On October 13, it was exclusively revealed that MEITUAN-W's self-operated supermarket Happy Monkey will open its first northern China store on October 24, located in Mentougou's Shangto Plaza with approximately 1,000 square meters of floor space. This marks the fifth store opened within two months.

This year, the "hard discount" retail segment has become a fiercely contested battlefield, with internet platforms like Freshippo and JD.com, as well as traditional retailers such as Wumart and Yonghui, not only firmly defending the northern market but also continuously testing their discount formats. For newcomer Happy Monkey to break through the competition among giants, supply chain efficiency will be a critical challenge that MEITUAN-W must overcome.

**Northern Debut in Beijing Suburbs**

After testing in Hangzhou, MEITUAN-W has turned its attention to Beijing. Recently, at Shangto Plaza in Mentougou, multiple Happy Monkey supermarket staff members have been promoting community group information to passing residents by offering free tissues and eggs. Not far away, MEITUAN-W's self-operated Happy Monkey supermarket has erected construction barriers, with a KFC restaurant also under renovation nearby.

"The first Happy Monkey store in northern China will officially open on October 24 in Mentougou, with approximately 1,000 square meters of space on the first floor of Shangto Plaza, featuring primarily private-label products," a Happy Monkey staff member stated. The opening day will include lottery activities with prizes including electric vehicles and camping cars. Additionally, the store will gradually introduce online ordering and offline delivery services after opening.

Notably, another Happy Monkey supermarket in the northern market will open in Sanhe, Langfang, Hebei Province on October 17. Clearly, MEITUAN-W is accelerating the expansion of its discount supermarket format.

In September, MEITUAN-W opened three Happy Monkey supermarkets in Hangzhou. According to public information, each Hangzhou Happy Monkey store covers 700-1,000 square meters, carries over 1,000 SKUs, includes more than 300 private-label products, and covers high-frequency essential categories such as fresh produce, grains and oils, and prepared foods.

"Affordable prices" is the consumer perception that Happy Monkey supermarkets aim to establish. Based on shopping experiences shared by consumers on social media, some Happy Monkey private-label products such as pure milk at 23.9 yuan per case and freshly baked egg tarts at 5.9 yuan for four pieces have strong appeal.

"I visited the Daguan Road store in Hangzhou on a weekday afternoon, and the foot traffic was indeed heavy, mainly middle-aged and elderly customers," one consumer noted.

A source close to MEITUAN-W mentioned that "Happy Monkey and Xiaoxiang Supermarket have different positioning." Happy Monkey focuses on discount and value-conscious consumers, emphasizing offline scenarios and catering to price-sensitive customers, while Xiaoxiang Supermarket emphasizes online ordering and 30-minute delivery.

**Testing Cost and Efficiency**

Compared to entering Hangzhou's core urban areas, Happy Monkey's Beijing store location is more conservative, planning to test waters outside the Fifth Ring Road first. Cost is clearly one of MEITUAN-W's important considerations for opening discount supermarkets.

Currently, the Shangto Plaza where Happy Monkey's first Beijing store is located remains largely vacant, but the surrounding residential areas are dense, including multiple communities such as Shuangyu Community, Xinqiao Garden, and Liyuan Residential Area. The supermarket is also close to high-traffic venues like Mentougou District Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital and Xinqiao Road Middle School.

Proximity to concentrated customer areas can ensure sufficient order density to some extent, a logic that also applies to Happy Monkey stores in Hangzhou and Langfang. For example, the Happy Monkey Sanhe Fuding Center store is surrounded by multiple communities and close to hotels and commercial centers.

Beyond community stores, Happy Monkey's Hangzhou Qiantang Xiasha Huansi store has also entered mature commercial complex scenarios for the first time.

To drive customer traffic, product appeal is crucial for discount formats. Brands like Wumart, Freshippo NB, and Aldi continue to increase their private-label ratios, primarily to eliminate intermediate brand premiums and offer lower prices. Companies can not only directly connect with factories to develop more unique customized products but also ensure profit margins while avoiding pure price wars.

Currently, leading players have established clear advantages in private labels. For example, Aldi's private-label ratio exceeds 90%, while Freshippo NB's private-label sales ratio reaches about 60%.

Moreover, compared to southern markets, Beijing exhibits more pronounced consumer segmentation characteristics, with a landscape of "quality essentials coexisting with price sensitivity." This significantly tests Happy Monkey's ability to develop localized private-label products, such as developing dishes suited to northern tastes and large family-size packages.

As of publication, MEITUAN-W representatives have not responded regarding Happy Monkey's Beijing store opening plans.

**Differentiated Market Competition**

In the view of some industry insiders, discount supermarkets developing private labels not only enhance price advantages but also create store traffic through private brands.

"It's similar to a 'main brand' and 'sub-brand' relationship, where private-label low-price similar products act as the 'sub-brand,'" said Xiangyang (pseudonym), a former MEITUAN-W employee. Supermarkets can attract customers to stores through private-label low-price strategies while driving consumption of regular-priced goods.

"Both to cater to current consumer environment trends and because giants competing in the hard discount track hope to tell an attractive story," Xiangyang noted.

This year, MEITUAN-W's interest in physical retail has grown increasingly strong. Beyond Happy Monkey, it was observed that at the B1 level of Beijing Hualian Wanliu Shopping Center in Haidian, Xiaoxiang Supermarket has also erected construction barriers, replacing the former BHG supermarket location. The supermarket is surrounded by diverse businesses including dining, fitness, hair salons, and second-hand recycling stores.

"BHG supermarket moved away long ago, over a year ago," recalled a nearby merchant.

E-commerce expert and senior advisor at Dalang Think Tank Jiang Rong believes that due to online traffic reaching its ceiling, whether Alibaba, JD.com, or MEITUAN-W, they have never abandoned offline traffic entry points, making MEITUAN-W's move into offline supermarkets an inevitable trend. However, Jiang Rong also noted that e-commerce platforms entering supermarkets means cutting into completely different business formats, including offline customer flow, product display design, etc., which represents a significant challenge for MEITUAN-W.

Currently, the hard discount format has become this year's new battlefield for giants, with various players competing to expand scale. By the end of August, Freshippo's budget community supermarket Freshippo NB was officially renamed "Super Box Smart NB," with total stores approaching 300. Furthermore, in September, according to Economic Observer, Freshippo Super Box Smart NB will open franchising.

Unlike Freshippo and Happy Monkey's focus on streamlined SKUs and small store formats, JD.com emphasizes large store models, with its first discount supermarket covering 5,000 square meters and over 5,000 SKUs. During the National Day holiday, its six stores attracted over 5 million customers.

Traditional retailers are also leveraging local supply chain resources for format transformation. In July, Wumart significantly renovated its hypermarkets, opening six "Wumart Super Value" stores in Beijing, streamlining SKUs to 1,300 with private-label ratios exceeding 60%. By year-end, Wumart plans to open 25 Super Value stores in Beijing.

"MEITUAN-W naturally possesses multi-dimensional data advantages, enabling Happy Monkey to more efficiently complete category focus, aligning with the hard discount format's underlying logic of 'curated SKUs' and reducing customer choice costs," noted Zhao Zhenying, researcher at the National Engineering Laboratory for E-commerce Transaction Technology. More critically, Happy Monkey's "store-warehouse integration" model can combine with MEITUAN-W's instant delivery fulfillment network, matching contemporary consumers' compound demand for "high cost-effectiveness + immediacy."

However, Zhao Zhenying also indicated that Happy Monkey remains in its early stages regarding demand cultivation, private-label development, and offline operations. In future competition, if Happy Monkey can optimize supply through "dynamic demand response," build barriers through "distinctive private labels," and strengthen loyalty through "refined operations," it may transform MEITUAN-W's ecosystem advantages into customer management superiority. Conversely, if it falls into the trap of "prioritizing scale expansion over value accumulation," it may lose first-mover advantage in the homogeneous competition of the hard discount track.