With nearly 3,000 stores as a foundation, is Qian大妈's Hong Kong IPO on the agenda?

Produced by Zhongfang Network

Reviewed by Li Xiaoyan

From a pork specialty shop in Dongguan’s agricultural market to becoming the leading community fresh food provider with nearly 3,000 stores, Qian大妈 has spent 13 years building a business worth tens of billions by sticking to its principle of 'No Overnight Meat.' It recently submitted its prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, marking the beginning of a new journey in the capital markets. Its unique daily clearance model and end-to-end supply chain advantage have not only reshaped consumer perceptions of community fresh food but also solidified its leadership position in a trillion-dollar industry.

In 2012, Qian大妈 opened its first store with the mission of 'No Overnight Meat,' later iterating this into a 'discount clearance' model that became key to addressing pain points in the fresh food industry. Starting at 7 PM every night, hourly discounts are applied until all remaining goods are given away for free at 11:30 PM. This mechanism fundamentally solves the issue of high spoilage rates in fresh produce while cultivating consumers' habit of buying 'daily fresh' products. Supporting this model is Qian大妈’s heavily invested full-chain supply system, with 16 integrated warehouses nationwide, over 2.2 million square meters of storage space, and an average of 800 refrigerated trucks dispatched daily. This enables delivery from harvest to store shelves within 24 hours, pork from slaughterhouse to table in just 6 hours, and fresh product turnover in warehouses within 12 hours—far below the industry average of 2-4 days—making extreme efficiency its core competitive edge.

After more than a decade深耕 in the industry, Qian大妈 has built a retail network covering 14 provinces, municipalities, and special administrative regions. As of the end of September 2025, the total number of stores reached 2,938. Revenue in both 2023 and 2024 stood firmly above the billion-yuan mark, reaching RMB 11.744 billion and RMB 11.788 billion respectively, with profits increasing to RMB 169 million and RMB 288 million during the same periods. For five consecutive years, it ranked first among China's community fresh food chain enterprises in GMV, breaking through RMB 14.8 billion overall in 2024. In the core South China market, Qian大妈's fresh food GMV reached RMB 9.8 billion in 2024, 2.8 times that of the second-place competitor, showcasing absolute dominance. It even outperformed long-established players like Aeon and卜蜂莲花, ranking tenth in the supermarket industry and becoming a benchmark in the community fresh food sector.

The franchise model is a crucial driver of Qian大妈’s scaled expansion. After opening up franchising in 2014, the number of stores quickly grew, with 2,898 franchises now accounting for 98.6% of total outlets. The asset-light model has helped the brand rapidly penetrate communities. Through product sales and service fees charged to franchisees, Qian大妈’s revenue structure remains stable, with income from franchise-related activities exceeding 94.5% in the first nine months of 2023 to 2025. In 2024, each store contributed an average of RMB 319,000 in sales revenue and RMB 58,000 in service revenue. This allows franchisees to share in the brand's success while propelling Qian大妈 to the forefront of the industry. Additionally, a dedicated IT team of over 200 people develops proprietary digital tools, leveraging big data to optimize store location selection and precise ordering, significantly reducing operational complexity for franchisees. In 2024, average daily sales per store were RMB 14,000, with坪效 six times higher than the supermarket industry average, demonstrating the replicability and efficiency of the model.

In terms of quality control, Qian大妈 has built robust safety measures. More than 500 types of fresh products across eight categories undergo over 1,100 batch inspections daily in 20 standardized labs. Third-party authoritative institutions oversee these processes, and traceability codes ensure transparency, giving consumers peace of mind. 'Freshness' has become the brand's most distinctive feature, serving over 28 million members cumulatively and making it the preferred fresh choice for millions of families right at their doorstep.

Of course, rapid development has also brought industry-wide challenges. In the first nine months of 2025, Qian Dawang's revenue reached 8.359 billion yuan, a slight year-on-year decrease of 4.2%, with a loss of 288 million yuan during the period, and the net profit margin temporarily dropped to -3.4%. However, the adjusted net profit margin remained positive, showing that the profitability of its core business has not been shaken. Issues such as uneven performance among franchisees and setbacks in expanding into northern markets, exposed during previous rapid expansion, have prompted Qian Dawang to enter a phase of fine-tuning. The total number of stores has been optimized from a peak of over 3,700 to 2,938, focusing on deep cultivation in core areas to build momentum for long-term growth.

Facing a track size of 1.7 trillion yuan in the community fresh food sector and a compound annual growth rate of 15.5% over the next five years, Qian Dawang has clearly defined its growth path. The proceeds from its IPO will focus on three key areas: store network expansion, supply chain upgrades, and digital construction. In terms of market layout, it adopts a 'densify one city, radiate surrounding areas' strategy, increasing store density in South China to improve penetration, expanding into lower-tier cities and counties, and leveraging both franchising and acquisitions to expand into strategic regions like East China, Central China, and Southwest China. On the supply chain side, the accelerated construction of the South China Smart Supply Chain Base, with a total investment of 600 million yuan, will further solidify the foundation of the daily clearance model through an end-to-end cold chain system. At the digital level, continuous investment in technology R&D is enhancing operational efficiency by creating a fully digitalized closed loop from procurement to sales.

As of the end of September 2025, Qian Dawang holds 1.12 billion yuan in cash and equivalents, providing sufficient financial cushioning for strategic implementation. Meanwhile, facing diverse competition from front warehouses, new retail giants, and community group buying, Qian Dawang is introducing same-day and next-day delivery services, collaborating with third-party fulfillment platforms, and exploring emerging channels such as live-stream e-commerce to build a multi-channel retail network, breaking the limitation of relying solely on in-store purchases.

From a pork stall to a soon-to-be-listed company on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Qian Dawang has set a freshness standard for community fresh produce with its daily clearance model, building competitive barriers through its supply chain and digitalization. Now, by slowing its expansion pace and focusing on high-quality growth, Qian Dawang is anchoring itself in the trillion-yuan track with a more mature business model. Market recognition of this 'fresh' proposition is worth looking forward to.

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