Dine-in food is suspended, merchants flood into the live broadcast room
Catering enterprises explore new paths for the development of the Internet
Our reporter Yuan Lu
More than 30 kinds of fried tigers, sugar and oil pancakes, etc. are put in the pot early in front of the camera; seafood packages of thousands of yuan are discounted to two or three hundred yuan for sale; a full 5 catties of spicy crayfish can be picked up for 99 yuan... "May 1st "Since Beijing has pressed the dine-in pause button, while catering businesses are actively operating takeaways, they are also exploring a new key self-help point - live broadcast of group purchases.
"The boss and employees are all in battle, and there is almost no additional investment in online live broadcast. If you can't sell shabu-shabu, you can also attract many new and old customers by selling breakfast and cooked food through live broadcast." The owner of Gulou Jinji shabu-shabu said.
Through short video live broadcast plus store self-delivery, new and old catering companies in Beijing are actively seeking online operations and continue to explore new customer acquisition paths.
However, whether this emerging model can continue to attract merchants to participate remains to be seen by the market.
Merchant short video live broadcast self-help
In recent days, from 7:00 to 9:30 every morning, the clerks of Jinji Shabu-shabu in Gulou have been extremely busy.
"When will the fried pine meat come out?" "Are there still fried vegetarian meatballs?" In the comments of the live broadcast room, the audience asked about the specific product from time to time, or picked it up at the door, or asked the rider to run errands for delivery.
Drum Tower Jinji Shabu-shabu has its own beef and mutton shop that has been inherited for a century. It has always been a convenient point for the elderly and the disabled. It mainly focuses on the old Beijing copper pot Shabu-shabu dine-in, supplemented by cooked food stalls.
At the beginning of May, Beijing suspended dine-in, and the customer flow of the store plummeted. The boss immediately thought of using the influence of the short video platform to reduce the loss of the store, and also bring authentic Beijing snacks to customers.
"At present, it mainly sells breakfast and cooked food. Recently, fried tigers and sauced sheep and scorpions are particularly popular."
Also thinking of self-help by live broadcast, there is also the chain Yongdingmen electric skewer.
Affected by the infection cases around the store, all 6 stores of this skewer restaurant cannot operate normally.
"You can't just sit and wait like this!" However, considering that the skewers are easy to cool and the delivery distance is limited, the store has readjusted its main category and chose to mobilize its employees to sell the hot-selling crayfish in the summer live in the store.
"We insist on live broadcast for more than 3 hours every day. In addition to supporting the store's self-pickup, we also arrange takeaway delivery personnel to ensure the transportation capacity."
The time-honored restaurant chain Ziguangyuan has a total of 156 stores in Beijing. With the gradual increase in the impact of the epidemic in Beijing and the policy requirements of banning dine-in, the customer flow of the stores has plummeted by 80%, and even more than 10 stores have been closed, and the store turnover has decreased significantly. , the restaurant is almost completely paralyzed.
"My dears, you can take pictures of our products with confidence and close your eyes, especially our big carp. There are zero bad reviews. If you take pictures, you will earn them. Take the No. 1 link in the Ritan area, and the No. 3 link in the Chongwenmen area... "…" On May 19, the reporter saw in the short video live broadcast room that multiple Douyin accounts of Ziguangyuan were broadcast live at the same time, showing the audience cooked food such as shredded chicken, braised big carp, pancake, dry fried pine meat, etc. The geographical location reported by the audience invites everyone to join different WeChat groups.
"Only 88 yuan can be delivered within 3 kilometers from the store. We also support self-pickup!" The clerk in the live broadcast room said enthusiastically.
Fresh visible group buying is popular
"Compared with the cold takeaway links on the platform, the live broadcast room can see the real food with your own eyes, especially when it is steaming hot and just out of the pot." Ms. Gao, a citizen, said that now the short video platform will automatically push according to the user's address. nearby businesses.
"I often place orders for food from restaurants near my house in the live broadcast room recently. I can pick up my own meals when I walk around, and the price is cheaper than ordering takeaways."
At the same time, the reporter noticed that compared with offline group purchases, the discounts of live group purchases are very considerable.
Xiao Da Dong's roast duck with duck cake ingredients is 129 yuan, which is equivalent to 5.1%; a jelly in Meizhou Dongpo is 9.9 yuan, which is equivalent to 30% off; Wanlongzhou seafood meal for 4 people is 398 yuan, which is equivalent to 3.7% off; The Golden Million Roast Duck set meal for two is 99 yuan, which is equivalent to 21% off.
"It is true that during the epidemic, the price of the live broadcast of the business is more suitable. We have hoarded a lot of dine-in package coupons and waited for them to be used later, and we have collected a lot of wool!" said Ms. Hu, a white-collar worker.
"Since the suspension of dine-in, the discounts on the breakfast and cooked food we sell are generally between 40% and 40% off." The owner of Gulou Jinji Shabu-shabu said that so far, the store has carried out 32 live broadcasts, accumulating group purchases. The number of paid orders was more than 4,800, the number of followers on Douyin increased by about 4,000, the total exchange water exceeded 70,000 yuan, and the offline passenger flow nearly tripled.
"New customers continue to emerge and show considerable enthusiasm and support, which is a great boost to our confidence."
Affected by the epidemic, the number of offline customers has been greatly reduced, and the overall turnover of the chain cake shop Werners has also been greatly reduced. 60% off group purchase package.
Taking the 6-inch mango Chuxin cake in the Sanlitun store as an example, the reporter saw that the sales volume was close to 1,400 copies.
According to the merchants, as of mid-May, the overall turnover of the store in the first half of the month has increased by nearly 9 times compared with April.
Whether the emerging model is sustainable remains to be seen
During the investigation, the reporter found that before the current round of the epidemic, many branded restaurants in Beijing focused on taking offline routes, that is, in-store service.
At the moment when the offline business environment is experiencing major changes, many brand merchants have also begun to actively explore and broaden their operation channels.
"The common point of these catering businesses who live to save themselves is that they used to rely on offline passenger flow. After the epidemic blocked passenger flow, they accelerated the launch of live broadcast marketing, launched group purchase coupons at different prices, and increased their turnover while accumulating fans." Douyin Life Services Related The person in charge, Mr. You, said.
"It's different from the past when you have to accumulate a large number of fans to get exposure. Now, as long as you broadcast, someone will definitely see it." Mr. You said that the same-city recommendation on the short video platform has changed the original recommendation model based on the number of fans and content quality. Location, and daily sales data are also factors to consider.
At the same time, compared with short videos, live broadcasts have a stronger sense of presence and immediacy, which has a significant effect on mobilizing consumers to place orders on the spot, and has higher traffic conversion efficiency.
Taking Ziguangyuan as an example, since the suspension of dine-in, after more than half a month of accumulation, it has successfully completed the transformation of more than 6,000 users in the private domain, and the Douyin platform has increased its revenue by nearly 3 million yuan, effectively driving the store’s customer flow to increase by nearly 20%. .
"In the past, traditional group buying was more inclined to attract offline traffic and attract customers to the store as much as possible. However, the current special dining conditions force merchants to innovate the way of group buying live broadcast to the store for self-pickup and self-delivery, just like the higher unit price per customer. Takeaway." Mr. You believes that the epidemic has accelerated the online transformation of catering companies, and as more and more brand merchants start group buying live broadcasts, this method is expected to become the basic means of daily operation of catering companies.
The external factors of the epidemic have brought some light to the live broadcast of group purchases, but how to avoid short-lived or even "losing money" is also a problem that the catering industry needs to think about.
"The operation ideas of group buying and dine-in are different. Price is the primary competitiveness, and brand merchants do not have an advantage in this regard." Industry insiders believe that the immediacy and sense of presence of group buying live broadcasts have certain requirements for merchants, and to a certain extent increased operating thresholds and costs.
Once dine-in restaurants resume normal operations, many time-honored businesses are likely to give up live broadcasts and focus on dine-in meals.