How can the catering industry be absent from the traffic of the European Cup?

Why has the emergence of the European Cup made food delivery platforms and catering businesses so active? This article helps you analyze why the summer economy can activate the catering industry through several simple cases.

A few days ago, an article in the industry titled "European Cup kicks off, catering professionals are collectively absent" sparked some industry attention and discussion, with some people saying that the Chinese catering industry was not active during the European Cup and did not seem to use this opportunity to attract consumers. However, judging from the trend in the past few days, this statement is wrong - takeout is still a must-order during every football match.

In the early morning of June 15, the new European Cup officially began, and many fans stayed up late to watch the live broadcast of their favorite teams.

Staying up late to watch football, midnight snacks are indispensable, but what to order and where to order makes many young people start to suffer from choice difficulties. After all, for contemporary young people who have both emotional and rational consumption, they may buy large items worth hundreds of thousands of dollars without hesitation, but for takeouts worth dozens of dollars, they have to compare prices from three stores to see which one is the most cost-effective.

At the same time, food delivery platforms and catering businesses did not let go of this wave of "huge traffic", and promotions, joint ventures, and limited-time events have all been launched as the event became more popular.

Many platforms and businesses have launched limited-time food discounts for the European Cup. Fruit Pie launched the "European Cup Set Meal", and supermarkets and convenience stores have also begun to launch a set meal of melon seeds and beer for watching the game. Not only online businesses, but also online businesses have felt the enthusiasm of the fans. A crayfish and barbecue shop owner specially set up a projection screen for live and relay broadcasts of the game in the store. He said that after the game started, the number of customers watching the live broadcast in the early morning in the store increased significantly. "In the past few weeks, there were few people at night because of the rain. The attendance rate in the past few nights has been particularly high. We have also launched corresponding sets of meals in our store."

Among them, Ele.me, a "conspicuous bag" that is good at coming up with new tricks, also started from the three dimensions of products, services and marketing, and made every effort to win this wave of dividends: not only did it cooperate with merchants to launch specific packages to meet summer needs, it also launched "ice-preserving delivery", and even made its own short dramas and launched online guessing activities to mobilize the participation of fans.

From football game marketing to seizing the summer market, the local life industry has never had a "lying flat" situation, and competition has even reached the stage of segmentation.

1. Watching football matches is more suitable for late night snacks

At 11:30 in the middle of the night, the alarm clock of football fan Xiaowu rang, and Xiaowu, who had just begun to feel sleepy, immediately jumped out of bed. He opened the door, picked up the skewers and beer he had ordered long ago, turned on the air conditioner, turned on the TV, and projected the screen, waiting for the game to start. This was a smooth series of moves. This was the fourth game that Xiaowu had stayed up late to watch since the start of the European Cup this year.

Every European Cup has its own fans who stay up late, and every football fan has its own consumers who order midnight snacks, and this year is no exception.

According to Ele.me data, since the start of the tournament, takeaway orders between 0:00 and 4:00 have increased by 30% month-on-month, and the early morning games have directly ignited the late-night snack economy. In particular, the first opening match of the German team, which has a large number of Chinese fans, directly led to a 32% month-on-month increase in takeaway orders between 2:00 and 3:00 on June 15.

For summer midnight snacks, cold drinks are naturally the most popular. From June 15th to 17th, the takeaway volume of ice cream and cold drinks during the midnight snack period on the platform increased by 100% month-on-month, while sports drinks, beer, and pre-mixed liquor increased by 60%, 50%, and 42% respectively. In addition, fruits are also very popular, with night orders for seasonal fruits such as lychees, peaches, watermelons, and bayberries all increasing by more than 150% month-on-month.

Ma Shuanglin, the owner of a newly opened kebab shop in Shunyi, Beijing, said that he chose to open the shop in summer because summer is the peak season for late-night snacks and he thought kebabs would be very popular. After the game started, he obviously felt the increase in orders, "basically it will increase by 20%-30% compared to May." Ma Shuanglin said.

"This year, we can clearly feel that fans are very enthusiastic about ordering midnight snacks online," said Ma Shuanglin. After the European Cup started, the store's order rate from 10 pm to 2 am rose sharply. "Because the area where I live is not a downtown area, it is basically full of residents. Before, there were very few orders after 11 o'clock. After the European Cup started, the orders will continue until the second half of the night."

When asked why consumers prefer to order online, Ma Shuanglin said, "It's hot, and everyone wants to stay home to eat supper and watch football games, which makes sense."

The upgrade of platform services is also an important reason why many people have shifted their football watching and dining consumption online.

Yaya has been ordering midnight snacks from Ele.me for a week. "The main reason is that Ele.me has various meal packages for the European Cup season. I am a girl and I am worried about getting fat if I eat skewers in the middle of the night. I don't feel like watching the game without eating anything, so I always buy a meal package of melon seeds and beer or a fixed combination of fruit slices at the supermarket. Three or four kinds of fruit cost only 20 to 30 yuan. I order them in advance and put them in the refrigerator, and eat them while watching the game."

In addition to the basic meal packages, Yaya also discovered that Ele.me has specially designed some small details to cater to watching football in summer this year: when buying alcohol at Convenience Bee and other supermarkets, you can exchange for an ice cup for 1 cent. "I think this activity is very thoughtful because I don't often drink cold things and I don't have ice cubes at home. This disposable ice cup usually costs 3-5 yuan, which I don't think is a good deal. Now I can buy it for 1 cent if I add a small amount to the order, which is almost like giving it away for free. It's practical and not wasteful."

Accurate meal packages and thoughtful service have become reasons for consumers to order takeout during the summer football season.

2. Ele.me’s traffic password

Watching football with passion can almost be regarded as a kind of "awakening of the force" for young people. If they want to tap into this force, in addition to eating and drinking, they naturally cannot lose the aspects of playing and having fun.

Every time there is a football match, there must be guessing the ball. In this regard, Ele.me has also accurately grasped the psychology of fans. The day before the official start of the European Cup, Ele.me announced the launch of this year's "Guess the ball and win a free meal" event. From 10 am on June 14, the guessing of the first group match during the European Cup has been opened. Fans can search for "guess the ball" on the Ele.me homepage, and the two teams that are about to play will pop up. Then they can choose the team they think can win and wait for the game to start.

On the second day after the game, users who guessed correctly can share the foodie beans in the "Foodie Beans Prize Pool". In addition to being exchanged for takeaway red envelopes, these "Foodie Beans" can also be exchanged for various welfare prizes during the entire European Cup, including 100ml Feitian Moutai, bracelets with gold footballs, and so on.

In addition, continuing the tradition of the European Cup, Ele.me has also launched a "penalty shootout" event. As long as the cumulative number of goals reaches the corresponding number, there will be a chance to win foodie beans, free red envelopes, Maotai and other rewards. Some netizens on Xiaohongshu have posted various prizes they won after scoring 10 goals, including a 39 yuan free red envelope, a Portugal mini jersey and so on.

In addition to playing guessing the ball, Ele.me also used the recently popular online short drama format.

Starting from June 21, Ele.me's own short drama was launched. You can search "足球火" on Ele.me to see the drama calendar. At the beginning of the short drama, the adopted heroine lost her father, and the players of the team led by her father also left the team one by one. In order to fulfill her father's long-cherished wish, the heroine took over the team and the star players in the team... The development of the story combines the most popular short drama elements at the moment, and is also closely related to the theme of the European Cup.

Objectively speaking, local life apps all have one characteristic: strong usage purpose and short stay time, so in addition to cooperating with merchants to launch packages and various subsidy red envelopes, the platform really needs to use more gameplay and creativity to retain users longer.

A netizen who saw the Ele.me skit while ordering food commented, "While waiting for the food, I saw that Ele.me actually had a skit, so I watched it for a while. Although the production was simple, the plot was quite addictive. In addition to ordering food, it also gave me some extra 'fun'. Next time I order, I will naturally want to continue using Ele.me."

3. Grasp the summer night economy

Watching football is no longer the only reason why young people stay up late.

"Since I started working, I feel that the only time I have at night is completely mine." This statement speaks to the feelings of many workers in first-tier cities. Vivian, who lives in Shunyi, Beijing and commutes to Wangjing every day, feels this deeply. "My one-way commute takes about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Even if I get off work at 6:30 every day, I get home at nearly 8 o'clock. After cleaning up, it's almost 10 o'clock. But I haven't done the novels I want to read, the dramas I want to watch, or the games I want to play, so I gradually like staying up late."

People like Vivian who stay up late at night are gradually supporting the late-night snack economy.

According to the "White-collar Late-night Snack Report", 30.7% of white-collar workers will choose to order a late-night snack to reward themselves after a tiring day at work; Ele.me data also shows that 9-10 pm is the peak period for nighttime consumption, and it will remain at a relatively high level until midnight. In addition to common late-night snack categories such as barbecue, Bobo chicken, fried chicken, etc., instant retail such as fruits and beverages are gradually becoming popular items for nighttime orders.

Among these late night snack lovers, those born in the 1990s and 2000s have gradually become the main force. Many of those born in the 2000s who have entered college or just entered the society will have roommates, and ordering late night snacks, playing games, and chatting together has become a social activity, so late night snacks have more social attributes than just filling the stomach.

In order to better meet the late-night snack needs of young people, Ele.me has repeatedly launched specific late-night snack packages with merchants. For example, in 2023, KFC teamed up with Ele.me to launch the "Soul Snack". KFC is very good at localized food innovation, and its late-night snack packages are basically concentrated on chicken racks, roast chicken and other products that are very suitable for the tastes of young people in China.

In today's world where "everything can be cyber", Ele.me has also moved its offline night market online and launched the "Cloud Night Market". The Changsha Commerce Bureau's official account once published an article saying that in combination with the characteristics of Changsha's local night market, Ele.me invested more than 10 million yuan in special funds such as city red envelopes and subsidies to launch Changsha's first cloud night market, bringing the fireworks of night market stalls online.

It can be said that as ordering takeout increasingly penetrates into the daily lives of young people, the scale of the domestic local life service market is expected to reach 35.3 trillion yuan by 2025, and the online penetration rate will exceed 30%. As the online penetration rate increases, marketing in segmented scenarios will also become crucial. Depending on different seasons, holidays, special times, and different time periods of the day, users' needs will be slightly different.

From the creative marketing of the European Cup to the comprehensive online and offline activities for summer midnight snacks, it can be seen that domestic platforms and merchants are not sitting still and are always trying to grasp the subtle changes in user needs.

There are still a lot of people in the catering industry working hard to attract traffic for this European Cup.

Author: Nana

Source: Lujiu Finance (ID: liujiucaijing69)