On September 27, Hema's first high-end supermarket Premier Black Label store debuted in Shanghai. "Daily Economic News" reporter saw at the scene, this black label store settled in Changning District Longemeng shopping mall, the original site of the previous Carrefour member store.

Box Horse said that whether it is design or goods, the black label store is aimed at the highest level of boutique supermarkets in China to build. The area of this black label store is much larger than the common Hema fresh stores, reaching more than 6,000 square meters.
According to Hu Liang, chief designer of Hema Premier, in terms of goods, the black label store is tailor-made for the Chinese people, with more than half of imported goods and a large number of special products developed based on Chinese tastes.
"We still hope to be able to choose a relatively dense traffic (place), because the Dragon Dream is the top 3 (place) in Shanghai, and (in) the very downtown, but also has a very large number of young people." We really want to attract this group of customers." Hu Liang told reporters.
This September, Box horse ushered in the shop frenzy. According to the official news of Hema, Hema will open 30 stores in September, including 16 Hema fresh stores, 3 Hema mini stores, 9 Hema Ole stores, 1 Premier store and 1 Hema X member store.
It is reported that 30 stores will be opened in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Nantong, Nanjing, Chongqing, Kunming, Hefei, Jinan and Nanchang. Before the National Day Golden Week, the number of Hema fresh stores alone will exceed 350.
Under the high-speed opening, Hema has also innovated the form of the store: many new stores are no longer distributed according to the category, but are designed according to the consumption scene. For example, expand the baking area and set up "light food island" to facilitate the working crowd to eat; Increase semi-finished dishes, fresh frozen goods, more suitable for the fast-paced urban population and so on.
What is Hema up to in the multi-format rush?
A new attempt
The news that Box Horse wants to open a black label store has long been circulating in the market.
In April this year, Hou Yi, founder and CEO of Box horse, told reporters that Box horse still lacks the top boutique supermarket format, so Box horse will launch a new format called "freshippo best" in the second half of this year, "we have begun to build, quickly this October can open out."
Despite the name change, the store opened earlier than expected.
In an interview with reporters, Hu Liang, chief designer of the box horse Black label store, also said: "The idea of the black label store has been in our company a long time ago, but it began to mature gradually this year, the real launch time of the store is May and June, the preparation time is very long." According to her, whether it is site selection, supply chain accumulation, or investigation and learning, the preparation period is more than two months.
In terms of classification, black label stores belong to boutique supermarkets. It is understood that China's boutique supermarket, has nearly 20 years of history, the earliest to serve high net worth people, overseas returnees, foreigners, in the commodity structure, shopping environment and pricing, take a high-end route, so that many middle-class consumer groups are also "discouraged".
Hema sees a new business opportunity.
Hu Liang said that although the positioning of high-end supermarkets, but the black label store will try to narrow the distance with consumers, so that more people with less money, enjoy the goods and services of high-end supermarkets, do not let the boutique supermarket into a beautiful decoration in the mall.
According to the reporter, a major feature of the box horse black label store is the first imported goods. According to Hema, a series of new products such as the French high-end companion gift brand Miss Malena, Sugarfina candy with the same model of Hollywood stars in the United States, the stone toast series of Australian national brand Coles, and the Japanese soft serve ice cream are all entering the mainland market for the first time through Hema Premier, with imports accounting for nearly 50%.
Talking about the background of the black label store design, Hu Liang told reporters: "We hope that the black label store focuses on our company's current highest commodity power, the highest service ability, and tries to build a new store."
Hu Liang said that the target customer group of this store does not distinguish between high and low income, "I think in modern society, many times it is based on his characteristics, interests and hobbies to divide, such as we enter a social software, will let you choose whether you like photography, hot food, in fact, everyone has such a label."
Hu Liang said that Hema wants to break the usual thinking of the supermarket's functionality and purpose, hoping to introduce a more forward-looking and trendsetting lifestyle to China.
Consistent with the Hema fresh store, this black label store can also order through the App and provide delivery service to the home, but the difference is that Hema has opened a wechat mini program for this store, which is the first fresh business format.
In addition, talking about the profit goal of the black label store, Ge Dongsheng, the general operation of the Shanghai district, told the Daily Economic News reporter that the box Ma will give the black label store a certain incubation period, the gross profit positioning is not high, or want to bring more good goods to users, (focus on) to build a supply chain.
Hou Yi's "ambition" : Retail innovation
Since this year, Box horse has entered a new round of shop opening frenzy.
According to the reporter, only in June to August, Box horse opened 18 box fresh stores, and in September, it reached the speed of opening one store per day.
In addition, the price war between the box horse and Sam's Club stores has also aroused high attention from the outside world. On July 31, Hema began to launch the "mountain price", which was first launched in Shanghai and Beijing, covering many categories including fruit, meat, poultry, eggs and milk.
While benchmarking international giants, while opening a large number of stores, facing the current new competitive situation, Hou Yi obviously has new ideas for the future of Box horse.
"Once Hema was: only I am the fastest, no one is faster than me; But today delivery is generally faster and has become a basic standardised service." In April this year, Hou Yi told reporters that today's box horse retail competition is the ability to control changes in consumer demand and the ability to provide supporting services, competition is commodity competition.
Taking the black label store as an example, according to the box horse, the black label store is a boutique supermarket, Box horse hopes that it can become a master of commodity power and even a test field, hoping to do more good goods after stable output, enabling other formats.
Ge Dongsheng also told reporters that the current box horse has three main formats: box horse fresh format, box horse X member store format and NB Ole discount store format, "Black label store is actually based on fresh format to do a new upgrade, with the goods of the member store there are some essential differences, our goods or (mainly) to meet customers immediately."
At the end of last year, the box horse has further clarified its future development direction, that is, "go up, go down, go out." Going up, that is, quality upgrading, mainly involves the Hema fresh business and the Hema X member store business. The so-called "going out" is to cooperate with overseas brands and mature purchasing alliances to provide Chinese consumers with more abundant and cost-effective goods.
Obviously, from the action so far this year, whether it is moving the mountain price or opening the black label store, it is a move of "going up" and "going out". As for the Ole store, the discount store in Hou Yi's mouth, it is the core of Hema's "going down", providing the lowest possible price of goods. Hou Yi has said that Hemaolai is "mainly based on private brands, basic quality assurance, and the price is half of the supermarket."
Hou Yi is reshaping - or reinforcing - Hema's core competitiveness, and for now, Hou Yi's "ambition" is to innovate in retail.
"The traditional zero-supply relationship has taken Chinese retail into a pit, and retail has become a place for rent." In August this year, Hou Yi told the media: "It is responsible for KA suppliers rather than responsible for consumers, Hema was originally based on KA, some prices are higher than the market price, this year, the future will not do this business."
Since 2023, a number of Chinese retail enterprises have been operating difficulties, in addition to the factors affected by the global economic situation, the change of the retail industry itself is more imminent. In Hou's view, discounting in the retail industry is the way to win the competition. He has high hopes for discounting, he believes that discounting is not cheap, not simple low prices, discounting is "differentiated commodity competition, vertical supply chain, mechanism operating costs", "discount stores are not formats, but business models."
Since its inception, Hema has been known for its rich formats and love of innovation, and so far, Hou Yi's bet on discount stores has not yet seen actual data results. Hema tries to provide consumers with three choices of ultra-low price + rich choice + high quality goods through different retail formats. The challenge, though, is whether Hema can balance its relationship with each other on this new path for Chinese retail.
In addition, in May this year, Ali Group has said that Cainiao, Box horse and other businesses launched listing plans, September 26, following Alibaba's announcement to split Cainiao listing night, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange website information shows that Cainiao has officially submitted an application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange listing. Given this, it's no surprise that Hema is stepping up.