 |
|
JD MALL has opened four stores in a single month, while Tmall Youpin has established over 14,000 digital stores nationwide. The offline expansion of these two e-commerce giants is reshaping China's home appliance retail landscape. Driven by intensified "trade-in" policies and upgraded consumer demands, former online-only giants are now extending their reach through integrated "online + offline" strategies, sparking a new wave of transformation in the retail industry. However, a critical question remains: After dominating traditional home appliance chains exit the market, how can these online giants avoid repeating their own mistakes? Offline layout: Two paths, equally fast A week before the Double 11 shopping festival, Ms.Yan from Duanzhou District, Zhaoqing City, purchased a Haier drum washing machine from a Tmall Youpin store near her residential community. Before the purchase, she asked the staff: "What's the difference between the product and the online version? Are the prices the same? " The response was: "All products are directly supplied by appliance manufacturers. The store price matches the Tmall Youpin online store price, both being the prices after government subsidies." When Aunt Yan first discovered Tmall—a platform she'd only seen online—she was wary of potential counterfeit stores. The payment confirmation listed "Aisi Electrical Appliances Store" as the recipient, which raised further doubts. But the store's policy ultimately convinced her: "Quality issues within three years are only eligible for replacement, not repair." " 'The product price is similar to online prices, but this policy convinced me to buy it,' Aunt Yan told Securities Times." Tmall Youpin, a name that looks more like an online store, has become a dark horse in the offline home appliance chain industry. The "2024 China Home Appliance White Paper" (abbreviated as the "White Paper"), released in April this year, shows that as of March this year, the number of Tmall Youpin stores nationwide has reached 14,000. Investigations reveal that Tmall Youpin originated from the Rural Taobao project launched in 2014. In 2017, it officially transformed into Tmall Youpin and established a county-level franchise network, accelerating its expansion into major cities in 2023. However, it wasn't until March this year that the e-commerce company Tmall Youpin was formally established, with a registered capital of 100 million yuan and fully owned by Zhejiang Tmall Technology Co., Ltd. Unlike Tmall Youpin's "rural-to-urban" expansion strategy, JD MALL has strategically launched in core cities from the outset. Its first store opened in Xi' an on September 30,2021, and by September 2025, it had expanded to 26 locations nationwide, with a focus on first-tier cities and provincial capitals like Beijing, Guangzhou, and Tianjin. In just September this year, four cities—Nanning, Xiamen, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong—either saw JD MALL's official opening or signed agreements for its establishment. A JD.com executive revealed that JD MALL, the group's immersive shopping hub themed "Trendy Tech Shopping", specializes in home appliances, electronics, and furniture. Operating under a fully self-owned model, the mall features over 200,000 products per store and eight themed zones including esports gaming and coffee workshops. Multiple factors are forcing platforms to focus on offline "The most immediate reason is that online traffic has hit a bottleneck, forcing e-commerce platforms to seek more consumers offline. Another factor is the sustained impact of the 'trade-in' policy. " said a securities analyst who has long followed domestic e-commerce platforms. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows that China's e-commerce penetration rate (defined as online retail sales of physical goods relative to total retail sales of consumer goods) declined from 27.6% in 2023 to 26.8% in 2024, with the rate remaining stagnant at 25.0% from January to September 2025. Since 2024, the government has continuously upgraded its "trade-in" policy, injecting 300 billion yuan in ultra-long-term special treasury bonds, expanding subsidy categories from 8 to 12 types, and including digital products in the central government's subsidy program for the first time. Offline stores, leveraging their tangible experiential advantages and efficient policy implementation capabilities, have become the core hub for policy execution. "After years of development, the traffic dividends from online home appliance retail have gradually faded, while customer acquisition costs continue to rise. Meanwhile, the lower-tier markets and existing replacement markets harbor tremendous potential: third-tier cities and below account for 70% of the national population, rural residents 'per capita disposable income growth has surpassed urban residents', and the replacement demand driven by 3.3 billion household appliances nationwide has become the core growth engine. E-commerce giants can not only reach consumers in lower-tier markets with insufficient online penetration through offline store expansion, but also activate existing replacement demand via in-store experiences, achieving 'online traffic diversion + offline conversion' dual growth," said the aforementioned analyst. A JD.com executive told reporters that the home appliance market has entered the 'consumer competition era,' where single-channel solutions can no longer meet customers' full-cycle needs. While online channels excel in convenience and price transparency, offline channels shine in experience and instant service. Their integration has become an inevitable trend. Moreover, the key focus in retail over the past decade has quietly shifted from 'how to drive more traffic online' to 'how to connect more closely with consumers'. According to BCG Boston Consulting Group's analysis, the retail industry stands as one of the sectors most profoundly transformed by personalization. Retailers must effectively leverage first-party data across every touchpoint to streamline the next customer interaction. In other words, the shift from "being noticed" to "being satisfied" has emerged as a key direction for retail system upgrades. Meanwhile, consumer shopping habits are undergoing subtle changes. While past generations prioritized "can afford to buy," today's consumers value "can buy instantly." Speed, certainty, and convenience are increasingly becoming decisive factors in shaping purchasing decisions.
