Individual businesses on campus are "lying flat", and it is difficult for chain brands to enter the game.Author |Wang Zhen Choreograph丨Chenxi Editor|Learned.
Produced by丨Retail Business Finance ID: Retail-Finance
On the school bus on weekend nights, college students rushing back with various shopping bags to complete the weekly or monthly groceries shopping. In the campus express station that exploded after Double 11, the girls moved back the large vat of laundry detergent and boxed toilet paper alone, while the campus supermarket, which was quite close to the dormitory, was crowded, many students saidAfter the freshmen started to buy daily necessities, they never set foot in the school supermarket again
Why is the campus supermarket, which occupies a geographical advantage, not favored by college students who are known for being "lazy"?Why has "seeking the near and far" become a common situation for college students to buy daily necessities?
Many college students' "bad impressions" of campus supermarkets start from admission.
At the beginning of the new semester, most college students who started to live independently for the first time chose to buy daily necessities at the nearest campus supermarket, but they found outThe overall ** of daily necessities is generally higher than that of off-campus supermarkets and online e-commerce such as ** and Pinduoduo
Source:.
The first purchase was "backstabbed", and it was difficult for campus supermarkets to become the first choice for college students to purchase daily necessities. Students who have eaten a trench and grown wise will even remind new students not to buy groceries at the on-campus supermarket.
Source: Little Red Book.
In addition to the high pricing,The supermarket product category and furnishings are not reasonable at allMost campus supermarkets are relatively rich in miscellaneous food, while in comparison, there are fewer daily necessities, because the operators only consider the dynamic sales rate and do not study the needs of students at all.
Under the superposition effect of various undesirable factors such as the semi-closed management of the campus and the lack of regulatory constraint mechanism, the price is high and the commodity structure is single.
1. Low operation and management have become a common problem in campus supermarkets.
College students, the target consumer group of supermarkets, also have their own "contradictory" consumption philosophy.
More than 1,000 concert tickets can be bought, and 15 yuan *** members use their lifelong connections to borrow;800 yuan of clothes can be bought, 8 yuan of shipping directly discouraged;28 pieces of milk tea can be drunk, and 28 pieces of paper books are resolutely looking for electronic versions ......It seems to be a contradiction, but it is a true portrayal of the consumption concept of contemporary college students.
Source: Internet.
Second-hand replacement, squatting discounts, and full reductions have become the routine operations of college students' shopping, and information collection is carried out on various platforms in order to achieve the ultimate cost performance, and even "get wool", and buying goods with lower ** has become an emerging way to show off.
But at the same time,College students believe in the consumption concept of "the province is the province, the flower" does not mean that the desire to consume is reduced
According to a survey by the school media of China Youth School, 8302% of the college students surveyed will pay for their interests because of the joy and inner satisfaction they reap, 95Twenty-six percent of college students surveyed believe it's worth spending money on niche hobbies.
Source: Nandu Appraisal and Evaluation Laboratory.
College students are willing to pay for better-quality, more personalized, and more "self-pleasing" goods, but for daily necessities with strong substitution and outstanding consumption attributes, they are more inclined to buy low-priced, practical, and high-quality goods.
And such a consumer demand of college students and the current situation of campus supermarkets are undoubtedly misaligned and contradictory.
A must see,At present, the campus business is not developed enough, and the goods are sufficient but do not match the needs of students
The self-employed business model of husband and wife stalls and the irreparable defects in purchase channels, logistics and distribution, and operation and management make it difficult for self-employed supermarkets to keep up with the growth of demand from students.
When demand is not met on campus, college students have to spend more time and energy to shift their consumption space to off-campus business districts and online shopping platforms.
In the face of the contradictory status quo, the campus supermarket that lacks variety and advantages is less subject to external constraints and norms because of the "blessing" of relative monopoly, and does not have enough motivation for internal improvement.
Most of the campuses are closed or semi-closed, which creates a relative monopoly of the merchants on the campus. There are no competitors within a certain range, and most of the main consumers are first-class students, and the on-campus businesses have a unique business environment, and it seems that as long as they win the right to operate, they can make a steady profit.
And who will take over such a profitable business?
According to the official website of Xiamen No. 10 Middle School in Fujian Province, from August 31, 2014 to July 31, 2017, the school canteen and commissary were implemented**Contracted OperationsThe school organizes relevant personnel to form a bid evaluation teamComprehensive bid evaluation, merit and winning the bid。The announcement specifically states that the spouses of faculty and staff can participate in the bidding to help them find employment.
In 2015, the campus supermarket in Hengyang, Hunan Province led to a corruption nest case, and 13 leaders of 9 middle schools were involved in the operation of the campus supermarket.
In 2021, a case disclosed by the Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision of Hengzhou City, Guangxi, showed that the principal of a primary school in Shitang Town, Hengzhou City, between 2006 and 2014, contracted the school commissary to his wife for 8,000 yuan per year, and the rent was much lower than that of similar primary school commissaries.
Hengzhou Discipline Inspection and Supervision Network.
In the early years, the campus supermarket was not standardized, and the public bidding process was not followed, or the public bidding was just a formality, and the winning bidder had been designated by the school leaders before the bidding. The campus supermarket has become a "hard-hit area" for personal contacts and bribes, and the "school commissary is opened by the principal's relatives" has even become a "consensus" among students.
Although campus commercial bidding has been gradually standardized in recent years, and the bidding process has become more transparent and open, the legacy of the early non-standard bidding process still exists, many campus merchants who have signed long-term agreements are still operating, and a large number of individual merchants with insufficient qualifications and weak competitiveness still occupy the main campus market.
In contrast, strong chain brands have not seized the opportunity and advantage in the campus. It is difficult for chain brands to obtain college shop resources through normal bidding, and the lack of intervention of university resources leads to relatively large initial investment costs, high commission points, and more difficult to give full play to the original logistics and warehousing advantages, and the profit margin is inevitably narrowed, so that many chain brands themselves have a conservative attitude towards the campus and dare not end up easily.
Favors, bribery, black-box operations, tacit rules, lack of market competition and survival of the fittest, and no heavy rent pressure, resulting in existing campus merchants not wanting to make progress "lying flat", and new businesses are difficult to enter the game, so they can only face the blue ocean of campus business and sigh.
For the introduction of campus business, colleges and universities have their own set of "cost-effective" considerations. In response to the business needs of students on campus, Beijing Institute of Technology said that after several rounds of price comparison, the convenience stores such as "7-Eleven" and "Lawson", which students usually love, do not have obvious cost-effective advantages, and they are more willing to buy in supermarkets such as Hema or discount stores, and the "tonality" and pricing of some chain brands do not meet the school's investment expectations of high quality and low price.
However, can the unilateral judgment and decision of the school truly reflect and meet the needs of students?
In March 2022, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law conducted a survey on the needs of campus business formats, 3906% of the respondents were dissatisfied with the overall situation of the existing shops in the dormitory, 4843% of subjects think it is average, only 12Fifty-one per cent of respondents were generally satisfied with the current situation. At the same time, nearly 43% of the students surveyed would prefer the introduction of brand chain stores in their schools, and only 8% of the students said that they prefer individual stores.
Judging by the results of the survey,Students are not satisfied with the overall state of business development on campusCompared with individual merchants with more arbitrary pricing and products, brand chain stores with standardized products, operations and services are more popular with students.
Perhaps the introduction of well-known, fashionable and reasonable chain brands can achieve a win-win situation of student recognition and merchant profits.
In August 2023, the campus news agency of China Youth Network conducted a questionnaire survey of 4,673 college students, 8155% of college students spend 1,000 to 3,000 yuan per month.
The current college students have relatively sufficient consumable funds, have a strong desire to buy novel consumer goods, are willing to pay for creativity, boldly pursue fashion and personality, and are also willing to spend more to buy their favorite and high-quality products.
In the face of changes in students' consumption characteristics and needs, both the investment school and the settled merchants need to make adjustments and changes.
In terms of business introduction, the university should not engage in "one-word lectures", but can conduct surveys on the satisfaction with the existing business development on campus through questionnaires and other means, and ask for opinions on future business introduction. On the basis of listening to students' suggestions and respecting students' wishes, enrich and optimize business formats, reasonably arrange business layouts, and set up merchant satisfaction and replacement mechanisms.
For chain brands trying to enter the campus, they need to break the traditional "rules" to win the campus market, and the product design, marketing methods and even store decoration need to fit the characteristics and needs of students.
The coffee brand "Luckin", which was the first to enter the campus, is undoubtedly a leader in playing with campus business, aiming at students' demand for refreshing drinks and the market gap of affordable coffee on campus.
In 2020, in response to the most special school season in history, Luckin launched the "Luckin School Triple Gift", which greatly promoted the campus store to quickly restore the brand's popularity among students after the start of school.
Source: Internet.
In September of the same year, 5 milk teas were also launched for colleges and universities: Xiaolu signature milk tea, self-Xi Bobo milk tea, pudding milk tea after class, sister fairy grass milk tea, and dormitory coconut milk tea.
Tangible discount activities, diversified new products and fun ways to play with social orders have helped Luckin become a brand that students choose and trust in the back-to-school season after a long absence.
As a typical case of opening up the campus market and integrating well into the campus business format, Luckin has an insight into the segmentation scenario, fully understands the characteristics of the student customer group, and focuses on products and services, which provides a set of mature operation methods for other brands trying to enter the campus business.
Looking forward to the future development of campus commerce, the university needs to understand and meet the consumption needs of students, and include more supermarkets and catering brands with a more open attitude. The settled brands themselves also need to bear corresponding responsibilities, fully respect the campus market segment, and provide students with more high-quality and high-quality services and products that are close to their identities, so as to seize the main group of college students who will become social consumption in the future, cultivate brand loyalty on campus, develop consumption inertia, and finally make it a stable customer group of the brand in the future.
The essence of the campus economy is still retail, a kind of retail with barriers to entryOperators in this field are the beneficiaries because of this barrier, and they must make changes and concessions in the new business environment to adapt to the market environment, as Darwin said in "The Origin of Species": "The species that can survive is not necessarily the strongest, nor necessarily the largest, but it must be the most adaptable to change." ”
The campus has sufficient consumer demand and stable consumer groups, and has huge potential market potential, but it has to be admitted that the development of campus formats has not yet kept up with the changes in student demand.
We all hope that through the great waves of market competition and the supervision and control of the management department, we will leave the campus merchants that truly satisfy teachers and students, so that the campus business can develop benignly.