Hema NB's turnover reached 8 billion yuan in the first half of the year, and the total number of stores is currently nearly 300 | Exclusive from 36Kr

Text | Peng Qian

Editor | Qiao Qian, Yang Xuan

36Kr has exclusively learned that in the first half of this year, the turnover of Hema NB reached approximately 8 billion yuan, showing double - digit growth compared to the same period last year. Currently, the total number of stores is nearly 300, and the number of stores has doubled in just half a year, mainly concentrated in urban and suburban areas of core cities in East China.

Hema declined to comment on this information.

Previously, Hema NB launched its own brand "Super Cost - Effective". More than a hundred products such as rice, vegetarian food, paper towels, fresh milk, and ice cream have changed their brand names. It is understood that Hema NB will also be renamed "Super Cost - Effective NB" soon.

According to insiders at Hema, after several years of exploration, the business development of Hema NB has gradually matured. Last year, Hema internally clarified the strategy driven by two formats: Hema Fresh and NB. Brand independence means that this business has grown up and can independently face market tests. At the same time, this move also differentiates the brand of NB from Hema Fresh, which is positioned in the mid - to high - end market, and provides differentiated products and services in an environment of consumption stratification.

Different from Hema Fresh, most Hema NB stores are located in street - front shops and community - type shopping malls. The average customer spending is around 40 yuan, and fresh produce for three meals accounts for 45%, which attracts some people who previously had a low awareness of the Hema Fresh large - store brand and are used to buying groceries at the vegetable market.

To get more orders, Hema NB launched online delivery services before the Spring Festival this year. The proportion of online sales is expected to reach around 30%, and it is also recruiting sorters in multiple cities recently.

The main sources of goods for Hema NB are divided into two types: one is its own - brand products, mainly including fresh produce, baked goods, general merchandise, and alcoholic beverages, accounting for more than 50% of sales; the other is non - self - owned KA brand products.

The streamlined supply chain, a high proportion of own - brand products, and minimalist decoration and display all enable Hema NB to maintain a low - price advantage. For example, only 5 - 6 popular types of rice are sold, and costs are reduced through centralized procurement and own - brand products. There is no aquatic product area, and multi - temperature layers are removed. All products are packaged, which can reduce losses.

36Kr conducted a price comparison: Similar - looking small cakes at NB are about 30% cheaper than those at Hema Fresh large stores; a 450g pack of grass - fed beef rolls is sold for only 19.9 yuan at NB, while Dingdong sells it for nearly 30 yuan; a 400 - 500g serving of Shanghai water parsley is sold for only 2 - 3 yuan at Hema NB, while it costs about 4 - 5 yuan at the nearby vegetable market.

Hema NB is the result of Hema's continuous exploration in the discount format. In 2021, Hema's community discount supermarket, Hema Outlet, was launched. Its main source of goods is near - expired products from Hema Fresh large stores, and the prices are 30% - 50% of those in large stores. According to 36Kr, some Hema Outlet stores have been converted into Hema NB, and some have been closed.

Since Yan Xiaolei became the CEO of Hema, the most important achievement has been achieving annual profitability through measures such as reforming products, focusing on the core, and clarifying store formats.

The overall direction of product reform is to stop benchmarking against Sam's Club, including canceling the "Moving - Mountain Price" and the super - single - product strategy. Focusing on the core means adding a supermarket format that is closer to the community and emphasizes high - frequency consumption on the basis of the Hema Fresh large - store model, and Hema NB is the most important part of it.

At the end of 2024, Yan Xiaolei clearly stated in an internal letter that Hema will focus on the two core business strategies of Hema Fresh and Hema NB. The former is responsible for rapidly replicating the mature model, and the latter focuses on community - based services. The X - membership stores, once one of Hema's "Three Carriages", have all been closed recently, which is an embodiment of the full implementation of this strategy.

At this time, Yan Xiaolei set a new goal for Hema: to achieve an annual GMV of 100 billion yuan in three years. According to 36Kr, as of the end of March this year, Hema's annual GMV had reached 75 billion yuan.

Hema has also resumed its expansion. On the one hand, Hema will continue to open new Hema Fresh large stores. Recently, one Hema Fresh large store was opened in each of four cities, including Zibo, Lishui, Xinghua, and Jingjiang, within one day. Hema NB also needs to continuously develop highly cost - effective products while accelerating store openings, which still tests Hema NB's supply - chain capabilities. In addition, Hema still needs to carefully balance the number and location of the two types of stores to avoid the problem of small stores taking traffic from large stores.

Currently, Alibaba is upgrading towards a large - scale consumer platform through businesses such as Taobao Flash Sale. Recently, it also integrated Hema, Fliggy and other businesses by launching a general membership program and upgrading the 88VIP membership. In the instant - retail field, Hema has unique capabilities in supply and delivery.

At the celebration event for Hema's tenth anniversary, Wu Yongming, on behalf of Alibaba Group, sent birthday wishes to Hema and also mentioned: "Truly improving product strength is the most important thing for Hema. In the group, only Hema is truly operating its own products. When our scale expands, we will entrust these basic product capabilities and service experiences to Hema."