On September 16, Apple iPhone 14 series products were on sale in stock as expected. At around 8 o'clock in the morning, Mr. Li, who lives in Shenzhen, experienced the service of iPhone 14 delivered by Meituan drone. It is reported that this year, Meituan will continue to cooperate with Apple authorized stores that have entered the platform to sell new iPhone products.
Users received iPhone 14 delivered by Meituan drone (photo: Mao Yu)
In order to give users a better consumption experience, Meituan also launched drones this year to participate in the first delivery of new products. The first iPhone 14 order delivery took only 5 minutes and 56 seconds. A relevant person in charge of Meituan revealed that in the future, some Apple-authorized franchise stores in Shenzhen will be regularly connected to drone delivery. At that time, users can experience the standard service of "3 kilometers and 15 minutes" by purchasing Apple products.
According to Mr. Li, he was paying attention to the pre-sale of the iPhone 14 series products, but because the spot sale day is a working day, he couldn't queue up to buy it at the store, so he got up very early that day and rushed to Meituan to buy it. What surprised him was that after payment, he received a prompt from the system that the phone would be delivered by a drone and it was expected to be delivered in 5 minutes.
"I used to order takeaway with a drone, and the food I delivered tasted almost the same as eating in the store. This time I didn't expect that the first release of my mobile phone could also be delivered with a drone. I don't have to get up early and queue up, and it was delivered quickly, which felt very convenient." Mr. Li said.
In recent years, with the rise of instant retail, users' instant consumption habits have developed, and "buying everything with takeout" has become a new choice for more and more users, and buying mobile phones is no exception. Data shows that from January to August this year, Apple product sales on Meituan increased by 437% year-on-year, and iPhone sales increased by 850% year-on-year.
Meituan drone is delivering iPhone 14 (photographer Mao Yu)
At the same time, Meituan drone has been delivering food, tea, coffee and other categories in Shenzhen for nearly two years. In order to bring users a more convenient experience, Meituan also launched drones for the first time when the iPhone 14 series product was first launched this year. The routes participating in the delivery are one of the 11 normalized trial operation routes it has landed.
It is also understood that Meituan currently takes 28 to 30 minutes to deliver food delivery within a 3-kilometer range. However, with the support of the drone, the user's waiting time can be compressed to within 15 minutes from ordering to delivery. "This is also counting the time for merchants to prepare stocks and carry deliverymen. Many orders actually take only a few minutes to complete delivery." The above-mentioned person in charge of Meituan said that the core value of drones is capacity supplementation. At present, the normalized trial operation routes have been connected to the Meituan delivery network. Orders will achieve the collaboration between drones and riders through mixed order delivery, bringing users a better takeaway experience.
specifically depends on the delivery process. During the drone delivery service scope and operation period, after the user places an order to the merchant, the intelligent dispatching system will analyze and calculate based on the real-time order situation, and distribute orders with high delivery difficulty or high timeliness requirements to the drone for completion. The deliveryman only needs to take on the job of a ferryman in the business district - to go to the merchant to pick up the goods and load the goods on the drone at the takeoff point in the business district.
As of August 2022, Meituan drone delivery service was launched in four business districts in Shenzhen. Its route covers more than 10 communities and office buildings. It can serve nearly 20,000 households, complete more than 75,000 orders for real users, and carry out normal cooperation with different types of merchants such as catering, beauty, fast-moving consumer goods, and electronic products, gradually realizing a new shopping experience of "everything comes to home" within a radius of 3 kilometers.
[Reporter] Dai Xiaoxiao
[Author] Dai Xiaoxiao
[Source] Southern Media Group Southern + Client
