Source | Innovation Retail Society **The supply in instant retail channels isn't about simply moving existing practices to a new platform; it's a fundamental shift in underlying logic. To understand this shift, one must first consider a seemingly simple question—why is China's retail industry more complex than ever? In the view of Ding Ning, founder of Tawang Talk, behind this "complexity" is that China is almost the only market globally where traditional retail, e-commerce retail, and instant retail are all undergoing dramatic changes simultaneously. This also means we face a uniquely challenging path to retail breakthrough. This raises a key point: why should we catch up on instant retail? Because it's no longer just a few companies or cities taking action; it's what industry leaders are doing. When everyone pushes in the same direction, it will eventually reach a tipping point, and once that happens, the entire supply relationship and fundamentals will change. In this context, we need "the power of leapfrogging," including leaps in model, efficiency, and scenario reach. To help more readers gain deeper insights into this field, we've compiled Ding Ning's main sharing points from the forum for you. Where is the certainty in instant retail? For brands, entering a new retail channel isn't easy. If not for the food delivery war pushing data, user mindset, and fulfillment capabilities to the forefront, information in instant retail would remain closed off, and many brands would struggle to understand it. So, is there certainty in instant retail? From a brand perspective, we need to understand this clearly before making medium- to long-term investments. Certainty 1: Human nature and technology Beyond traditional growth metrics, consider the endgame of human nature and technology. Human nature is increasingly lazy and self-centered, and with technological development, it evolves into "what we think of, we must get immediately." For example, those in e-commerce know that during promotions, users start urging shipment within minutes of ordering—this anxiety reflects an expectation of "instant gratification." Certainty 2: Underlying architecture & policy stability Looking at the long cycle of global retail development, in the intelligent economy era, the explosion of instant retail is almost inevitable. The concept of instant retail wasn't invented in China, but why can we leapfrog and enter this field early? In my view, it's because we have foundations others lack: we have the largest food delivery market, the lowest average order value, and the highest fulfillment efficiency, making us the only market globally where instant retail can achieve scale. Beyond the highest penetration and efficiency in food delivery, let's break it down further: Is our logistics infrastructure relatively the best? Is mobile payment leading? Is the local life service system the most complete? Because we already have this infrastructure network, it has invisibly paved the way for instant retail's evolution—this is the necessary foundational architecture for its development. Now consider policy stability. Whenever a new channel emerges, people worry about this. When e-commerce started, some asked: Why not protect physical retail? When instant retail grew, others asked: Why not protect e-commerce? In reality, our development path differs from other countries. We have 240 million flexible workers, with a large proportion in food delivery, express, logistics, and e-commerce. Both sides are important; it's hard to protect one and suppress the other. So from a macro perspective, we talk more about regulation than intervention. This is evident in many policy statements: 15-minute living circles, digital consumption, intelligent economy, smart logistics... They don't mention instant retail directly, but all infrastructure is linked to it. Based on this, we judge: instant retail has certainty. Even if it's not mature now, it will be in the future. If you missed the last dividend period, you'll enter this one eventually—it's just a matter of time. Uncertainty is its greatest charm Of course, there are uncertainties. For instance, the official latest data on food delivery penetration hasn't been released, but in previous data, only about 10-20 out of every 100 frequent food delivery users order non-food items. There's significant room to increase non-food user penetration among food delivery users. Now, let's look at what platforms are trying. Take this year's Double 11 as an example; the top category platforms pushed was Apple phones. If we can break through user mindset with a category like Apple phones, what category can't we break through? This is about digging deeper into incremental markets. Crucially, there's also smart technology fulfillment. We're in a service-intensive industry; no matter how technology develops, it's not the endgame. As long as technology can reduce costs by even a cent, the market size could exceed our imagination. That's the greatest charm of instant retail—it may have even more room to grow. What are the characteristics of instant retail channels? After understanding certainty, let's look at the channel itself. How is it different from others? Channel characteristic 1: Limited shelf brand offensive-defensive For example, instant retail is like a bottle; the body can be trillions or tens of trillions, but its supply market might be the bottleneck—limited. In the early stages, some brands entered with almost no marketing spend and achieved full-channel coverage because the "bottleneck" wasn't crowded then; early entrants secured positions. Your decision time and cost are proportional; the later you enter, the higher the marginal time cost and the lower the marginal benefit. This is the limited shelf brand battle. Channel characteristic 2: Supply meets mindset offensive-defensive Many brands think: I'm doing well in other channels, so this one doesn't matter. That's possible, but it carries risks. From the food delivery war, we saw that one yuan can change user consumption mindset. In instant retail, when a user places an order, if your brand isn't within 3 kilometers, even if they were loyal before, they'll quickly choose a substitute. Over time, they'll form habits with the substitute brand. Unless your brand has "irreplaceable" competitive barriers, once habits form, it can cause mindset shifts across all channels. For example, if loyal customers of brand A shift to brand B, they might buy B's products on e-commerce and offline too. This shows that high-frequency instant retail users' mindsets are easily shifted, which could affect your existing base. So I want to emphasize: even if we can't attack aggressively in this market, we must defend our loyal customer base. Channel characteristic 3: 24/7 consumption scenario emotional connection Instant retail is a true 24-hour, 365-day channel, meeting many differentiated needs that were hard to satisfy before. One year, when hail hit Wuhan, many offline stores closed, but all our warehouse stores stayed open, and riders delivered. Some customers even wrote thank-you notes because it was near Spring Festival, and orders were mostly for emergency needs. This emotional connection and scenario coverage show that instant retail is irreplaceable. For years, retail has said: products will be replaced by scenarios, but in e-commerce and other traditional channels, without precise data, how can you match scenarios accurately? It's hard. This concept has been around for years; everyone knows the direction, but brands find it hard to implement. But in instant retail, we can clearly see data: Who buys? At what time? In which city or apartment? What do they buy together? What are the sub-scenarios and combined scenarios? This data is extremely valuable, and platforms continuously improve these data profiles. I even believe that in the future, the platform with the most precise data might be instant retail. Because the shorter the decision time, the more real the data—this is our precise channel battlefield. How can brands tap into channel value? After understanding certainty and channel characteristics, let's discuss: How can brands extract channel value? I break this into four steps:

  • 0-1: Complete listing, appear within the physical 3-kilometer range;
  • 1-10: Be seen by users, truly appear in their searches and recommendations;
  • 10-100: Become the first association in sub-scenarios;
  • 100+: Users recommend you, creating self-propagation. Let's focus on step two—how to go from "existence" to "being discovered"? There are many details: your search terms, image-text display, activity design, product mix, sales weight, customer Q&A, even gift-giving, can affect whether your product is seen or converted. Who does these? The terminal operators, i.e., our flash warehouse brand owners. For example, if brands A and B are competitors, and I use A as a traffic driver and B as a profit maker, over time, their sales will diverge dramatically. This is the Matthew effect on delivery platforms; the traffic logic is: the higher your sales, the higher your weight, and the easier it is to sell more. If you get it right the first time, it often forms a self-reinforcing curve, gradually taking share. In step three, how do we go from "discovery" to "locking in customers"? First, you must offer the right product. Many brands put products on shelves but can't sell them because they might not be offering the right ones. For example, power banks—no matter how much users like your brand, if it can't go on a plane, it's hard to use in instant retail. Or for many people living alone, they need smaller sizes; if you only offer large packages, they'll hesitate. Second, satisfy product association. You should try to meet their consumption loop, satisfying more needs in the same purchase by the same person. They might not even like you, but at that moment, they know "I need this." True brand barriers are built by being the first association in such scenarios. Brand case studies Let me give a few examples. Case 1: Full-scenario satisfaction—Bottle Planet Bottle Planet has three product lines, very clear and scenario-based. For instance, Xin Hun Shao Jiu targets men's camaraderie, street food gatherings; Mei Jian targets women's heart-to-heart talks with old friends; Guo Li Fang targets cocktail mixing, trendy play, and music parties. Its product structure outlines a complete scenario map. On this basis, it launched small, medium, and gift packs to enrich scenarios. It also expanded by seeking new product combinations to extend usage scenarios. For example, ice cups often have higher search volume than many single products. Many people have fridges but not always ice; can we bind with ice cups to become traffic bridges? Whoever has high traffic, bind with them. The same person, in the same order, buys both alcohol and ice cups, maybe even some snacks. Once this fixed consumption pattern is established, you not only meet more needs but also reinforce your product's presence and association. Association relates to platform search logic; they might search for your product directly before seeing competitors. Case 2: From product to category—Shark Fit's 10x growth in one year Speaking of Shark Fit, many warehouse owners are familiar with it. It's more accurate to say instant retail chose Shark Fit than Shark Fit chose instant retail. Early on, many warehouse owners noticed this category selling well and gradually introduced it. When Shark Fit noticed unexplained backend data growth and traced it, they found the main source was flash warehouse channels, so they immediately made it a core channel. How fast did they act? As a brand, they directly established a direct-sales team because they deeply understand flash warehouse supply characteristics: high frequency, small batch restocking; without enough manpower, it won't work. What level of service can they provide? They not only connect with brand managers and procurement but also with each store's WeChat group; when a store manager posts, the middle office responds immediately and arranges restocking. Through this, they've optimized restocking frequency and efficiency. But for Shark Fit, the biggest gain in this channel isn't just covering 10,000 warehouses and achieving 10x growth in a year, but gradually becoming "a category" in many warehouses, not just "a product." We know a warehouse has 7,000-8,000 or even 10,000 SKUs, but there are only about 20-30 second-level categories. In this context, many warehouses list Shark Fit as a separate category, giving it more marketing and mindset shifts, thus evolving from "product" to "category association." Case 3: Full-chain layout—Hai Shi Hai Nuo strategic transformation Hai Shi Hai Nuo was originally a traditional medical device manufacturer and supplier. In e-commerce and other traditional fields, its bandages ranked top three, but in instant retail, it achieved top rankings in multiple categories. The reason is simple: after completing basic instant retail layout, many competitors weren't on the shelves. With no competition, why not be first? So the company made a strategic shift: from a traditional manufacturer to a builder of a big health ecosystem in instant retail. We can see a series of actions: full-platform coverage, cooperation with Meituan to plan 500 official flagship warehouses, direct or joint-venture authorized third-party medical warehouse stores, covering over 80% of flash warehouses on the supply side, and building its own platform to become the first O2O big health brand. These actions are strategic leaps from early instant retail layout and deep cultivation. So, this market has huge imagination space. I believe instant retail's supply market is only about 10% complete; the remaining 90% might be hidden in data, supply structures, user experiences, and every shelf. But more importantly, I believe more answers are hidden in the field. This is one aspect I appreciate about this conference: bringing brands, terminal operators, and platforms together to build a new symbiotic and marketing relationship, jointly creating a "precise quality supply era."