Ye Guofu overhauled Yonghui in 360 days, and the Chief Merchandising Officer summarized 10 pieces of experience.

Author | Li Xiaoxia
Editor | Qiao Qian

In the past year, in the legendary story of Fat Donglai as a retail benchmark, it is an undeniable plot that traditional supermarkets seek experience from it.

Among the list of supermarkets following Fat Donglai's adjustment and reform, Yonghui is the most eye - catching one.

On the one hand, as a former supermarket giant, after a long - term loss, it is extremely difficult to make radical changes. On the other hand, Ye Guofu, the retail tycoon who spent 6 billion yuan on acquisitions, can he bring Yonghui out of the dilemma? This has raised questions and curiosity among the public.

After more than 360 days, Yonghui Supermarket has completed the adjustment and reform of 100 stores nationwide in the Fat Donglai model.

According to the financial report for the first quarter of 2025, the "stable - state stores" that have completed the adjustment and reform, that is, the stores that have been open for more than 3 months, have maintained stable profitability. As of the end of March, 41 "stable - state adjustment and reform stores" that have been open for more than 3 months have accumulated a net profit of 1.47 million yuan, and the cumulative profit in the first quarter reached 7.472 million yuan.

After completing the adjustment and reform of 100 stores, Yonghui continued to step up its efforts and announced the latest adjustment and reform plan in the Fat Donglai model. It is expected to complete the adjustment and reform target of 200 stores nationwide by September 30 this year. After the overall acceleration, it is estimated that one adjusted and reformed store will open every day on average in the third quarter.

Firmly learning the Fat Donglai model is something that Ye Guofu has always emphasized, and the shadow of Fat Donglai can be seen everywhere in Yonghui's adjusted and reformed stores.

Yonghui even made some additions to the Fat Donglai model. For example, the tasting service that was suspended by Fat Donglai during the epidemic has become a retained item in Yonghui's adjusted and reformed stores.

The Fat Donglai model is also the core driving force for Ye Guofu to enter the game.

Going back to last May, after Zhang Xuansong, the chairman of Yonghui Supermarket, and Li Songfeng, the CEO, and others visited Yu Donglai several times, they finally won the latter's decision to help adjust and reform Yonghui with their sincerity.

On the day when the news of the assistance was confirmed, the stock price of Yonghui Supermarket hit the daily limit. Before that, its stock price had once fallen to the historical lowest point.

The adjusted and reformed stores also became crowded with people, which caught Ye Guofu's attention. After some inner deliberation, he made the decision to acquire Yonghui in about a week.

Ye Guofu has always had a dream of opening a supermarket, and the inspiration came from the first time he saw Costco ten years ago. In China, only Fat Donglai seems to be comparable to Costco.

However, the offline retail business is not easy to handle, as predecessors have proved with their hard - won experiences. Yu Donglai once said, "I didn't know Guofu well before. After getting to know him, I think he is a very kind and rational person, although there may still be many immature aspects. Generally speaking, he is a very good person. But if I had known him earlier, I would never have let him enter this field and suffer for it."

So Ye Guofu chose a path that has been proven by Fat Donglai - to pursue high - quality and cost - effective products, provide excellent services, and develop differentiated products, taking the route of quality retail.

Judging from the suppliers that 36Kr Future Consumption has contacted, they are full of confidence in Yonghui's adjustment and reform. Of course, a large part of the reason is that they have tasted the sweet fruits. In the adjusted and reformed stores, the sales volume of their products has increased several times.

However, for Yonghui, it is not difficult to learn the superficial aspects, but it is not easy to master the essence in the long run, especially in building a supply chain of "40% directly - sourced products + 30% supplier products + 30% private brands".

In the short term, it is inevitable to face the impact on performance. For example, in the first quarter of this year, both revenue and profit declined. Yonghui Supermarket pointed out in its financial report that the decline in current operating revenue was mainly due to the company's active strategic and business model transformation.

One point worthy of attention is that on the first anniversary of the adjustment and reform, Yonghui set up the position of Chief Merchandising Officer, which is held by She Xianping, who has worked at Sam's Club and Hema.

It is reported that She Xianping joined Sam's Club in 2002. During his more than ten - year tenure, he was deeply involved in the construction of the global direct - sourcing system, accumulating rich experience in procurement and supply chain management. He knows well how to select high - quality suppliers, optimize procurement costs, and ensure product quality.

This is exactly what Yonghui needs.

When Yonghui completed the adjustment and reform of 100 stores, She Xianping also had an exchange with the media. From this exchange, we may also see some of the thinking of Ye Guofu and his team in the 360 days after Miniso's acquisition of Yonghui.

How to develop private brands?

First, use Fat Donglai's supply chain as much as possible to develop Yonghui's private brands

During the assistance process, Fat Donglai provided us with many of its private brands, but they were so popular that the supply couldn't meet the demand. Fat Donglai's original production plan and supply capacity were designed for its own system, so there were serious shortages and out - of - stock situations in many places. Therefore, the first step this year is to establish a completely independent exclusive private brand team. We need to take over these advantageous private brands from Fat Donglai and use their original supply chain as much as possible to customize Yonghui's private brands with the same standards. It is estimated that no less than 60 private brands will be launched this year.

Transform the team from a procurement function to a product design function

Extreme cost - effectiveness, carefully selected and clean formulas, and the satisfaction of emotional value will be the main directions for our next - step private brand R & D.

We hope that the team will transform from the previous purchasing function to product design. The team should have a more accurate understanding and grasp of future trends and user preferences, and on this basis, promote pre - product R & D.

If the private brand fails to meet the standards, it's better not to sell it

So far, there is no completely scientific statement about the proportion of private brands. However, from the perspective of differentiation and supply chain controllability, about 30% - 40% should be a reasonable value.

Whether it takes three or five years to achieve this reasonable proportion, I don't think it's that urgent. We should take the development of private brands very seriously, believing that they can represent Yonghui's image and provide long - term and stable output without problems. If they fail to meet this standard, we'd rather not sell them.

More people use private brands as a low - price marketing weapon

In the past, private brands were more often used as a low - price marketing weapon. For the sake of this low - price marketing, products of ordinary quality or even lower - than - ordinary quality might be used. In this way, it is difficult for private brands to build real trust in terms of safety and good quality. Therefore, if we take safety, reliability, and good quality as the primary directions for private brand development, rather than crazy special offers and extremely low prices, I believe we will succeed.

High - quality players make money from products

Traditional supermarkets make profits by selling shelves or channels, but truly healthy and high - quality players (such as Fat Donglai, Sam's Club, and Costco) make money by selling products and profit from the price difference in product trading. To be brave enough to obtain front - end gross profit by selling products, one must have extremely high standards for products and be confident. Yonghui is working hard to transform in this direction.

The contradictions in learning from Fat Donglai

Try to increase the "Fat Donglai" factor as much as possible

During the learning process, we will try our best to increase the "Fat Donglai" factor. First of all, Fat Donglai has proven with the trust of its past users that it indeed has very good product organization capabilities. We also hope to replicate it as much as possible. Bringing Fat Donglai's high - quality products to your side at the same price as Fat Donglai's is also a major motivation for Yonghui to learn from Fat Donglai in the adjustment and reform.

Blind copying cannot be sustained effectively

Fat Donglai mainly focuses on the Henan market, and the development direction of its product portfolio is regional. With Yonghui's national layout, if we simply and mechanically copy this product portfolio, many products will not meet the needs of our regional characteristics. If we just copy blindly instead of learning Fat Donglai's product selection logic, this kind of copying cannot be sustained effectively. Its product range is constantly evolving, and you can't just copy one by one.

Learn the essence, not the form

Starting from next year and the year after, we will let the team understand the core value points of Fat Donglai's product selection and supply chain building, and transform these value points into our selection criteria or capabilities for regional products. This is the real way to learn from Fat Donglai, that is, to learn its essence rather than its form.

Response to the financial report

The most difficult period during the transformation

Yonghui is definitely an aircraft - carrier - level enterprise in the retail market. It's not a small sailboat that can easily change direction. Managing a large enterprise is like cooking a small fish. What we see in the financial report is exactly the most difficult period during the transition and transformation.

This is the pain of reform, but this pain also shows Yonghui's determination to make radical changes. In each newly adjusted and reformed store, more than 50%, or even a higher proportion of products are replaced.

The replaced products need to be cleared at discounted prices, which itself is a huge cost. Currently, we are bearing the full pressure of this cost ourselves and have not transferred it to our supplier partners.

The pain of cost will decrease as the proportion of healthy store formats increases. This is a gradually optimizing process.

Today, Yonghui's bravery lies in actively giving up the back - end rebates and focusing on healthy front - end gross profit.

In at most one to two quarters, you will see a different Yonghui

For the team, rather than being eager to turn the gross profit margin positive within two months or something like that, it is more important to reach a consensus on the value proposition within the team as soon as possible. In the short term, the reform has entered the deep - water area. In at most one to two quarters, after the whole transformation is completed, everyone will definitely see a completely different Yonghui in terms of financial performance.

36Kr will continue to follow the progress of Yonghui's adjustment and reform. Welcome to add WeChat xhht100 to exchange relevant information