BEIJING, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- The "new retail +" represented by the retail and manufacturing integration in China has witnessed rapid development in 2018. Statistics show that the proportion of the domestic new retail consumption in 2018 reached 22 percent.
Insiders forecast that the year of 2019 is likely to see cut-throat competition in the new retail industry, and post a more apparent trend of "survival of the fittest" retail players.
--- Online and offline players seize opportunities in new retail
This year, e-commerce giants have been accelerating the layout in the retail industry. For example, Alibaba proposed to build the "new retail cities" with more than 100 Freshhema's stores launched in 16 cities. Taoxianda, a section of Taobao dedicated to offering one-hour delivery for the fresh products, has covered 660 supermarkets in 269 cities.
Tencent also launched the smart retail strategy in a bid to become a digital assistant for retailers and help the transformation and upgrading of the retail industry by digital means. It has carried out in-depth cooperation with retail giants such as Yonghui Superstores, Carrefour and Wal-Mart.
JD.com's offline supermarket offering, 7FRESH, has quickened the pace of launching entity stores in cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Chengdu.
Apart from these e-commerce giants' move in the new retail, the offline business enterprises have also joined the campaign of the new retail business.
Yintai Group, Wangfujing Group and Rainbow Department Store have focused on digital and experiential services, witnessing the growth in both revenue and profits.
Taking Suning as an example, it has opened nearly 7,000 new stores this year, of which there are nearly 2,900 Suning Xiaodian stores and nearly 1,900 Suning retail cloud stores.
--- Huge market potential in new retail
Data of different institutions has indicated that the new retail will open a market worth trillion or even 10 trillion.
According to the market research and consulting firm Mintel.com, the proportion of new retail in China's total consumer goods retail sales will reach 22.4 percent in 2018, nearly three times that of 2013. By 2023, the proportion will likely increase to 33 percent.
A report released by Qianzhan Industry Research Institute predicts that the annual compound growth rate of new retail transactions will reach 115.27 percent in the coming years. By 2022, the market size will exceed 1.8 trillion yuan.
Data of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows that from January to November 2018, the national online retail sales amounted to about 8.07 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 24.1 percent. To be specific, the online retail sales of actual goods amounted to about 6.27 trillion yuan, an increase of 25.4 percent, accounting for 18.2 percent of the total retail sales of consumer goods in the country.
Experts point out that a "new consumption era" is coming. The rise of the post-95 consumer groups, the exploration of the consumption potential in the third- and fourth-tier cities and the rapid expansion of commercial infrastructure and the Internet will release new consumer dividends.
--- Survival of the fittest in 2019
The year of 2018 has seen rapid expansion in the country's new retail which just stayed at the conceptual level two years ago.
Many industry insiders point out that the trend of "survival of the fittest" for new retail players in 2019 will become more apparent.
Whether it is new retail or smart retail, online or offline integration, or transformation of traditional mode, it cannot be separated from the essence of retail, said Wang Qiang, associate professor of the Business School, Renmin University of China (RMBS).
It is a trait of the retail industry to provide products and services to consumers and earn the difference, making it completely different from the logic of rapid capitalization of venture capital, Wang added.
There is a consensus in the new retail industry that digital means and data will help to achieve cost control and efficiency growth, said Liu Sijun, president of Dashang Group. (Edited by Hu Pingchao, hupingchao@xinhua.org)
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