Has Xiaoming Bicycle started to move to third, fourth and fifth tier cities?

Monthly cards, free rides, red envelopes... While colorful exclusive bicycles are reducing riding fees in various ways to compete for users, "deposit scandals" have also become the focus of attention every now and then.

On August 21, Xiaoming Bicycle CEO Chen Yuying explained to the Daily Economic News in detail about the earlier report that "Xiaoming Bicycle's deposits have been difficult to refund in the near future. Some users said on Weibo that the deposit has not been refunded in one or two months." Received deposit refund" issue.

The capital chain is broken? Xiaoming Bicycle CEO: It’s okay

The reporter saw on Xiaoming Bicycle’s official Weibo that many comments were related to deposit refunds. For users who said they have not received their deposits, Xiaoming Bicycle’s official WeChat account mostly replied, “I sent you a private message and filled in the link. We apologize for the inconvenience.”

Chen Yuying said that before, Xiaoming Bicycle mainly launched in first- and second-tier cities, but starting from May this year, Xiaoming Bicycle began to shift its focus to third-, fourth- and fifth-tier cities, and no longer launched in first- and second-tier cities. And gradually transfer the previous delivery. This makes it difficult for users in first- and second-tier cities to find a car and apply for a refund of their deposit; in addition, before February this year, the interface between Xiaoming Bicycle and the third-party payment platform was valid for 3 months. The transaction interface with the user is closed, the refund is returned through the original route, and it (the third-party payment platform) closes the door and cannot get in.

Sinking into third-, fourth- and fifth-tier cities: low education costs

It is not difficult to see that this deposit controversy and Xiaoming Bicycle’s choice to sink from first- and second-tier cities to third-, fourth- and fifth-tier cities is closely related to the "strategic shift" of the company, and the sinking of third-, fourth- and fifth-tier cities is related to the electronic fence technology promoted by Xiaoming Bicycle.

In fact, the large number of exclusive bicycles in first- and second-tier cities has caused many problems. Recently, places including Shanghai and Hangzhou have issued documents planning to suspend the launch of new shared bicycles. Chen Yuying said that the industry originally expected to fully invest in first- and second-tier cities by the end of this year, but now it is oversaturated ahead of schedule.

For Chen Yuying and the electronic fence she strongly promotes, the cost of user education in third-, fourth- and fifth-tier cities is much lower. She introduced that many of these cities are blank cities for private bicycles, and users are accustomed to the orderly parking of municipal bicycles. For Xiaoming Bicycle, the cost of user education is not that high.

Chen Yuying told reporters that using electronic fences to determine parking spaces first solves the difficulty of users finding their cars in terms of density, and secondly, the scheduling and daily maintenance of the operating platform can be done in the parking spaces. conduct. This saves the overall operating cost of the platform.

Chen Yuying believes that if possible, she may focus on making electronic fences in the future, "because there are already enough players enjoying bicycles, but we are the only ones who actually implement the electronic fence system." . However, she also admitted that it is still early for this idea.