Gifts / Sports & Toys

According to the observation report of Huacheng import and export data, from e-commerce impact to epidemic impact, the real economy has encountered difficulties and challenges one after another in these years. In addition, in recent years, the news about the closure of shopping malls and supermarkets is endless, so it always gives a feeling that the real economy is declining. However, in such a "decadent" atmosphere, the development of convenience store channels has risen against the trend, and the industry has achieved double growth in the number of stores and sales.

In terms of the toy industry, the convenience store channel has long been the focus of toy manufacturers. A convenience store is not large in scale and toy sales are limited, but the advantage of the large number of stores is to turn the convenience store into one of the toy sales channels, Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation reported.

Both the number and sales of convenience stores increased

In the streets and alleys of Guangzhou, convenience stores can be found everywhere. There are not only overseas chain brands such as 7-ELEVEN, Jiajia, Rosen, but also Chinese chain brands such as Meijia, Xishiduo, Tianfu, etc. In densely populated areas, commercial areas or office buildings, there are usually several convenience stores within a few hundred meters. It can be said that with the advantages of fast pace, many commodities and long business hours, convenience stores have developed rapidly in recent years and become unique in the real economy.

According to the Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation Report, the 2022 China Convenience Store Development Report jointly released by China Chain Store Association and KPMG recently shows that the sales volume of China's convenience store industry has maintained a rapid growth of more than 10% for three consecutive years. From 2019 to 2020, the sales growth of the convenience store industry increased from 13% to 16%. By 2021, the sales of convenience stores nationwide will reach 349.2 billion yuan, up 17.7% year on year; Among them, the sales of brand chain convenience stores reached 305 billion yuan, up 12.3% year on year.

According to the data of the National Bureau of Statistics, in 2021, the retail sales of supermarkets, convenience stores, department stores, specialty stores and exclusive stores in retail units above designated size will increase by 6.0%, 16.9%, 11.7%, 12.8% and 12.0% respectively over the previous year. It can be seen that the growth rate of convenience stores is much higher than that of supermarkets, department stores, specialty stores and other business types.

The Report also mentioned that the number of convenience stores in mainland China has nearly doubled in three years, from 132000 to 253000. The Top 100 List of China's Convenience Stores in 2021 released by the China Chain Store Association on July 7 shows that the total number of outlets of the top 100 convenience store enterprises on the list exceeds 160000, with a year-on-year growth of 16.1% in 2020. Among them, 71% of enterprise stores have achieved positive growth, such as EasyJet, Meiyijia, Rosen, 7-ELEVEN, etc; The number of stores in 23% of enterprises decreased, for example, the number of hospitable stores in Kunlun decreased by 34 and the number of family stores decreased by 65.

In addition, among the 100 convenience stores on the list, there are 27 enterprises with more than 1000 stores, 3 more than the previous year; There were 22 enterprises with 500~1000 stores, an increase of 7 over the previous year. The growth of head and waist enterprises has driven the stable development of the entire convenience store industry, Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation reported.

All brands strive to seize more markets

Although the number and total sales of domestic convenience stores continue to grow, there is still much room for growth compared with the United States and Japan. The Report shows that in 2021, the sales of convenience stores in the United States will reach 277.9 billion US dollars and that in Japan will reach 120.2 billion US dollars, about 5.1 times and 2.2 times of that in China respectively. As the second largest consumer market in the world, China has great potential for the development of convenience stores.

In fact, both overseas convenience store brands and Chinese convenience store brands have seized more markets in recent years through various ways. For example, at the end of last year, Rosen acquired Sichuan WOWO Convenience Store to expand the southwest market; Acquired the local convenience store brand Tianhong Weiwo in Shenzhen to expand the Shenzhen market. In addition, Rosen has also started to establish a regional headquarters in Huangpu, Guangzhou, and is expected to open 1500 stores in the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area by 2028.

Meiyijia, founded in 1997, has been deeply rooted in the Guangdong market, and gradually expanded to Fujian, Hunan and even the whole country after 2014. This year, Meiyijia implemented the "good things" strategy, continued to layout the country, and created various types of convenience stores according to different business districts. According to the information on the official website of Meiyijia, the brand operates at the rate of 2000~3000 stores every year. As of September this year, the latest data shows that the number of Meiyijia stores in China has exceeded 29000, which seems to have surpassed EasyJet as the "king of convenience stores in China".

Influenced by the epidemic situation, changes in consumption habits and other factors, convenience stores no longer only provide offline services, but also begin to expand online services, such as Meiyijia, Tianfu, Jianfu, 7-ELEVEN, Rosen and other brands layout instant retail through independent platforms and third-party platforms. The Report shows that the proportion of convenience store enterprises opening online business has increased from 29% in 2016 to 88% in 2021.

Become a toy sales channel by virtue of advantages

According to the Interpretation and List of Best Sellers in China's Convenience Stores in 2021 released by the China Chain Store Association, in the sales statistics of non food commodities, Kayou's "Super Universe Aote" hero card has become the only one on the list of entertainment products. If five or six years ago, toys were just trying to penetrate the convenience store channel, then today, toys have become one of the important categories of convenience store channel sales, and also a channel valued by many toy manufacturers.

Henan Fufang Trading Co., Ltd. has cooperated with one or two hundred convenience stores, including Meiyijia, Xianfeng, Changhong, Chenxi, etc. Wang Jianfang, the general manager of the company, introduced that although many products of large chain convenience stores are purchased uniformly, local stores will also purchase locally. The company mainly supplies fashion and card products for convenience store channels. "The channel sales of convenience stores are OK. Compared with traditional supermarkets and shopping malls, the products of convenience stores are updated quickly, facilitating the sales of trendy products."

Reporters from the All Media Center for Chinese and Foreign Toys visited 7-ELEVEN, Meiyijia, Shisto, Jingdong and other convenience stores randomly, and found that most of the convenience stores sold toys, including cards, building blocks, soft bullet guns, colored clay, blind boxes, stickers, alloy cars/recoil cars, deformation, Tuoluo, board games, etc. Although brands and categories are different, products and packages are mainly small in size.

This has also been certified by channel providers. Xinjiang Muzi Shengqi Trading Co., Ltd. mainly cooperates with local convenience store channels in Xinjiang. Li Meng, the manager of the company, said that they all supply directly to the convenience store channel. The supply price is not very different from that of other channels, but the packaging of the goods supplied is relatively small and delicate. Most of them are seasonal popular products. Toys are suitable for young people. "For example, in summer, bubble machines and small boxes of electric water guns are more suitable for convenience stores. However, large water guns take up more space and are not suitable for convenience stores because they are not easy to display."

The area of the convenience store is small, and the types of SKUs for toys are relatively small. However, the advantage is that there are many stores, and the selected products can be quickly distributed. Therefore, the channel dealers reported that the overall sales are good. Li Meng emphasized that seasonal product quality and returns should be paid attention to when cooperating with convenience store channels. "Bubble machines that cannot be sold out in summer, snowball clips that cannot be sold out in winter, etc. may be returned to distributors, or they may just be engaged in promotion." He also mentioned that convenience stores will pay attention to whether IP related products have genuine licenses, while non IP products generally do not care whether they are well-known brands or big brands.

In addition, several distributors also mentioned the problem of accounting period. Under normal circumstances, toy categories are settled monthly, but some chain convenience stores may have longer billing periods, such as two months or three months, which brings financial pressure to manufacturers. Therefore, cooperation with convenience store channels, especially chain brand convenience stores, has certain requirements on the strength of manufacturers. Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation Report.