On 21 September, the Chinese snacks retail giant Busy for You (零食很忙) opened its second-ever “BIG” concept store in Nanchang, Jiangxi. The BIG stores are known for the comically large snack packaging from huge boxes of Oreos and giant bags of Lay’s crisps to gigantic instant noodle pots. Of course, by packaging them in enlarged versions of retail packaging instead of plain old cardboard boxes, it’s just a more entertaining way to sell them by the box.
The latest opening in Nanchang means that for the first time, Busy for You has brought the previous viral large-scale snacks and social media “check-in” (打卡) spot outside Changsha, where the Super Busy for You and the first BIG concept store are located. Interestingly, the new “BIG” concept store also marks “Super Ming” (赵一鸣零食) on its sign, instead of just Busy for You. The two discount snack chains merged in late 2023 and the new group operates both chains. The latest concept store shows both brands’ mascots on its sign.
For the opening, the concept shop hosted 3 days of events between 22 and 24 September. From promotions to prize draws, the snack shop outside the Wanda Plaza in Honggutan, Nanchang attracted many influencers and netizens alike, celebrating with the XL, or PLUS-sized snacks.
Other than the Superstore and BIG stores, the chain also opened a concept store exclusively selling hot and spicy snacks. Discount snack chains including Busy for You and Super Ming are focusing on building IPs, such as the big snacks as brands to differentiate. These brick-and-mortar retail stores usually offer not only low prices comparable to e-commerce platforms but also exclusive experiences and “check-in” opportunities to provide young people with “emotional values”. As the first BIG store can earn 300,000 RMB (42,663.33 USD) per day on average, the business model is clearly working for the snack retailer. However, the snack chain market has seen saturation so the competition is growing fierce. How the combined “super-chain” navigate the new market is worth monitoring.
