Recently, a "symposium on the transparency of takeaway rates for small and medium-sized catering enterprises" sponsored by the Beijing Cuisine Association was held in a heated discussion, and the meeting that was originally planned for one and a half hours finally expired for more than an hour before ending.
More than a dozen merchants participating in the discussion, including medium-sized chains such as Xiaoxiangge, XiaoSushi, Meiyitian and Siyou Youth, as well as small merchant owners such as Laobian Dumplings, Uncle Shu, Wumingyuan and Food Delight Light Food, are typical representatives of small and medium-sized catering enterprises in Beijing. As a representative of the takeaway platform, Wang Pu, senior vice president of Meituan and president of the Home Business Group, participated in the discussion, listened to the complaints of merchants and exchanged views on the spot.
In the past two years, the issue of takeaway commissions has attracted the attention of all sectors of society, and the 2021 government work report proposes to "guide platform enterprises to reasonably reduce merchant service fees". Recently, Meituan and Ele.me have taken the initiative to optimize the platform charging model and implement the pilot "rate transparency" to reduce the burden on small and medium-sized merchants.
According to Xue Bing, general manager of Meituan's takeaway business, the "rate transparency" reform splits the original fixed proportion of the rate into technical service fees (commissions) and performance service fees, of which the performance service fees are only generated when the merchant chooses platform delivery, and the three factors of time, distance and unit price change. The new billing method is clearer and more transparent than in the past, and merchants have more full choices in delivery methods, and the pilot work has been carried out in many cities across the country.
At the symposium, most merchants gave clear support to the general direction of the transparency of takeaway rates, reflecting that the order rates within 3 kilometers of delivery distance have dropped significantly. Tian Shuai, founder of Uncle Shu, said: "I have 5 stores in Beijing, after the rate reform we are the real beneficiaries, within 3 kilometers of the takeaway fee can be reduced by 2 to 3 cents a single." As a store with a monthly sales of 10,000 orders, it is also a big expense to calculate a month. ”
For merchants, the majority of close orders have benefited from the change in rate transparency, and for a small number of long-distance orders or late-night orders, merchants have expressed their difficulties. Zhao Gang, founder of Siyou Youth Catering, said that after the rate reform, the order rate expenditure of stores in the urban area has generally decreased, "However, a store located in the living area of the capital airport, because more than 20% of the order delivery distance is more than 3 kilometers, the performance service fee will increase, resulting in a slight increase in the final rate expenditure compared with before." To this end, Zhao Gang also suggested to the platform, "I hope that for suburbs, airport living areas, which are more dispersed areas, based on the characteristics of user distribution, targeted strategic planning can be carried out." ”
The problems exposed during the handover between merchants and riders have also been mentioned many times. Duan Xuepeng, the owner of the nameless rice noodle shop, gave feedback, "For example, the rider took the wrong meal or spilled the meal, because the rider's problem led to meal damage, many times the platform directly judged us merchants, and did not call us to verify, this transparency I feel is not high enough." Some merchants also mentioned that the platform lacks accurate records and judgments on merchants' meals and riders' meals, resulting in conflicts between merchants and riders.
In response to some common questions raised by on-site merchants, Xue Bing and Kang Kai, general manager of Meituan's takeaway innovation business department, responded to and discussed the needs of merchants. Including the future will gradually open for merchants to adjust the scope of distribution and the right to start the price; specially developed hardware products "out of the dining treasure" and intelligent food cabinet to solve the contradiction between the merchant's meal and the rider's meal collection; plans to increase 30% of the front-line business personnel to improve the service response speed and level; from May 24, will also open a rate transparency service line, merchants call the customer service hotline after 10105557, you can choose "rate question consultation" according to voice guidance, the staff will answer the merchant's inquiries at any time, And collect pilot opinions.
At the meeting, Wang Puzhong said that Meituan's determination to carry out rate transparency changes also came from the previous 208 merchant forums, in order to help small and medium-sized merchants do a good job in digital operation and obtain more benefits. However, this transparent change from the pilot to the formal implementation of the full, in order to truly benefit small and medium-sized merchants, in the process still need to continue to listen to the problem to find problems to solve problems. He also promised, "The general trend of the entire industry must be more orderly, more transparent and more equal, we fully respect the right of businesses to choose their own businesses, strictly follow the principle of voluntariness and fairness, and resolutely prohibit 'two alternatives'." The rate transparency project is still being optimized according to the situation, and in the future we hope to hear more voices and adopt good suggestions to help us improve. ”
Yun Cheng, president of the Beijing Cuisine Association, said that the transparency and rationalization of commissions in the future is a major trend, and it will gradually become the consensus of the entire industry. As an industry organization, the Beijing Cuisine Association will actively play a bridging role, create more opportunities to promote the discussion of key topics, enhance mutual understanding between all parties in the catering ecosystem in exchanges, and promote common development.