Tent hotel management

This article is 5700 words long, which is my observation and investment thinking on camping economy.

Consumer investors in the primary market will really eat dirt if they don't find something to do.

Recently, there are more and more camping contents in Xiaohongshu and Tik Tok. I guess the primary market will move again.

Luxury tents, exquisite decorations, all kinds of interesting things and markets, refrigerators, projectors, washing machines and stereos all appeared at the camping site, and young men and women took pictures with great interest. .....

In my slightly outdated concept, camping should not be so elaborate and complicated.

I am the kind of person who has camping experience for a long time.

I have experienced the "simple camping" with all the equipment in my backpack, and I have also felt the "portable camping" in Europe and America with all the equipment that travelers can take with them. However, this "exquisite" camping is still unacceptable for the time being.

I heard the lyrics in my heart: "It's not that I don't understand, the world is changing rapidly."

"Time-honored brand" under the tuyere

I know the word "outdoor" comes from the "Sanfu Outdoor" store that I passed by by by bike in North Third Ring Road when I was at school.

For more than 20 years, Sanfu outdoor should have witnessed the whole process of domestic camping industry from scratch.

Add a photo comment, no more than 140 words (optional).

At the beginning of the era when donkey friends were popular, Zhang Chaohui, the founder, was the first group of donkey friends. Basically, they stuck wherever they were hard, north and south, inside and outside mountains and rivers.

In the process of traveling around the northwest, Zhang Chaohui found that the quality of tents was too poor, so after returning to Beijing, he and his friends initiated the establishment of Sanfu Outdoor, mainly engaged in outdoor equipment, and then started the group building and brand operation of outdoor activities.

Before the outbreak, China's camping industry has been in a tepid situation, and keywords such as "save your strength and get ready" can often be seen in relevant industry information.

Sanfu's outdoor camping plan is just an ordinary plate.

People are not as good as the sky, and the camping industry really ushered in a blowout period, thanks to the 20 19 COVID-19 epidemic.

In the future history books, 2020 will be called "the first year of camping" in China, and the concept of camping has officially begun to go out.

Some senior outdoor entrepreneurs are mainly senior outdoor enthusiasts.

Most of the equipment they sell are foreign high-end brands, paying attention to functionality and portability, and taking the hard-line route.

Compared with traditional camping, exquisite camping now pays more attention to "atmosphere".

In addition to basic equipment, exquisite campers will also bring their own ovens, omelet tables, handmade pots, retro gas lamps or be provided by campsites to pursue exquisite camping experiences.

This greatly exceeded the expectations of many outdoor predecessors, and everyone said that they did not expect camping to become so exquisite.

It is precisely because of this that when the camping economy took off, the established enterprises such as Sanfu Outdoor were slow to respond.

When domestic camping equipment brands are mainly online sales, Sanfu's main outdoor position is online.

When brands such as Mu began to participate in the camping camp brand and accelerate the vertical integration of the upstream and downstream of the camping industry, Sanfu Outdoor was distracted by the operation of parent-child paradise and its own brand.

In the crucial social media marketing war, Sanfu outdoor also fell behind.

Unlike a few years ago, the camping industry still needs the promotion of industry associations. Camping has now completed the internal cycle of "planting grass-pulling grass" on various social media.

Today, when you open the little red book and search for "camping" on it, hundreds of camping notes will pop up, some of which are platform promotion of camping camps, but more of them are spontaneous "planting grass" by amateurs.

Most of them have similar compositions, similar tents, similar lighting, and some camping equipment brands are "inadvertently" exposed.

Camping out of the circle has brought many enterprises that accurately grasp the outlet, and at the same time, many "old brands" have fallen behind.

Sanfu did get a bonus during the camping season, but only a little.

After the initial confusion, adhering to the spirit of "joining if you can't beat it", Zhang Chaohui also made up his mind to pursue the outlet. Now the cake in the camping equipment market has been carved up, and the biggest growth point has become the development and operation of camping camps.

In the consumer industry, it is normal for veterans and novices to compete together. Compared with entrepreneurs who got investment and started burning money, veterans experienced several rounds of bulls and bears and were relatively conservative.

In the mode, Sanfu Camp adopts light assets and fast operation, and its location is mostly in a relatively formed state in natural environments such as grassland and woodland. The initial investment is expected to be 654.38+0-300,000 yuan. In order to avoid excess camps or investment losses after the camping boom, the attitude is quite cautious.

Coupled with the news that the third executive of Mugao reduced his holdings and cashed out some time ago, it can be seen that camping is still an uncertain future at least for now.

According to my experience in the consumer industry for such a long time, VC/PE mainly makes money by harvesting rear wheels with tuyeres and winding heads; With industry veterans, it is more likely to make money by business.

Considering the consumption investment in the primary market in the past two years, everyone has been hurt by the first game once, and this time it is better to use the latter method.

Ice and Fire in Exquisite Camping

While exquisite camping, there is also a huge camping equipment market that has expanded by tens of billions.

Sunshades, campers, outdoor chairs and stools, outdoor tables, picnic mats, cookers and hammocks, which were not included in the traditional camping equipment, are also selling well with the popularity of camping.

My friend Lao Wang used to open an outdoor shop in Taobao as a sideline, with an annual turnover of only one million.

Since the outbreak, with the surge in sales of various camping supplies, he began to contact the factory to replenish. But camping supplies are really hard to find. Many factories can't arrange orders now, and some even wait until next year. The market is very hot.

However, he also bluntly said that "more than 60% of the seller's programs were shot in the living room.

It is not known how many people actually spend the night outside tents.

He didn't know how many hammocks, picnic stoves and picnic mats consumers bought home were in a state of "eating dirt after taking pictures".

Business is also good, and there are many camping site operators born of the epidemic.

According to the report released by Ai Media Consulting, from 20 14 to 20021year, the domestic camping camp market scale soared from 7.71billion yuan to 29.9 billion yuan, and in 20021year, this figure reached 35.46 billion yuan.

But how much "moisture" this figure has is unknown.

After all, Lao Wang has seen too many customers who ordered thousands of dollars on impulse. Some tents have not been opened yet, and interest in camping has vanished, followed by a refund procedure.

This is not the biggest headache for Lao Wang these days. Unopened goods can be sold for the second time. More often, some buyers only use it once and then return it.

Rejection, wrangling, and platform intervention are processes that Lao Wang is already familiar with.

After all, I often contacted "insiders" before. Everyone knows the equipment and their own needs. They often ask about the basic technical parameters and then decide to place an order. Within a few days, Lao Wang's equipment appeared in various campsites with famous mountains and rivers as the background, and the refund platform was rarely involved.

With the mentality of giving it a try, Lao Wang and his friends punched in to the nearest camping camp.

If it weren't for the repeated confirmation of friends, Lao Wang couldn't believe that the camping camp in front of him and the brochure saw the same one.

Although Lao Wang thought he was an old gang among a group of handsome men and beautiful women born after 1995 and 00, he watched it curiously for a while.

On the sparse grass, several luxury tents were set up against one's will.

It is said that the mountains are green and the waters are green, but I only see a river that can't be named, emitting a little taste. Go to the toilet or solve it on the spot, or go to a cooperative homestay one kilometer away. Lao Wang also found that many young people just barbecue and take photos in the camp for a while, but they still have to stay in Huimin Guest House at night.

From his professional point of view, the equipment in the camp is all high-grade goods, which seems a bit too high-grade for the current level of the camp. It is roughly estimated that the initial investment of this small camp alone has reached nearly one million. Even that set of outdoor steak roasting equipment is a foreign high-end brand, and it will take hundreds of thousands to decide.

Naturally, a question appeared in Lao Wang's mind: "Can you make money by doing this?"

Although the price of exquisite camping under the banner of luxury ranges from hundreds to thousands per guest, camping camps still complain that they don't make money.

Large-scale infrastructure reconstruction is needed in the early stage of the camp, which means a lot of early investment. For the sake of risk control, many camps in China only rent hotels and scenic spots temporarily, not to mention whether there are perfect sanitary facilities and garbage disposal. Even so, the rent is still a big cost.

In addition, the operation of the camp requires staff, plus all kinds of supporting personnel in the front, middle and back end, and nearly one camp will bear high labor costs.

In addition, the initial investment in the camp also includes tents, kitchen facilities, awnings, outdoor tables and chairs, etc. In order to do differentiation, we need to engage in some additional literary elements such as wooden houses, starry sky, RV and music festivals, so the cost is quite high.

In the final analysis, the biggest problem of camp operation is that it only makes money without making money, especially nomadic camping, which proves to be difficult to make money.

However, the fixed operation mode of land acquisition construction should be particularly cautious in project establishment and site selection, and many conditions such as location, city size and climate should be taken into account before it can be profitable for a long time.

Camping economy at crossroads

The domestic camping economy is now at the crossroads of the industry.

Compared with Europe and America, where the camping economy is relatively mature, the exquisite camping promoted by the epidemic situation does not have a broad social foundation.

Consumers are only young people concentrated in first-and second-tier cities and new first-and second-tier cities. The income composition is dominated by the middle class, and the population penetration rate is only 1%.

Although the potential consumer groups are huge, there is no more suitable way to mobilize this consumption power. Even the original target group has "pulled out the grass" after experiencing the novelty and will not buy again.

Similar development path, we also see one or two from the ups and downs of blind box and script killing. Young people were first influenced by short video propaganda, network celebrities planting grass and friends circle. Then I followed the wind and experienced a camping trip. Although the voice circulating on the Internet is very loud, it is not suitable for investors to bet.

It can be seen that without the basic concept of camping and a perfect camping site, no matter how exquisite camping is, it is just an artificial beauty in the filter, which has become an outlet for utopia and middle-class life ideas accumulated with money under the epidemic. When the craze or epidemic subsides, people will naturally go to the next consumption outlet, and camping economy becomes a false proposition.

The more critical question is, what if the bubble bursts?

After the initial prosperity, consumers and enterprises will return to rationality.

After the reshuffle of the market, a group of enterprises with better strength, resources and service level will be produced, and the industry threshold will be initially formed, which will also ensure the quality of camping.

Camping itself, as a consumption scene, can cooperate with many industries.

At present, the initial understanding in the industry is that camping is regarded as "+camping" rather than "camping+",which means that many scenes such as education, catering, self-driving and outdoor can be deeply linked with camping to seek greater development.

Recently, I have been thinking about what the domestic camping industry would look like if the epidemic did not happen.

In fact, before the epidemic, domestic camping has completed the process from imported products to local roots, and a number of loyal fans and corresponding tent hotels, RV camps, camping sites and so on have emerged.

If there is no epidemic, the domestic camping industry should be in a steady development trend. High-priced, high-tech routes for hardcore people and mass routes for the masses go hand in hand, forming two poles of the industry.

To treat camping, we should not only consider the catalytic effect of tuyere, but also consider the development law of the industry itself.

As an exotic product, camping itself still has to go through a complete cycle from rooting to development. Pulling out seedlings can't help, and it can't create a benign industry ecology overnight.

Today's camping industry is still in the stage of cultivating the market and improving the level of the industry. However, in the huge market of 654.38+04 billion people, it is not difficult to make the cake bigger. In this way, even if the epidemic subsides in the next few years, tourism will resume and camping will firmly occupy its own place. Only in this way can the future of camping economy be expected.

If you have to make an early investment, ......

I am still optimistic about the development trend of camping, but I think entrepreneurs should avoid some investment areas with obvious pits.

1) First of all, don't touch "exquisite" items.

The consumer industry has buried investors in recent years, and the main "exquisite" projects have contributed.

This business model, which started with Yan value, essentially aroused the shallow needs of consumers and opened the first wave of traffic with curiosity and love of beauty.

If it is a category that has never appeared in the market, internalizing exquisiteness into quality may form consumers' repurchase. However, the substitution of overseas brands and the upgrading of traditional categories, when the giants react, the shortcomings of R&D and startup operation are reflected.

At present, this wave of exquisite life, without exception, is in the stage of introducing overseas successful models to consumers through the Internet communication with China characteristics. It is still possible to do marketing and open a shop.

Forget it if you invest.

On the contrary, I think projects that focus on the needs of function and population segmentation will have more advantages.

It is impossible for China people to copy the camping model of Europe, America and Japan. From food, clothing, housing and transportation to eating habits, 100% will have new demands based on actual scenes.

I saw a clothing project some time ago and thought their idea was very good.

The camping economy in Europe and America is highly mature and specialized. It really means that ordinary people spend a few days in the mountains. In the foreseeable future, consumers in China will be in the stage of market education. After a camping activity, they will experience many projects and try a little.

In this case, general outdoor clothes have more space than special ones, and even these clothes should take into account daily work scenes.

This idea reminds me of another famous clothing startup project-Xiaobai T.

This is a new demand and a new opportunity. Of course, this opportunity alone is not enough to support a brand, but at least there is a chance to make an explosion in the market that has already killed the Red Sea.

2) Don't touch popular equipment and mature equipment.

Many people think that camping in China has just started to enter the fast lane, so they think that tents, barbecue grills and outdoor power supplies will have opportunities.

Yes, but not an entrepreneur.

First of all, the absolute manufacturing threshold of public outdoor equipment is not high. Both the xx steel mentioned in the advertisement and the xx water release material mentioned in the grass planting article are very mature technologies in the manufacturing field, and there is no wave of entrepreneurs mastering the core technology to sweep the market.

Secondly, China's supply chain exports a large number of outdoor equipment overseas every year, and its factories and production capacity are ready-made. After the epidemic, the consumer market has undergone systematic changes. Under the background of "double circulation at home and abroad" and "unified big market", a group of foreign trade enterprises are also accelerating the export to domestic sales-these people will not give entrepreneurs the opportunity to fight price wars and engage in involution.

3) Don't touch the infrastructure easily.

The camp seems to be just a venue, but it is actually an infrastructure: transportation, water, electricity, garbage disposal and so on.

Infrastructure is not what entrepreneurs should do and should do.

This heavy asset investment cycle is long. If camping outlets can't turn around quickly, entrepreneurs' money is not enough.

If you want to participate in the venue business, it is better to build venues than to operate them.

Finally, the word "camping economy" also failed to grasp the core of changes in the consumer market.

This epidemic has fundamentally changed the way of life of many people.

In the past few decades, China people have not deeply understood the word risk, but they have deeply understood the opportunity. The rapid development of economy makes most people naturally think that the economy will rise in a straight line.

Due to the rapid development of the whole society, it has become a common "seize the day" for individuals. After all, everyone else is running. If you don't run, you will fall behind.

Before 20 19, the word involution was just a code word of minority community in China Internet content, and the mainstream content was still encouraging ordinary people running all the way-even if he was running with his eyes closed.

The epidemic is coming.

A fundamental shock, many people have not found it. In the past two years, ordinary people suddenly feel what is economic risk and what is systemic risk.

The victims are not divided into countries, industries or posts.

When ordinary people seriously think about this experience, they will find that in the past, they paid too much attention to long-term opportunities.

The king of involution can't avoid the clearance and layoffs of internet giants;

996 can't save enterprises that have closed down because of the epidemic;

Even entrepreneurs sitting on the tuyere may change from the darling of the capital market to the abandoned baby in a few months because of the stall of VC/PE; Wait, wait, wait.

Some people say that camping is a gust of wind, but I don't think so.

In the short term, camping is a substitute for traveling abroad, but in the long term, it can be compared with working late into the night every day, watching travel videos online and imagining that you can completely relax twice a year.

Going to the suburbs every week is a certain happiness.

This also explains why I think there is no opportunity for "refinement" in the camping field.

The exquisiteness of the Internet has brought some unattainable imagination to ordinary people, a brand-new variant of the core of consumerism under the epidemic.

But consumers don't believe it anymore.