After appearing at Alibaba Park, two days later, Jack Ma appeared at Hema Changsha Wanxianghui store. Some netizens posted on social media that they "encountered" Jack Ma by chance in a supermarket, but when he took out his mobile phone, he was already gone. A reporter from China Finance News came to the store this morning.A front-line employee of the store told a reporter from Cailian News that Jack Ma did come to the store that day. "He (Jack Ma) is still very satisfied with our place."
It is understood that on the morning of February 13, Jack Ma came to Hema Changsha Wanxianghui store, inspected many shelves in the store, stopped at sushi and other stalls, and took photos with employees with a smile on his face.Founded in 2015, Hema is Alibaba’s daily necessities and fresh food retail platform.
From December last year to January this year, Alibaba sold Intime Department Store and Sun Art Retail. The two transactions were expected to result in a total loss of approximately 22.5 billion yuan. In this context, Hema’s departure once caused market concerns. Jack Ma's appearance at a Hema store may be a "boost" for the team. Some market participants believe it is a "refutation" of rumors of Hema's sale.
At present, offline retail is still in the midst of an adjustment cycle. The results of the China Chain Store and Franchise Association's survey of chain supermarket operations show that in 2024, less than 40% of supermarket sales will achieve year-on-year growth. Among them, two-thirds of corporate profits have failed to achieve simultaneous growth.
Hema delivered a growth answer last year. At the end of last year, Hema's new CEO Yan Xiaolei issued an internal letter to all employees stating that in the past year, Hema had achieved double-digit growth on the basis of nine consecutive months of overall profitability, and the number of customers it served had increased by more than 50%.
Yan Xiaolei said in an internal letter that Hema has done three things in the past nine months: return to user value, focus on development direction, and promote organizational construction.
The "2024 Hema Consumption Trend Insight Report" shows that as of the Spring Festival of the Year of the Snake, Hema has nearly 430 general stores nationwide, with a total of 72 stores opened throughout the year, with an average of one store opened every five days. The number of stores opened is the highest in the past five years (2020-2024).
However, the challenges faced by Hema cannot be underestimated. Since the middle of last year, traditional supermarkets such as Yonghui Supermarket and ST Bubugao have launched a "reform trend" and regained a lot of customer flow. At the same time, membership stores such as Sam's and Costco have continued to expand and compete with Hema.
Zhuang Shuai, a visiting consultant to the China Chain Store and Franchise Association and an expert in the retail e-commerce industry, and his team recently issued an article saying that after years of business swings, Hema seems to have found a more suitable development method, but the periodic profits are not enough to indicate that this current path is the optimal solution and its "applicability" for the future.