Kuaishou increases its trillion-dollar food delivery business and launches group purchase and home delivery

Previously, Douyin already had a function to directly order takeout, and now Kuaishou can do it too. In addition, the number of Kuaishou merchants supporting takeout is also increasing. For the fiercely competitive takeout market, there will be another heavyweight player.

Tech Planet has learned exclusively that since March this year, Kuaishou has optimized its product delivery function based on the delivery needs of some local life merchants. In the group purchase packages sold by merchants, the Kuaishou platform has not only added the "only support delivery" label in the service guarantee, but also added the "takeout to home" function service, which is technically supported by the Kuaishou local life open platform. This means that users on Kuaishou can also enjoy the group purchase delivery service.

In fact, Kuaishou’s entire food delivery model is similar to Douyin’s food delivery. The platform does not personally participate in the delivery service, but provides merchants with product support for delivery, including providing takeaway display labels for group purchase products, delivery order buttons, etc. The food delivery and other services are still completed by the merchants.

Previously, there were no delivery functions in the Kuaishou APP. In November last year, Tech Planet revealed that some of Kuaishou’s partner merchants have extended their delivery services to Kuaishou, that is, some of Kuaishou’s group purchases also support home delivery. But the whole process is just a spontaneous action of Kuaishou merchants, and there is no support like Kuaishou does now. In addition, the entire delivery must be completed in the WeChat applet or third-party APP designated by the merchant.

Nowadays, users can complete the entire process of group buying takeout products, from placing an order to home delivery, within the Kuaishou app.

It is worth noting that the number of Kuaishou merchants supporting food delivery is also increasing. In November last year, Kuaishou customer service said that at that time, local life group buying orders temporarily only supported takeout/delivery of some KFC and Haidilao products. Now, brand merchants with self-delivery capabilities can obtain the ability to deliver to homes through Kuaishou group buying by invitation.

From in-store group buying to home group buying, Kuaishou, a short video platform with nearly 400 million daily active users, has become the second short video platform to focus on food delivery after Douyin. In the fiercely competitive food delivery market, there will be another heavyweight player.

1. You can now order takeout via Kuaishou

Through experience, Tech Planet discovered that there is no dedicated takeout entrance in the Kuaishou APP. Users need to search for keywords such as takeout in the "Group Purchase Discount" channel before the takeout products can be displayed.

Tech Planet learned from some merchants that group purchase delivery is currently mainly used by merchants with higher average order values, such as barbecue, crayfish, BBQ and other catering categories, with prices ranging from dozens to hundreds of yuan. Whether this function will be gradually opened to merchants with lower average order values ​​in the future still needs further observation.

Taking barbecue takeout as an example, when you enter the order page of a merchant’s barbecue package, in addition to seeing the package information, you can also see a service guarantee label with "For delivery", indicating that the product is only available for delivery.

Figure 1: Product page for takeaway delivery

After successfully placing an order online, a "takeout order" button will appear on the result page, but no similar button will appear for non-takeout group purchase packages. Users need to redeem and make an appointment for home delivery through the mini program.

Tech Planet found in the "Product Category and Attribute Details" of the Kuaishou Local Life Open Platform that in the code for the verification type of the key attributes of the mini-program's products, the words "support delivery, in-store/delivery" can indeed be seen.

Figure: Screenshot of Kuaishou’s local life open platform

The specific delivery operation process is that after clicking the "Takeout Order" button, you will be redirected to the Kuaishou mini program for the takeout delivery operation page. Users can choose to deliver immediately or make an appointment for delivery, and then fill in the address, taste, and remarks. After completing the above operations, click Submit delivery order to complete the delivery operation and wait for the takeout to arrive at home.

Figure: Kuaishou takeaway ordering page

The delivery service is provided by the merchant, and the delivery fee is not fixed. For example, some merchants provide free delivery within 3-10 kilometers, but additional delivery fees need to be paid beyond the range.

Some businesses have even started live streaming of food delivery on Kuaishou. In a lobster live broadcast room, the anchor said that they were invited by Kuaishou to start food delivery service. Tech Planet found that the first product that can be delivered in their live broadcast room has sold more than 6,000 orders, with sales exceeding 600,000 yuan.

Figure: Takeaway live streaming page on Kuaishou

Regarding Kuaishou's food delivery business, some industry analysts said that the "group purchase and delivery" service that relies on merchants for delivery is more in line with Kuaishou's own style of play, and also fills the gap in Kuaishou's local life group purchase track.

By connecting online and offline consumption scenarios around the local life service platform, achieving a closed transaction loop online and completing transaction fulfillment offline through instant delivery, for Kuaishou, one more scenario means one more business imagination space.

2. Will food delivery become the breakthrough point for Kuaishou?

From the perspective of market demand, the domestic takeaway market is not yet saturated. According to data released by Yanjing Bizhi Market Research Network, the market size of China's catering delivery service industry has reached 2.8 trillion yuan in 2024, with a year-on-year growth rate of about 12%. The user scale has exceeded 500 million people, and 30% of the market is still unpenetrated. For Kuaishou, there are still certain opportunities.

As a platform with nearly 400 million daily active users, Kuaishou users also have a certain demand for food delivery. If you search for words such as "Kuaishou food delivery" on Kuaishou, you can find many videos about the launch of Kuaishou food delivery services.

Tech Planet contacted a service provider who can launch a Kuaishou food delivery mini program. He told Tech Planet that after releasing the food delivery service launch video, he has received more than 300 Kuaishou food delivery consultation messages since April this year, which shows how much merchants value business opportunities.

Li Yue, a merchant operator who has opened a takeaway service on Kuaishou, told Tech Planet that there is a great demand for takeaways among Kuaishou users. He wanted to do takeaways when Kuaishou did not yet support merchants to provide delivery services. However, the steps are more cumbersome, and the words "deliverable" need to be indicated in the product title of the group purchase package. After purchasing the group purchase package, the user will send a private message to the merchant's Kuaishou backend and send the delivery information. They will then provide consumers with self-delivery services, or look for third-party platforms such as Shansong and Dada for delivery. Then, the buyer will send the group purchase voucher QR code to the merchant's Kuaishou backend in person or by private message, thereby completing the verification of the goods.

Even though the operation is complicated and cumbersome, they can still achieve sales of more than 100,000 yuan per month.

In the shop where Li Yue works, after the delivery service was officially launched in April, the total number of takeout orders exceeded 2,000 in one month, and sales increased significantly to 200,000 yuan. In order to increase the number of orders, in addition to posting short videos with information about takeout products, they also started live streaming to sell goods.

Nowadays, there are many businesses like Li Yue's store that have opened up takeaway sales channels through the "short video + live broadcast" method. Moreover, some businesses have even received more than 10,000 likes for their short video content that uses takeaways as a selling point, gaining the attention of consumers.

But it is not easy for short video platforms to do food delivery. "Late Post" disclosed last year that Douyin's food delivery business has abandoned the goal of achieving 100 billion yuan in GMV in 2023, and GMV is no longer the most important indicator for the team in the second half of the year. It is understood that the current focus of the business has shifted to: trying to run business processes in more ways. According to Bianniu, Douyin's food delivery has been adjusted from the local life business line to the Douyin e-commerce business line, and integrated with the hourly instant retail business. This means that after more than a year of development, Douyin's food delivery is not a smooth road.

Another business operator who provides food delivery services on Kuaishou told Tech Planet that although there are opportunities for short video food delivery, many problems need to be solved in order to expand. For example, although the platform has optimized the food delivery function for them, the entrance exposure and platform publicity are not great. Moreover, as a short video platform, Kuaishou's food delivery-related interface and functions are not as specialized and refined as those of Meituan, Ele.me and other platforms that mainly provide food delivery, which will bring inconvenience to merchants in operation and may also make users feel cumbersome in experience.

Most importantly, Kuaishou lacks its own delivery system. In terms of delivery, Kuaishou will not be able to compete with food delivery platforms such as Meituan and Ele.me in the short term. The lack of a mature delivery team or in-depth cooperation with large delivery companies may lead to unstable delivery efficiency, affect user experience, and further affect the reputation of merchants.

In addition, the after-sales chain for food delivery is relatively long. If the food is damaged or not delivered within the specified time, the ultimate responsibility still falls on the merchant to solve the after-sales problems, etc., which increases the merchant's costs invisibly.

For Kuaishou, there is still a long way to go to do well in the food delivery business.