Wang Xing took the initiative to attack, and Meituan's management was shaken
Meituan's technical team has undergone a major change
Meituan, aware of the problem, is hurrying to change itself.
In recent times, the three companies that have attracted the most attention in the entire Internet industry are undoubtedly Alibaba, Pinduoduo and Meituan.
Needless to say, Ali and Pinduoduo's recent game in the capital market must have been heard of by everyone.
However, the situation on Meituan's side is very different, different from the unprecedented competition between Alibaba and Pinduoduo, the atmosphere of Meituan has obviously dropped a lot, especially after the release of the third quarter earnings report, the capital market is not optimistic, which makes Meituan's stock price become turbulent.
For a time, doubts about Meituan's profitability were rampant in the entire Internet industry.
However, in the face of this unfavorable situation, Meituan was quick to react. In a post-earnings call, Meituan CEO Wang Xing said that Meituan's share price only reflects the valuation of a single food delivery business, which does not meet the company's intrinsic value, and is currently considering a $1 billion buyback program.
At the same time, Meituan CEO Wang Xing also said that the company will continue to implement the corporate strategy of "retail + technology" and empower the digital transformation of various industries through technology. "We will continue to innovate and introduce more and more lifestyles to better meet the needs of our customers and further accelerate the digital transformation of this industry. ”
That's what Wang Xing said, and that's what he did. A few days ago, Meituan issued an internal letter announcing the adjustment or replacement of a number of core business leaders, among which the new appointment of the technical head is the focus of this adjustment.
Specifically, the personnel change was led by Mu Rongjun and Zhang Jinmao to set up a technical governance preparatory group under the preparatory technical committee. Han Jian, the former head of the Meituan platform technology department, was reassigned as the head of the basic R&D platform and reported to Wang Xing, and Si Tiange, the former head of the product and operation and technology department of the Kuaidu business unit, was reappointed as the head of the Meituan platform technology department and reported to Li Shubin, the head of the Meituan platform.
Meituan's executives at the time of its listing The first on the left is Mu Rongjun Source: Meituan
Regarding the reason for the change of the technical team, Wang Xing also explained in the open letter: in order to better realize the mission of "helping everyone eat better and live better", implement the "retail + technology" strategy, strengthen the active exploration and application of technical means in retail business scenarios, and further improve the efficiency of retail businesses.
In this way, after this personnel adjustment, Meituan will accelerate its layout in the technology field and provide strong power support for various business segments.
In fact, as a technology retail company, Meituan has always attached great importance to the development of the platform in the technology field.
In terms of capital investment, the 2022 financial report shows that throughout last year, Meituan continued to increase its investment in scientific research in key areas, and its annual R&D expenditure increased by 24% year-on-year to 20.7 billion yuan, a record high.
In addition, from the first quarter to the third quarter of this year, Meituan's R&D expenditure reached 5 billion yuan, 5.4 billion yuan, and 5.4 billion yuan respectively, and the total R&D expenditure in the three quarters reached 15.8 billion yuan, which is in a state of gradual increase.
Meituan's expenses in the third quarter Source: Tech Business
According to the current growth trend and subsequent development layout, Meituan's R&D expenditure in the fourth quarter should not be a problem of exceeding 5 billion, and as long as the R&D expenditure in the fourth quarter exceeds 4.9 billion, Meituan's annual R&D expenditure can reach a new high.
In terms of business layout, AI, which tests the most technical production capacity, has now covered the platform's food and beverage delivery, in-store service, hotel and tourism, new business and other sectors, which not only helped the platform improve operational efficiency and reduce expenditure costs, but also improved the user experience of the platform and achieved effective growth of various businesses.
Science and technology are the primary productive forces. From Meituan's point of view, the improvement of technology can bring strong support and optimization to the platform, especially after the release of the third quarter financial report, the outside world is not optimistic that Meituan can change the market situation, in order to regroup and start again, it is obviously the fastest and most effective way to sacrifice a useful technical weapon.
In short, Meituan's technical team change is an important move in the field of technology, which not only demonstrates Meituan's determination to seek change in the face of the crisis, but also reflects Wang Xing's ambition to become a true "technology + retail" company.
Technology and retail need to go hand in hand
In detail, Meituan's technology layout goes far beyond the above.
Since the beginning of this year, Meituan's relevant layout in the field of science and technology has included but not limited to the acquisition of AI company Lightyear for about 2.065 billion yuan, Meituan's S-team led by Wang Xing has become the highest decision-making body of Meituan's large model, the launch of the first AI interactive product "Wow", and the investment in Zhipu AI, a large model company.
In addition, in the 2024 campus recruitment launched by Meituan, the recruitment of technical positions has been expanded by more than 50%, and the recruitment project "Beidou Plan" for elite campus scientific and technological talents has been launched simultaneously, and large-scale model-related positions have also become the focus of recruitment on the platform.
Meituan's "Beidou Plan" Source: Meituan Recruitment
All indications show that Meituan's active exploration of AI layout and research and development of new technologies is a key step taken this year, and its emphasis on the technology field will be further demonstrated in the subsequent business expansion and development process.
The so-called "technology + retail", after talking about technology, let's take a look at retail.
On November 29, Meituan announced that it would change its name to Little Elephant Supermarket on December 1, and will provide services to users through the Meituan app's built-in program, WeChat mini program, and Xiaoxiang Supermarket's independent app.
According to public information, Xiaoxiang Supermarket adopts Meituan's self-operated retail model, and provides community residents with instant delivery services for all categories of goods through a convenient service station set up in the community that integrates storage, sorting and distribution, positioning it as a "30-minute fast delivery supermarket".
Source: Little Elephant Supermarket's official WeChat
Meituan's renaming of Little Elephant Supermarket is seen as an important move by Meituan to develop big retail, and the platform seems to be intent on further opening up online and offline transactions through this move, becoming a large-scale non-traditional supermarket in the true sense.
Across the retail industry, this is a fairly common play. Among them, the most typical are Tmall Supermarket and Jingdong Supermarket, after years of accumulation and development, they have created a business model that covers all scenarios of users' daily life.
What's more, in addition to Tmall Supermarket and Jingdong Supermarket, Douyin, which is frantically fighting with Meituan in the local life track, also launched Douyin Supermarket at the beginning of this year to develop its own retail ecology.
In this context, Meituan's renaming of Meituan Grocery as Little Elephant Supermarket is obviously also to follow the trend of the times and strengthen the competitiveness of the platform in the retail field.
At present, Meituan, which is in an unfavorable situation, is still firmly on the road of "technology + retail", actively exploring and adjusting the retail business scenario, and continuing to increase R&D investment in the field of scientific and technological innovation.
The retail industry has started a "battle of life and death"
Judging from the various adjustments this year, Meituan is constantly changing internally, and the platform has clearly entered a critical period of change.
In such a critical period, Meituan is facing multiple crises due to the continuous burning of new businesses and the slow growth of revenue.
At the same time, the strength of competitors has also brought a lot of pressure to Meituan.
In particular, in the "hourly delivery" service of instant retail, all companies have also increased their attention. For example, in March this year, Taobao launched the "Hour Delivery" service, and users can see a special collection of Hour Delivery when searching for goods; in August, Jingdong opened a special "Hour Delivery" area, and in October, Douyin e-commerce added an independent entrance to the Hour Delivery service...
Jingdong Hour Interface Source: Tech Planet
In the face of menacing rivals, it is clear that Meituan needs to continue to deepen its technological infrastructure and achieve maximum speed in order to hold the moat. In addition, Meituan also needs to find a balance between business growth and loss reduction to minimize internal pressures.
This is not easy for Meituan at present, and it still needs to be promoted in both directions in the future, and gradually implement the "technology + retail" approach.
It is foreseeable that in the future retail industry, major retail platforms, including Meituan, will face more fierce market competition.
Author | Li Xiang