The market scale exceeds 650 billion yuan, covering 460 million consumers

Take out, fight for speed and internal strength

　　The phone rang, "The meal is downstairs, please come and fetch it!"

　　When the weather is hot, I don’t want to cook. I tap the screen of my mobile phone to order a meal. After a while, the phone to pick up the meal comes. Ordering food has become an indispensable part of contemporary urban life. The "Report on the Development of China’s Food Delivery Industry in 2019 and the First Half of 2020" recently released by the China Hotel Association and Meituan Research Institute shows that the scale of the domestic food delivery industry has gradually expanded in recent years. It is expected that online catering will be in the entire catering industry in 2020. Will account for more than 20%.

The takeaway market is still not saturated

　　Under the "Internet +" wave, a variety of life service formats have undergone subversive changes, and the booming development of food delivery is particularly noticeable.

　　According to survey data from iResearch, the scale of China's catering takeaway industry in 2019 was 653.6 billion yuan, an increase of 39.3% compared to 2018. As of the end of 2019, the scale of China’s 900 million netizens among food delivery consumers was approximately 460 million, a year-on-year increase of 12.7%. Order volume and transaction value also maintained rapid growth.

　　Under the impact of the epidemic this year, food delivery is even more critical for the catering industry. The epidemic has a wide range and long duration and strict prevention and control measures. Consumers’ “home” homes and the catering business in the catering industry have been hit hard. In this context, more users' habit of ordering takeout has also been cultivated and strengthened, and takeout has become the most important source of revenue for many merchants.

　　Zhao Ping, director of the International Trade Research Department of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, said that the contribution rate of food delivery to total revenue has been increasing year by year, which is changing the profit structure of catering companies, enabling catering companies to create a new profit growth engine in addition to dine-in.

　　Some experts also pointed out that the status quo of China's food delivery industry market tends to be stable, but the market is still not saturated. The food delivery industry is expected to develop into a trillion-scale market in the next 1-3 years.

Healthy takeaway is becoming popular

　　The demand for take-out mainly comes from residential areas, corporate office buildings, schools and other scenes. The “post-80s”, “post-90s” and even “post-00s” who are in them are more accepting of online consumption. As the main consumer, they have created more Diversified consumer demand. Dinners such as breakfast, lunch, and dinner can no longer meet the increasingly fragmented needs of meals. Additions have become an important part of food delivery. Meituan data shows that 20% of users will choose time outside of dinner. Afternoon tea and supper.

　　In recent years, policies such as the "Healthy China 2030 Plan Outline" have been introduced successively, and consumers' health awareness has been continuously improved. With the continuous expansion of takeaway boundaries and the continuous enhancement of delivery capabilities, food flavors can be better preserved, and more types of products and full-time delivery become a reality. In this context, many users have long surpassed the simple needs of eating food. Ordering food is no longer synonymous with life, but is like going to a store to pay attention to reasonable collocation and rich nutrition.

　　For merchants, the competitive model of food delivery has shifted from "dividend driven" to "efficiency driven" and "quality driven". That is to say, under the premise that it has been accepted by more people, it is more important to retain customers than to obtain traffic. Takeaway has grown from the initial stage of red envelope subsidies to a more mature stage that competes for delivery efficiency and meal quality.

　　At this stage, the ability to provide consumers with better quality products and more timely delivery will be tested more, rather than the ability to simply "burn money". The new trends of "explosive style", "premiumization", "chain" and "healthy" presented by food delivery are the latest response to consumer demand.

　　Some experts said that since the industry competition, the Internet catering takeaway industry needs to go beyond the limitation of "catering takeaway", focus more on the deployment of the ecosystem, and make efforts in the coordination of business lines in the whole scene of local life services, the digitalization of merchants, and the improvement of distribution and logistics networks. More effort.

Work together to provide quality services

　　There are currently about 9 million restaurants in China. In April this year, a survey of merchants by the Meituan Research Institute showed that nearly 80% of the catering companies surveyed are currently or will develop takeaway businesses. However, most of these merchants are small businesses, lack of self-innovation awareness, unable to effectively link people, finances, materials, and customers, and operating efficiency is low.

　　Compared with the scattered situation of catering supply companies, catering take-out platforms are highly concentrated "two parts of the world." According to data from iiMedia Consulting, the two giants Meituan and Ele.me account for more than 90% of the food and beverage delivery market in first- and second-tier cities. The industry barriers are high, and the competition between the two is becoming increasingly fierce. For the platform side, it is crucial to increase the stickiness and activity of merchants and users.

　　On the basis of the platform, the catering takeaway market has formed a complete ecosystem that connects users, merchants and distribution, radiates the supply chain, shared kitchens, and takeaway operations. The industrial development has risen from the initial stage to a more mature stage, but the ecosystem still needs to be improved. Issues such as Fangbawang terms, delivery riders being maliciously fined, delivery overtime, food safety, and difficulty in refunds need to be resolved urgently.

　　In terms of food safety, beneficial explorations have been made in some places. In July of this year, the Nanjing Municipal Market Supervision Bureau of Jiangsu Province issued a local standard for the “Regulations for the Use of One-time Seals for Food Delivery”. The seal is made of special materials. Once the seal is opened or the outer packaging is damaged, it cannot be restored to its original state, which reduces the possibility of contamination during the delivery process. The standard was first published in the province, and detailed regulations were made in terms of classification, material, information and use.

　　Overlord clauses force merchants to choose one of the two, and high commissions also give merchants a headache. In April this year, with the intervention of relevant departments, Meituan Waimai decided to increase the rebate ratio to 3%-6% for high-quality catering take-out merchants in Guangdong, expanding the coverage, and said that it respects catering merchants' independent choice of various online platforms. To support the multi-channel development of catering businesses to independently operate private domain traffic, Meituan will fully open up its distribution platform services to connect.

　　Relevant sources pointed out that the food delivery platform and the catering industry have formed a symbiotic relationship of interests, and will strengthen cooperation in the future to jointly provide consumers with better services.

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