Since entering 2022, the epidemic has occurred from time to time in various places, and small and medium-sized catering merchants are facing greater survival pressure. The government has repeatedly issued bailout measures, advocating that all parties work together to tide over the difficulties. In order to respond to the government's call to help small and medium-sized catering merchants that have been seriously affected by the epidemic and have operational difficulties to improve their "hematopoietic" capabilities, Meituan Takeaway has launched a series of measures from the aspects of reducing costs and increasing open source revenue.
In terms of cost reduction, from March to December this year, for small and medium-sized merchants in high-risk areas with operational difficulties in the epidemic, Meituan Takeaway implemented a technical service fee (commission) halving concession, and caped 1 yuan per single after the halving; for other difficult merchants who completed the transparency of the rate, they will be assessed in combination with the business situation and the degree of difficulty, and the technical service fee is capped at 5%, which is expected to benefit more than one million merchants; for the merchants who are mainly engaged in takeaway operations and have special difficulties, they will also be provided with fixed-point assistance. In terms of increasing revenue, Meituan Takeaway will provide free "takeaway butler service" for difficult merchants with insufficient online business capacity, as well as take-out order receiving equipment such as cloud printers and food treasures to help merchants open source and increase revenue.
Launched commission preferential measures to help small and medium-sized merchants reduce costs
In the medium- and high-risk areas of the epidemic, small and medium-sized catering merchants have been affected, and the flow of customers has decreased significantly. For difficult merchants in high-risk areas in the epidemic and the average daily transaction volume of their districts and counties that have dropped by more than 30%, Meituan Takeaway will implement a technical service fee (commission) reduction of half, and after the halving, each single is capped by 1 yuan, and the preferential time is from the date when the local area is listed as a medium- and high-risk area, to one month after the lifting of the sealing control.
In addition, there are many small and medium-sized merchants with operational difficulties across the country, taking the merchants of Meituan takeaway as an example, in February 2022, the number of merchants with takeaway transactions less than 5,000 yuan expanded to 540,000. For merchants who are difficult to complete the transparency of the rate, Meituan Takeaway will evaluate the operation situation and the degree of difficulty, and implement a 5% cap on the technical service fee (commission), which is expected to benefit more than one million merchants. In addition, for merchants with special difficulties in takeaway operations, Meituan Takeaway will also provide fixed-point assistance.
In 2021, Meituan Takeaway implemented a pilot rate transparency, and the technical service fee (commission) and the performance service fee were calculated separately, of which the performance service fee was only generated when the merchant used the Meituan delivery service, and would not be generated if the merchant delivered it itself. The preferential treatment implemented by Meituan Takeaway this time is for the technical service fee part, which is the cost of providing merchants with information display services, transaction services, business services and customer service services, IT operation and maintenance and other services. In contrast, the fulfillment service fee is charged according to the distance, price and time of time, etc., and is used to bear the cost of delivery related to the rider's delivery fee and subsidy.
At present, the rate transparency has covered 70% of the merchants in the country, and the benefits of small and medium-sized merchants are more obvious. Taking the old merchant "Panda Changdang" who has been operating for more than 5 years of takeaway business as an example, after replacing the new transparent billing method, the cost expenditure has been significantly reduced, and one of the branches with a monthly single volume of about 10,000 singles has saved about 4,000 yuan per month. In 2022, Meituan Takeaway will strive to achieve transparent rate coverage nationwide and help more merchants "settle accounts and open good stores". At the same time, for the difficult small and medium-sized merchants who are still in the process of promoting the transparency of the rate, Meituan Takeaway will give targeted subsidy concessions based on the business situation and the degree of difficulty.
Provide free "takeaway butler service", give away cloud printers, and provide food treasures to help small and medium-sized merchants improve efficiency and increase income
For catering merchants, short-term cost reduction is important, but in the long run, only with online business thinking and ability, will form a "hematopoietic function" and go further.
Unfamiliarity with online rules and lack of operational skills are the pain points of takeaway operations. In 2021, Meituan Takeaway launched the "Takeaway Butler Service" to provide merchants with six online operation services: store decoration, business diagnosis, meal design, event planning, promotion and marketing, and operation optimization, to help merchants improve their ability to resist risks. The 2021 data shows that merchants who have used the service have a 39% higher survival rate than those who have not. In addition, the service has had a significant effect on increasing merchant revenue, with data showing that the average monthly transaction volume of merchants who have used the service has increased by 79%.
As one of the first merchants to use the service, Wenwen Wen, the owner of the Shenzhen "Old Watch SighIng Tea" tea restaurant, said that the takeaway housekeeper provided professional advice and guidance, and the effect was immediate, and the online order volume doubled from 676 to 1300. As it can help merchants improve their anti-risk ability and revenue ability, in 2022, Meituan Takeaway will expand the coverage of "takeaway butler service", continue to invest in special subsidies, and provide 100,000 free places for small and medium-sized merchants to help them quickly improve their online operation capabilities and open online stores.
At the beginning of the online takeaway of catering merchants, they need to prepare online order receiving equipment, otherwise it will affect business efficiency and service experience. To this end, Meituan Takeaway will provide free takeaway cloud printers for small and medium-sized merchants in high-risk areas of the epidemic, and give 30,000 sets of meal treasures to small and medium-sized merchants with difficulties in operation across the country, helping merchants save costs, solve business problems such as wrong orders, lost orders, and food delivery conflicts, and do a good job in each single business. In addition, Meituan Takeaway will also give special traffic support to newly launched small and medium-sized merchants to help new merchants with less experience to do a good job in takeaway business.
In the past few years, the takeaway industry has developed rapidly, bringing great convenience to people's lives, but because the communication between takeaway platforms and merchants is not enough, it has caused certain misunderstandings and contradictions. In 2022, Meituan Takeaway will continue to build a communication service mechanism with small and medium-sized merchants, hold more than 100 merchant earnest talks throughout the year, fully interact with the platform rules with merchants, and listen to the demands of small and medium-sized merchants in a timely manner, so as to continuously improve services and solve problems that merchants care about in a timely manner. As the most active market player, small and medium-sized merchants play an important role in stabilizing social employment and activating the market economy. Supporting the growth of small and medium-sized merchants has been an important part of coordinating epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development since the outbreak of the epidemic. The takeaway platform has launched a three-dimensional measure to reduce costs and open source, which may eliminate the negative impact of the epidemic faster and better, and help small and medium-sized merchants out of the "cold winter".