Illustration courtesy of Canva
With the faster and faster pace of people's lives, instant retail has become one of the first choices for modern consumers to shop with its efficient and convenient characteristics. In the context of the gradual fading of e-commerce traffic dividends and the decline in the growth rate of offline supermarkets year after year, this retail service model, which can connect online and offline, and has both the characteristics of supermarkets and e-commerce, has been sought after by Internet giants, among them, players such as Meituan flash sale, JD Daojia, and Ele.me are the main force in the instant retail platform model.
Instant retail has almost become a must for large manufacturers, and in the case of limited online traffic, the three major instant retail platforms represented by Meituan flash sale, JD Daojia, and Ali Ele.me have to start a new round of "war" between users and merchants. In order to continuously meet people's increasingly diverse shopping needs and enhance their market competitiveness, various instant retail platforms have also embarked on the road of "evolution".
Volume category: from sending fresh food to sending everything
With the continuous change of consumers' shopping needs, the instant retail platform has also begun to evolve, not only from high-frequency products to low-frequency products, but also from the original fresh food to all categories, and gradually realize the transformation from delivering fresh food to sending everything. In the course of this performance, players such as Meituan Flash Sale, JD Daojia, and Ele.me also implemented different strategies to meet the growing and diversified shopping needs of consumers, and finally achieved the effect of "everything can be taken out".
With fresh food as its core, Meituan Flash Sale continues to enrich its product line to meet consumers' one-stop shopping needs for food and daily necessities. Meituan Flash Sale has always been committed to building a fresh supermarket, but with the change of market demand, Meituan Flash Sale has also continued to expand its product categories, not only successively cooperating with Huawei and other brands, but also consolidating the supply of 3C digital, alcoholic beverages, pet supplies, maternal and child products and other goods. It is understood that since the release of the iPhone 15 series, Meituan Flash Sale has quickly announced that it will continue to deepen cooperation with Apple authorized stores, so that the new iPhone will arrive at home in half an hour to meet the demand of fruit fans.
JD Daojia has comprehensively upgraded its services with a diversified layout in order to provide consumers with high-quality product choices and convenient service experience. JD Daojia started with food and fresh food as its main categories, and then gradually expanded its categories to daily necessities, household products, digital appliances, etc. Not only that, JD Daojia has also continuously optimized its delivery services, launching fast delivery and evening delivery to improve the convenience and flexibility of distribution. It is reported that not long ago,Jingdong Hour and Xiaomi deepened strategic cooperation,XiaomiSU7New accessories have been launched on JD Hour,Purchased products in Jingdong Home stores can be delivered within 30 minutes at the earliest。
Ele.me integrates takeaway resources to develop retail channels in order to bring consumers a variety of product categories and novel shopping options. Although Ele.me is a well-known food delivery platform, it has also gradually expanded into the field of instant retail in recent years. Ele.me continues to extend its business tentacles to key sub-sectors such as "medicine, fresh food, supermarkets, alcoholic beverages, and department stores", providing consumers with a rich and diverse selection of products. In addition, with the help of a strong takeaway delivery network, Ele.me has also achieved rapid delivery of instant retail goods, providing consumers with a more personalized shopping experience and meeting their instant shopping needs.
Although the category has been expanded from sending fresh food to delivering everything, the troubles cannot be ignored. The instant retail platform expands categories, not only from food to daily necessities, household products, digital appliances, etc. In fact, behind the category expansion, it is often necessary to invest more resources and energy, not to mention, but also to face more complex market competition and more diverse consumer demand, and to make more refined supply chain management, which can be imagined.
Volume price: from cost performance to heart price ratio
Nowadays, consumers no longer only pay attention to the price of the product itself, but pay more attention to the quality, service and shopping experience of the product. Under the continuous pursuit of consumer quality and shopping experience, instant retail platforms are shifting from a single cost-effective competition to a more comprehensive and personalized heart-to-price competition. As a result, instant retail platforms such as Meituan Group Buying, JD Daojia, and Ele.me have also begun to take various measures to achieve a comprehensive upgrade of price competitiveness by optimizing price strategies and improving service quality.
Meituan flash sales focus on quality improvement while offering price discounts, which is conducive to creating a shopping experience that resonates with consumers' emotions. Meituan Flash Sale realized early on that consumers' quest for quality and service has gone beyond simple price factors. Therefore, by integrating supply chain resources and optimizing operating costs, Meituan Flash Sale provides consumers with affordable products to meet consumers' concerns about price, while constantly enriching product categories and providing consumers with more diversified choices to increase the fun and value of consumers' shopping.
JD Daojia provides high-quality services while ensuring preferential rewards, which is conducive to building consumers' trust and loyalty to the platform. JD Daojia has always been known for providing consumers with high-quality goods and convenient shopping services, and in order to further meet consumers' pursuit of quality and service, JD Daojia is also constantly optimizing the product supply chain and innovating the service experience. For example, in addition to providing high-quality cost-effective products to attract consumers, JD Daojia also increases consumers' sense of participation by launching activities such as full discounts and membership discounts, so that consumers can not only buy high-quality goods but also get a good shopping experience.
Ele.me creates a personalized experience while increasing convenient delivery, which is conducive to increasing the convenience and satisfaction of consumers. In order to meet consumers' higher requirements for quality and service, Ele.me combines its own advantages and characteristics to create a more interesting and personalized shopping experience for consumers. For example, Ele.me provides consumers with convenient shopping services through a convenient ordering process and strong delivery capacity, and meets consumers' immediate shopping needs. At the same time, Ele.me also meets the diverse shopping needs of consumers through personalized recommendation algorithms.
Coincidentally, it is not so easy to achieve from cost performance to heart-to-heart price ratio. The price competition of instant retail platforms has gradually shifted from cost-effective to heart-to-price ratio, which means that platforms need to pay attention not only to the price competitiveness of products, but also to the emotional value and shopping experience of consumers. Therefore, the platform needs to constantly adjust the pricing strategy, continuously improve the quality of goods, and optimize the service process, so as to realize the transformation of price from cost-effective to heart-to-price ratio, which requires a lot of effort from each platform.
Volume efficiency: from digital to intelligent
Giants from all walks of life have accelerated the layout of the instant retail market, and the fierce competition in this track can be imagined. But at the end of the day, speed is a key competitive advantage in just-in-time retail. As a result, instant retail platforms such as Meituan Flash Sale, JD Daojia, and Ele.me have begun to continuously improve service levels and efficiency by introducing advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data analysis, and the Internet of Things, and the instant retail industry has begun to make great strides in the direction of intelligence.
With the help of an intelligent warehousing and distribution system, Meituan Flash Sale can help shorten delivery time and improve delivery efficiency. Meituan Flash Sale has always regarded "digitalization" as one of the core tools to help merchants grow, and has built and opened up digital capabilities such as the "Morning Glory System" and the "FAST Brand Management Methodology". On this basis, Meituan Flash Sale also uses the advantages of big data and Internet of Things technology to build an "online + offline" collaborative operation management, and through the introduction of advanced warehouse management systems and distribution systems, it has achieved fast and accurate delivery services, and better provided consumers with faster and more accurate services.
JD Daojia is data-driven and operationally optimized, helping to achieve fast delivery and personalized shopping. As an instant retail platform under JD Group, JD Daojia has made certain achievements in intelligence. JD Daojia uses deep learning algorithms to analyze user behavior and shopping habits, as well as intelligent route planning and delivery scheduling, to gain insight into user needs and improve delivery efficiency. Taking JD Hourda as an example, relying on LBS big data operation and analysis, it has helped 3C home appliance retailers and brands improve operational efficiency, and tap new users and sales growth through global precision marketing, product management and innovation scenario creation.
Through data analysis and intelligent recommendation technology, Ele.me helps to improve product exposure and sales conversion rate. As an instant retail platform under Alibaba, Ele.me also has certain advantages in terms of intelligence. Ele.me not only analyzes consumers' consumption behavior and shopping preferences through big data analysis, provides them with personalized product recommendations, and improves consumers' shopping efficiency and satisfaction, but also uses big data analysis to optimize the supply chain and delivery routes of goods, realize fast delivery services, meet consumers' immediate shopping needs, and further improve consumers' shopping experience and satisfaction.
Of course, the change from digitalization to intelligence is also facing many challenges. The evolution of the instant retail platform from digital to intelligent has brought huge opportunities, for example, through data analysis, artificial intelligence and other technical means, to more accurately understand consumer needs, improve service quality and user experience. However, it also brings new challenges, including the cost of technology investment and talent training, which will increase the burden on the instant retail platform to a certain extent.
Instant retail transformation, pain and happiness
At present, instant retail, a market known as a "trillion-dollar cake", is becoming a "trend of the times", so whether it is Meituan group buying, JD Daojia or Ele.me, they are eager to follow this trend and seize the opportunities for development. However, although the instant retail market is full of opportunities, it is also facing a lot of challenges, and the instant retail platforms that are rolling in a wave are also experiencing a painful and happy evolutionary journey.
On the one hand, the promotion of technological innovation and the upgrading of consumer demand have brought great opportunities to the transformation of instant retail. With the improvement of consumers' living standards and the change of consumption concepts, the instant retail platform has a broader room for improvement. The advancement of technology has provided a source of power for the development of the innovation and optimization of the instant retail platform, so that the instant retail platform can better adapt to market changes, and has the opportunity to understand the diverse needs of consumers more accurately through the continuous introduction of new technical means, so that consumers can enjoy a more convenient and efficient shopping experience.
On the other hand, supply chain management and market competition are also challenges that just-in-time retail needs to face in the process of change. From procurement to distribution, every link of instant retail requires refined management and coordination to ensure the quality of goods and the timeliness of delivery. Especially in the face of a significant increase in order volumes, the pressure on the supply chain and logistics will increase further. What's more, the market competition in which the instant retail platform is located is also extremely fierce, in order to compete for the attention and market share of consumers, each platform has done its best, and the competitive pressure can be imagined.
All in all, the evolution of instant retail platforms is full of opportunities and challenges, and only by constantly adapting and responding calmly can we grasp the opportunities and meet the challenges, so as to remain invincible in the fierce market competition. Obviously, the instant retail platforms have seized the opportunity, but it is still unclear to what extent, but it is undeniable that these challenges on the road will inspire the instant retail platforms to continue to innovate and move forward.