Community group buying has become a new blue ocean industry, with both opportunities and crises coexisting

Community group buying is a new model for fresh e-commerce sales channels, which utilizes online community operations and offline community interaction to mobilize the enthusiasm of mobile network users and achieve the goal of fresh food sales. After rapid development, the industry chain of suppliers, operation platforms, payment methods, logistics, services, etc. in China's community group buying industry has gradually improved, and the industry has entered a stage of large-scale expansion.

According to the report, community group buying is built on the functionality of WeChat mini programs, with a large online user base and low customer acquisition costs; Social group buying is the process of forming a community into a group whose purchasing power and demand are not significantly different, allowing for more precise product recommendations; Community group buying in the form of group buying can better stimulate users' purchasing desire and tap into their potential consumption needs. The development potential of community group buying is enormous, and it is known as another blue ocean in the fresh food industry after fresh e-commerce.

The key areas for the development of community group buying are third - and fourth tier cities. The economic level of first and second tier cities in China is more developed, and competition is also more intense, while competition in third and fourth tier cities is relatively mild and has greater development space. With the increasing popularity of WeChat in third - and fourth tier cities, the growing acceptance of e-commerce, and consumer upgrades, China's community group buying industry is more inclined to expand into these cities.

At present, there are 13 community group buying platforms in China that have successfully obtained financing and entered the market, including start-ups such as You Me You, Shixianghui, Dairadish, Shihuituan, etc., as well as Internet giants such as Tencent, Pinduoduo, Hema, etc. The industry competition is becoming fiercer. The community group buying market in our country is developing rapidly, but the leading enterprises in the industry have not yet emerged, and enterprises have huge development space; At the same time, due to incomplete rules, enterprises are also facing the crisis of poor management and being eliminated at any time.

The users targeted by community group buying are mainly relatively fixed community users, and the word-of-mouth effect is extremely obvious. Repeated purchases are an important means for the platform to maintain operation. Therefore, the quality, cost-effectiveness, and service quality of the products sold by community group buying platforms need to be relatively stable. A good user reputation will bring more user groups, and similarly, a poor reputation will also cause rapid loss of platform user traffic. Word of mouth is both an important driving force and a significant obstacle to the development of the community group buying industry. In addition, community group buying, due to the acquaintance effect, once it gains user recognition, the user stickiness is relatively stable. First mover companies have a significant advantage, and later entrants find it difficult to expand their market unless their products and services are more competitive.

The community group buying industry is developing rapidly, but it is still in its infancy. The industry's operating model is still in the process of exploration and improvement, and leading enterprises have not yet emerged. In the process of continuous development and growth of enterprises, the ability of supply chain, quality control, logistics, service, and operational management to cope with the growing market size still needs to be verified. At the same time, the Internet giants with more powerful capital, resources and channels will enter the trouble, and the competitive pressure of start-ups will become greater and greater. The overall development of the industry presents a situation of opportunities and crises.