This generation of young people earns 50,000 yuan a month by opening an online pub

People's consumption and entrepreneurship methods are gradually becoming more diversified. For example, the "online pubs" that have emerged now allow entrepreneurs to promote or sell homemade drinks on online platforms and make profits from them. This type of new entrepreneurship not only hits the consumption psychology of Generation Z, but also attracts the attention of many young people who want to make money. To understand how to interpret the existence of online pubs, let's take a look at the author's interpretation.

Forever young, always with tears in eyes.

With the current situation of virus transmission and the carnival of the World Cup, a group of young people who are unable to dine in restaurants have developed an online pub and started sharing their experience in running an "online pub" on social platforms.

An online pub, as the name suggests, is a pub that sells online. Entrepreneurs mix their own alcohol at home or in rented rooms, promote and sell it on online platforms such as WeChat, Douyin, Xiaohongshu, and Meituan, and then have a dedicated person deliver it to designated locations.

If you search for "online tavern" on Xiaohongshu, you will find about 8,800+ notes. Many entrepreneurs share their early preparation steps and later income. Their monthly income of 10,000 yuan has attracted the envy of many young people. Many young people ask for detailed experiences under the notes. A whirlwind called "online tavern" has swept among young people this winter.

1. Online taverns, small and profitable

Judging from the experience sharing posts on Xiaohongshu, running an online pub mainly consists of three steps: preliminary preparation, promotion and publicity, and ordering and delivery.

First of all, from the perspective of preliminary preparation, online pubs are asset-light startups, and most entrepreneurs tend to keep costs within 10,000 yuan. The main items purchased include drinks, snacks, cups, sieves, and bottle openers, which are relatively low in cost. The process of making drinks is also simple and easy to learn, and there are many bartending tutorials online. Most entrepreneurs will choose to set up their venues at home to save costs.

The second step is promotion and publicity, which is the most difficult one. Most entrepreneurs will choose to post advertisements on WeChat Moments to open up the consumption circle of acquaintances at the beginning, but the consumption circle of acquaintances is limited after all. Subsequent entrepreneurs will advertise on social platforms such as Douyin, Xiaohongshu and Weibo, but the core of public social platforms is "traffic", and traffic acquisition is also an important cost in the early stage of online taverns. In the early stage, money must be invested in traffic, and public domain consumers must be converted to private domains to build local consumer groups.

Placing an order is simpler than promotion and publicity. Consumers have been directed to the private domain, and subsequent entrepreneurs can sell directly by posting advertisements on WeChat Moments. However, many entrepreneurs have not yet made it through the delivery stage. In order to save costs in the early days, many people would choose to deliver the goods themselves, which is time-consuming and laborious. Many people would also choose to use Meituan, but since Meituan revised its delivery rules, the delivery fee has increased. Entrepreneurs can only choose the third-party delivery platform Dada or contact fixed deliverymen for private delivery.

2. One glass of wine a day is better than a little god

Young people need a cup of coffee in the morning to start their workday and a cup of alcohol in the evening to end their workday. Alcoholic beverages have gradually become an anesthetic for young people who are under great pressure.

According to data from China Industry Information Network, China's bar consumption in 2019 was mainly divided into two major groups, with people aged 18-24 accounting for 57% and people aged 25-34 accounting for 28%. The report shows that people born in the 1990s and 1995s have great potential for alcohol consumption.

More and more people born in the 1990s and 1995s have started to drink foreign liquor and have developed a habit of drinking it. In recent years, whiskey, brandy, and cocktails have become the most popular types of foreign liquor among young people. According to data from China Research Network, the sales of imported foreign liquor in China have increased by 220% year-on-year, which is an amazing speed and has huge market potential. Annual consumption exceeds 600 billion yuan, with a total volume of about 52 liters, accounting for 22% of the global total sales. Both offline and online pubs mainly sell foreign liquor concoctions, which are quite popular among young people.

Before the emergence of online pubs, young people's alcohol consumption was mainly concentrated offline. In recent years, young people's love for offline pubs can be seen from the increase in the number of pubs.

In terms of the number of pubs, there were 35,000 pubs in my country at the end of 2015, and there were about 42,000 pubs in China by the end of 2019, with a compound annual growth rate of 5.0%. Among them, the number of pubs in China's third-tier and lower cities has increased at an annual compound rate of 8.1% since 2015. China's pub industry has great development potential in third-tier and lower cities.

With the social economy, night economy, and tipsy economy of Generation Z, many old liquor brands have also started to build their own offline pubs. In January this year, Jiang Xiaobai opened its first Jiang Xiaobai pub in Chengdu Honghui Tiandi; on September 27, Luzhou Laojiao's first "Bai Diao Pub" in China officially opened in Chengdu. The two major brands have successively built offline pubs through "baijiu +", which is undoubtedly aimed at the rise of the "pub economy" among young people, making it easier to reach young people and promote the rejuvenation of baijiu.

3. Online Bistro, the Prosperity of Packaging

Several articles on Xiaohongshu that share tips on "online pubs" have titles like this: Buy a motorhome to run an online pub and earn 80,000 yuan a month; Can online pubs really earn over 10,000 yuan a month?; If you are very poor, you might as well try running an online pub; The cost is only 5,000 yuan and you can earn over 10,000 yuan a month.

One after another, the notes with beautiful illustrations and attractive texts have made young people include "online taverns" in their business plans. However, in the view of Yilan Business, although online taverns may seem small and profitable, there are actually many "money-burning risks" behind them.

First of all, from the perspective of product cost , since the chain pub Heilun has already formed a large-scale sales volume and stable sales, suppliers are willing to lower costs to provide Heilun with raw materials. In contrast, many entrepreneurs of popular online pubs now choose to purchase goods online. The unstable procurement channels and long-distance shipping costs can easily exceed the cost budget. The 5,000 yuan zero-threshold startup mentioned in many notes needs to be considered.

Secondly, from the perspective of product innovation, Helens has relied on selling its own products to gain a foothold in the market since its inception. According to Helens' prospectus, from 2018 to 2020, Helens' own product revenue accounted for 72%, 68.8%, and 73.5% respectively, while third-party brand alcoholic beverage revenue accounted for 22.1%, 27.3%, and 23.5% respectively. In Helens's opinion, the acceptance of its own products by consumers means that the brand will have a higher commercial space.

For online pubs, most entrepreneurs are not professional bartenders. They receive uniform training and their products are highly homogenized. According to Yilan Business statistics, the products sold by online pubs are mainly cola barrels, orange juice barrels, mango barrels, coconut barrels and other products with fixed formulas by manufacturers. There are very few innovative products by entrepreneurs themselves.

In addition, offline pubs have also started to deliver goods to homes due to the epidemic, which has greatly impacted online pubs without physical stores. If there is no product innovation, consumers will continue to buy into online pubs in the future. However, compared to offline pubs, online pubs may have lower product prices because they do not have rent, labor and other costs. Many consumers choose to consume because of this advantage.

However, as more and more online pubs open, the competitive pressure is also increasing. Online pubs in places like Beijing, Shanghai, and Hangzhou have already started price wars. Relying solely on low prices to attract consumers is not a long-term solution.

As mentioned above, the popularity of pubs is mainly due to the social economy, night economy, and tipsy economy of Generation Z, among which the social economy is the top priority for the popularity of pubs.

A tavern is a nighttime entertainment venue that provides social drinking services to consumers. Its essence is a beverage retailer that relies on the concept of social interaction. In addition to providing consumers with services such as drinking and snacks, this type of venue also has entertainment venues such as billiards, darts, and live entertainment, which fully meet the entertainment needs of young people for social venues. Online taverns also provide social entertainment products such as sieves and playing cards, but compared with offline taverns, they are still largely lacking.

Xiaohongshu blogger "Xi'an Xiangxiang's Online Pub" revealed to Yilan Business that many consumers of online pubs are one-time customers and it is difficult for them to make a second purchase. If they have the conditions, they still prefer to go to offline pubs for consumption. As for the monthly income of 50,000 or 80,000 yuan boasted on the Internet, it is completely nonsense and it is impossible for many developed regions to achieve it.

For ordinary people, if you don’t have good conditions, technology, and resources, running an online pub is much better than working. Although this venture requires less investment, it is not something that can be explained in one or two exquisite notes. Instead of blindly following the trend of starting a business, it is better to do more market research in advance.

Author: Liu Dingshi, Editor: Xue Xiang

Source: Yilan Business (ID: yilanshangye), a professional consumer service platform