Source | Pin Yin Hui Guan Cha With a vast offline retail network and mature e-commerce ecosystem, where is the next explosive growth point in the Chinese market? When "30-minute delivery" evolves from a restaurant exclusive to everything available instantly, a retail efficiency revolution around "space and time" is quietly reshaping consumer shopping habits—this is not just a race in delivery speed, but a deep reconstruction of supply chains, traffic, and scenarios. According to industry data, the instant retail market has maintained an average annual growth rate of over 40% in recent years, and is expected to exceed one trillion yuan by 2025. Platforms like Meituan Flash Shopping, JD Daojia, and Taobao Flash Shopping have extended from "delivering food" to "delivering everything," while traditional supermarkets, brands, and emerging warehouse-store models are accelerating their entry. Behind this wave seemingly driven by the "lazy economy," there is actually a triple symphony of fragmented consumption scenarios, instant demand, and localized supply. However, this track is far from simply "putting products online." Many brands and distributors still equate it with "food delivery e-commerce" or an "upgraded community group buying," leading to cognitive biases and strategic confusion when entering. In fact, the essence of instant retail is not channel migration, but a systematic reconstruction around "people—goods—place—time": Goods must come from local physical stores, fulfillment must be completed within minutes, and consumption motives are highly scenario-based—whether it's needing a beer late at night, suddenly lacking ice cups at a party, or forgetting toiletries on a business trip. Instant retail provides not just products, but a "certainty of instant satisfaction." In this context, the beverage category has become the "golden category" with the fastest growth and densest scenarios in instant retail. From milk with breakfast, coffee for afternoon tea, to drinks for dinner parties and late-night snacks, beverages run through all-day multi-scenarios, and are characterized by standardization, low decision-making, and high frequency, highly matching the emergency nature and young customer base of instant retail. This has led many brands to re-examine channel layout—not just offline distribution, but also how to make products appear in the nearest reachable outlets when consumers need them. In this issue, we talked with Wang Meiyi, Operations Director of Qiuyu Technology, who has deep experience in instant retail, to systematically sort out the cognitive framework and action paths for instant retail from platform logic, business type classification, operational strategies, to brand implementation methods. This article will clarify:
- The fundamental differences between instant retail and food delivery, traditional e-commerce, and community group buying;
- The population and scenario logic behind beverages becoming a "golden category";
- The traffic mechanisms and cooperation strategies of mainstream platforms like Meituan, JD, and Taobao;
- The two core capabilities brands must build for instant retail; In this ongoing retail transformation, which opportunities belong to keen pioneers, and which traps should latecomers be wary of? The following is an edited interview with Wang Meiyi, Operations Director of Qiuyu Technology, systematically deconstructing the operational logic and brand opportunities of instant retail from practical and strategic levels. Interviewer: Many distributors and brands have cognitive biases about instant retail, thinking it's like food delivery or traditional e-commerce. From a professional perspective, what exactly is instant retail? What are its core differences from food delivery and traditional e-commerce? What are the mainstream platforms? Wang Meiyi, Operations Director of Qiuyu Technology: Instant retail is different from food delivery; food delivery belongs to the catering channel, while the essence of instant retail is a retail carrier. Its core logic is that consumers place orders online instantly, goods are supplied by local physical retailers, and riders deliver to home within 30 minutes to 1 hour. Compared with traditional e-commerce, there are significant differences in goods source, fulfillment time, and consumption motives: in terms of goods source, instant retail comes from local physical retailers, while traditional e-commerce mostly comes from large warehouses of brands or distributors; in terms of fulfillment time, instant retail has achieved 15-30 minute delivery, while traditional e-commerce is at best half-day or 1-3 day delivery; In terms of consumption motives, instant retail meets emergency needs, such as lacking ice cups when mixing drinks, which can be ordered and delivered within 10-30 minutes via platforms like Meituan Flash Shopping or Taobao Flash Shopping, while traditional e-commerce is for scenarios where consumers have no clear time urgency and browse to compare prices. Instant retail platforms are mainly divided into three categories. The first is public domain platforms, represented by Meituan Flash Shopping, Taobao Flash Shopping, and JD Seconds, with large traffic entrances and dedicated entrances on the APP homepage, where users can buy local goods from Hema, Meijia, Yonghui, etc., delivered within 30 minutes. These platforms do not touch goods, only serve as traffic pools, covering retail, food delivery, flowers, beauty services, and other sectors. The second category is self-operated platforms of traditional retailers, such as Yonghui Life and Sam's Club APP, which can deliver within the same city within 1 hour if there is a store within 3-5 kilometers. The third category is internet warehouse-store platforms, including Xiaoxiang Self-operated, Hema Fresh, JD Qixian, and PUPU, which have warehouses and stores and directly handle goods. Interviewer: Instant retail and community group buying are easily confused. What are the core differences? Wang Meiyi, Operations Director of Qiuyu Technology: The differences focus on four dimensions: goods ownership, fulfillment mode, core appeal, and consumption scenarios. In terms of goods ownership, in instant retail, the goods ownership is in the hands of local physical retailers, while in community group buying, it is in the hands of the group leader, whose goods may come from local procurement or distributor supply. In terms of fulfillment mode, instant retail uses riders for door-to-door delivery, while community group buying requires users to pick up at the community or central warehouse. Image source: Xiaohongshu user @莞雷咩S In terms of core appeal, instant retail emphasizes ultimate convenience, with "minute-level or hour-level delivery," fitting the lazy economy and young consumers who are busy at work and have no time to go to supermarkets; community group buying emphasizes ultimate cost-effectiveness, mostly next-day or day-after delivery, targeting audiences seeking low prices. In terms of consumption scenarios, instant retail focuses on emergency needs, such as buying beer before leaving work or suddenly lacking milk at home; community group buying focuses on planned stocking, buying in advance for the next day or weekend needs of the family. Pin Yin Hui: Why is the beverage category called the "golden category" in instant retail? Wang Meiyi, Operations Director of Qiuyu Technology: The core reason beverages become a golden category is their high compatibility with the population, scenarios, and category characteristics of instant retail. At the population level, the core consumer group of instant retail is 35-38 years old (accounting for 60%) and 35-45 years old (accounting for 20%-30%), covering Gen Z, post-90s, and post-00s, the group with the strongest consumption power, completely overlapping with the core audience of beverages. Image source: Instant Retail Industry Development Report 2025 At the scenario level, the four major scenarios of instant retail—home, dining, social, and travel—and 16 sub-scenarios all have rigid demand for beverages: at home, lacking milk in the morning or wanting beer for late-night overtime can be ordered instantly; In dining scenarios, coffee with breakfast or lunch, milk tea for afternoon tea, and drinks with late-night snacks have a higher consumption frequency than eating; At social gatherings, drinking alcohol requires matching drinks and ice cups; when traveling, forgetting travel-sized drinks can be ordered nearby. At the category level, beverages are highly standardized, with rich variety, an average order value of only 5-6 yuan, and low decision cost. In 2025, the beverage category grew 40% in instant retail, on par with platform growth, hence the golden category. Interviewer: What are the core camps of instant retail platforms? What are their respective advantages and strategic focuses? Wang Meiyi, Operations Director of Qiuyu Technology: Instant retail platforms are divided into three major camps. The first is public domain platforms, contributing over 50%. Their advantage is that they don't touch goods but can integrate hundreds of thousands of local retailers and mom-and-pop stores nationwide. For example, Meituan Flash Shopping has 400,000-500,000 merchants, of which 200,000-300,000 can sell beverages, far exceeding other camps; mom-and-pop stores can open on the platform, flexibly extend business hours, and sell beer, beverages, and other goods through online orders. The second camp is self-operated platforms of traditional retailers, such as Sam's Club, Walmart Daojia, and Yonghui Life, leveraging mature offline store resources, focusing on same-city short-distance delivery, precisely serving surrounding residents. The third camp is internet self-operated warehouse-store platforms, such as Xiaoxiang, Qixian, and PUPU, using a warehouse-store combination to ensure goods supply and delivery timeliness. Special attention should be paid to lightning warehouses, which are the fastest-growing channel format on public domain platforms. Lightning warehouses require no decoration, no staff, operate 24 hours, and have lower costs. Platforms are strongly supporting them to increase network density. Currently, Meituan and Taobao Flash Shopping each have 50,000 lightning warehouses, expected to grow to 100,000 by 2027. Lightning warehouses are divided into three types: internet self-operated warehouses (represented by Xiaoxiang), cooperative warehouses (invested by enterprises, can develop chains), and social warehouses (opened by mom-and-pop stores or unemployed individuals, with monthly income of 5,000-6,000 to 10,000 yuan). With increased network density, consumers have more choices, brands have more distribution opportunities, and delivery speed further accelerates. Interviewer: What are the traffic logic, cooperation models, and fee structures of mainstream platforms like Meituan Flash Shopping, JD, and Taobao? What key points should brands note? Wang Meiyi, Operations Director of Qiuyu Technology: In terms of traffic logic, all three platforms have main sites, with separate entrances for flash shopping and supportive traffic, but core traffic comes from main search, accounting for over 80%. After opening the APP, users have clear goals and directly search keywords like "beverages" or "milk," with passive pushes (like red envelopes). According to a senior e-commerce person at a certain platform, white-label products get 1 click for 12 exposures, 1 add-to-cart for 7 clicks, and 1 order for 3 add-to-carts, which is a reference. In addition, cooperation models and fees are mainly divided into three categories. On the distribution side, the key is the execution of the brand's sales team; when distributing, they need to communicate with channel parties to synchronize offline goods online. Currently, head and mid-tier retailers are all laying out instant retail. If the sales team is diligent enough, they can do online distribution well and save costs. On the marketing side, brands must invest. One part is traffic fees, bidding for category search slots; the higher the bid, the higher the ranking. Another part is IP activity advertising fees; platforms hold themed activities like Ice Product Festival, Hotpot Season, and offline flash mobs, integrating large amounts of traffic. Brands need to actively participate to gain exposure. On the promotion side, mainly discounts, full reductions, and divine coupons, which need to be calculated based on brand gross margin and channel conditions, not blindly promoted. Brands should note that this is a combination of punches and cannot be done single-handedly. Brands with weak supply but high awareness should prioritize supplementing supply; brands with sufficient supply but low brand influence should focus on traffic. Small and medium brands are advised to prioritize Meituan and Taobao: Meituan has a high CVS channel share, with Meiyijia alone having 29,000 stores; after Taobao Flash Shopping merged with Ele.me, Alibaba's investment is strong, with more offline advertising exposure and considerable traffic potential. Interviewer: What are the 1-2 core capabilities brands need to build for success and growth in instant retail? Wang Meiyi, Operations Director of Qiuyu Technology: Product strength is the foundation. Under that premise, the most core capability is supply capability, i.e., distribution. Many brands mistakenly think instant retail is lightning warehouses, which is a cognitive bias. Lightning warehouses are just one supply format, and their proportion does not represent instant retail. Brands cannot limit themselves to self-operated platforms like Xiaoxiang, PUPU, or Hema; the traffic of public domain platforms must not be abandoned—Hema has stores on Taobao Flash Shopping, JD Qixian has stores on JD, and Xiaoxiang Self-operated exists as a merchant on Meituan Flash Shopping. Brands need to distribute comprehensively, and when distributing, synchronize with instant retail platforms without additional costs or manpower. Image source: Xiaohongshu user @西西不嘻嘻_ The second core capability is traffic operation capability. I know brands should not arbitrarily break prices; every product is carefully crafted by product managers. Excessive price cuts will damage the profits of brands and channels and also make consumers perceive the product as "cheap." The core of traffic operation is to make consumers "see" the brand, just like investing in CCTV or Focus Media in the past, through multi-dimensional exposure and participation in IP activities, allowing users to repeatedly contact the brand and form memory. Meituan and Taobao main sites have hundreds of millions of users. Even if the flash shopping entrance dilutes some traffic, there are still hundreds of millions of potential audiences. Brands should not limit themselves to niche traffic pools. By doing supply and traffic operation well, they can naturally achieve growth. 【Moving Towards the C-End】The 11th China FMCG Conference Time: March 16-18, 2026 Location: Chengdu, China