Annual income of 15 million, temporary food business

In the era of e-commerce, thanks to efficient connections, every segment has opportunities to get rich.

The key is whether this opportunity belongs to you.

Today, let’s talk about the business of expired products.

Xiao Wang, a native of Nanjing, opened five temporary food supermarkets.

The annual income exceeds 15 million, and the profit can be maintained above 50.

What is expiry food?

Immediate food refers to food that is about to reach the shelf life of the food but is still within the shelf life.

As early as 2012, Beijing introduced a level 6 standard for "critical food shelf life", which clarified how far away from the shelf life food is.

For example, for candies and biscuits with a shelf life of 18 months, the critical period is 40 days before the shelf life.

For instant noodles, milk, etc. with a shelf life of less than 12 months, the food critical period is 20 days before the shelf life.

Food on expiration date belongs to the category of safe food.

However, because the shelf life is approaching, merchants usually reduce prices.

Merchants all hope to sell their products before the critical period.

But the idea is beautiful, but the reality is cruel.

Food needs to go through a series of circulation links from brand owners, distributors, retailers to consumers.

Even if you have market judgment, marketing, and management capabilities, there will always be many products that are unsaleable due to various reasons.

This has led to the emergence of various businesses surrounding food that is due to expire.

Xiao Wang’s temporary food business

Xiao Wang entered the temporary food industry by accident.

Once when he was thirsty to buy water, he accidentally entered a last-minute food supermarket.

Xiao Wang used to have certain prejudices against this kind of food that is about to expire.

But he found that this supermarket was very popular.

Many are urban white-collar workers, and they buy a big bag of them.

This made him interested and started chatting with the supermarket owner.

As a former e-commerce practitioner, Xiao Wang became interested in temporary food.

Xiao Wang used to think that only middle-aged and elderly people were the main consumer groups of expired products.

Through the observation of this supermarket, Xiao Wang found that in the morning there were mainly adults and mothers, while at noon and evening there were mainly young office workers.

After young people realize the value of food on expiration date, their consumption power in this area has far exceeded that of the elderly.

This can be seen from Douban’s “I Love Linqi Food” group.

This group was just established in September 2020 and has already attracted more than 20,000 food lovers who are on the verge of dying.

After understanding the target customer group, Xiao Wang initially chose to sell expired food at the entrance of a large factory.

Because large factories have a large flow of people, a considerable flow of people can gather within a few minutes, forming a group effect.

But it can only be sold for two hours a day, between 12 and 1 noon, and between 5 and 6 pm.

Xiao Wang found another vegetable market and found a relatively stable stall.

Because this vegetable market radiates to several surrounding communities, it can generate a transaction volume of 1,000 to 2,000 yuan a day.

With more and more repeat customers, Xiao Wang consciously added the customers’ WeChat accounts.

The business of the vegetable market was getting better and better, and Xiao Wang went on to open a temporary food supermarket in the community.

Just like this step by step, Xiao Wang has now opened five temporary food supermarkets, with annual income exceeding 15 million.

This process sounds easy, but it is not simple to do and requires continuous learning and exploration.

In the beginning, all Xiao Wang’s supermarkets sold were last-minute food.

Later I discovered that not every food that was due to expire could be sold.

Once expired food cannot be sold, it will cause huge losses.

Moreover, if you want to run a supermarket well, you cannot ultimately rely on low prices, but only on service.

Therefore, Xiao Wang’s supermarket now focuses on several hot-selling foods that are due to expire, and the proportion is controlled at about 30% of all products.

These expiry foods are mainly used as a tool to divert traffic.

At the same time, Xiao Wang also needs to work hard on decoration, adopting the simple and exquisite style of Uniqlo.

The comfortable shopping environment enhances customers’ purchasing experience.

The combination of many factors led to Xiao Wang’s success.

Where can I find the source of goods?

If you are purchasing goods from a small business, you can search online for keywords such as "immediate food supply" and "immediate food supply".

Generally, you can find some wholesale merchants, but the cost of getting goods is generally high, and you often cannot choose goods freely.

In addition, you can find suppliers at major local e-commerce warehouses and offline supermarkets.

Some e-commerce warehouses will receive returns from users, and food items cannot be restocked after one-third of the date has passed.

Offline supermarkets will remove products with product dates exceeding 2/3 from the shelves, and then ask suppliers to pull the products back to their own warehouses.

Suppliers can only pull goods from the warehouse back to their own warehouses.

But this cost is very high, so most suppliers will dispose of such goods locally and cheaply.

There is no unified standard method for how to find these suppliers.

You can ask the shopping guide or the e-commerce warehouse staff responsible for returns, or you can call the manufacturer to consult the local agent.

Profits and risks of products on expiry date

Some impending food store owners have calculated that the gross profit margin is around 70. If losses, space, labor, transportation, and warehouses are eliminated, it can reach 40.

Often even higher profits.

For example, a batch of expired chocolates on the market with an original value of 500,000 yuan can be purchased for 30,000 or 40,000 yuan, and may eventually be sold for around 150,000 yuan.

The market development prospects of products that are due to expire are good.

In 2019, the market size of China’s snack food industry has reached 1.0556 billion yuan.

According to iiMedia Consulting data, it is expected to exceed 1.1 trillion yuan in 2020.

The "2020 China Imported Food Industry Report" shows that in 2019, the amount of imported food in my country has reached US$90.81 billion.

According to a rough estimate, if calculated based on the accumulated inventory of 5, the food market on expiration will exceed 80 billion.

But you can’t just look at profits and prospects, but also consider the risks behind it, your own capabilities and resources, and other issues.

Food with an expiration date must be matched with high turnover. Once it is unsaleable, almost all of it will be lost after the expiration date.

This places high demands on practitioners’ capital and sales capabilities.

As more and more competitors enter the expired food industry, competition is bound to become increasingly fierce.

If you want to earn high profits from expired food, it is best to fully understand its high risks.

It is best to learn first, accumulate some experience and customers, and then decide whether to invest heavily.

It is recommended that entrepreneurs, like Xiao Wang, start by setting up a stall and accumulate experience while making money.

If you do it well, you will continue to increase investment and upgrade it to a supermarket. If you don't do it well, the losses will be limited.

There are many opportunities to make money at any time.

Compared with opportunities, what is more important is whether this opportunity is in your circle of competence, otherwise it will be useless no matter how many opportunities you have.