New Year’s Eve dinner battle has begun!
The Spring Festival has always been the ultimate climax of the catering industry in the past year. As an unbiased peak in customer flow, the Spring Festival, including the New Year’s Eve dinner, is an excellent opportunity for restaurants to increase sales and drive profits.
Under the normalized epidemic environment, online is destined to become the main battlefield for this year's New Year's Eve dinner. So, as the main battlefield shifts, what changes will the competition focus of the New Year’s Eve dinner take? How should merchants deal with it and win this war? Through Shangri-La , Nanjing food stalls, Xibei and other big-name catering, let’s take a look at this 2022 catering "Spring Festival" battle.
competition focus shifts, merchant gameplay has changed
0 The epidemic is still the biggest resistance to dine-in during this year's Spring Festival. Dining in is blocked, takeaway counterattacks, from "to-store" to "to-home", the scene changes, the focus of competition changes, and the merchant's gameplay is also being reshaped.
1, "heartfelt" delivery set
is different from daily takeaway. Due to the special emotions of the New Year's Eve dinner, Chinese people have special requirements for the New Year's Eve dinner in terms of ingredients selection and dish matching. New Year’s Eve dinner is often presented in the form of set meals, and the set meals that impress consumers not only have delicious meals, but also have good packaging and even good names.
In the current popular New Year’s Eve dinner set meals, there are sets that combine high-frequency New Year’s dishes such as fish, duck, pork , dumplings, and other high-quality delicacies with distinctive regional characteristics such as pot vegetables ; in terms of name, there are many beautiful words such as blessed family banquet, supper family banquet, and a bunch of benevolent. Borrowing the food to send complimentary blessings, so that consumers can have emotional recognition of the restaurant, so why don’t the merchants do it?
2. Strong delivery capabilities
During the Spring Festival, the delivery demand suddenly increased, and in addition to the food, consumers also hope to enjoy the best service experience. This puts forward more stringent requirements for the instant delivery capabilities, and also means that the basic service of "not closing during the Spring Festival" can no longer meet the needs of merchants.
How to ensure stable transportation capacity and service quality? How to maximize the profits of online business based on high-quality distribution? Shen found that during this Spring Festival, many big-name restaurants such as Quanjude , Tongqinglou, Shangri-La, Nanjing Food Stall, Jingego, Runyuan Four Seasons, Boat Fish Dumpling , Intercontinental and other major restaurants have reached a strategic cooperation with SF Express City, the leading third-party instant delivery platform. At the same time, SF Express City also issued a service guarantee plan that "never closes during the Spring Festival".
Third-party delivery platform is gradually becoming the backbone of catering delivery. Chan noted that SF Express will continue to increase its brand development in 2021. Especially in the second half of the year, SF Express launched a full-scale upgrade of the brand, changed the brand new brand logo, upgraded the platform with the theme of Knight Care, and enabled , Su Bingtian, as the brand spokesperson. A series of upgrade measures allowed SF Express to penetrate into local scenes such as catering and retail at a faster speed. On December 14, SF Express and the City went public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, which also brought greater imagination space to the development of third-party instant delivery platforms.
big brand leaders, fighting online New Year’s Eve dinner in this way, not only New Year’s Eve dinner, but cooperating with professional third-party instant delivery platforms has become a common choice for many big-name catering. If the New Year’s Eve dinner reflects more the professionalism of the third-party platform during the special period, then daily cooperation is the strategic support for the takeaways for big brands.
1, private domain public domain full access + customized exclusive service
In the past two years, facing the many shackles of public domain platforms in terms of commissions, content, etc., more and more merchants have chosen to introduce mini programs, and even built takeaway platforms through their own APPs. Big-name catering is one step ahead.
Haidilao officially launched its own APP in 2018. In 2021, the peak daily active users of Haidilao APP users exceeded 310,000. Based on the combination of APP + mini program + public domain platform, Haidilao completed its omni-channel layout early.
Xibei, which was first involved in the new retail of semi-finished products in the catering industry and vigorously planned takeout, has also created its own mini program in addition to the two major public domain platforms of Meituan and Ele.me .During the 2020 epidemic, the order rate of Xibei mini program has soared by 322%.
2021 is a year when private domain scenarios such as mini programs continue to explode. Public data shows that in 2021, the transaction volume of mini-programs in catering, retail and other industries increased by more than 100% year-on-year. In this context, own platforms such as mini programs naturally become the home court for the New Year’s Eve dinner. This year, the New Year’s Eve dinner packages for merchants such as Nanjing Food Stall, Xuji Seafood were arranged in the C position of their mini program early.
public domain traffic dividends are declining, and private domain traffic is rising, on the one hand because private domain can serve as an important channel for merchants to expand sales scenarios; on the other hand, because private domain traffic has become an outlet for merchants to fight with food delivery public domain platforms and avoid commission draws. In this process, third-party distribution platforms are used as a weapon for merchants to play games, helping merchants increase their voice in front of the platform.
Behind the omni-channel operation of brands such as Haidilao, Xibei, and Nanjing Food Stall, the third-party platform SF Express plays an important role. In view of Haidilao's omnichannel + new retail layout, in addition to hotpot takeaway, SF Express City also provides service support for its mall delivery; SF Express City and Xibei's cooperation also covers omnichannel orders. In addition, SF Express City has also formulated an order overflow service model for Xibei; in the face of the upcoming Spring Festival peak season, SF Express City has already been ready to go, and is welcomed with many catering brands to meet the upcoming order peak.
At present, in addition to Meituan, Ele.me, mini programs and other channels, SF Express has also connected to new e-commerce platforms such as WeChat, , Douyin, , and Kuaishou. In this way, merchants can directly complete private domain traffic closed loops from content marketing to sales to orders, and then logistics tracking on various platforms, achieving more channel layout and maximizing efficiency.
is undertaken through omnichannel, and it has become a necessity to meet the comprehensive delivery needs of merchants during peak and special periods of orders with strong and flexible capacity. But high-end catering needs more than this. High-end catering also needs personalized services that fit the brand's tone and help the brand develop. This is exactly what the takeaway platform lacks. The standardized delivery of takeaway platforms can only meet the general needs of most merchants and cannot provide differentiated services to high-end brands. It has always been a pain point for high-end brands to use takeaway platforms to build takeaway brands. This pain point is being broken by a third-party distribution platform, and SF Express returns the right to define the service to the merchant.
In addition to important festivals like the Spring Festival, we will do a refined service process to create a sense of ritual for the brand, and at the same time assist the brand in creating its own unique image. The value of the third-party instant delivery platform is becoming increasingly prominent. In the future, more and more consumers will find that SF Express City has emerged in the image of brand "exclusive" delivery through rider clothing, takeaway box design, rider speech terms, etc.
2, huge capacity chassis + elastic scheduling management
peak orders are all received and instant and high-quality delivery is achieved. Faced with special nodes such as the Spring Festival and New Year’s Eve dinner, not missing any business opportunities is the ultimate demand of the merchant.
During the Spring Festival, the main meal is favored. High-end restaurants such as Shangri-La, Tongqinglou, and InterContinental will usher in the peak order period, while New Year's Eve will reach its peak. In the face of "explosive orders" or emergencies that may occur during special festivals, many platforms have insufficient capacity and are likely to be unable to deal with it. In contrast, SF Express, which continues the powerful network system and capacity management capabilities of , SF Express, , is far more professional than other platforms. The capacity tension, support and risk resistance shown by it have become the key factors for many merchants to choose to cooperate with them.
Take the cooperation between McDonald's and SF Express City as an example. SF Express City is also the largest partner of McDonald's in China. It has guaranteed McDonald's 88 Golden Powder Festival for four consecutive years since the first session. It is also the capacity responsibility of McDonald's 61st Children's Day and other important nodes. After McDonald's first store in Tibet opened, SF Express City has taken on the challenges of McDonald's "highest altitude delivery".
These are all proof of SF Express’s city transportation strength.2.8 million registered riders, covering the distribution network of 1,000 cities and counties. Based on the flexible capacity chassis, SF Express’s digital and intelligent distribution platform ensures scientific and efficient dispatch of riders during peak orders. "Deliver on time at any time" is the confidence of SF Express City to "never close" and is also the core support for SF Express City to help merchants comprehensively improve takeaway services.
3, high-end service quality output + brand building helps
For merchants, takeaway is not only a revenue scenario, but also a business card to showcase the brand image. Business cards must not only be practical, but also be "beautiful" to make consumers more impressed.
From the perspective of consumers, the big-name New Year’s Eve dinner with high-end and professional delivery brands are in line with the consistent reputation and service image of big-name catering. During this Spring Festival, in addition to continuously strengthening requirements such as Knight's appearance, behavioral norms, service attitude, and polite language, SF Express will continue to adhere to contactless delivery, strictly implement detailed guarantees such as temperature measurement, disinfection, personal and food safety, and help the safe and high-quality delivery of food.
From the perspective of the merchant, using SF Express’s professionalism and influence to match the high-quality brand experience of restaurants is also a common strategy for many big brands. This year, in the New Year’s Eve dinner delivery service provided by Shangri-La to VIP customers, SF Express City has become an important part of its output of advanced user VIP experience.
In addition to seizing the opportunity of the Spring Festival to improve service experience and guarantee the festival atmosphere, it has strongly bound with SF Express, which has a good reputation, to form joint potential energy, and has also become a strong push for many catering brands to carry out daily brand building.
When the flood situation in Zhejiang and the epidemic in Nanjing was severe in July, as my uncle's "excellent strategic partner", SF Express City has jointly initiated charity delivery with my uncle many times. In the continuous public welfare actions, the social value of the company is not only demonstrated, but also further helps catering brands to enhance their public welfare image and establish brand reputation.
4. Create a takeaway brand, and the battle of the Spring Festival started
Since the outbreak of the epidemic, takeaway, semi-finished products, and even new retail have become important entrances for merchants to find new revenue growth. As a peak consumption period, the Spring Festival has become a key node for merchants to output their "new consumption" image to consumers. How to use the Spring Festival to launch "new consumption" channels such as takeaway, semi-finished products, and new retail is a short-term strategic goal that many businesses are planning.
In this war that emphasizes "fast, ruthless and accurate", SF Express City is becoming a partner for merchants to fight side by side and a weapon for precise attacks, helping more merchants win this war.
From "to-store" to "to-home", professional third-party instant delivery platforms are entering the catering industry at high speed.
SF Express is deeply engaged in four major local scenes including catering, which undoubtedly brings greater imagination space for catering takeaway. From the perspective of public domain traffic diversion, SF Express City's omni-channel access can help merchants form a closed-loop of traffic diversion; from the perspective of private domain operations, SF Express City can also become a professional delivery support for merchants to break away from the shackles of public domain platforms and create their own online platforms. In the future, including SF Express City, catering takeaway will usher in a new peak with the support of professional third-party instant delivery platforms.
At present, in the battle of New Year’s Eve dinner, with SF Express as the same city, what surprises will the third-party instant delivery platform bring to the catering industry? Stay tuned!
