Epidemic situation promotes new development of takeaway industry (Expert interpretation)

The United States' "Times Weekly" recently released an anti-epidemic group portrait, and takeout rider Gao Zhixiao appeared on the cover. According to reports, if there are no takeaway riders who come forward in danger, many families will go hungry, and patients will not be able to get the supplies they depend on for survival. Agence France-Presse reported that during the New Coronary Pneumonia epidemic, the galloping Chinese "takeaway army" was hailed as a "hero" to protect the economy and people's lives, allowing the people in the "houses" to have food and stock. The British "Financial Times" described the takeaway brother as "the lifeline in the new coronary pneumonia epidemic."

According to the "Report on Employment of US Team Riders during the 2019 and 2020 Outbreaks" released by the Meituan Research Institute, the total number of riders earning income through the platform reached 3.987 million in 2019. After the outbreak, from January 20 to March 18, 2020, the Meituan platform has recruited 336,000 riders.

With the outbreak of the epidemic, new changes have taken place in the food delivery industry.

First, the "isolated economy" represented by takeaways has accelerated its development. During the epidemic, many catering companies have been affected to varying degrees, especially dine-in. This has forced catering companies to start thinking: In addition to dine-in, are there other sales channels that can increase revenue capacity? Under the epidemic situation, catering companies drank a "pause button", and at the same time, they have launched new businesses such as take-out, takeaway, food retail, and community group purchase.

Second, the concept of "all things come home" is gradually emerging. In the past, food delivery products were mainly catering. During the epidemic, the extension of takeaways became more extensive, and the "Home" products became more diversified. It can be seen that in recent months, takeaway riders have played the role of "urban ferrymen". In addition to food and beverage, they have also undertaken the task of distributing supplies such as daily necessities and some medical supplies.

Third, "contactless distribution" is constantly being promoted. "Contactless delivery", that is, the rider communicates with the catering merchants and users, negotiates to place the goods at the merchant's designated food picking place, deliver them to the user's designated location, and the user picks up the food by himself, and the whole person has no contact with people. . Previously, the "Contactless Delivery Report" released by Meituan Takeaway showed that orders using "contactless delivery" accounted for more than 80% of the total orders, and the proportion of users who used the "contactless delivery" service for each order was more than 60%. Recently, China's first group standard in the field of contactless distribution-"Contactless Distribution Service Specification" was issued and implemented by the CCPIT Commercial Industry Committee, which provides specific operating specifications for "contactless distribution".

In recent years, the Chinese food delivery industry has developed rapidly. In just three years from 2015 to 2018, the transaction value of the takeaway industry increased by 2.42 times. According to the "China Takeaway Industry Survey and Research Report (First Three Quarters of 2019)" jointly released by the Meituan Institute and the China Hotel Association, the transaction volume of the Chinese takeout industry in 2019 will reach 603.5 billion yuan, accounting for about the same year. 15% of total industry revenue. This year, affected by the epidemic, more and more catering companies are unable to operate offline, and they have increased their online food delivery operations. At the same time, food delivery users have begun to spread from young groups to middle-aged and elderly groups. Under the influence of various factors, this proportion will increase sharply this year, possibly reaching 30% to 40%.

All along, "whether takeaway is hygienic or environmentally friendly" has always been the focus of discussion. In response to health and environmental protection issues, all parties continue to exert efforts.

In terms of ensuring the hygiene and safety of food delivery, during the epidemic, the food delivery industry implemented a series of safeguards, such as requiring catering service personnel and food delivery personnel to wear masks throughout the process, use of safety cards, and regular disinfection of food delivery insulation boxes. In addition, there is a platform to launch the "Transparent Restaurant Alliance" program. These measures are to ensure that all aspects of the restaurant, including personnel, purchasing and processing, are transparent. In addition, users can also select restaurants through the "transparent" tab, and through the restaurant live broadcast, VR panoramic technology, short video, etc., to fully understand the kitchen environment.

In terms of solving the environmental problems caused by takeout, takeaway products have been packed with a large number of disposable plastic products, which has caused certain environmental pollution problems. In order to solve this problem, takeaways have adopted “green” packaging, such as degradable meal boxes and paper straws, and set incentives to encourage users to choose “no tableware” and other ways to reduce environmental pressure.

In the future, the takeaway industry will show a new trend.

First, the delivery platform will be more diversified. As more and more retail giants with Internet genes shift their focus from "to store" services to "to home" services, the takeaway platform will gradually bid farewell to Meituan and the hungry two companies. For example, JD.com launched the "JD.com home" service. In addition to providing catering and distribution, it also reached cooperation with many large retail enterprises to be responsible for the distribution of daily supplies.

At the same time, second- and third-tier cities may have takeaway platforms in cities. Meituan and Hungry, as nationwide companies, have relatively high costs in R & D and operations. Building a take-out platform in units of cities will inevitably reduce operating costs, thereby alleviating the problem of excessive platform commissions that plague merchants.

The outbreak of the epidemic has brought new development opportunities to the food delivery industry. As a result, the takeaway industry has received more attention and has made many positive changes. I believe that in the future, takeaways will surely better enter thousands of households.

(Jia Yining interview finishing)

Interviewed Expert: Jin Yong, Deputy Secretary General of China Hotel Association