The standalone app for Orange Heart优选 has arrived. Didi is officially making a push into community group buying.
Tech Planet exclusively learned that Didi's community group buying project, 'Orange Heart优选', has officially launched its standalone app, with the developer being Beijing Xiaoju Technology Co., Ltd.
'Orange Heart优选' was established in Chengdu in May, and was touted by ground promotion staff as a group buying company with 'over $20 billion in financing'. After officially being set up in Chengdu on the 28th of that month, it entered a trial operation phase, offering a full range of selected products including fruits and vegetables, rice, flour and cooking oil, meat, poultry, eggs and dairy, as well as daily necessities.
After experiencing it, Tech Planet found that the 'Orange Heart优选' app is no different in design and functionality from the 'Orange Heart优选' mini-program on WeChat.
The 'Orange Heart优选' app is functionally divided into 'Home', 'Shopping Cart', 'Categories', and 'Personal Center'.
Upon entering the app, users need to select a pickup point before shopping, and it currently only supports users in the Chengdu area.
On the home page, various product categories are arranged, along with limited-time flash sales, and at the bottom, selected products are listed. Users can click on a product to enter its detail page to view price, sales volume, and other information, but they cannot view reviews. Additionally, products offer next-day delivery service; after purchasing, users can pick up their goods at the pickup point between 16:00 and 20:00 the next day. If there are quality issues, users can apply for after-sales service within 48 hours.
The categories page is more detailed than the home page categories, with additional categories such as beauty and skincare, small home appliances, and more for users to choose from. The shopping cart page shows the items added by the user and the total price, allowing users to edit items before checkout. The personal center allows users to view order information, pickup point addresses, and other details.
Didi's lightning-fast entry into community group buying has surprised the outside world, and giants like Meituan and Pinduoduo have also begun to accelerate their market grabs.
Orange Heart优选 is expanding radially from Chengdu as its center, and using ground promotion to quickly acquire customers. According to incomplete statistics, Didi's 'Orange Heart优选' already has over 200 business development personnel and more than 2,000 ground promoters in Sichuan.
Currently, Orange Heart优选 is rapidly attracting customers with ultra-low prices, quickly making a name for itself in a short time, and was quite prominent in the Chengdu group buying market at the time.
Meituan has also changed its previous low-key approach, with 'Meituan优选' following closely behind, investing heavily with 2 billion yuan to burn cash on city expansion and 'encircle and suppress' competitors, targeting Jinan, Shandong as its first move, using a 'pre-order + self-pickup' model. A person close to Meituan's internal operations told Tech Planet that Meituan优选 had already begun preparations for the Jinan city launch from mid-to-late June.
Tech Planet learned that Pinduoduo started forming its first team for 'Duoduo Maicai' in July, and in early August, the Duoduo Maicai mini-program entered trial operation, investing 1 billion yuan in subsidies to compete for group leaders and formulating a 1V1 support plan. Pinduoduo's city expansion speed has been exceptionally rapid. 'The first batch includes Nanchang and Wuhan; the second batch includes Chongqing, Xi'an, and Chengdu, as well as prefecture-level cities in Jiangxi, Hubei, and Shandong.'
When 'Duoduo Maicai' entered Xi'an, it signed contracts with 4 local ground promotion companies with a team of nearly 1,000 people, and on the first day, it opened 500 group leader positions. 'Our main target is the group leaders of Xingsheng优选,' an internal employee of Duoduo Maicai revealed to Tech Planet.
With the official launch of Didi's 'Orange Heart优选' standalone app, it marks Didi's further intensification of the existing community group buying competition. Can Didi successfully seize the market?
Source: Tech Planet (ID: tech618), Author: Chen Qiaohui