Chen Weilong: The demand for instant retail is unstoppable. From a macro data perspective, according to a report by China Merchants Securities, in 2020, instant retail grew 34%, far exceeding the growth of physical e-commerce and social retail. Instant retail is growing rapidly, and the share of home delivery in the O2O market is continuously increasing. From a micro-individual perspective, in recent years, consumers have increasingly demanded immediacy. Many previously fleeting needs, such as suddenly wanting an ice-cold cola or needing cat litter in the middle of the night, can now be fulfilled through delivery platforms, providing new growth momentum for stores on the demand side. On the supply side, after stores join instant retail platforms, they generally extend business hours and scope, effectively meeting user needs and increasing supply. In terms of user consumption habits, China Merchants Securities points out that instant retail mainly meets needs that are inconvenient, time-constrained, unwilling to go out, or temporary, as shown below. However, this is only the initial stage of instant retail development. In the future, the needs of instant retail users will become more universal, routine, and basic. What does this mean? In 2013, when Meituan started food delivery, users also said they ordered food delivery because they didn't want to go out, had temporary cravings, or were short on time. But by 2022, are these still the reasons we order delivery? No, delivery has become a daily lifestyle with no special reason. Instant retail will also develop like food delivery, transitioning from in-store purchases and dining to home delivery. Instant retail in 2022 is like food delivery in 2016; it's just the beginning. Previously, customers went to markets, so merchants set up stalls there. Later, users went to department stores and supermarkets, so merchants opened stores there. Then, users didn't want to go far, so merchants opened convenience stores and community stores nearby. Now, users don't want to go out at all and want delivery to their door. Why do instant retail? Because the customer is God; wherever the customer is, the merchant goes. Since instant retail is the trend, how should it be done? Or how can one manage instant retail well? Suitable operational tools for instant retail and a strong service awareness are the only way to succeed in instant retail. The Left Hand of Instant Retail — New Operational Tools Traditional offline retail, including mom-and-pop stores, local chains, and large national supermarkets, has very limited understanding of their customers. For example, they roughly know how many residents are in the area, the approximate gender and age distribution, and spending power, but these estimates are highly inaccurate, with errors exceeding 20%. Moreover, they lack granular data, such as what products or keywords users recently searched for, which nearby stores users frequented, and which surrounding stores are rising or declining. Offline retailers do not grasp these basic conditions. They often operate based on experience, relying on memory for all data and situations, which is error-prone, untimely, lacking detail, and impractical. Therefore, we see that offline retail's operational methods and marketing techniques are very limited. Mom-and-pop stores have no promotions or marketing all year, local chains might do a monthly discount or membership fee for certain benefits, and even retail giants like RT-Mart can only manage weekly promotions on items like milk and water. To do a good job, one must first sharpen one's tools. The advantage of instant retail is that the platform provides data and tools far superior to offline retail. Even a mom-and-pop store, once familiar with the platform's operational tools, can stand on equal footing with chain supermarkets. Why? Because data reflects basic consumption trends. Previously, small stores had no data; now this has become public assets. Who frequently orders non-food items via delivery? Such macro data can only be obtained and analyzed by platforms or institutions; ordinary merchants find it hard to see the whole picture. Once they master this big data, merchants no longer need to guess or estimate; they can adjust business strategies with confidence. For example, public data shows that among online users choosing instant retail, 46% don't want to go out, 38% are too busy, and 15% have urgent needs, so product selection should emphasize portability. In factors attracting users to place orders, "being able to buy everything in one order" accounts for 25%, and among factors for users entering the store but not ordering, "can't find the target product" accounts for 25%. Therefore, product variety is the most important point for merchants, followed by product quality, such as brand, taste, and specifications. Additionally, you'll notice that instant retail products often follow a naming pattern like "product name + category + brand + attribute." This template is also data-supported. According to Meituan's consumer behavior research, 58% of delivery store exposure comes from searches, with 61% of search terms being product names, 17% categories, and 11% brands. These sound like common sense, but knowing is easier than doing. Many stores struggle to improve operations and feel that investing time and effort in instant retail isn't worthwhile, but that's because they don't fully understand the model and rely on past experience, taking detours. If they understood the basic operational rules before opening, it wouldn't seem so difficult. The User's Perspective Mirror — Search Keywords Merchants can discover a lot by carefully analyzing the search terms users in the surrounding area use for various product categories. What users search for indicates strong purchase intent. For example, users searching for "barreled water" and "Nongfu Spring" represent two needs: household water and personal water. Even RT-Mart, the king of national retail, never knows what in-store users want or think, let alone those who don't enter. With platform-provided search keywords, merchants gain a perspective mirror, greatly enhancing their understanding of user needs. This is the user search demand under the beauty and skincare category in the surrounding business district provided by Meituan. Various categories have search keywords, covering all offline retail categories. These are the search keywords within a certain store. Business district keywords represent the needs of all users in the area, while store keywords represent the needs of the store's users. Further analysis of search keywords can reveal the secrets of product structure. Most users search or purchase fresh produce, followed by snacks, beverages, dairy, and ice products, then daily necessities, household cleaning, hardware and appliances, and moving and storage items. The vast majority of offline merchants only operate one category, such as vegetable stores, fruit stores, meat stores, mom-and-pop stores, or convenience stores that only sell snacks, beverages, dairy, etc., and some specialize in general merchandise or hardware. Only supermarkets with strong operational capabilities can manage multiple categories. Why can't most offline merchants operate other categories? Because they can't conduct detailed research; with small businesses, if they bite off more than they can chew and the expanded categories aren't what consumers want, what then? Take online mom-and-pop stores or convenience stores as an example. Before going online, they might occasionally encounter customers from the community buying cardboard boxes, but they can only sporadically perceive the need for boxes for moving or packing. After going online, the platform tells merchants that user searches for boxes, packing ropes, and tape are only slightly less than for toiletries, representing a very large demand. Additionally, there are needs for hardware, appliances, pots, pans, etc., which are never discoverable offline because merchants can't perceive the needs of users within a 5-kilometer radius. If data reveals that these inconspicuous items also have high demand, merchants might have more confidence to stock some and test the waters. The Competitor's Perspective Mirror — User-Facing Platform Many haven't noticed that instant retail platforms also provide another powerful operational tool: directly observing competitors' sales, prices, and promotions through the user-facing app. Taking moving boxes as an example, open Meituan, select a merchant, find the boxes, and you'll see their sales and prices. With this store's sales data, aren't you envious? Just stocking a few boxes can sell for so much, with very high gross margins. Previously, offline retailers had no channel to learn about competitors' business, not knowing their sales or prices, or even what they sold and what sold well. Retail giants like RT-Mart needed hundreds of staff nationwide to gather such data. Now, delivery platforms do this work, allowing all merchants to obtain competitor information and formulate strategies without spending a penny, just with a bit of intelligence and diligence. Instant retail platforms can instantly elevate a mom-and-pop store's operational capability to the level of a large supermarket, a capability that took decades to accumulate. Some might say, "If I can see others, others can see me too. Doesn't that harm me?" That's not the case. Without these tools, what you know, competitors also know. Why would you win? Because you're more diligent and willing to ponder. Now with these new tools, some haven't discovered them, some have but are intimidated and unwilling to learn, and some are willing but can't persist or figure them out. This leads to some making money through instant retail platforms while others don't. It's like studying; everyone has the same textbooks and reference materials, but some learn well and others don't. We can't blame the materials. The more advanced the materials and the more useful and profound the content, the fewer can master it. Once mastered, the success is greater. If we've mastered traditional offline methods, we can revitalize a store with one community. Now, mastering instant retail operations can support several stores within a 5-kilometer radius. The above content is still difficult for many merchants to learn and master. Some instant retail platforms will formulate standard product structures, SKU counts, and even mandate certain products, providing basic guarantees in the simplest and most direct way. Under such guarantees, even a retail novice gains years of retail experience. From the user side and demand side, instant retail represents a shift in consumer habits, from department stores to supermarkets to convenience stores and community stores, and then to home delivery—an unstoppable trend, just like food delivery. From the merchant side and supply side, it's a shift in operational tools and cognition. Small shops, roadside stalls, and 5-yuan stores focus on customer relationships and low prices, selling one order at a time. Department stores and supermarkets emphasize location: "If you want fresh produce, you must come to my store; I have what I have, and you buy what I have." Convenience stores and community stores focus on convenience, selling what users most commonly use, so they dare not sell most products. We shouldn't underestimate the impact of operational tools. The discovery of raw materials like bronze and iron, and the use of tools like wheels and horses, often brought about new civilizations. The analytical tools provided by instant retail platforms are like the steam engines and lathes of industrial civilization, and the data is like the coal and oil—the lifeblood of industry. New tools and data will bring new leaps forward. The Right Hand of Instant Retail — Service Tools are surface-level; service is foundational. Instant retail is reshaping offline retail with entirely different operational logic and tools. It relies on local supply and instant fulfillment, meeting needs highly aligned with offline entities, but expanding operational radius and user scale. This creates more operational know-how, some of which were needed in traditional retail, like small profits and quick turnover, and much more that leverages data and tools for merchants to reach new heights. The ability to move inventory is key to retail development. The current retail landscape has low online timeliness and weak offline movement. Instant retail, by integrating online and offline, can effectively enhance the movement capability of single stores and points. With platform and business district data, merchants can establish more precise product records and turnover, using visualized data on regional consumer needs, profiles, price elasticity, and quantities to build stronger digital capabilities for physical stores. Mature online marketing methods and tools help merchants continuously expand transaction scale. That said, even online-focused stores are essentially physical retail, earning money from nearby community residents. The data and tools provided by the platform are the zeros after the one, helping merchants operate better. But as the main operator, whether merchants can discover unmet needs offline and in e-commerce and provide differentiated, high-quality supply based on local characteristics is the key to making money in instant retail. Insight into consumer needs is always the leading one. From my experience, merchants who make money through instant retail have forward-thinking minds and service awareness, often being well-known helpful people in the community. Whether offline or in instant retail, they observe local needs earlier than others and figure out how to make money from details. When joining delivery platforms, others simply migrate their offline products online. These merchants discover that the needs of residents within 5 kilometers differ from those within 1 kilometer, and even the same residents have different needs online than offline. Smart merchants extend business hours, expand their scope, and seize more opportunities to "show their face" to residents. A community has only so many residents; even with location-based traffic redistribution, the number of customers seeing a store is limited. However, many community stores are going online for the first time, having only dealt with package collection before. Instant retail can directly increase store revenue. This might be the chance for local stores to turn around, as community stores can't compete with hypermarkets in scale or e-commerce in reach, but they are unmatched in flexibility.