Overseas nuggets, local life and AI retail have become the "next track" that has attracted much attention.
The past 2023 is a year of consumption recovery, but also a year of further intensification of "uncertainty".
The "recovery" of consumption is obvious to all, whether it is the surge of offline ** or the explosion of cultural and tourism consumption, many brands have reaped the real "fruits": Luckin has completely walked out of the haze, and the explosion of "Moutai Latte" has become a business case that is difficult to bypass in 2023; Pinduoduo is in the limelight, its market value has caught up with Alibaba, and it has gone overseas to single out Amazon.
However, "recovery" is only one side of 2023, and the market temperature felt by more front-line practitioners is not as optimistic as imagined: on the one hand, consumers who are increasingly emphasizing cost performance, and on the other hand, there are hard costs that cannot be reduced; In addition, the domestic effective demand is insufficient, some industries have overcapacity, and social expectations are weak. These problems have brought a lot of uncertainty to the production and operation of enterprises.
Standing at the juncture of 2024, in the face of an increasingly complex business environment and a downward cycle of economic growth, how should major retail brands overcome themselves?
In the face of the increasingly "volume" of the local market, domestic retail brands have accelerated the pace of going overseas.
MINISO: Since opening the first overseas store in Southeast Asia in 2015, it has been eight yearsMINISO has spread to 107 countries and regions around the world, opening more than 2,000 stores.
It was followed by other domestic chain brandsSuch as Honey Snow Ice City, Bubble MartWait. According to incomplete statistics, as of mid-2023, the number of overseas stores of Mixue Bingcheng has reached about 4,000, and Pop Mart has 55 overseas stores.
In terms of clothing,Home underwear brand Neiwai inside and out: In the second half of 2023, the first overseas store and the first store in North America will be opened in Singapore and the United States within three months; The local ** brand Goelia Golia: In December 2023, we will open new stores in Singapore and Sydney.
To a certain extent, going overseas to dig gold has become the consensus of domestic retail brands. On the one hand, the increasingly fierce competition in the domestic market has accelerated the elimination of the market.
It is generally believed in the industry thatRetail brands are facing diminishing marginal benefits in China, and it is better to expand their territory overseas than to stumble involution, perhaps there will be more possibilities. On the other hand,Made in China is still the world's leader, which provides strong support for overseas retail enterprises.
Local is not only a geographical concept, but also contains huge commercial value behind it.
The first is "community". Community consumption, which is closer to consumers, has become a new growth point.
Spending at home has become the choice of more and more consumers. Supermarkets are also transforming into community retail, such as Hema mini, RT-Mart, etc., which are all new retail community stores. Sam's, METRO and other member stores also provide cloud warehouses to meet the needs of the community, while various community fresh food stores and outlets are also aimed at community operations to seek new growth points.
The second is "instant spending". At present, local retail is constantly evolving to "immediacy", and consumers' demand for "immediacy" is also escalating.
At present, platforms such as Meituan, Ele.me, JD Daojia, and Douyin have attracted more offline entities to join the camp through the model of instant retail.
For example, it has more than 30,000 storesMeiyijia, through Meituan live broadcast, attracts nearby consumers to enter the store from the live broadcast room, and after placing an order to "pull weeds", it will be delivered to home in 30 minutes at the earliest.
The third is "multi-scenario consumption". Consumers can achieve localized multi-scenario consumption through channels such as community e-commerce, online order pick-up, and instant retail.
Take Uniqlo, for exampleConsumers can choose to choose a variety of modes such as store fitting, online ordering, online purchase, store pick-up, and store flash deliveryAchieve "what you see is what you get".
As 711 founder Toshifumi Suzuki saidThe essence of retail is to meet changing customer needs. Local retail is in the midst of rapid changes in consumption, and domestic brands and merchants need to tap more "treasure business" hidden in local consumption.
The retail industry has entered the competition of technological highlands, and "AI retail" will become the main theme of the development of the retail industry in 2024.
During the Chinese New Year,OpenAI's Wensheng ** model Sora has swiped the screen
According to reports,The model can generate up to 1 minute of ** based on the prompt words or images entered by the userwith detailed scenes, vivid expressions, and complex camera movements. The introduction of SORA marks a major leap forward in AI's ability to understand and interact with real-world scenarios.
** generated by SORA on OpenAI's official website.
It can be seen that with the emergence of various new AI applications and scenarios, the prospect of using AI technology to drive business innovation and achieve business upgrading in the retail industry is very broad. AI technology can not only upgrade the whole chain of retail "people, goods and yards", bring consumers a smarter and more personalized shopping experience, but also bring more business opportunities to retail enterprises.
At present, AI has been implemented in various business chain links in the retail industry
The first is the consumer experience. AI + customer service, intelligent Q&A dialogue based on large models, provides consumers with personalized recommendations and services, and greatly optimizes service experience and efficiency. For example, KidsGPT, a large model of AI parenting consultants created by KidsKing, and Mengniu, the first nutrition field model created by Mengniugpt。
The second is sales and marketing。AI technology can help retail companies generate creative materials to reduce marketing costs and increase efficiency. For example, Fila uses Alimama's AI capabilities to generate massive product maps in batches, switch between 5-6 scenes, and generate twenty or thirty ** sheets, which only takes 1 minute at the earliest.
The third is analysis and decision-making. It is necessary for retail enterprises to analyze historical product sales data and improve marketing strategies. 7-Eleven announced that it will introduce generative AI on a large scale in the Japanese market from 2024, mainly for data analysis and new product planning to save time to market.
Fourth, the production and manufacturing links. With the use of more automated and unmanned equipment, the efficiency of production will be improved to a certain extent. Another thing worth paying attention to is that generative AI products will explode, and the daily necessities around us may be redone by AI, such as AI running shoes, AI pillows, AI mattresses, etc., and the product upgrade iteration will usher in another wave of climax.
There is no doubt that in the future, AI will drive the retail industry to a smarter and more efficient direction.
To sum upThe three major tracks of overseas nuggets, local life and AI retail not only increase competition between platforms, but also contain great business opportunities for merchants.
Maybe the road ahead is full of uncertainties, butRegent will continue to walk with customers: to think, to act, to welcome, to explore, and work together to complete more cutting-edge practices to help the development of the industry.
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