Future.com, Beijing, January 26 (Reporter Xie Qing, Su Jianjun) Today, some consumers reported that the half-day demon grilled fish on Meituan's takeaway can no longer be ordered, and many stores show that "the store has closed". In this regard, the relevant person in charge of the brand of Bantian Demon Company said that according to the feedback from the company's business side, the original takeaway activities and subsidies of more than 1,000 stores on the Meituan platform were suddenly removed from the shelves, so the takeaway business can only be temporarily suspended. (Exposure email: [email protected] News Hotline: 010-56793767)
The half-day demon grilled fish shows that the store is closed on Meituan Takeaway
The half-day demon subsidy was removed from the shelves, and the stores collectively withdrew
The reporter searched for keywords related to "Bantian Demon Grilled Fish" on the Meituan APP and found that the relevant store results would still be displayed, but it was impossible to order food in the takeaway business. Also on the Dianping APP, which is related to Meituan Takeaway, the takeaway business of Bantian Demon Grilled Fish related stores also shows "resting".
The relevant person in charge of Bantian Demon Company said in an interview with Future.com, "At present, I don't know the details of what happened, however, according to business feedback, a few days ago, the original activities and subsidies of takeaway in more than 1,000 stores on our Meituan platform were suddenly taken off the shelves, and the takeaway on the store side can only be temporarily suspended. ”
The reporter noticed that before the Bantian Demon Grilled Fish voluntarily withdrew from the Meituan takeaway business, it had started an activity on Douyin live broadcast, and it was suspected that it was forced to encounter the "platform choose one of the two" incident.
According to public information, Shanghai Bantian Demon Catering Management Co., Ltd. is headquartered in Shanghai, China, and the brand mainly features green peppercorn grilled fish, accompanied by 8 different flavors of grilled fish such as spicy and sauce, which is deeply loved by young people, and currently has more than 1,000 chain stores in Chinese mainland and South Korea.
Coincidentally, in October 2023, the restaurant brands "Taier" and "Taier Sauerkraut Fish" and other related entries could not be searched on Meituan's Dianping App, which attracted public attention.
At that time, Guan Yihong, chairman of Jiumaojiu, the parent company of Taier Sauerkraut Fish, once posted in the circle of friends: "Yesterday, Taier conducted the first live broadcast on Douyin, and today, Dianping can't find Taier due to technical reasons. ”
In the end, the incident ended with a joint statement issued by "Taier" and "Dianping", stating that the anomaly in its previous brief search on Dianping was caused by the difference in marketing and technical interface rules between the two parties, and it has now returned to normal.
Forcing merchants to "choose one of the two" Meituan has been heavily fined
The so-called "choose one of the two" is a hot word that has appeared in recent years, that is, a multiple-choice question given by the Internet platform to the settled enterprises (merchants), to make a choice between me and my competitors, either choose me to cooperate, or cooperate with my competitors.
Generally, the enterprises that implement the "choose one of two" policy occupy a huge market share in the industry and have the characteristics of market dominance. Relevant information shows that Meituan's market share has been more than 64% since 2020, much higher than its competitors.
On April 26, 2021, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued a brief announcement, stating that based on the report, Meituan was officially investigated for suspected monopolistic behaviors such as "choosing one out of two" in accordance with the law
On October 8 of the same year, in accordance with Articles 47 and 49 of the Anti-Monopoly Law, and taking into account factors such as the nature, extent and duration of the illegal acts, the State Administration for Market Regulation made an administrative penalty decision against Meituan in accordance with the law, ordering Meituan to stop the illegal acts, fully refund the exclusive cooperation deposit of 1.289 billion yuan, and impose a fine of 3% of its domestic sales of 114.748 billion yuan in 2020, totaling 3.442 billion yuan.
At the same time, it issued an "Administrative Guidance" to Meituan, requiring it to carry out comprehensive rectification around improving the platform's commission charging mechanism and algorithm rules, safeguarding the legitimate interests of small and medium-sized catering businesses on the platform, and strengthening the protection of the legitimate rights and interests of food delivery riders, and submit self-inspection compliance reports to the State Administration for Market Regulation for three consecutive years to ensure that the rectification is in place and achieve standardized, innovative, healthy and sustainable development.
Stubborn diseases are difficult to change, and it is urgent for national supervision to show the sword again
Prior to the above-mentioned Meituan's punishment, the State Administration for Market Regulation also issued an announcement to impose administrative penalties on Alibaba Group Holding Limited for abusing its dominant market position in China's online retail platform service market, ordering Alibaba to stop its "either-or" behavior and imposing a fine of 18.228 billion yuan.
In the face of heavy blows and huge fines from national regulators, Meituan, which is still in the "observation period", does not seem to have relented.
In July 2023, Guangdong Yingde Kaiqi Network Co., Ltd. was issued an administrative penalty of 50,000 yuan by the Yingde Municipal Market Supervision and Administration Bureau for the illegal act of "choosing one of the two". Yingde and Qiqi are Meituan's agent partners in Yingde City, Guangdong Province.
At the end of 2023, Zhangzhou TV exposed it again, reporting that a small catering merchant in Zhangzhou, Fujian Province, encountered a "choice of two" on the Meituan takeaway platform.
The small restaurant is called "Terun Zhao'an Pork Knuckle Rice", and the owner, Mr. Wu, joined Meituan Takeaway a few years ago. In order to alleviate the pressure of business and want to open up more customer sources, Mr. Wu entered the Ele.me takeaway platform last month.
Unexpectedly, after choosing a multi-platform operation, Mr. Wu's store was limited by Meituan's takeaway, and the order volume suffered a cliff-like decline. Mr. Wu said that Meituan Takeaway has adjusted subsidies and preferential policies for merchants who choose to operate on multiple platforms.
According to Mr. Wu, this behavior of Meituan Takeaway is more implicitly asking merchants to "choose one of the two". It seems to be the same as what happened to the half-heavenly demon recently.