10% of members contribute 40% of revenue. How does Xibei, a catering giant with 20 million members, develop its private domain?

In the catering industry, Xibei Youmiancun is a typical case of "turning over" by relying on private domains. During the epidemic, 10% of private domain users contributed more than 40% of the brand's revenue, and the average annual repurchase frequency of Xibei's paid members was more than double that of ordinary users. How did it do it? The author of this article analyzes this and hopes it will be helpful to you.

According to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics recently, the national catering revenue in April this year was 375.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 43.8%. Among all the catering companies, Xibei Youmiancun is one of the best.

Data shows that in the past three years, Xibei’s quality takeaway business revenue has increased by 86% , professional children’s meal business revenue has increased by 415% , and retail business revenue has increased by 257% .

It is reported that Xibei's private domain membership has gone through three stages from its inception to maturity:

• ‍Start-up period (2017-2018) : Starting from 2017, Xibei began to direct offline customer traffic to online through the "official account + community" strategy, and private domain traffic also started from this stage.
• Expansion period (2018-2021): In recent years, the number of Xibei's private domain members has expanded rapidly. As of 2019, the number of Xibei's public account fans has reached 15 million, and the number of community users has exceeded 3 million.
• Mature stage (2021-present): Xibei's membership system has basically matured, and currently the number of Xibei's private domain members exceeds 20 million.

During the 2020 epidemic, 10% of Xibei's private domain users contributed more than 40% of the brand's revenue , becoming the key to the company's reversal of profit and loss that year. According to statistics, the average annual repurchase rate of Xibei's paid members is more than double that of ordinary users.

Today, we will give you a detailed analysis of Xibei’s successful experience in private domain operations.

01 Case Background

1. Brand Introduction

Xibei Catering Group was founded in 1988 by Jia Guolong. Today, Xibei has become one of China's leading catering brands. In 2021, Xibei was awarded the "Serving More than 100 Million Families" and "Leading Chinese Cuisine" certifications.

2. Market size

The Chinese catering industry is a huge market. According to a report analysis released by Market Research Online, the market size of China's catering industry had reached 6.7 trillion yuan as early as 2020, a year-on-year increase of 7.2%.

In addition, the proportion of China's catering industry revenue in China's GDP has continued to increase, reaching 12% , an increase of 1.2 percentage points over the previous year.

It is estimated that by 2025, the market size of China's catering industry will reach 8.9 trillion yuan .

3. User portrait

Xibei is constantly innovating in its products. Its main customer base is families , with an average customer spending of 80-150 yuan. Its stores are mainly located in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Tianjin, Inner Mongolia, Shijiazhuang, Shenyang and other provinces and cities.

02 Private Domain IP Disassembly

Xibei has refined its customer service WeChat account, with two types of groups: one for online scanning and the other for offline (store) scanning. Corporate IP mainly shares food, distributes benefits, and releases product information.

Below is a detailed analysis using the corporate IP I added as an example.

1. Personal positioning

Nickname: Xibei Xiaoyouzi

Avatar: Anime character avatar

Role positioning: Brand welfare officer, food sharing officer

2. Automatic welcome message

Send community links as soon as possible and inform users of the benefits included in the community so that users can grasp all valuable information in a timely manner.

3. Moments Operation

Content frequency : 2-3 pieces per week

Release time : Unfixed

Content in Moments : The main content is new product promotion, live broadcast previews, food recommendations, and holiday travel food guides.

03 Traffic Channel Analysis

Xibei has established a private domain matrix with WeChat platform as the core, and established private domain drainage channels in official accounts and mini programs. In addition, it has carried out private domain operations to varying degrees on platforms such as Douyin, Xiaohongshu, and Bilibili, and issued electronic coupons.

The following is a breakdown of the traffic diversion methods and content of each channel:

1. Private Domain Platform

1) Official Account

The "Xibei Xiaomiancun" official account has set up a private community entry in the greeting message and menu bar. The specific path is:

Official account menu bar - Member welfare group - Scan the QR code to add customer service WeChat - Customer service invites you to join the group - Enter the community

Official account greetings - click to add Xiaoyouzi and receive exclusive coupons for the community

2) Mini Programs

Xibei has 3 mini-programs, each with different functions, to facilitate users with different needs, as follows:

"Xibei Xiaomiancun" : mainly provides members with store reservation ordering, take-out, shopping mall, parent-child interaction, points redemption, stored value and other services.

Drainage path:

• Click on the floating window to scan the QR code to join the group and receive gifts - add your company WeChat - invite to join the group
• Click My – Scan the QR code to join the group button – Add WeChat account – Invite to join the group

"Xibe Mall" : mainly provides good products, good prices and good services.

Traffic flow path: Member community function area - add corporate WeChat - invite to join the group

"Xibei supply chain store reporting" : mainly provides goods purchasing services for each store.

2. Public Domain Platform

1) Video Account

Xibei has set up a touch point for adding corporate WeChat on the video account homepage, and adding it will allow you to enter the community. The video content is mainly about brand promotion, food knowledge, and new product launches.

2) Xiaohongshu

Xibei has published more than 10,000 notes on Xiaohongshu, with the content mainly focusing on new product introductions, food making, and product promotion, with a total of 9,849 followers.

3) Tik Tok

Xibei has established a matrix on Douyin, with a total of more than 1.625 million followers on its four accounts. The video content includes brand promotion, new product launches, product recommendations, sitcoms, etc. Links to the official website are placed on the homepage of the account to attract traffic.

4) Bilibili

Compared with other self-media platforms, Xibei’s Bilibili account is relatively average in operation. It currently has only a hundred or so fans, and the content published is mainly charity activities and brand promotion.

04 Community Operation Analysis

Community is the most effective and common scenario for promoting activity in the private domain. Zhong Xue Gao increases product exposure and conversion through community operations. The following is a detailed analysis:

1. Basic information of the community

Group nickname: Xibei member group

Group positioning: welfare group

Community value: product launch notifications, latest welfare notifications, event promotions, food recommendations, live broadcast previews

2. Automatic welcome message and group rules

After joining the group, users will immediately receive a welcome message and be informed of community benefits.

Xibei clearly states the group rules and content to be shared in the group in the group announcement, helping users quickly understand the value of the community and establish boundaries to reduce future violations.

3. Community Content

The main content of the community includes introducing brand welfare activities, new product promotions, live broadcast previews, etc. And the content has a fixed arrangement, for example:

• Tuesday Member Day: Crayfish Welfare Event (will be pushed according to the season)
• Regular food sharing (video format)
• Holiday benefits: 520 live welfare activities

05 Membership System Analysis

Nowadays, the "membership" model has long been commonplace in private domain operations. It not only can better serve high-quality users, but also can lock in users' consumption for a period of time in the future. Especially in the catering industry, growing membership is also becoming a trend.

Xibei's membership system is mainly based on growth membership. Take the membership of the mini program as an example:

1. Growing Members

Xibei's growth value membership is divided into 4 types. According to the different levels of consumption, the membership rights and interests increase gradually. Growth value = actual consumption amount (1 yuan = 1 growth value), the specific rights and interests are as follows:

• Consumption rebate points: Silver Card Member, Gold Card Member, Platinum Card Member, Black Card Member
• Birthday gifts: Gold card members, Platinum members, Black card members
• Surprise gift: Black Gold Membership

2. Points system

Users can earn points through consumption, and the points can be redeemed for coupons, dishes and mall items.

06 Highlights and shortcomings

Finally, let’s summarize Xibei’s highlights and areas for improvement in private domain operations:

• The stratification is sufficiently detailed: Xibei’s mini-programs and paid memberships are finely stratified to facilitate use by customers with various needs.
• The operation of the IP number is rather rigid: the content in Xibei employees’ WeChat Moments is almost entirely in the form of advertisements, lacking in life-related content, which easily creates a sense of distance between users.
• Lack of offline store traffic diversion: Xibei’s new customer benefits did not divert traffic to offline stores, and the coupons given were only for use in online shopping malls.

Author: Yan Tao

Source: WeChat public account "Yan Tao Sanshou (ID: yantao-219)"