导语:即时零售是必做题,而不是选择题。**作者 丨周群**校审 丨勾勾 排版 丨张雨薇 Before 2018, instant retail had little presence in the retail industry. But after the洗礼 of the internet and the catalyst of the pandemic, online shopping has established awareness among consumers. Instant retail's efficient supply and rapid response have made it a main shopping channel for consumers. In the competition of the existing market, it's all about insight into channels and consumers. Whoever finds new growth points first will gain an advantage. For brand owners and retailers, the certain growth of instant retail is a key focus for the next decade. On September 14, Meituan Flash Purchase held the "2023 Meituan Instant Retail Industry Conference" in Beijing under the theme "Chain Ecosystem, Co-evolution." At the conference, platforms, brand owners, and retailers engaged in in-depth discussions on instant retail, further deepening the understanding of its value. What is the real value of instant retail, represented by Meituan Flash Purchase, for brand owners and retailers? Business growth is the "result," but what are the underlying "causes"? Instant retail is a must-do rather than an option The business growth brought by any business model must be driven by the market inevitability of changes in consumer demand. In the early stages of instant retail development, the industry's understanding was shallow, often referring to it as O2O. During this phase, brand owners and retailers did not pay much attention, lacking dedicated personnel and resources, simply listing products online. But even with limited resource investment, instant retail still achieved rapid growth. Especially catalyzed by the pandemic, consumers shifted online en masse, and instant retail's convenient shopping and efficient fulfillment better met changing consumer needs. Today, instant retail is not only a main sales channel but also a massive traffic hub. This means that for brand owners and retailers, there are still significant incremental opportunities in the instant retail channel. From the brand owner's perspective, instant retail brings both supply-side sales growth and marketing-side omnichannel penetration. The core pain point for consumers is the increasingly compressed discretionary time, wanting things immediately. Instant retail's supply and fulfillment essentially help solve this pain point. The market demand driven by this pain point is enormous. If brands don't participate, they give competitors the chance to capture more market share. Moreover, as instant retail platforms penetrate lower-tier markets, the incremental gains will be even more pronounced. On the other hand, in the instant retail channel, shopping scenarios are also transaction and usage scenarios, making consumer needs more three-dimensional. For example, Wang Puzhong, Senior Vice President of Meituan and President of the Home Delivery Business Group, shared the "empty bag travel" case at the conference: a Wuhan user traveling to Dali purchased daily necessities like moisturizing essence and dental floss through Meituan after arriving. Based on different scenarios, brands can engage in various scenario-based marketing, stimulating consumers while completing transactions. From the retailer's perspective, instant retail breaks the limitations of offline store operating hours, space, and limited shelves, improving operational efficiency and creating more business possibilities. In the past, offline stores covered a core radius of 1 kilometer, with large stores and hypermarkets reaching 3 kilometers. Instant retail expands coverage to 3-5 kilometers or even more, reaching a broader audience. At the same time, in terms of product supply, based on consumer demand, more products and product combinations can be offered, providing a better shopping experience and increasing revenue and profit. The data growth of instant retail also highlights its importance to brand owners and retailers. Wang Puzhong stated that by the end of this year, the instant retail industry scale will exceed 500 billion yuan, and in the next five years, the market size will reach 1 trillion yuan. Xiao Kun, Vice President of Meituan and Head of Flash Purchase Business, said that Meituan Flash Purchase continues to grow rapidly. In the past four quarters, its scale has reached 175 billion yuan, and by 2026, it will reach 400 billion yuan. ▲Meituan Vice President and Head of Flash Purchase Business Xiao Kun speaking at the conference Undoubtedly, instant retail is a must-do, not an option. Instant retail, ecosystem evolution Wang Puzhong proposed a viewpoint at the conference: Instant retail is not emergency retail but a highly certain lifestyle. Brand owners and retailers are evolving for NOW. ▲Meituan Senior Vice President and President of Home Delivery Business Group Wang Puzhong speaking at the conference Consumer demand starts with emergencies but does not end with them; instant retail has become a highly certain lifestyle for consumers. For example, seeing a new phone release on a short video, you want to experience it quickly; or having a meeting in half an hour, you want a coffee to refresh... Against this backdrop, how should brand owners and retailers evolve? From the brand owner's perspective, the biggest change brought by instant retail is that the boundary between brand and sales is broken, and supply and marketing are gradually integrated. The benefit is that online and offline users, sales, and marketing are unified, helping brand owners quickly find the optimal combination of cost, efficiency, and experience. But the challenge lies in: first, integration requires more cross-departmental cooperation, involving supply chain, sales, marketing, and other departments working together; second, the overlap of online and offline creates more diverse marketing scenarios, requiring more innovation. For brands, evolution based on instant retail also requires adjustments. Organizationally, increase attention to instant retail and establish dedicated departments to operate it. In the early stages, many brands operated instant retail under a department with small teams. But now, whether in sales or marketing value, instant retail is a main sales channel, requiring higher attention from brand owners, such as P&G, which has established a dedicated instant retail department. In marketing, leverage platform data and support to cultivate new scenarios and stimulate potential consumer demand. In the past, brands focused on meeting rigid and functional needs. The emergence of instant retail adds more scenario and emotional needs, requiring brands to continuously develop new scenarios. Zhu He, Vice President of Marketing at Carlsberg China, mentioned at the conference's roundtable that Carlsberg and Meituan have co-created many scenarios, including 16 major scenarios and over 100 micro-scenarios. In scenario creation, it's essential to leverage platform power, using platform models and data support for efficient scenario development. For example, Meituan's instant retail brand operation model FAST, as well as marketing venues like "Super Brand Day," "Magic Price Channel," and "Live Streaming," can help brands quickly create new scenarios. In products, leverage new scenarios and demands from instant retail to drive supply-side changes, developing more products and product combinations. For example, small packaging for seasonings in camping scenarios, and travel sizes for personal care products in business travel scenarios. From the retailer's perspective, instant retail transforms consumers into digital users, breaking spatial limitations and creating more touchpoints between offline business and consumers. For retailers, as direct suppliers of goods, the core is how to efficiently meet consumer product needs and shopping experience. At the product level, pursue full-category development, broaden and deepen SKU counts through various means, continuously list more new products to meet consumers' growing shopping needs on instant retail. For example, Meituan partner store Haidun Gou Xiasha store increased SKUs from over 3,000 to 9,000, resulting in daily orders rising from over 300 to over 600. Of course, SKU expansion should not be blind; it should be based on local consumer profiles and scenario insights to find products that meet consumer needs. Meituan Flash Purchase also stated it will provide 10% traffic support for newly listed products to solve the problem of "new products unknown to consumers." At the service level, upgrade services based on instant retail characteristics to improve timeliness, personnel efficiency, and product efficiency. For example, in summer, consumers buying drinks and beer need them chilled; young people buying fruit prefer pre-washed or cut fruit. Meituan Flash Purchase will also launch two initiatives around service experience and characteristics: "Merchant Comprehensive Experience Score" and "Product Service Labels." The "Merchant Comprehensive Experience Score" means the platform sets a set of comprehensive indicators and corresponding traffic reward mechanisms. High scores will receive traffic weighting to encourage every store to improve instant retail service quality. "Product Service Labels" means tagging product advantages, such as chilled drinks and fresh flowers (with flower guarantee), to help users quickly understand special services and promote purchase decisions. At the model level, embrace the "evolution" of business formats and try operating in a "warehouse" model to improve store efficiency. Offline stores face limitations in location, foot traffic, etc. Expanding with low-cost, high-efficiency warehouse-store formats can both expand business and reach more consumers. For example, Meituan's Lightning Warehouse, born from "supply-demand mismatch," has exceeded 5,000 stores with daily orders exceeding 1.5 million. Traditional retailers are also trying, such as Yonghui with 135 full warehouses covering 15 cities, and Sam's Club with 300 front warehouses exceeding 20 billion in scale. In summary, instant retail is an increment of offline + online, 1+1>2, but also a difficulty of 1+1>2. Opportunities and challenges coexist, requiring co-evolution and continuous iteration and breakthroughs, achieving the conference theme of "Chain Ecosystem, Co-evolution." Final Thoughts In 2021, Meituan proposed evolving from the "Everything Store" of the express delivery e-commerce era to "Everything Now" of the instant retail era. At the 2023 Instant Retail Conference, Meituan proposed a new formula for instant retail: Everything Now = Live Now (instant life) + Business Now (instant business) + Service Now (instant service). Instant retail is constantly iterating and evolving. Retailers and brand partners must also evolve in the new environment to better serve consumers and jointly achieve the "Everything Now" consumer experience. As Wang Puzhong said, "Doing instant retail in the NOW era is a natural choice."