The takeaway subsidy war restarts this weekend: Focused on coffee and tea brands, some stores are nearing a surge in orders

"After a week of 'adjustment', the takeaway subsidy war resumed this weekend, with the two hot topics of Taobao Flash Sale and Meituan Takeaway once again trending on Weibo.

On July 12, many netizens shared their new round of takeaway subsidy 'achievements' on social media, including low-priced or even free coffee and tea drinks. A reporter from The Paper found that Meituan and Taobao Flash Sale both announced continued subsidies for the weekend, with Meituan stating, 'Saturday, the joy continues,' while Taobao Flash Sale said, '188 yuan big coupon package, I cover all five meals!'

According to netizen feedback, Meituan distributed multiple offline coffee and tea exchange vouchers this weekend, but they needed to be picked up. Taobao Flash Sale continued to issue 188 yuan red envelopes, including a lunch takeaway red envelope of 18.8 yuan off for orders over 38 yuan, although the 'free meal card' still needed to be randomly drawn by consumers.

'Today's unit price is indeed high, and the weather subsidy has already increased to over 7 yuan,' a Meituan crowdsourced rider told The Paper. Approaching noon, he saw that well-known milk tea stores like AUNTEA JENNY in Shanghai had already started to receive a surge of orders. According to the unit price he showed the reporter, it was already close to 10 yuan, significantly higher than usual, 'I have to run all night today.'

According to informed sources, compared to the rush of last weekend, Meituan was well-prepared this weekend, with some teams starting to work overtime from the night before. The internal slogan for the summer activities is 'Fight for a summer, determine the universe.'

Last weekend's historic takeaway war saw orders continuously spewing from the takeaway order machines, with staff watching the ever-lengthening takeaway orders, anxious to the point of collapse, riders busy urging orders, and consumers sharing the results of this battle on social media. This unexpectedly ignited takeaway 'lightning war' may evolve into a regular weekly or monthly confrontation.

After last weekend's subsidy war, a person from Taobao told The Paper, 'We are continuously monitoring the consumption stimulation brought by the 50 billion subsidy, as well as the user experience, merchant profits, and the efficiency and experience on the fulfillment side.'

On the previous Saturday (July 5), Meituan announced that daily retail orders reached 120 million, with restaurant orders exceeding 100 million. At 8:45 PM that day, Meituan's internal network showed that the platform's instant retail daily orders surpassed 100 million. This also means that, within 2 hours, Meituan generated over 20 million orders On July 7th, Taobao Flash Sale and Ele.me jointly announced that the number of orders on Taobao Flash Sale Day exceeded 80 million, with non-food orders exceeding 13 million, and active users on Taobao Flash Sale Day exceeding 200 million.

From the data, it seems that the overall order volume of Alibaba and JD is approaching Meituan (120 million orders), with Alibaba Flash Sale (80 million orders) experiencing particularly rapid growth.

According to reporters from The Paper, Alibaba is attempting to create a promotional holiday for everyone to participate in called "Super Saturday": within the next 100 days, consumers can receive a takeaway consumption red envelope worth a total of 188 yuan every Saturday (the total amount of the red envelope will vary based on each activity), allowing consumers to purchase ultra-low-priced milk tea, coffee, and fast-moving consumer goods using the red envelope.

Regarding the underlying logic of Alibaba's push for Taobao Flash Sale, an Alibaba insider told The Paper that it is not just about "instant retail," but about creating a "large consumption platform." "Ele.me and Fliggy have already been integrated into Alibaba's China e-commerce business group, and everyone is working together to connect various resources, explore new business models and growth opportunities, just as tea drinks are a lever for takeaway, Taobao Flash Sale is also a lever."

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