" ** For traditional retail enterprises and e-commerce platforms, the pandemic is like a big crucible, more about tempering supply chain capabilities. ** " ****Retail Enterprises Ensure Supply On April 24, a stockpiling wave hit major supermarkets and e-commerce platforms in Beijing. As photos shared by netizens show, vegetables and frozen products at many offline supermarket stores were almost cleared out, and most green vegetables on fresh produce apps were also snapped up. Driven by a mentality of "seeing others hauling rice and flour home box by box makes me anxious," people had to start stockpiling supplies. That afternoon, at a press conference on COVID-19 prevention and control in Beijing, it was reported that from 16:00 on April 23 to 16:00 on April 24, Beijing recorded 21 new local COVID-19 infections. The meeting also reminded citizens that starting from the 25th, Chaoyang District would conduct routine nucleic acid testing. From the evening onward, queues for buying vegetables and stockpiling appeared in many areas, especially in high-risk Chaoyang District, where some stores even saw widespread product shortages. It is worth noting that during this epidemic prevention and control, e-commerce platforms such as Meituan, which is based in Beijing, were mentioned by the government as being in a very important position. At the epidemic prevention and control press conferences on the 24th and 25th, the Beijing Municipal Commerce Bureau repeatedly stated that key supply guarantee enterprises in the city should play a main role and make every effort to ensure supply. They required key fresh produce e-commerce platforms such as Meituan Maicai, Dingdong Maicai, and Miss Fresh to increase sourcing efforts, increase front-warehouse inventory, and add more delivery personnel to ensure timely delivery. A person in charge of Meituan Maicai told Ling Shou that starting from the 24th, shopping demand in Beijing had increased significantly, with orders at some stations in controlled areas rising by more than 300%. To ensure users receive goods in a timely manner, Meituan Maicai immediately added personnel to guarantee supply, increasing frontline sorting staff by 70% and delivery staff by 50%. At the same time, they stocked up at three to five times the normal daily consumption to ensure sufficient inventory and stable prices. Affected by various prevention and control policies, the pandemic inevitably impacted cross-city transportation, and traditional e-commerce platforms found it difficult to meet the surge in emergency demand for various reasons. In the scenario of stockpiling supplies, same-city delivery, 24-hour delivery, and last-mile fulfillment became important factors that reassured the government and the public. Throughout the years of retail development, with the transformation and reconstruction of "people, goods, and places," innovation has continued from traditional offline supermarkets to online e-commerce platforms, and then to new retail combining online and offline. Now, in the face of the pandemic, same-city retail is at the forefront. ****Meituan's Retail Counterattack Supply chain, front warehouses, supermarket docking, fulfillment systems, technology empowerment... In recent years, retail platforms have gradually built multi-scenario business capabilities, and at the same time, established procurement systems based on self-built and self-purchasing models. Beyond commercial value, these efforts have also accumulated strength for current supply guarantees. Taking Meituan Maicai as an example, in ensuring the supply of vegetables in Beijing, the sources mainly come from Ningxia, Shandong, and areas around Beijing, not simply from local wholesalers. For vegetables alone, they have formed a supply chain system with direct sourcing from production areas as the mainstay and surrounding procurement as a supplement. In the past two years, with repeated outbreaks, Meituan laid out front-warehouse business in advance. According to financial reports, in 2021, Meituan Maicai increased the number of front warehouses from 200 to more than 400, expanded the area of each warehouse to 800 square meters, and increased categories from 1,500 to 4,000. Another horse in Meituan's retail sector—Meituan Shanguo—also established supply and fulfillment capabilities for large chain supermarkets such as Wumart, Yonghui, and Jingkelong, and even home appliance retailers like refrigerator and freezer sellers during the pandemic. Since April 22, Meituan Shanguo has joined forces with nearly 20,000 chain supermarkets, convenience stores, food stores, and daily necessities merchants in Beijing to ensure the supply of daily necessities. As of the 25th, it had completed nearly 1 million orders for daily necessities, while also coordinating with multiple supermarkets and brands for stocking. For the fulfillment link, Meituan Waimai launched real-time, flexible "cross-district dispatch and delivery" in Beijing to provide sufficient capacity support for delivery in various areas. At the same time, through its errand service, it supports purchasing and delivery across the city, helping citizens expand the scope of material procurement. According to the 2021 financial report, Meituan now has about 5.27 million riders. A stable rider group forms a strong same-city delivery capability, which is also the foundation for Meituan to guarantee the material needs of Beijing citizens. In addition, Meituan's autonomous delivery vehicles continue to ensure supply in Shunyi, supporting the last-mile delivery from Meituan Maicai stations to dozens of nearby communities. In September last year, Meituan adjusted its corporate strategy from "Food+Platform" to "Retail+Technology." From this supply guarantee in Beijing, it can also be seen that Meituan's retail business layout, with the advantages of "daily active users" and "same-city delivery," is showing enormous commercial and social value. By laying out multi-scenario same-city retail businesses, Meituan meets the diverse needs of different consumer groups in different consumption scenarios. With its strong traffic base and complete instant delivery system, it ensures the reserve of daily necessities and emergency needs for Beijing citizens. This may also be one of the reasons why the Beijing government has repeatedly mentioned Meituan as a key supply guarantee enterprise. ****The "Beijing Model" for Epidemic Prevention The reason for the panic buying in Beijing is, on the one hand, concern about a serious rebound of the epidemic, as Shanghai had experienced difficulties in supply guarantee; on the other hand, concern that any error in the long supply chain of retail could lead to untimely supply. In fact, as early as after the SARS outbreak in 2003, Beijing established a comprehensive material reserve model. Lai Yang, chief expert at the Beijing International Commerce Center Research Base, said that Beijing has always attached great importance to the construction of an emergency material guarantee system. In addition to the government's own strategic reserves, it also entrusts commercial enterprises to store a large number of daily necessities on its behalf. After the recent rebound of the epidemic, Beijing prepared at least one month's reserve for materials such as rice, flour, oil, and durable vegetables, stored in professional warehouses, wholesale markets, supermarkets, and other links. During this process, durable vegetables are regularly replaced to ensure supply. Now, Beijing's material supply is relatively stable at all levels, and the supply at supermarkets and fresh produce platforms is also sufficient. However, while the supply side is sufficient, how to ensure timely delivery to the end consumer is the current "difficulty." To ensure smooth material distribution channels, Chaoyang District established a "whitelist" mechanism. Under the overall requirements of epidemic prevention and control, it helped fresh produce e-commerce enterprises such as Meituan Maicai and Miss Fresh solve the problem of "pop-up" health code alerts for delivery personnel, ensuring end-of-line delivery capacity. Chaoyang District also solved the "pop-up" problem for supermarket truck drivers, increasing material delivery capacity. In urban supply guarantee, Beijing fully stimulated the vitality and initiative of market entities, including state-owned enterprises and private enterprises, offline supermarkets, and online e-commerce platforms. Emphasizing the role of private enterprises in supply guarantee, using market forces to improve supply chain efficiency, and maximizing the supply guarantee capability are major features of Beijing's urban supply guarantee this time. After two days of panic buying, Ling Shou visited multiple chain supermarkets in Beijing and found that supply was normal, shelves were full of vegetables, and many categories were on promotion. Fresh produce apps had complete goods, prices did not rise significantly, and delivery was basically normal. Although the anti-epidemic supply guarantee ultimately results from the combined efforts of government policies, livelihood enterprises, ordinary grassroots workers, and technical means, it is precisely this link that has reliable supply guarantee enterprises capable of assuming the main responsibility for people's livelihoods, forming a closed loop. Zhao Weidong, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Commerce Bureau, said on the 25th that in the next step, Beijing will continue to strengthen market monitoring, smooth information channels with various districts and supply guarantee enterprises, promptly grasp the supply situation, organize and coordinate key daily necessity supply guarantee enterprises in Beijing, strengthen sourcing, increase dispatch efforts, strengthen end-of-line delivery, and make every effort to ensure the stable supply of daily necessities in the capital market. Conversely, for traditional retail enterprises and e-commerce platforms, the pandemic is like a big crucible, more about tempering supply chain capabilities. How to ensure supply, solve the "last mile," and at the same time adjust operational methods in line with policies has become a touchstone for testing the strategic determination and business capabilities of retail enterprises. Source: Ling Shou (ID: lingshouke) Are you "watching" me?