New consumption, new economy

The "618" e-commerce promotion, which is in full swing, as an instant retail that has emerged as an Internet platform in recent years, has joined the competition in a big way. Recently, Apple's authorized franchise stores opened the first official live broadcast on the instant retail platform, and the news that the sales exceeded 1 million yuan in one hour was launched, attracting attention from the outside world.

Compared with traditional e-commerce, instant retail realizes consumers' "buy and buy" consumption experience, and at the same time further drives offline physical merchants to integrate into online retail and stimulate new consumption increments, so not only takeaway platforms such as Meituan and Ele.me, but also e-commerce such as JD.com and Taobao Tmall have accelerated their layout in this field. With the growth of entrants and the expansion of the reach boundary, instant retail has entered an iterative period under fierce competition.

Text/Picture Guangzhou Daily all-media reporter Wen Jing Zhang Lu

Constantly expanding Bet on the 3C field

The model of instant retail has just emerged, more daily necessities or fresh products, such as beauty products, clothing accessories, fruit retail, flowers and cakes, etc., and now has been extended to mobile phones, small household appliances, medicines, major offline supermarket goods, etc.

"One day after washing my hair, I suddenly found that the hair dryer at home was broken, but fortunately, now I use the takeaway platform to place an order and it will be delivered in a short time, which is very convenient!" Ms. Wang, a citizen, sighed with emotion.

It is understood that before this year's "618" promotion, Suning.com announced that it had reached a strategic cooperation with Ele.me, becoming the first large-scale chain brand in the 3C category of home appliances officially settled on the Ele.me platform.

Home appliance 3C products can also be quickly delivered through takeaway anytime, anywhere, to meet the immediate needs of consumers. "This not only enriches the richness of the takeaway platform's goods, but also improves the user stickiness of the platform, home appliances are high-value goods, consumers will have a certain loyalty after purchase, thereby increasing the frequency of use and purchase volume of the platform." People who have been observing the 3C industry for a long time said that of course, this also gives home appliances 3C products more online purchase channels.

However, some insiders said that home appliance delivery is different from takeaway delivery, because home appliance goods are generally larger in size, heavier in weight and more fragile, and delivery through takeaway platforms may face problems in transportation safety, commodity protection, after-sales service, etc., bringing additional risks and costs to merchants and consumers.

Half an hour to reach and one of the selling points of the big promotion in an hour

In 618 this year, instant retail has become one of the areas where many platforms are fighting, and logistics efficiency such as half-hour delivery and hourly delivery has become one of the selling points of big promotions. The so-called "hourly delivery", "hourly purchase" and "half-hour delivery" are the main service highlights of instant retail.

According to the latest data released by JD.com, in the first 618 minutes of 10, consumers in more than 700 counties, districts and cities across the country have received the goods, of which the first order of JD.com's hourly purchase is delivered in only 9 minutes. Jingdong Dajia and Dada are important "drops" of Jingdong's instant retail in recent years.

As the "originator" of instant retail, for this year's 618, Meituan Flash Sales announced the opening of the "Super Store Shopping Festival" activity on May 5, uniting more than 25 cities across the country, digital home appliances, maternal and baby toys, beauty and personal care, daily necessities, clothing and shoes, pets, supermarket convenience, flowers and fruits fresh food, a total of more than 360,8 offline stores in 70 core categories, and said that "it brings users the experience of 'home in 30 minutes at the fastest'". According to data disclosed by Meituan, the overall sales of toys and musical instruments increased by 117% year-on-year during the "June 159st" peak just past, of which blind box sales increased by 110% and figures increased by 152%; The sales of maternal and baby products increased by 88%, and the sales of milk powder, children's clothing and other products ranked high; Pet supply orders increased <>% year-on-year.

The reporter browsed and found that the Douyin supermarket, which was officially launched in January this year, also launched a full reduction activity during the Douyin 1 Good Things Festival. In addition, as early as March 618, Taobao issued a public notice on the new "Taobao "Hourly Delivery" Service Specification, and around the same time, Hema announced the launch of the "3-hour delivery" service.

Expert: Instant retail may form three patterns

Just-in-time retail is highly competitive as the market sees the increase it brings. According to the "2022 China Instant Retail Development Report" released by the China Chain Store and Franchise Association, the market size of "instant retail" has grown by 5% in the past five years, and it is expected that in 81, the scale of the "instant retail" open platform model will exceed the trillion threshold, reaching about 2025.1 trillion yuan.

According to Dada Group's Q2023 1 financial report, for the twelve months ended March 2023, 3, JD.com's total sales (GMV) of home goods were 31.673 billion yuan, an increase of 2022.37% over the same period in 1.

According to Meituan's financial report for the first quarter of 2023, Meituan's instant delivery orders increased by 14.9% year-on-year to 42.67 billion. With the continuous expansion of the scene and richness of instant retail, Meituan's flash sale orders increased by 35% year-on-year in the quarter.

With increased competition, what will be the future of instant retail? Hong Yong, an expert at the China Digital and Real Integration 50 Forum think tank, said that instant retail may form three patterns in the future, one is the platform market pattern. The instant retail home service platform will become an important bridge connecting consumers and merchants, empowering merchants and providing consumers with high-quality products and services by providing core values such as traffic entrance, fulfillment capabilities, and data analysis.

The second is the ecological market pattern. The instant retail home service platform will form an ecosystem with various partners to build an open, inclusive and shared instant retail ecosystem through shared resources, mutual benefit and win-win, collaborative innovation, etc.

The third is the diversified market pattern. The instant retail home service platform will provide diversified products and services according to different market needs and user preferences, forming different market segments and competitive advantages.

Number said

According to the "2022 China Instant Retail Development Report" released by the China Chain Store and Franchise Association, the market size growth rate of "instant retail" in the past five years has reached 5%; It is estimated that in 81, the scale of the "instant retail" open platform model will exceed the trillion threshold, reaching about 2025.1 trillion yuan.