The article is from 35 Dou WeChat*** Author Chen Xinyu.
Previously, the new model of the "contactless economy" had briefly exploded. Unattended fruit and vegetable stores, unmanned vending cabinets for automated sales of agricultural products, ......The above equipment has almost become a "necessity" in the daily life of residents. In the same year, 13 departments, including the National Development and Reform Commission, issued guidance proposing to develop an "unmanned economy" based on new technologies to promote production, circulation, and services to reduce costs and increase efficiency.
In front of the unmanned fresh food retail cabinet, the scene of residents queuing up in an orderly manner according to the distance seems to be vivid. People are picking out their favorite produce and experiencing this new and convenient way to shop. The unmanned retail cabinet for fresh agricultural products not only provides residents with a "contactless" relatively safe shopping environment, but also successfully replaces some manpower with its intelligent technology and means.
Nowadays, the unmanned agricultural product retail equipment placed in the community is deserted, and it is even difficult to find its trace in many areas that were once densely stored. The wave has faded, and the unmanned retail of agricultural products has not prospered as expected, and the unmanned retail that has experienced a period of cooling-off period has triggered the industry's thinking about its sustainability.
Standing at the beginning of 2024, in the face of profound changes in market demand, we can't help but ask: can unmanned retail, which was once so popular, rejuvenate and rise again in the new year?
Origin - the development process of unmanned retail
In the 60s of the last century, unmanned vending machines appeared in the United States, and the emergence of new models made some developed countries smell business opportunities, and also made this model gradually rise.
In 1995, the first unmanned vending machine was born in China. Four years later, unmanned vending machines began to be promoted and launched in large quantities on the market.
After 2000, constrained by the high cost of equipment, at the same time, under the influence of various factors such as the public's consumption concept and business environment, China's unmanned vending machine sales industry is difficult, and this stage lasted until around 2010.
In 2016, unmanned vending machines entered a new stage of development. During this period, unmanned vending machines are no longer a serious "new gadget" for consumers, they mainly sell beverages, snacks and other fast-moving consumer goods, and some unmanned vending machines also try to sell agricultural products, but the scale is still small.
In 2017, unmanned supermarkets became the outlet, and major Internet giants and startups began to enter the game. In July, Alibaba's unmanned supermarket "Tao Coffee" was unveiled in Hangzhou. In October, JD.com's first unmanned supermarket offline store was officially opened at ...... headquartersThe emergence of unmanned supermarkets has opened up another space for imagination for the mode of unmanned economy. The use of technologies such as face recognition and mobile payment has given it greater advantages in operational efficiency and management level, but it still faces problems such as difficulty in profitability and security risks.
In 2018, unmanned retail encountered a capital winter, from the "capital darling" in 2017 to the cold and uncaring, only a year has passed. Unmanned shelf project from Chengdu"Gogo Xiaochao"After becoming the first unmanned shelf project to go bankrupt in the country, other unmanned retailers such as Gorilla Convenience and Guo Xiaomei have also been exposed to the news of stopping operations or breaking the capital chain.
In 2019, the unmanned retail industry, which had suffered a huge setback, learned from the pain and began to transform. During this period, the technology, mode, and scenario of unmanned retail were constantly updated and expanded, and the concept of unmanned retail also developed from simple unmanned to intelligent, social, and scenario-based. By 2020, the arrival of the flu will make the unmanned economy be widely applied, and the unmanned economy will usher in new opportunities. Since then, the promotion of policies has also added another fire to the development of unmanned retail.
Figure: Policies related to the unmanned economy introduced in China in recent years.
Source: Huajing Industry Research Institute, official website, 35 bucket drawing.
Although it has shown extraordinary functions and development prospects during the epidemic, relying on the support of cutting-edge technologies such as the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence, it has realized 24-hour uninterrupted operation, unmanned vending, intelligent settlement and other functions, which greatly reduces labor costs and improves transaction efficiency. However, with its rapid expansion came the emergence of a real dilemma. The high damage rate, the difficulty of achieving profitability in the short term, the lack of customer stickiness, and the fact that some business models do not fully take into account the characteristics of consumers' high requirements for freshness have made unmanned retail gradually cool down after a short boom.
In the ever-changing market, look for the possibility of unmanned retail recovery
Standing at the starting point of the new year, can the dual evolution of technology and market environment unveil the recovery of unmanned retail? After several years of precipitation and accumulation, will this innovative retail model deliver new answers in the new year? Everything remains to be revealed.
Figure: Some companies that are trying or vigorously deploying in the field of unmanned retail (in alphabetical order).
Data**: Collected from publicly available sources.
On the technical sideThe increasing maturity of cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, and the Internet of Things has provided solid support for unmanned retail. Taking the deep learning algorithm of artificial intelligence as an example, this technology can make the system accurately improve consumer demand, and provide a scientific basis for inventory management through the analysis of historical sales data and real-time market changes. This dynamic and optimized inventory management not only effectively reduces wastage, but also greatly improves operational efficiency. At the same time, the continuous development of Internet of Things technology and the improvement of functions also enable each product sold to be monitored in real time, accurately control temperature, humidity, shelf life, etc., to ensure the quality of end products.
In the settlement process, the introduction of AI visual recognition technology has greatly improved the accuracy and efficiency of settlement. The goods purchased by customers can be quickly identified and calculated by the system through the images captured by the camera, which greatly saves the time of waiting in line and improves the user's shopping experience.
On the market side, although the outbreak of influenza has brought a shock to the global economy to a certain extent, it has objectively accelerated the adoption of contactless services. As a new type of contactless service model, unmanned retail just meets this demand. Consumers can complete their purchases through self-service shopping and self-payment without contacting store staff, which not only reduces the risk of cross-infection, but also enjoys convenient services.
With the dual blessing of technology and demand, Fenge Sufficient Food, which is engaged in unmanned retail, has continuously delivered good news, allowing people to see the spark of unmanned retail recovery. The company, which is mainly engaged in domestic vending machine business services and operates on behalf of third-party food, received 100 million yuan in Series B financing in September 2023, and as of October of the same year, Fenge Sufficient Food has 110,000+ smart terminals in the country, with a service network covering 50 first- and second-tier cities across the country, providing smart retail services for more than 50 million consumers.
Looking to the future, the challenges faced by unmanned retail
In the process of trying to achieve recovery and move to a higher level, unmanned retail will inevitably encounter a series of severe challenges, which are not only a test of its innovation ability, market insight and compliance operation ability, but also a difficulty to be overcome on the road to sustainable and healthy development of the industry.
The picture shows the unmanned agricultural retail generated by Tongyi Qianwen**.
Continuous technological innovation is the primary challenge facing unmanned retail. Although technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, and the Internet of Things provide strong support for unmanned retail, the only constant is that it is always changing. Unmanned retail needs to constantly keep up with the latest technology trends and maintain the sophistication and stability of the system. In addition, the in-depth application of technology has higher and higher requirements for data security and privacy protection, and unmanned retail needs to make reasonable use of data resources and improve operational efficiency under the premise of ensuring user information security.
Secondly, the changeability of the market and the intensification of competition also require the unmanned retail industry to look at it correctly. Despite the huge potential of the unmanned retail market, the industry is also becoming increasingly competitive. Major Internet giants such as JD.com and Alibaba have laid out one after another, and small start-ups have also sprung up. How to stand out in the fierce market competition has become a problem that unmanned retail needs to face. In an increasingly volatile market, consumer needs are constantly changing. Unmanned retail needs to pay close attention to market dynamics and adjust business strategies in a timely manner to meet the diversified needs of consumers.
The integration and optimization of the chain cannot be ignored. Unmanned retail involves many links, and the mistake of any one link may lead to the collapse of the entire ** chain. Therefore, how to integrate and optimize the ** chain is an important problem that unmanned retail needs to solve. At the same time, with the expansion of the scale of unmanned retail, practitioners need to use advanced technical means to achieve intelligent management and efficient collaboration of the first chain.
Finally, policies and regulations may bring some constraints to the industry. As an emerging retail model involving food, commerce, technology and other fields, its compliance and policy risks cannot be ignored. At present, China has introduced targeted regulatory policies for unmanned retail. Therefore, unmanned retail operators need to pay close attention to changes in policies and regulations, adjust business strategies in a timely manner, and ensure compliant operations.
Looking to the future, although unmanned retail faces many challenges, these challenges also contain huge opportunities. Only by constantly adapting to changes and having the courage to innovate can we be invincible in the future market competition.
References: 1"The Development History and Reasons of Unmanned Vending Machines".
2.Huajing Industry Research Institute - "Analysis of the Market Size, Industrial Chain, Market Structure and Key Enterprises of China's Unmanned Retail Industry in 2023".
3.Abundant e Sufficient Food - "The Development History of Abundant e Sufficient Food".