The takeaway platform draws high commissions, and the delivery process cannot guarantee quality and quantity
Some merchants are reluctant to enter the food delivery platform because of difficulties
Our reporter Zhang Qiang
"Worker's Daily" (April 19, 2022 Edition 04)
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In the context of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, takeaway has replaced dine-in and has become a part of people's lives.
However, there are still some merchants who are reluctant to enter the takeaway platform. Some of them choose to concentrate on operating offline stores for the quality of the dishes, and some feel that the platform commission is too high and choose to use other methods for delivery.
Industry insiders pointed out that the core issues of order volume and delivery quality remain to be resolved.
A report from the State Information Center shows that in 2021, my country's online takeaway revenue will account for 21.4% of the total revenue of the catering industry.
Among them, the transaction amount of a food delivery platform was 702.1 billion yuan, and the transaction volume of food delivery reached 14.4 billion.
In addition to first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, the food delivery industry has gradually sunk to third- and fourth-tier cities. Not only young people will order takeaways, but also middle-aged and elderly people will gradually adapt to this lifestyle.
Especially under the situation of epidemic control and control, people choose takeout more instead of dine-in, and there was a situation where the takeaway brother was "in short supply".
However, the reporter visited and found that there are still some merchants who are reluctant to enter the takeaway platform, and some choose to quit after trying the platform takeaway.
The reason is that the platform commission is too high, there are too many uncontrollable factors in the distribution process, and a lot of capital maintenance is required to become the main reasons for merchants to be discouraged.
At the same time, new distribution models continue to emerge, and more and more merchants improve the reputation of their stores by improving the quality of dishes and choosing other distribution methods, so as to obtain longer-term benefits.
High commissions discourage merchants
Mr. Wang from Qingdao City, Shandong Province is the owner of a barbecue shop. The monthly turnover of the shop he runs maintains around 250,000 yuan. The clerk has repeatedly proposed to launch a takeaway platform, but it has not been adopted.
"The online platform has to pay a 20% commission, and the increase in orders also requires an increase in manpower. It is not cost-effective to calculate." Mr. Wang said that some merchants have such concerns.
It is understood that the takeaway platform implements 15%~18% commission for large chain catering enterprises, and 18%~23% for small catering enterprises.
In other words, for an order of 100 yuan, the takeaway platform will charge 15~23 yuan, and the restaurant can only get about 80 yuan.
The person in charge of a catering group in Qingdao said that the net profit of the catering industry is 20% to 30%. The merchants pay for the rider's delivery fee and then pay the platform commission. The actual income may only be about 10%.
"Many times, merchants make profits by running volume. Once the order volume is insufficient, it is very likely to lose money." The person in charge introduced that some merchants specializing in takeaway will choose to reduce the cost of ingredients to increase the cost of the platform's commissions and operating expenses. profit.
Mr. Wang told reporters that not only do you have to pay commissions after entering the takeaway platform, but in order to increase sales and allow more people to see your store, you also need to pay operating fees.
"Some businesses will choose to give priority to making takeaway orders, which prolongs the waiting time of dine-in customers, and the offline evaluation of the store will also decrease. Instead of this, it is better to concentrate on doing a good job offline."
In addition to high commissions, uncontrollable factors in the delivery process are also an important reason why merchants are reluctant to enter the food delivery platform.
A Cantonese restaurant in Qingdao has just entered the platform. Due to lack of experience, the hotel started production immediately after the customer placed an order. However, due to the bad weather, no riders took the order in time.
"In the end, the food was cold, and the takeaway was still in the store." Mr. Shen, the person in charge, reluctantly said that the bad reviews caused by the delayed delivery of the food by the takeaway rider and the overturned soup will directly affect the reputation of the store, so some people who want to make quality products Merchants refuse to join the platform.
"The strict management mechanism of the food delivery platform and the lack of background services have caused inconvenience to some merchants." The owner of a daily food store in Qingdao told reporters that after the outbreak, the food delivery platform has been very strict in reviewing online merchants. If there is no online business license , you must sign an exclusive agreement with the platform.
Not only that, the efficiency of the platform side to solve problems is also very low, and some operational problems often take 2 to 3 days to answer.
Some merchants choose other shipping methods
It is understood that the takeaway commission is mainly composed of three parts: platform usage fee, technical service fee and delivery service fee.
The platform usage fee is similar to the cost of offline land rent. The food delivery platform invests a lot of money every year to increase technology research and development to ensure the smooth operation of business and customer transactions.
Relevant data shows that in 2018, the research and development expenditure of a food delivery platform was 7.07 billion yuan, an increase of nearly double the 3.65 billion yuan in 2017.
After the outbreak of the epidemic in 2020, some platforms have implemented a phased commission exemption policy for all in-store catering cooperative merchants and life service merchants across the country; another platform provides merchants with services such as commission reduction and exemption, and annual fee extension.
In the face of such a move, many merchants think it is a drop in the bucket. In order to reduce passiveness and ensure the quality of distribution, many merchants "hide" from the takeaway platform and choose other distribution methods.
The reporter visited and found that some merchants choose to go online, but they complete the delivery process themselves, and the commission is 3% to 10%, which can increase the profit by at least 10% every month; there are also many merchants who choose to hire full-time delivery staff, with a monthly salary of 4,000 yuan plus commission. And can take into account the in-store dine-in service; some merchants have signed contracts with the platform in order to alleviate the peak meal period, mainly self-delivery, supplemented by platform delivery.
Mr. Song, who specializes in seafood delivery, said that they deliver food by cooperating with the delivery company, and the delivery company directly arranges personnel to deliver it, which can not only ensure the operation of the store, but also ensure the delivery speed and food safety.
Businesses around the campus prefer the "campus takeaway" delivery model.
They provide meal pick-up services for college students during the peak meal period, and can deliver multiple orders at a time, and each order will be charged 2~5 yuan according to the distance.
Not only is it more convenient and efficient, but merchants don’t have to pay delivery fees.
Order volume and delivery quality issues remain to be resolved
In response to the problem of high commissions generally reported by merchants, some catering groups have called on takeaway platforms to substantially reduce commissions.
The catering group also proposed to reach strategic cooperation with Tencent WeChat and SF Express to help catering brands launch takeaway mini-programs, increase private domain traffic orders, and reduce commission expenses.
The Guangdong Catering Service Industry Association has also reported to the Provincial Department of Commerce before, and negotiated with the takeaway platform to strive for the platform to continue to increase the commission reduction and exemption according to the situation in the province, so as to ensure the normal profits of merchants.
At present, Beijing plans to issue the "Internet Catering Service Catering Safety Management Specification". There will be uniform standards for the production, packaging and distribution of take-out. In addition to requiring that the quality of take-out should not be "differentially treated" with dine-in, take-out food stored for more than 2 hours Meals are no longer being delivered, and a "non-recoverable" packaging seal or single-use outer bag will be used.
The increasingly standardized industry standards and diversified delivery methods are forcing the traditional food delivery industry to improve services.
A relevant person in charge of a food delivery platform said that helping the industry cannot simply reduce commissions to solve the core problem of poor order volume and delivery quality. No amount of reduction or exemption is only temporary.
"The platform should help merchants to occupy more market share by strengthening online operations, optimizing platform supply capabilities, and strict distribution service standards. This is also the most effective way to improve the platform's market stickiness and core competitiveness." The person in charge Say.