Internet giants are working hard on the local life track to create a new world of win-win cooperation
2024-08-15
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Can you have a takeaway lunch for around 10 yuan? Yes. Recently, the business model of "group meal" has become popular among students and white-collar workers in Beijing. Discounted meals require group orders, and the price is usually around 10 yuan, or even as low as 6.99 yuan. Due to its affordable price, group takeaway has gradually become the first choice of many consumers as the "takeaway affordable canteen", and is also called the "takeaway version of Pinduoduo" by many people. Faced with market competition, merchants have also taken the initiative to adjust prices to adapt to the environment and return to the essence of "cost-effectiveness".
A group takeaway meal costs 6.99 yuan
"We are still missing one person, let's place an order together." At noon on August 13, Jingjing, a white-collar worker working in China World Trade Center, received a link to Meituan's "Pin Hao Fan" from a colleague.
As long as three people form a group, they can order low-priced takeout. There is no delivery fee and no minimum delivery price. The price is much cheaper than ordering takeout individually. Recently, this way of ordering takeout in groups has quietly become popular.
Open the group purchase link, and the page shows that the "6.9 yuan hot product group purchase" activity is currently ongoing. The Huainan beef soup, vermicelli, and small pancake set meal originally priced at 16.7 yuan, and the signature pickled fish, four side dishes, and rice set meal originally priced at 18.2 yuan, can be purchased for only 6.9 yuan as long as three people form a group.
"It's a little more expensive now, but it was cheaper some time ago." Jingjing opened the order and showed the reporter the takeaway she had ordered through a group purchase three months ago. With the new customer gift package, a plate of minced meat and eggplant rice from Yonghe King cost only 1.99 yuan.
The reporter noticed that the above packages include stir-fried rice, fried chicken skewers, hamburgers and pizza, drinks and desserts, etc. The page only shows various low-priced packages, and there are many participating products, and the mobile page cannot be scrolled to the bottom. In addition to inviting friends to join the group, you can also pick up the items at the store, or choose to join the group with people nearby. The price is slightly higher than starting a group yourself, but it also saves the trouble of waiting.
"Is it okay to eat takeout that costs a few yuan?" Some of Jingjing's colleagues and friends did not join the group out of concern. But after the reporter ordered a "braised chicken and rice" meal for 6.99 yuan, he also ordered the same meal from the same store on the takeout platform for 20.88 yuan. Overall, there was not much difference between the two.
The “takeaway version of Pinduoduo” appears in the catering industry
The reporter noticed that the merchants on "Pinhaofan" are mainly small street shops and food city stalls. According to the platform data, the products with good sales also come from non-branded catering stores, that is, "white-label merchants" husband-and-wife stores.
"I make little money per order, but the number of orders has increased." The owner of a rice noodle stall told reporters that after the online group order was placed, the orders increased rapidly, the customer's customized needs decreased, and three portions of rice noodles can be cooked in one pot, greatly improving the efficiency of serving. The owner of a steamed bun and noodle stall said that the sauce-flavored pancakes purchased online can be baked into three pounds at a time, "At 6.99 yuan per portion, there is some profit, which is an extra income."
Delivery is also relatively simple for riders in the group-buying model. "I go to the store to pick up three meals at a time, and the group-buying users are all within a certain range, so it's convenient." A rider told reporters that delivering group-buying orders is much easier than ordinary takeout. Although the income per order is low, in this "express delivery" scenario, the rider's income per unit time has increased, including the platform subsidy.
The reporter learned from Meituan that Pinhaofan is a business launched by the company in 2020 for the sinking market. It is now quietly popular in first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, and the user scale and purchase frequency have also increased rapidly in the past few quarters. In the first quarter of this year, the average daily order volume of Pinhaofan was close to 5 million, which is close to 10% of the average daily order volume of 57 million for catering takeaways on the platform in the fourth quarter of 2023.
A blue ocean in the consumer Internet sector
Meituan's increased investment in food delivery group buying is also seen by the industry as a response to the fierce competition in the local life sector.
In the past two years, giants such as Douyin, Kuaishou, Xiaohongshu, and WeChat Video have appeared one after another. The local life service track has become a battleground for current Internet giants, and consumption potential is also being continuously tapped.
However, according to relevant statistics, in the field of local life services, the penetration rate of group buying is less than 40%, and the penetration rate of takeout is only 15.6%. Although the two giants Meituan and Ele.me have been deeply involved in this field for many years, they have not yet entered the competition for existing stocks, and the consumer Internet field is still a blue ocean.
Since the beginning of this year, catering consumption has gradually entered the era of "cost-effectiveness". The "price war" that started in the coffee and tea market has extended to hot pot, hamburgers and formal meals. The average customer price of almost all categories has dropped. At the same time, new platforms have heavily subsidized, and even packages with discounts as low as 10% to 20% are very common. "Big Brother" Meituan has also created the ultimate cost-effectiveness through "Pinhaofan", "Shenqiangshou" and "Brand Satellite Stores".
Market competition brings about the supply side's response to the demand side, and merchants also actively adjust prices to adapt to the environment and return to the essence of "cost-effectiveness". For merchants, the new model of group takeout is also conducive to production. In the view of Yun Cheng, president of the Beijing Cooking Association, the optimization of takeout supply methods can further activate the consumption needs of different income groups, and feed back to the supply side, forming scale effects on both supply and demand sides, and promoting high-quality development of catering.
