After the cross-border layout of Maotai, Ruixing, and Wanda, are there still opportunities for new players?

The automotive aftermarket is never short of new players.

Following Wanda's establishment of 12 auto service companies, another coffee giant has added after-car-related businesses.

Recently, the Qichacha App shows that Ruixing Trading (Hainan) Co., Ltd. was established, with the legal representative Zhang Yihui, with a registered capital of 10 million yuan, and its business scope includes auto parts wholesale and retail.Shareholder information shows that the company is wholly-owned by Luckin Coffee (China) Co., Ltd.

In April of this year, Douyin announced that it had formed an aftermarket team in Hangzhou, and Kuaishou announced its entry into the aftermarket, which also attracted a lot of attention in the industry.

As early as September 2021, Kweichow Moutai changed its business scope, adding new vehicle transportation (excluding hazardous chemicals) and maintenance.

In November 2021, a person familiar with the matter revealed that the acquisition of Sichuan Classic Auto by 58.com is coming to an end, and the equity delivery between the two parties is basically completed.

As more and more giants cross the border into the car to "rush for gold", will it stir the "pool water" behind the car?Will it bring new opportunities for independent after-sales?

01. Giants cross borders, each with their own thoughts?

Up to now, in public channels, no substantive actions have been found regarding the layout of Ruixing and Moutai in the automotive aftermarket.

However, according to the after-car business plans of Wanda and 58.com, it is also possible to summarize some of the goals behind the giant's cross-border car.

Wanda joined hands with Hongqi to speed up the layout of the auto industry ecological chain, that is, "selling cars in shopping malls and providing after-sales services in parking lots", which is an important part after entering the car.At the same time, combined with the resources of Wanda shopping malls, it provides car owners with preferential policies for services such as parking, movie viewing, hotels, events, tourism and vacation, and operates the entire life cycle of car owners.

According to Wanda's official website, as of June 30, 2021, Wanda owns, operates and manages 380 Wanda Plazas.It also means that every Wanda Plaza can set up a "simplified version of 4S store", and a new type of car chain dealer is about to emerge.

After 58.com entered the automobile through integration and mergers and acquisitions, AC Auto once made an analysis in the article:

First, the local life is a popular track, and the classic car is deeply cultivating the traffic accumulated by the community operation, which has more room for imagination;

Second, the core value of 58.com lies in information matching. There is a weak relationship between the platform and users, and offline services are needed to improve user retention;

The third is that 58 Group has already carried out after-car business layout or cooperation many years ago, such as claims agency, new car transaction, used car transaction, etc., but these businesses are relatively independent, and need to use the beauty maintenance and other businesses to form an ecological closed loop ( For details, please refer to the article: 58 Group invests in classic cars, and new giants will be ushered in after the car).

To sum up briefly, after the giants cross-border automobiles, the greater purpose may be to strengthen the industrial ecological chain.

A person familiar with the matter said that it is not surprising that Maotai has increased car maintenance in its business scope.Because the damage rate of liquor transportation has been at a high level, and the phenomenon of fire in the middle and the package being dropped in the middle of the road has occurred frequently. In 2017, Moutai established a self-operated logistics enterprise, and its own transportation fleet also generated a large number of maintenance needs. In order to standardize the management, the listed company's business scope Making changes is common.

However, Ruixing Coffee has increased the wholesale and sales business of auto parts, and has not seen more information so far.

02. There are advances and retreats, and there is never a shortage of new players after the car

As an "activist" in the layout of the automotive aftermarket, the manufacturing giants are the most active.

In 2015, Jingu added 2.7 billion yuan to its aftermarket car brand, Superman; in 2018, it formed a joint venture with Ali and Kangzhong.In 2021, it will transfer 9.39% equity of Xinkangzhong and return to the main business of manufacturing.

With its own capital of 25.93 million yuan, LONGi Machinery acquired 27% of the equity of Cheyi Company through capital increase and transfer of equity, and officially entered the automotive after-sales service market.

Delian Group increased its capital in Annetz to deploy in the automotive aftermarket, and plans to develop 20,000 2S stores (automobile living halls), which will eventually cover more than 10 million terminal car owners and create an automotive aftermarket ecosystem.

Joyson Electronics established Joyson Smart Car Alliance and announced an investment of 500 million yuan for the layout of the automotive aftermarket. Its representative project is Le Chebang.

Huitian New Materials established "Huitian Auto Service" to deploy auto finance and insurance business, mainly engaged in auto repair and maintenance, auto cleaning and beauty, auto finance, auto insurance agency, etc.After that, Huitian Auto Service invested 7.5 million shares in "e-car".

Zongshen Power invested 10 million yuan to set up an auto service company. At that time, it planned to carry out the construction of directly-operated stores, the renovation of original stores and the comprehensive promotion of after-car business.

There are many similar industrial capitals with different layout paths, but judging from the current performance, most of them are "big thunder and little rain", and very few can escape.

Look at the traffic giants Douyin and Kuaishou.

AC Auto once wrote in the article that it is inevitable for Douyin to deploy cars, and its local life sector requires after-car services to improve the ecological layout (see article: Douyin Kuaishou Auto Aftermarket Layout Conjecture).

A person close to Douyin's auto rear sector also revealed that Douyin is currently trying to establish its own automotive rear standard database, mainly including fuel treasure, oil tires and other categories to achieve rapid matching of car owners' needs.

In contrast, the focus of Kuaishou's car rear layout is to cultivate car owners to change their car maintenance habits, and to leverage the value of the platform to accurately match the needs of car owners and repair shops; on the other hand, Kuaishou intends to be in the automotive aftermarket. Try to make efforts on the training and certification standards of technicians.

In addition, e-commerce giants also have a deep or shallow layout behind the car.

For example, Meituan adopts a light model of traffic monetization, providing diversion business for offline stores, earning membership fees, advertising fees and commissions; while Suning previously tried to adopt a model that pays equal attention to both online and offline: integrating the tire supply chain online and launching upgrades Later, self-operated tire services; offline stores have successively cooperated with Youzi Yangche and Che Chexiang, and launched the Suning car steward brand.

However, judging from the current results, it is not easy to play with the aftermarket of automobiles, whether it is a traffic giant or an e-commerce platform.

03. New and old players alternate, the ending is unpredictable

The game of old players intensifies, new players keep entering the game, or the normal state after the car.

According to the statistics of AC Auto, the total number of stores on Internet platforms (Tuhu Yangche, Tmall Yangche, and Beijing-Tokyo Auto Club) will double in 2021 to a total of 6,674; 35%; the total number of after-sales stores of parts and components companies has increased significantly, and the Internet department has increased for three consecutive years.

Today, in the context of the general slowdown in store scale growth, the game of old players has entered the stock market, as well as the development of incremental markets such as sinking markets andnew energybusinesses.

Although the competition after the car is extremely inward, and the industry reshuffle is accelerating, this does not mean that new players have no chance.

On the one hand, the market burned by old players with tens of billions of capital has reduced the cost of educating users for new players; on the other hand, after the car is entering a period of pattern reshaping, it is destined that some players can only accompany them. There are also ready-made lessons for companies that fail.

For example, after the car is a slow business that requires long-term investment, the fast-paced approach that only relies on capital will not work.For another example, many players are unsure about the "light and heavy model" when they are laying out the business behind the car. If they do too much, they are afraid that the tail will not fall off, and they will get deeper and deeper; if they do too lightly, they have no core competitiveness, and it is difficult to grasp the right to speak. , leading to a dilemma.

In the future, other industry players are expected to enter the automotive aftermarket.As for who can win the old and new players, the outcome is more difficult to predict.

What is certain is that it is still extremely difficult to sprint and break through in the increasingly competitive automotive aftermarket, which tests the determination and strategy of every new and old player.