From Haidilao to Pangdonglai, has service become a new marketing trend?

This article tells the reasons why Pang Donglai became so popular. Pang Donglai became popular on the entire Internet through service marketing. Service may become a new marketing trend. If we seize the opportunity and grasp the marketing competition points, perhaps we can all create the next "Pang Donglai". It is recommended for friends who are engaged in brand marketing to read.

Pang Donglai has become the focus again. Recently, Pang Donglai staff confirmed to the media that they will launch a support plan for Yonghui Supermarket. After the news came out, Yonghui Supermarket's stock price rose to the daily limit and closed at 2.62 yuan per share that day, with a market value surge of 2.2 billion yuan. Not long ago, Pang Donglai was also on the hot search because of "making a lot of money".

In a speech video, founder Yu Donglai said that Pang Donglai originally planned to earn 20 million last year, but unexpectedly earned 140 million by the end of the year. This speech attracted many netizens to watch. As a new Internet celebrity supermarket, Pang Donglai has become popular on the Internet with its excellent service, and is even called the "Haidilao of the supermarket industry", attracting netizens from all over the country. Where is Pang Donglai's humanized service reflected? Can this model be replicated? Why has service marketing become a new trend?

1. Popular all over the Internet, Pangdonglai becomes a "5A tourist attraction"

The popularity of Pangdonglai is reflected on multiple social platforms.

On Douyin, related topics such as #胖东来, #爱在胖东来, #许昌胖东来, #胖东来超市, #胖东来茶, etc. are emerging in an endless stream, with the number of views reaching hundreds of millions. Among them, the number of views of the topic #胖东来 is as high as 20.4 billion times. Many influencers such as @B太 and @厦门阿远 have released store exploration videos. In addition, many media and entertainment marketing accounts have reported on it, and a large number of users have released their shopping experiences. Pangdonglai has become a "5A tourist attraction."

Image source: Tik Tok screenshot

In @B太's store exploration video, you can see all kinds of details in Pang Donglai's service. In order to facilitate customers to choose durian, Pang Donglai placed a pair of gloves next to it to prevent customers from being pricked by durian thorns, and a piece of chewing gum was given outside the packaged durian. Even shopping bags that are difficult to rub open by hand are equipped with a hand wetter. In order to ensure the freshness of the goods, Pang Donglai will accurately control the sales time. Usually, the shelf life of bread and meat is only one day. If the fruit is cut for more than 4 hours, it will be sold at 20% off, 6 hours at 40%, and it will be removed from the shelves after 8 hours.

Image source: Tik Tok screenshot

Even though the service quality is already very high, Pang Donglai is still constantly improving its service level and making timely adjustments based on customer feedback. For example, in the video, @B Tai saw that the fruit originally priced at 42 yuan should be 33.6 yuan after a 20% discount, but the label said 34 yuan. After he pointed out the mistake, the salesperson immediately changed the label. The day after the video was released, Pang Donglai immediately fixed the label problem.

This comfortable shopping environment and good shopping experience made netizens envious, and some even began to express their strong hope in the comment section that Pang Donglai would open in their local area. "I don't believe it, it's all hype from marketing accounts, unless you open one in Changsha and let me go around for myself," "Pang Donglai, don't force me to kneel down and beg you to open in Xiamen," "I don't believe it, it's all actors acting, it's impossible! Unless you open one in Shenyang and let me experience it, if it's true, I can apologize to the whole network!"...

In addition to high-quality services and a good consumer experience, Pang Donglai's products are also the key to attracting consumers. As a local supermarket, Pang Donglai has more than 280,000 notes on Xiaohongshu, and there are many popular entries such as "Which city has Pang Donglai", "Pang Donglai must-buy list", "Pang Donglai's specialties suitable for taking away", and "Pang Donglai's corporate culture".

Image source: Xiaohongshu screenshot

Searching for "Pang Donglai Must-buy List" shows that large mooncakes, tea, craft beer, and homemade juice are popular items. Among them, tea has become a big hit with its extreme cost-effectiveness, and jasmine tea is even out of stock. Some netizens from other places have also spawned a purchasing agent business because they cannot shop on site in person.

Since it became popular, Pang Donglai has been very popular. Whether it is the long queues before opening or the popular products that need to be reserved in advance, they all reflect the enthusiasm of consumers, and this popular scene is still continuing.

2. How was the “Haidilao of the supermarket industry” created?

The reason behind the continued popularity of Pangdonglai is related to factors such as customer-centric service concept, scientific management system, and refined cost control.

Bringing services to the entire shopping process is the most intuitive embodiment. Before consumers go to the supermarket to shop, they can not only deposit their pets, but also choose a suitable shopping cart according to their needs. It is understood that there are seven types of shopping carts in Pangdonglai to meet the special needs of different consumers. For example, the shopping cart for the elderly is equipped with a seat and a magnifying glass, and customers with children can choose a baby stroller.

In the supermarket, services are everywhere. Detailed product descriptions, heartwarming selection guides, free food processing, handy selection tools and other details all guarantee consumers' shopping experience. In addition, categories such as clothing will also indicate the origin and purchase price, and the profit is transparent. This operation is rare across the country. In order to make customers more confident about the products, Pang Donglai also set up a special display space in the mall, publicly disclosed the full list of suppliers and contact information, and achieved information transparency.

Image source: Tik Tok screenshot

In terms of after-sales service, Pang Donglai is also the ceiling-level existence of domestic supermarkets. Since 1999, Pang Donglai has stipulated that all the goods it sells can be returned and exchanged without reason, even fresh food that has been eaten can be fully refunded.

The reason why Pangdonglai can provide a full range of services is closely related to its well-trained staff. From the beginning of employment, Pangdonglai employees need to undergo a series of training and assessments, with specific requirements for everything from appearance, customer communication to store hygiene, and employees in related positions must be familiar with the origin, raw materials, cost, characteristics and other information of the goods.

It is understood that among the 98 positions in Pangdonglai, 44 positions have prepared work manuals, and each employee has a copy. Among them, 13 positions have also been filmed into video materials. Take the "Supermarket Department Vegetable and Fruit Course Practical Manual" for one position as an example. Its PPT version has 228 pages, covering sales management, display and processing details. For example, processing watermelons is divided into 6 steps, and the second step is "deviating 1 cm from the center and dividing into two halves." When packing, the watermelons in each box must also be evenly distributed, and there will be no situation where all the watermelons are at the bottom of the watermelon.

Although employees face relatively strict assessments, Pang Donglai is still a place where countless people yearn for a job. This is because Pang Donglai's employees are paid handsomely. Public data shows that the salary of a Pang Donglai store manager is as high as 50,000 yuan per month, the salary of a department director is 30,000 yuan per month, and the salary of an employee is 5,000 yuan per month. In addition, there are generous holidays. Pang Donglai closes every Tuesday to ensure that employees have enough rest time.

In addition, the working environment of Pang Donglai is also very user-friendly. Not only can the salespersons sit on stools to work, but the security guards can also sit down and rest in their free time. And each Pang Donglai store has an employee health and entertainment center and a library. In the view of Yu Donglai, the founder of Pang Donglai, "only by being kind to customers can you retain customers. Only by being kind to employees can you retain employees and make them care about their work as much as the boss does."

Image source: Tik Tok screenshot

The secret of Pangdonglai's continued profitability despite high labor costs and the constant concessions to customers is its high self-purchase rate. In 2001, Pangdonglai, together with Xinyang Xiyahemei Commercial Co., Ltd., Nanyang Wandelong Co., Ltd. and Luoyang Dazhang Co., Ltd., initiated a procurement organization called "Four-party Joint Procurement" to exchange larger volumes for lower procurement prices, thereby achieving higher gross profit margins.

Pangdonglai staff revealed in an interview with Southern Weekend that most of the goods in the supermarket are self-sourced, accounting for about 80%. In addition, Pangdonglai has also launched its own brands in categories such as baking, fresh food, cleaning, home furnishings, condiments and alcoholic beverages, which also have a high gross profit margin.

It can be seen that factors such as customers' good shopping experience, staff's humane working environment, and high-quality goods have contributed to the positive cycle of Pang Donglai's business, which has also continuously pushed Pang Donglai to the "altar" status in the supermarket industry.

3. Service is becoming a new marketing trend

In fact, Pang Dong Lai has always been very popular in the local area. The reason why it has become popular all over the country in the past two years is because of its excellent service. This is exactly the same as the way Haidilao became popular in the past, which is also the main reason why Pang Dong Lai is called "Haidilao in the supermarket industry."
In fact, using service as a marketing highlight is a new trend, which is reflected in many industries such as retail, catering, culture and tourism. With the emergence of many tourist cities in the past two years, the service awareness of the cultural and tourism industry has been significantly improved.

Last year, barbecue became very popular in Zibo. In order to welcome tourists from all over the country, Zibo launched a barbecue train. The directors of the Cultural and Tourism Bureau of Zibo Yiyuan and Gaoqing personally served the passengers and distributed cultural and creative products to them for free. In the videos posted by tourists, various cultural and creative products were received in large quantities, which made many netizens envious.

In addition to the barbecue train, Zibo City has also established a barbecue association, released a barbecue map, set up a barbecue bus line, offered half-price accommodation at the Youth Hostel, prohibited taxis from overcharging passengers, and held the Zibo Barbecue Golden Furnace Award. Public security organs in various places have "spoken out" to ensure safety at night, and the Shandong Provincial Government immediately responded by launching a 399 yuan high-speed rail tour of Qilu... A series of measures have been taken to ensure tourists' "food, entertainment, accommodation, and transportation."

At the beginning of the year, Harbin also handled the overwhelming traffic with meticulous services. For example, when tourists expressed their desire to take photos of the beautiful night view of Sofia, Harbin immediately built an artificial moon; in order to facilitate southern tourists to keep warm, a warm house was built; in order to make it easier for tourists to eat Northeast frozen pears, many restaurants specially prepared exquisite frozen pear dishes; there are also anti-slip carpets and rolled-up heavy door curtains on Central Avenue...

The reason why service can become a new marketing trend is that, on the one hand, consumers' expectations are constantly increasing in the context of industry competition, and service can further enhance consumer experience. On the other hand, high-quality service can bring greater benefits and growth. It is foreseeable that as more "Fat Donglai" emerge, service may become the next marketing competition point.

Author: Aries

Source: WeChat official account: "TopKlout (ID: TopKlout)"