The world's bitter American group takeaway for a long time.
In October 2021, the State Administration for Market Regulation imposed a fine of 3.442 billion yuan on Meituan for suspected antitrust.
On February 18, 2022, the National Development and Reform Commission and 14 other departments issued a notice on several policies to promote the recovery and development of difficult industries in the service industry. As soon as the news came out, the Hong Kong stocks, which have always been emotionally stable, suddenly changed. On the same day, Meituan plunged 17%, and its market value shrank by more than HK$200 billion.
On this day, Wang Xing was 43 years old.
Why did a notice cause such waves in the capital markets? The reason may be that it is not only capital that has fled the US group.
The "Notice" pointed out that internet enterprises such as takeaway should be guided to further reduce the service fee standards of merchants in the catering industry and reduce the operating costs of relevant catering enterprises. This means that the commission rate will be reduced, and the revenue of the "MEGs" will decline.
Before 2021, the Internet industry has been encouraged and supported by policies. However, as the related problems become more and more prominent, the regulatory authorities have taken action one after another. Since then, the pain of the Internet industry has begun. Ali, Tencent, JD.com, Pinduoduo, and Meituan are not like this, and the stock prices of various Internet companies have fallen by more than 40%.
The line of antitrust is becoming clearer.
In April 2021, the State Administration for Market Regulation filed an investigation into Meituan's suspected monopolistic behavior such as "choosing one of the two". After 6 months, the results came out. Ordered Meituan to stop the illegal acts, fully refund the exclusive cooperation deposit of 1.289 billion yuan, and imposed a fine of 3% of its sales in China in 2020, totaling 3.442 billion yuan.
Before that, Alibaba was issued a "sky-high fine" of 12.828 billion yuan.
Since then, the mainland's Anti-Monopoly Law has been amended for the first time in 13 years. The amendment is aimed at monopolistic behavior in the digital economy.
Catering is never an easy task.
Under the influence of the epidemic, the catering market has not ushered in the so-called "retaliatory consumption". On the contrary, the "cold winter" of the industry has struck, and a wave of store closures has been staged.
Haidilao made a huge loss, closing nearly 300 stores in 2021; the new elements of the net red restaurant declared bankruptcy; Xujiushan closed nearly 150 stores on the mainland; the news of Xicha layoffs went away... In the first 11 months of 2021, as many as 809,000 stores were revoked or cancelled in the mainland catering industry.
Compared with 2020, the mainland catering revenue increased by 18.6% last year. However, compared to 2019, it is down 1.1%. Today's catering market is still in a steady recovery stage.
The catering industry has a grudge against the rising commission of the US group and the excessive commission rate. From the initial 5% commission rate, then to 22%, until it soared to 26%. This is extremely unfriendly to merchants. Thus making the contradiction between the platform and the merchant has been irreconcilable.
There is a saying in the industry: in the era of takeaway, not doing is death, and doing is dying slowly. Rising raw material prices, delivery costs, labor costs, full discounts, etc., are eroding the living space of merchants.
Internet enterprises were originally a weapon to assist the rapid development of the real industry through resource integration, but under the disorderly expansion, they have become a shackle tied to the real industry.
This may be the reason why the state has repositioned Internet companies. Before 2018, the positioning of Internet companies was "the locomotive of economic growth", and now it is "hoping that the Internet will set up a stage and the real economy will sing".
Today's Meituan has grown into an Internet giant enterprise in the field of life services. Its business composition mainly includes food and beverage takeaway, hotel and tourism, new business and others.
According to its financial report data, in the third quarter of 2021, Meituan's total revenue was 48.829 billion yuan, an increase of 37.9% year-on-year; the loss during the period was 9.994 billion yuan, a new high in a single quarter in the past three years. It is said that it is a loss, and the loss is also a new business such as Meituan flash sale, Meituan preferred, and Meituan grocery shopping. As early as 2019, Meituan has achieved profitability.
It is worth noting that in the third quarter of 2021, meituan's commission income was about 29.559 billion yuan, accounting for 60.54%. Among them, the catering takeaway commission is 23.223 billion yuan. The contribution of catering takeaway commissions to Meituan's total revenue is extremely high.
According to its previous financial report data, in 2020, the cost of Meituan riders accounted for 83.1% of the catering takeaway commission. More than 80% of the commission is charged to cover the rider's costs. However, the rider's income is still not high. Remember "a cadre experienced delivering food for 12 hours and only earned 41 yuan"?
In addition, in order to reduce operating costs, Meituan adopts a third-party employment model for takeaway brothers, which means that its basic social security cannot be achieved.
The food delivery market is changing dramatically – young people are starting to flee for food delivery.
Quietly, the number of downloads of the life service platform APP fell sharply. This is not only the US group, but also another takeaway giant, Hungry.
Why is the takeaway, which should be adapted to social development, gradually abandoned by young people?
A few years ago, in order to seize the market, many platforms have launched subsidies, targeting not only merchants, riders, but also users. At that time, 15 yuan could call for a large amount of full, fresh and delicious takeaway. Today, the starting price has been obtained, the delivery fee is high, and the cost of materials such as knives and forks is also endless. Fifteen became thirty-five.
And the users are poor. As a result, more and more young people choose the nearest restaurant, canteen, or bring food.
Users fleeing, which is definitely not a good thing for the "Meituans".
Therefore, lowering the commission, letting the merchants make profits, attracting users, and forming a virtuous circle is a good thing for the "Meituans".