In the Meituan ecosystem, flash warehouses are a core infrastructure for instant retail demand. The Meituan Flash Purchase convenience store flash warehouse team, led by the Lightning Bangbang operations team, has built a B2B procurement platform called 'Lightning Bangbang.' The team lead, who works closely with brands, distributors, service providers, and warehouse stores, has direct insight into frontline supply issues. At the 'Instant Retail Supply Summit,' the discussion did not dwell on trends or opportunities but focused on a more practical question: for brands to truly stabilize and scale their flash warehouse channels, they must complete 'four essential courses.' To help readers better understand the latest developments in this field, we have compiled the sharing from the operations lead of the Meituan Flash Purchase convenience store flash warehouse team at the forum. From '30-Minute Delivery' to 'Scenario-Based Supply' In most people's understanding, instant retail primarily means '30-minute delivery' and 'nearby shipping.' However, new formats like Meituan Flash Warehouse are shifting the competitive focus from 'faster' to 'more accurate.' Meituan Flash Warehouse is a form of front warehouse restructured around online demand: the warehouse is the store, and the store is the warehouse, with location, product assortment, and operations all centered on online order efficiency. According to plans, by 2027, the number of flash warehouse stores is targeted at approximately 100,000, corresponding to a transaction scale of around 200 billion yuan, making it an incremental channel that FMCG brands cannot ignore. From the consumer side, flash warehouses mainly reach people aged 18-35, with a high proportion of post-00s, post-95s, and post-90s. This generation of consumers is highly online and has stronger expectations for 'instant gratification': daily replenishment, casual snacks, and late-night drinks are all likely to be ordered via mobile for immediate receipt, and they are simultaneously sensitive to delivery speed, experience stability, and price perception. Compared with traditional e-commerce, instant retail has at least two fundamental differences: LBS-based localized supply: Stores are distributed in points across cities, with a service radius typically of 2-3 kilometers. The supply mix for the same brand can be completely different across cities and business districts. Search-driven scenario-based matching: Consumers are 'triggered' by scenarios such as commuting, work, socializing, or family at specific times and places, and they discover and order products through search or recommendations. Taking business districts as an example, in tourist areas, searches and transactions for disposable toiletries, sunscreen, rain gear, and small-pack snacks significantly increase; in office and residential districts, during after-work and nighttime hours, the demand share for snacks, alcoholic beverages, dairy products, and instant foods rises. The category structure of the same store also changes continuously in the morning, noon, and evening. This means that instant retail is not about 'one big assortment for the whole country' but rather about continuously making dynamic matches of 'time × location × people × scenario' across highly dispersed points. Those who better understand local scenarios and core customer groups are more likely to gain an advantage in instant retail. This applies not only to platforms and warehouse store merchants but also to brands and distributors. Entering flash warehouses is not just adding a 'listing channel' but participating in a new supply system. The 'Four Essential Courses' for Brands Entering Flash Warehouses Taking convenience store format flash warehouses as an example, a single store typically covers 100-300 square meters, with SKUs often exceeding 7,000, covering all categories such as casual snacks, alcoholic beverages, dairy products, grain and oil, daily necessities, household cleaning, and personal care. Under limited warehouse capacity and limited manpower, warehouse store merchants face common constraints including tight shelf space, limited inventory depth, and limited operational energy. In such an operational structure, if a brand hopes to scale in flash warehouses, it needs to complete at least four 'essential courses.'

  1. Curate an 'Instant Retail-Ready' Assortment The first course is assortment restructuring. Many brands initially tend to use their offline KA or centralized e-commerce assortment and simply 'move a batch up.' This can solve the problem of 'having products to sell' in the short term, but it is difficult to solve whether it 'fits the scenario.' For instant retail, three points should be considered: Specifications and scenarios: Instant consumption leans toward 'buy now, use now' and 'nearby replenishment.' Products in small or portable packaging, suitable for one-time or short-cycle consumption, are often more likely to be chosen. Price band and decision speed: In 'casual ordering' scenarios, consumers have limited time to compare. If a product falls into a price band that is easier to 'add to cart casually,' it is more conducive to conversion. Channel relationships and differentiation: It is necessary to evaluate in advance the relationship with existing channels such as distribution, KA, supermarkets, and e-commerce. If necessary, differentiate in flavor, specification, packaging, or combination to reduce price and assortment conflicts. Treating the 'instant retail assortment' as an independent task, rather than a simplified version of other channels, is becoming a new consensus among some brands.
  2. Distribution and Shelf Placement: Deliver Products and Services The second course is distribution and shelf placement. Unlike centralized e-commerce, in instant retail, 'being on the platform' is not enough to gain exposure. Only when products actually enter local warehouse stores can they appear when consumers search. If a brand's products only cover a few cities or a small number of warehouse stores, for most consumers, they are still 'unsearchable.' Therefore, a standardized and sustainable distribution system is a prerequisite for scaling. However, from the warehouse store perspective, evaluating a supplier is not only about price and payment terms but increasingly about 'service capability': Whether they can provide complete, standardized images, details, and selling points to reduce listing editing costs; Whether they respond promptly to new product launches, promotions, and information updates; Whether they are system- and process-friendly, reducing cumbersome communication and manual operations. In an environment of rising operational pressure, 'convenience' itself is a competitive advantage. Brands and suppliers that can deliver services and tools together are more likely to be prioritized by warehouse stores.
  3. Sales Velocity: From 'Getting In' to 'Selling Well and Retaining' The third course is sales velocity. Under the premise of limited warehouse capacity and high SKU density, warehouse stores need to continuously evaluate the output of each shelf. Single products with persistently low velocity will inevitably face the risk of being replaced. For brands, merely 'entering' is not an advantage; the key is 'whether they can keep selling.' In the flash warehouse scenario, velocity can be driven from three directions: Design activities and bundles around scenarios: For example, design bundle purchases, add-on purchases, and linked promotions that fit the pace of instant retail for high-frequency scenarios like late-night gatherings, family breakfasts, and overtime replenishment. Leverage capable service providers: Have professional service providers break down complex activity rules into executable actions and configurations for warehouse stores, reducing trial-and-error costs. Continuously optimize with data: Use platform feedback on category performance, regional differences, and time-period distribution to adjust SKU structure, concentrating resources on single products and bundles with greater potential. In the warehouse store's operating account, products that 'turn over faster, have stable gross margins, and are not complex to execute' are more likely to secure long-term shelf space and higher weight.
  4. Supply Assurance: Continuous Stock, Stable Fulfillment, Reliable After-Sales The fourth course is supply assurance and after-sales. Platform data shows that after some brands complete initial shelf placement, their sell-out rates remain high, and during peak hours, 'link but no stock' situations frequently occur. For consumers, this directly affects trust in the brand and store, and weakens repurchase intention. To improve supply stability, efforts can be made in three areas: Replenishment mechanism: Use platform tools or cooperative systems to automatically generate replenishment suggestions based on sales and inventory data, avoiding reliance solely on experience. Fulfillment efficiency: Shorten the logistics time from upstream to warehouse stores, reducing the pressure on warehouse stores to raise inventory to avoid stockouts. After-sales support: Especially in categories like home appliances and small appliances, introduce partners with after-sales service capabilities to directly handle consumers and the major system, reducing management costs for stores and brands in after-sales. In instant retail scenarios, continuous stock, stable fulfillment, and reliable after-sales constitute the underlying conditions for a brand's long-term operation. 'Lightning Bangbang': From Entering Channels to 'Controllable Supply' From a brand perspective, to run a smooth business in flash warehouses, it is necessary to unify internal understanding, streamline organizational and interest structures, and also have external cooperation systems and platform tools. Within the brand: Unify understanding and streamline organizational and interest structures In communications with many brands, two common issues can be seen: First, the difficulty of articulating the 'value of instant retail.' Even if management has recognized the direction, it is still necessary to systematically explain to various internal lines the differences from traditional offline and e-commerce in customer structure, fulfillment methods, reach paths, and data loops, and then explain why differentiated assortments, pricing, and resource allocation mechanisms are needed. Second, the interest structure needs to be restructured. In the new channel chain, the division of labor among brands, distributors, service providers, and warehouse stores changes: who is responsible for supply, who handles operations, who provides services, and who directly faces consumers are all different from the past. The corresponding fee allocation and assessment mechanisms must be adjusted, otherwise channel conflicts and internal friction are likely. In this context, some brands have begun to set up a dedicated 'instant retail/flash warehouse channel' line and, through differentiated packaging specifications and policies, form relatively clear boundaries with existing channels. Platform and Service Providers: A B2B System Aimed at 'Efficiency' In external cooperation, on the one hand, more service providers with comprehensive capabilities are needed to take on some responsibilities in selection, distribution, fulfillment, activity execution, and after-sales; on the other hand, a platform that can efficiently connect brands, service providers, and warehouse stores is also needed. Based on this, Meituan has built a B2B platform called 'Lightning Bangbang' on the flash warehouse supply chain side. Its positioning is not to create another traditional B2b that pursues scale, but to 'improve supply efficiency,' focusing on three points:
  5. Service Provider Program: Open to suppliers and service providers with capabilities in selection, distribution, fulfillment, after-sales, and operations. Through pilots and expansion, form replicable and scalable cooperation models.
  6. Open Recruitment and Data Empowerment: Recruit partners with supply advantages nationwide, and through moderately open data capabilities, help them understand the demand structure of different regions and warehouse stores, improving supply precision.
  7. Regional Selection Meetings and Regular Docking: Build offline docking scenarios between brands, warehouse stores, and service providers in key regions, accelerating brand entry into flash warehouse channels on one end, and promoting service providers to iterate capabilities in practice on the other. On the basis of 'Lightning Bangbang,' combined with tools like 'Brand Connect,' brands can designate approved distributors or service providers as partners, connecting B2B procurement and C2C sales data, gradually achieving:
  • Visualization and controllability of channels and supply;
  • Precision and result-orientation in fee and resource allocation;
  • Data-based long-term collaboration with warehouse stores and service providers. Final Thoughts From the supply-side perspective, the development of instant retail is undergoing a shift from 'competing on speed' to 'competing on supply capability':

The competitive focus is no longer solely on '30-minute delivery,' but on whether the right products and services can be provided at the right time and place, highly matched to scenarios;

For brands to scale in flash warehouses, they need to build capabilities in four dimensions: assortment curation, distribution and shelf placement, sales velocity, and supply assurance;

Leveraging platforms like 'Lightning Bangbang' to more efficiently connect brands, distributors, service providers, and warehouse stores is expected to form a more efficient and controllable system on the supply side, laying the foundation for the long-term development of instant retail. For brands, distributors, and service providers, instant retail has transformed from a 'whether to do it' choice to a 'how to do it professionally' capability question. Those who can complete organizational adjustments and supply system upgrades earlier are more likely to take the initiative in the next phase of channel competition.