Meituan's "Little Wang" removes thorns from Douyin

The upgrade of the "Super Member" system led by Wang Puchong, the new CEO of Meituan, heralds a comprehensive innovation in local consumption scenarios. It explores in depth how this change can activate in-store business and form a strategic defense against emerging platforms such as Douyin. It is recommended for readers who are interested in Internet platform competition and local life service innovation.

"List + Membership" double expansion. Release the list, become a member, after the new CEO of Meituan, Wang Puchong took office, the fully connected in-store and home business resources are gradually being put into effect.

On May 9, media reported that Meituan is expected to officially launch a new version of "God Member" in July this year. Unlike the current membership system, which is mainly used for takeout and other home delivery scenarios, under the new membership system, the scope of use of member coupons is expanded to local consumption such as in-store dining, hotel travel and leisure. This membership system upgrade was also revealed by sources as an S-level project within Meituan, initiated by the new Meituan CEO Wang Puchong, which brings together human resources from various business lines and is expected to eventually match Alibaba's 88VIP membership system. Some analysts believe that Wang Puchong played this card. On the one hand, the Internet has entered the stock era, and major platforms are promoting membership systems to increase the depth of users' platform consumption.

On the other hand, reusing the resources and capabilities of the home delivery business that were previously effective is also an attempt to activate new vitality in the store business scenario. Previously, the store business had been difficult to innovate, and after a long period of tepidity, it eventually became Douyin's weak point in attacking Meituan. At the same time, this is not a one-way support. In addition to the combat effectiveness of the home delivery business scenario, the new expansion of Meituan's takeaway must-order list in April was the transfer of the advantages of the store to the home delivery scenario.

After the list was released in 15 cities in 2023, the 2024 list of Meituan's must-order takeaway list released in April has been expanded to 30 cities across the country, further deepening the home delivery business scenario. Previously, "making lists" was Meituan's advantage project in the home delivery scenario. Simply sorting out the scenarios in which Meituan makes lists, in 2017, the "Dianping Must-Eat List" for in-store dining was released, in 2018, the "Black Pearl Guide" for in-store high-end dining consumption was launched, in 2019, the "Must-Stay List" and "Must-Play List" for hotel, travel and entertainment were launched, and in 2023, even the "Polaris" list for medical beauty was launched.

It can be said that since the first release of the must-eat list by Wang Xing in 2017, the list IP centered around the "must-eat series" has become a long-term innovation for various businesses in the home delivery scenario. However, the update and upgrade of the must-order list also announced that the list has begun to expand from in-store to home delivery. The expansion of members and lists, and the flow of advantageous capabilities in both directions, also announced that under Meituan's new organizational structure, the division of home delivery + store business has completely become history, and the full scene of local business has become a new stage. However, unlike the membership system that focuses on full-scene upgrades, from the perspective of external platform competition, the expansion of the list may also form a defensive posture against Douyin's home delivery business in advance.

Previously, in terms of in-store business, Douyin has followed up and released lists such as city flavors and heart-thrilling restaurants, and has become a popular trend for many young users to cultivate local life with the help of traffic entrances of content products such as Douyin hot list and Douyin search. However, from the perspective of innovation, for Wang Puchong, whether it is the membership system or the list IP, what he has done so far is to refurbish old brands.

"Shen Member" was created by Meituan Daojia in August last year by merging its two major marketing systems, "Membership" and "Shen Coupon". Users can receive and purchase both types of coupons on one homepage, and the rules and processes for merchants to participate in the platform's marketing activities have also been simplified.

The first must-eat list IP of the "Must-Eat Series" list can even be traced back to 2017, when Zhang Chuan had just taken over Dianping after organizational adjustments and became one of the few platforms for Wang Xing to release the list. Facing new local life forces such as Douyin and Xiaohongshu, although the new CEO has wielded the "list + membership" dual axe, he has not yet played a new card, which inevitably makes the outside world worry about Meituan's ability to innovate. When to ignite the third fire after taking office will also be the key to whether the core business scene of local life can usher in the torch of innovation.

Author: Gu Er; Editor: Yi Ye; Source public account: Science and Technology News (ID: 826794)