一份早餐标示“魔都”民生温度与创新浓度 - 2020-08-25

Author: Lao Guoling (Director, Professor, E-Commerce Research Center, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics)
The plan of the day starts in the morning. To ensure that people can buy things conveniently, and eat at ease, providing inspiring breakfast every morning shows care for people’s livelihood and contains the seeds of innovation. Two small stores have witnessed Shanghai’s efforts to embrace new technologies to drive business innovation in the past 5 years, the city’s shift from a new retail test site to the glooming garden of new consumption, and the innovation power to drive the projects for people’s livelihood.
In January 2016, a “new species” in retail was born in Shanghai. But its path to growth has not always been smooth. Fortunately, in the care of all parties, it was able to thrive in Shanghai. In October of the same year, the word “new retail” debuted at the Apsara Conference. The interpretation of the reconstruction of the relations between people, products and scenarios was backed by the Hema’s trial experience in Shanghai. As Hema is also known as the new retail benchmark, Shanghai undoubtedly became the test field of new retail. From the second half of 2017, Hema Fresh began to expand its presence across the country. Over the past few years, Hema has not only increased the number of outlets, but also constantly improved on the basis of the standard version in Shanghai, leading to 7 business formats including Hema Fresh, Hema Food Market and Mini Hema.
In February 2017, Internet giant Alibaba joined hands with retail conglomerate Bailian Group in an eye-catching move to expand the size and connotation of new retail in Shanghai. Two years later, as a result of the collaboration, EGO, a convenience store chain, was born in Shanghai under a joint venture between the two.
When the COVID-19 epidemic hit, Internet enterprises in Shanghai have been seeking opportunities amid the crisis and countered the downward trend to post strong performance. On April 13 this year, Shanghai unveiled a three-year action plan to promote the online new economy. In May, the May 5 Shopping Festival debuted, with “emerging consumption” as the priority among five types of consumption. The interaction between online and offline channels in terms of consumer traffic fostered the booming development of new consumption, and promoted the penetration of new technologies into the traditional consumer fields. And such penetration even involved the seemingly humble ordinary breakfast.
Shanghai has upgraded its breakfast project, from both the policy and technology sides. The focus was to provide “convenience for people”, by vigorously promoting innovative models such as “convenience store + breakfast services”, “new retail + breakfast services”, “food trucks + breakfast services” and “Internet platforms + breakfast services.” Thus, Mini Hema, a new breakfast service model, has been expanded rapidly across the city, reflecting a new driver that Shanghai leverages to create the highland for online new economy. Also, EGO, as a new retail small business model, has been committed to exploring digital-driven innovative models, by relying on Bailian’s powerful self-owned supply chain system to provide consumers with differentiated goods and instant consumption experience.
In the future, people can choose to order foods directly at store, order foods online and have them delivered to home, or order foods online and pick them up in parcel lockers. This is Shanghai’s new consumption philosophy reflected in breakfast. Through the online and offline integrated design, the city leverages forward-thinking service concepts to support enterprises, especially encouraging those Internet enterprises with innovative thinking to actively participate, so that more people can enjoy all kinds of convenience brought by the online new economy.
Shanghai has a colorful nightlife, but also an ordinary people’s life in the morning with buns and fried bread stick as breakfast. When the “nightlife festival” just wrapped up with flute music of the Kunqu opera, the upgraded version of the breakfast project was on. That’s the day and night in this magic city, and reflects the real efforts made to improve the life of the people in the city.