"The fresh food track is the last bastion of e-commerce, and those who win in the fresh food market will be 'beasts,'" Xu Xin, the founder of Capital Today, stated.
Yipin Fresh closed a Series C round of financing of CNY 2.5 billion, led by Tencent and Capital Today, followed by Eastern bell Capital.
Founded in 2013 in Hefei, Yipin Fresh is committed to providing consumers with high-quality, low-priced and safe fresh products. Starting from offline communities, the company has opened nearly 900 stores and gradually moved towards online and offline integration, covering 17 cities in China.
On July 17, Yipin Fresh entered South China, invading the territory of Qdama. The first store in Guangzhou sold CNY 380,000 on the day it opened, surpassing Qdama’s CNY 200,000. But in terms of the number of stores, Yipin Fresh is slightly lower than Qdama’s 2,000 stores, which rapidly expanded through franchising.
It is hard to operate efficiently and make a profit in the fresh food track. Many companies contracted or even closed down in 2019. Yipin Fresh relies on the secure supply chain capabilities accumulated over the years and the partner model centered on stores to maintain aggressive development and ensure the ultimate cost performance while still being able to make profits.