"What risks?" Zhou Yujie asked. He was not very clear about the development of the domestic retail industry in his previous life. He barely knew that RT-Mart had reached the top in the country, and many foreign brands were getting worse and worse. As for why, he was not very clear.

Zhong Guangwei said: "There are many problems with Carrefour. The management problem is that it adopts foreign management experience, does not consider the needs of domestic production, is too concentrated, and does not have a good promotion system, which leads to a large number of talent loss. Under the vicious cycle, service capabilities and operation capabilities have declined significantly.

The second is that in the layout of the supply chain, especially the logistics system, there was no logistics layout 10 years ago, which led to the cost of logistics exceeding 20% ​​in recent years. Now, due to the unstable business, we dare not invest in logistics again. Because of logistics outsourcing, the speed cannot keep up, which has led to the quality of goods such as fruits and vegetables far inferior to other supermarkets, and has caused a vicious cycle."

Zhou Yujie nodded and said, "These should not be big problems. If we acquire them, we can make up for these loopholes."

Although Pinduoduo has not built its own logistics, it is also optimizing several major logistics express companies to form its own system. Although the speed of these logistics companies is not as fast as JD.com or SF Express, it is still fine to serve a supermarket, and the cost will be reduced.

As for talent issues, just spend money to poach people. If Carrefour changes hands, the original senior team will definitely resign in batches. During this period, RT-Mart is also in the strongest internal strife, so it is still okay to poach some senior teams.

Zhong Guangwei said: "The third point is the big problem. Although Carrefour's operation is not as good as RT-Mart, its biggest loss is not operation, nor logistics, but rent.

Foreign retail groups entered the country after 1996, and basically rented houses, usually for about 15 years at one time. It is now 2017. It was the time when Carrefour expanded 15 years ago. In other words, in recent years, the rental period of large-scale supermarkets began to expire. Now the house prices are already sky-high, and rents are also rising. The rental prices of many branches will exceed the profits."

"Rent!" Zhou Yujie touched his forehead and understood. It was a matter of rent after working for a long time.

When overseas retail giants came to China, in order to reduce risks, they did not buy houses or build their own buildings, but generally used renting houses. This logic is correct for them, because in many places overseas, buying a house is not cost-effective. Although it generally does not lose money, it requires a lot of money and time. It is not as fast and effective as renting a house to open a store. Rents abroad have increased significantly.

Domestic local retail companies, as the genes of the Chinese, naturally love houses and land. For example, RT-Mart, many stores are built by themselves.

When 17 years later, housing prices rose and rents also rose, retail companies that rented all the houses were immediately confused.

Lin Youde also said: "From the current retail market, Walmart has also encountered such problems. Judging from Carrefour's annual report in the first three quarters, there will be a loss of one billion this year, and it may increase in the next year and the next year. Unless Carrefour starts to close stores on a large scale, the scale will be much smaller and will accelerate the death rate.

If we acquire Carrefour, we will also encounter this problem."

Zhou Yujie paused and said, "Carrefour seemed to be looking for potential buyers a few years ago, right?"

Zhong Guangwei nodded and said, "Yes, since 2012, the supermarkets in Brazil, Japan, South Korea, and South Asia have suffered losses or low profits. Although the local business in Europe is good, it has been dragged down. In recent years, Carrefour has sold its business in Thailand, India, South Korea, Brazil, and Mexico. It also needs to be sold in China, but it has not been found a suitable buyer for several years."

Zhou Yujie said: "The money lost in subsequent rents can be counted in the transaction volume. Did Sequoia say how much Carrefour's quotation is?"

Lin Youde said: "1.5 billion US dollars, Carrefour headquarters requires payment in US dollars."

Zhou Yujie said: "They dreamed that they paid US dollars. In addition, the price was sluggish. US$500 million, RMB payment. A supermarket that has suffered losses for several consecutive years and does not have real estate. If you have any brain problems, you will buy it at such a high price."

The advantage of the light asset model is that it expands quickly. If you can make a profit, it can be much faster than the heavy asset model. But when you get the benefits, there is also a disadvantage. Once the operation is not good, the value of the entire business will be very low. After all, when there is no physical assets, the business is still losing money. It is not a professional company in the same industry. Who dares to take over? As for how much resources you have invested in and how many relationship chains you have opened up, these are all false. The industry is very valuable when making money, but it is worthless when losing money.

The domestic retail industry is different from that of foreign countries. Chinese supermarkets like to gather in densely populated areas. Unlike European and American countries, supermarkets are built in suburbs, and there are few major giants in one direction and there are not many conflicts. In China, everyone is competing with each other. The coverage of competitors and Carrefour stores is repeated. Should we operate well after the acquisition? If we manage it well, our business may be incurred and not operate well. Why should I still acquire it?

Therefore, the sale of Carrefour's business is destined to be very difficult. It has not been sold for several years, and the losses are getting worse and worse. Even if there are two companies that want to acquire, they are still waiting for opportunities and preparing to desperately lower the price.

"A few hundred million yuan." Zhong Guangwei smiled and said, "If we can buy it at this price, we will not lose."

"It's about the same price, and there's not much more. This acquisition is actually just a small end. How to turn losses into profits after the acquisition is a big investment. We also need to integrate resources and provide a large amount of traffic." Zhou Yujie nodded and said.

Lin Youde asked: "Then which company should we acquire it in the name of? Are Pinduoduo?"

Zhou Yujie said: "Pinduoduo can participate, but not wholly owned. Toutiao Corporation and Today Youxuan have joined in. The three companies will acquire them together, and the next few companies will support Carrefour together, and they can also cooperate."

"Today's preferred?" Lin Youde's heart moved and asked, "Old Zhou is planning to do online shopping in the same city?"

Same-city online shopping is a strategic-level operation plan that is preferred today. The intention is to use countless takeaway workers to deliver fast delivery. However, because there are too many aspects involved, it is impossible to promote it quickly. However, if there is a large supermarket chain, it may be much more convenient.
Chapter completed!