After surpassing 50 billion in revenue, Wanchen Group's expansion slowed down. The post-90s second generation is targeting Southeast Asia and also plans to develop "hard discount" supermarkets.

This article is sourced from: The Times Weekly | Author: Zhang Yijing

After taking over Wanchen Group (300972.SZ), “the second generation” Wang Zening turns in his first annual performance report.

In July 2025, three months after becoming Wanchen Group’s actual controller, Wang Zening was appointed the company’s general manager, taking full responsibility for the company’s day-to-day operations and management.

Based on the latest financial report, this post-90s successor has gotten off to a good start. In 2025, Wanchen Group achieved revenue of 51.459 billion yuan, up 59.17% year over year; net profit attributable to shareholders was 1.345 billion yuan, up more than threefold.

As early as 2021, Wanchen Group was still mainly driven by the edible fungi business. In 2022, the company crossed into the value-purchasing snack retail segment. Since then, its performance has seen explosive growth. The financial report shows that from 2021 to 2025, Wanchen Group’s revenue grew by nearly 120 times, and net profit also surged by more than 55 times.

It is understood that the key operator who drove Wanchen Group to cross into the value-purchasing snack segment was none other than Wang Zening. In 2015, at the age of 22, Wang Zening joined Wanchen Group and served as a director of the group. Two years later, he became the company’s deputy general manager, until July 2025 when he took over and served as general manager.

However, as is well known, competition in the value-purchasing snack segment is becoming increasingly intense, and Wanchen Group also needs to find new performance growth anchors.

After revenue surpasses 50 billion, expansion slows down

Wanchen Group was originally an agricultural products company with revenue of only several hundred million yuan. After entering the value-purchasing snack segment, within just four years, its revenue surpassed 50 billion.

Behind the sharp surge in revenue, the number of Wanchen Group’s stores has also been racing forward. Data shows that as of the end of 2024, Wanchen Group had 14,196 stores, becoming another snack retailer to break the 10,000-store mark after Mingming Very Busy (01768.HK). At this point, the “two-strong” pattern in the value-purchasing snack industry between Mingming Very Busy and Wanchen Group was officially established.

However, entering 2025, Wanchen Group’s pace of store expansion has clearly slowed. The annual report shows that in 2025 the company net added 4,118 stores (adding 4,720 stores and reducing 602 stores). This figure dropped sharply from 9,470 stores in 2024. By the end of 2025, Wanchen Group had a total of 18,314 stores.

By comparison, in the first 11 months of 2025, Mingming Very Busy net added more than 6,600 stores, and by the end of November 2025, the number of stores had exceeded 21,000.

Judging from regional distribution, by the end of 2025, Wanchen Group had the highest net increase in stores in East China, with net adding 1,623 stores, accounting for nearly 40% of its total net added stores; Central China net added 572 stores, ranking second. North China, Northwest China, Southwest China, and Northeast China each saw net added stores of around 400. Meanwhile, expansion in South China lagged, with net added stores of only 135.

Image source: Wanchen Group’s 2025 annual report

Regarding adjustments to the store-opening rhythm, a relevant person from Wanchen Group said in an interview with The Times Weekly’s reporter on March 19 that, “Offline store expansion has a location advantage. Haoxianglai is committed to helping every franchisee choose the most suitable location for them, and ensuring franchisees’ profitability is the top priority of opening stores—not simply rapid growth in the number of stores.”

However, it needs to be pointed out that Wanchen Group’s profitability in 2025 has improved noticeably. In 2025, Wanchen Group’s overall net profit margin and net profit margin attributable to shareholders were 4.71% and 2.61%, respectively, both significantly higher than the same period last year. Previously, Wanchen Group’s profitability had been heavily criticized by the market.

For the substantial improvement in its profit level, Wanchen Group stated in its annual report that the core drivers come from continuous improvement in labor efficiency across every link such as customer acquisition and expansion, and operations, along with ongoing optimization of warehousing efficiency and logistics fee rates—driving continuous improvement in the fee structure of the company’s value-purchasing snack business.

According to data, in 2025, Wanchen Group’s selling expenses, administrative expenses, and finance costs were 1.544 billion yuan, 1.505 billion yuan, and 0.036 billion yuan, respectively. As a share of total revenue, they were 3.00%, 2.93%, and 0.07%, respectively, compared with the previous year, decreasing by 1.42 percentage points, 0.11 percentage points, and 0.06 percentage points, respectively.

In addition, in a research report released by Guosheng Securities on March 18, 2026, it was pointed out that for the full year 2025, Wanchen Group’s value-purchasing snack business (after adding back accrued share-based payment expenses) corresponded to a net profit margin of 5.0%, including 5.7% in the fourth quarter, reaching a new high.

The institution believes that Wanchen Group’s 2025 net profit margin has validated the feasibility of its sustained improvement. As a leading discount-snack-focused retailer, the company is expected to continue refining its full-chain operating management and unlock room for profitability.

Second-generation succession—more than just value-purchasing snacks

In fact, from the broader industry backdrop, the overall growth rate of the value-purchasing snack segment is gradually returning to rationality. According to Zhushi Consulting, from 2019 to 2024, the domestic value-purchasing snack market’s scale saw an average annual compound growth rate of as high as 77.9%, and it is expected that in the next five years the average annual compound growth rate will fall to 36.5%.

A research report published by Galaxy Securities on December 30, 2025 predicted that the total opening capacity for national snack value-purchasing stores is about 74,000, and the remaining opening capacity is roughly 24,000. Meanwhile, based on each province’s current market share of Wanchen Group, the company’s strategic layout, and competitive conditions among peers, the institution estimated that Wanchen Group’s total store count in the future could reach 30,000. This implies that Wanchen Group’s incremental growth capacity is around 12,000 stores.

The above data all indicate that although Wanchen Group still has substantial room for growth, its growth rate may be “downgraded” compared with the past few years. In this regard, Galaxy Securities believes that Wanchen Group can build a “second growth curve” by actively cultivating its in-house brands and expanding stores and categories. In the institution’s view, Wanchen Group will ultimately develop into a “hard-discount supermarket” serving family customers, community residents, and customers across all age groups.

Image source: Galaxy Securities

In fact, Wanchen Group has already tried and laid out plans. Starting from late 2024, based on Haoxianglai Snack Paradise store premises, Wanchen Group gradually launched larger-area formats such as “Haoxianglai Money-Saving Supermarket” and “Haoxianglai All-Food Preferred” stores, expanding categories sold—including baking products, fruits, frozen goods, daily necessities and personal care, grains and oils with seasonings, shelf-stable dairy products, low-temperature beverages, and membership-store items, among others.

Entering 2025, Wanchen Group began promoting its own brands. Focusing on two brand lines—“Haoxianglai Value” and “Haoxianglai Selection”—it launched multiple in-house products such as sugar-free tea, fruit tea, and natural water. Their prices are all lower than mainstream products in the market, aiming at extreme cost-performance.

In its annual report, Wanchen Group clearly stated: “On the basis of continuing to strengthen the core advantages above, the company will continue to explore new product categories and new store formats that better meet consumers’ one-stop shopping needs, further expanding into fields such as refrigerated and frozen storage, as well as home cleaning and personal care, so as to achieve continued expansion of business scale.”

However, relevant people from Wanchen Group also told reporters that “Haoxianglai currently still focuses on its core business of value-purchasing snacks, but it has also added emotional-value categories such as IP trend collectibles, and it remains committed to creating Haoxianglai Snack Paradise.”

After the second-generation succession, Wanchen Group will also turn its attention to overseas markets. In September 2025, it moved quickly to carry out an IPO in Hong Kong. The prospectus disclosed that the overseas market is still in a stage where hard-discount retail formats are continuously developing, which contains enormous opportunities. The company plans to start strategically from Southeast Asia, leveraging market insights and international resources.”