Many consumers have recently received the push and tips from "Little Elephant Supermarket", which is very novel. In fact, "Elephant Supermarket" is not a pure new brand, but an upgrade of Meituan’s self-operated retail model "Meituan buys food".

From "grocery shopping" to "supermarket", it directly reflects the expansion of product categories, and also releases the signal of overweight instant retail. Not long ago, Meituan Flash Shopping, another model of Meituan’s instant retail, announced that it plans to have 30,000 stores with daily sales exceeding 10,000 yuan and 100 1 billion brands by 2026.

The real-time retail market has huge scale potential, attracting more enterprises to enter the market and overweight. Since 2023, in addition to Meituan, JD.COM has announced to focus on all categories, hourly speed and platformization in 2024, and Tik Tok App Mall has recently opened an independent entrance for hourly speed, which makes the competition on this track more intense.

Real-time retail is back.

Recently, when consumers open the Meituan App, they will receive the push and prompt of "Meituan buys food and upgrades Elephant Supermarket".

Regarding the reason for the name change, Meituan said that Meituan’s grocery shopping is more than "grocery shopping". This upgrade includes the name and brand logo, and the products distributed have also expanded from fresh to dairy products, drinks, snacks, personal care, department stores and other "everything". According to the person in charge of Xiaoxiang supermarket business, from "buying food" to "supermarket" is an intuitive embodiment of the continuous enrichment of Xiaoxiang supermarket products.

The Beijing News reporter noted that Elephant Supermarket has also added two categories, namely, Meituan Exclusive and YEATION. Under the Meituan Exclusive page, there are its own brands such as Elephant Chef, Elephant Optimization and Elephant Cost-effective. In addition, there are separate entrances for hot pot to home and bistro.

Elephant supermarket is not the only instant retail overweight action of Meituan in the near future.

In September, the 2023 Meituan Instant Retail Industry Conference revealed that in the past four quarters, the size of Meituan’s flash purchase has reached 175 billion yuan. By 2026, Meituan Flash Shopping will produce 30,000 stores with daily sales exceeding 10,000 yuan and 100 billion brands. Meituan’s flash purchase mainly adopts the mode of cooperation with retail brands and local businesses. The distribution covers nearly 3,000 counties and cities nationwide, and the performance is 24 hours. According to the financial report, in the third quarter of 2023, Meituan Flash Shopping has established cooperative relations with nearly 400 retail brands. The number of active businesses increased by 30% year-on-year, and the peak daily order volume exceeded 13 million orders.

In addition, Meituan recently released a new round of talent development and promotion list in 2023, and five managers were promoted to the company’s vice president, including Xiao Kun, head of the flash shopping business department, and Zhang Jing, head of the grocery shopping business department. This is the most important management promotion of Meituan in recent two years.

Zhuang Shuai, an expert in retail e-commerce industry and founder of Bailian Consulting, analyzed the Beijing News reporter. Meituan’s self-operated front warehouse mainly aims at improving the quality and user experience of fresh products. Renaming it "Xiaoxiang Supermarket" is based on the growth and profit demand of expanded products. The self-operated front warehouse is more autonomous in terms of inventory depth and product selection, and can also develop customized products to complement the open platform. "Instant retailing is already the second growth curve of Meituan".

A lively track

The instant retail track is growing rapidly. According to the Report on the Development of Instant Retail Industry released this year by the Institute of International Trade and Economic Cooperation of the Ministry of Commerce, in recent years, instant retail has maintained an average annual growth rate of more than 50%. In 2022, the market size of instant retail reached 504.286 billion yuan, and it is estimated that the market size will increase by three times in 2025 compared with 2022.

This track has also received policy support. In February this year, the Opinions of the State Council City, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Doing a Good Job in Promoting Rural Revitalization in 2023 pointed out that "the construction of county-level commercial system should be comprehensively promoted, and new modes such as joint distribution and instant retail should be vigorously developed". This is the first time that the Central Document No.1 mentioned instant retailing. On September 21, the Ministry of Commerce said at a regular press conference that it would promote the healthy development of new consumption formats and new models such as instant retail, live e-commerce and social e-commerce.

The Beijing News reporter found that the real-time retail track in 2023 was more crowded, and many e-commerce platforms added code or entered the track.

According to public reports, in March this year, Taobao released a notice about adding the "hourly service specification of Taobao", which showed that Taobao planned to add the "hourly service specification", and the rule will take effect on March 31.

In September this year, JD.COM released the strategy for 2024, which mentioned that it would focus on all categories, hourly service and platformization, and the number of users of hourly service in JD.COM would increase by over 50% within three years.

After expanding the "group purchase and distribution" project at the beginning of this year, Tik Tok opened the independent entrance of "Hours" in Tik Tok App Mall. A few days ago, Tik Tok affiliated company Beijing Jingzitiao Network Technology Co., Ltd. applied for registration of several trademarks of "Tik Tok Instant Retail" and "Tik Tok Hours Da", which was also interpreted as competing with the instant retail business platforms such as Meituan Flash Shopping Service and JD.COM Hours Da.

The platform model has broad prospects.

Before the instant retail track was hot, the fresh track had experienced a wave of hot battles and elimination shuffling. In 2021, Tongcheng Life went bankrupt, the reorganization of the radish failed, and Baoneng Fresh Store closed in many cities. In 2022, every day, Youxian fell into the storm of withdrawal from the city, default on payment, delisting, etc., and Xingsheng preferred to withdraw from Shanxi, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Hebei and Anhui provinces one after another.

Lai Yang, a member of the Expert Committee of China Business Federation and executive vice president of Beijing Business Economics Association, said in an interview with the Beijing News reporter that it is difficult to operate fresh food, which requires not only professional knowledge and experience accumulation, but also strong operational ability to do a good job in cold chain logistics and procurement. The gross profit margin of this industry is not high, but the cost and loss rate are high. "Fresh food management is a low-profit industry, but if it is not done well, every loss will result in huge losses."

Compared with the fresh food industry, the instant retail track expands the products from fresh food to multiple categories, especially the standard products of goods account for a higher proportion, which helps to balance the shortcomings of large fresh food loss and thin profits. According to the agency research report released by Anxin International in October this year, Meituan has more than 450 direct suppliers and more than 1,000 cooperative brands. From the perspective of category structure, Meituan’s fresh food category accounts for about 30%, which is close to Pupu supermarket, while Dingdong’s food category accounts for 50%-60%.

In addition, from the current entrants to the instant retail track, the platform modes include Meituan Flash Shopping, Hungry, JD.COM Arriving Home, Taoxianda, etc. The main players in the self-operated mode include Meituan Shopping, Dingdong Shopping, Boxma Xiansheng, Pupu Supermarket, etc., mostly from more mature e-commerce.

It can also be seen from the financial report data released by some platforms that the instant retail business is showing an upward trend. Among them, Meituan data shows that as of the end of the third quarter of this year, the total order volume of Meituan instant delivery, including food and beverage take-out and Meituan flash purchase, reached 6.2 billion, a year-on-year increase of 23%. In the third quarter of 2023, Ding Dong realized a revenue of 5.14 billion yuan, up 6.2% from the previous quarter, and made a profit under Non-GAAP for four consecutive quarters.

The increase of players will inevitably increase the intensity of competition. Whether it is a self-operated pre-warehouse, a warehouse-store integration, a platform model, and a real-time retail track with a hundred flowers, it will also present more opportunities and innovations. However, from the data of each family, Zhuang Shuai believes that the pre-warehouse model can achieve profitability in first-and second-tier cities; The cost of warehouse-store integration is too high, and the profit pressure is still great; The platform model can achieve profitability and cover more market areas, with the broadest prospects.

For the future of instant retail track, Du Guochen, deputy director of the E-commerce Research Institute of the International Trade and Economic Cooperation Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, once said that in the future, instant retail will present all-weather consumption, all-scene penetration, all-category innovation, all-geographical coverage, full supply chain management and digitalization of the whole process. This also means that the development of instant retail needs a more perfect distribution system, digital management system and digital solution services, which may be more advantageous for a platform with rich experience in take-away business.

Beijing News reporter Qin Shengnan

Editor Li Yan

Proofread Chen Biyan

　　Yesterday afternoon, the Second Session of the 13th National People’s Congress held a press conference on "NPC supervision".

　　Yin Zhongqing, deputy director of the Financial and Economic Committee of the National People’s Congress, said at the press conference that this year, the National Bureau of Statistics began to conduct unified accounting of the regional GDP of various provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, and "stopped" the practice of ranking the total GDP and speed of various places.

　　Administrative state-owned assets

　　The special report is to be considered this year.

　　At the meeting, a reporter asked, last year, the State Council reported the state-owned assets management to the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) for the first time, which was the first time that the state-owned assets were presented to the people of the whole country. What has the National People’s Congress done for this? What are you going to do this year?

　　In this regard, Zhu Mingchun, deputy director of the the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) Budget Working Committee, said, "the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) listened to and considered the State Council’s comprehensive report on the management of state-owned assets and the special report on the state-owned assets of financial enterprises at the meeting of the Standing Committee last October. This is the first time since the founding of New China that a full-caliber clear account has been submitted. The comprehensive report focuses on reflecting the overall situation, while the special report focuses more on the outstanding problems of state-owned assets of financial enterprises. This mode of combining comprehensive report and special report is the first in the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC), and it is also carried out in the whole country in this way.

　　Zhu Mingchun also revealed that a "five-year work plan" for state-owned assets reporting has been formulated with relevant departments, and is now being submitted for approval according to procedures. "In the past five years, there will be a comprehensive report and a special report every year. Last year, financial state-owned assets were reported. This year, it is expected to carry out a special work report on administrative state-owned assets, and then there will be state-owned assets of non-financial enterprises and natural resources. Report, gradually expand to achieve full coverage, and truly do a good job in state-owned assets supervision." Zhu Mingchun said.

　　Revision of statistical method

　　Included in the legislative plan

　　In response to the problem of falsification of statistical data, Yin Zhongqing, deputy director of the NPC Financial and Economic Committee, said, "Last year, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) launched a statistical law enforcement inspection. The NPC Financial and Economic Committee was divided into three groups and went to six provinces to conduct law enforcement inspections. At the same time, it also entrusted seven provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities to conduct self-inspections. Judging from the law enforcement inspection, various localities and departments also reflected that there are still some shortcomings and problems in the implementation of the statistical law, mainly in five aspects."

　　Yin Zhongqing said, for example, some places engage in comparison and competition, falsifying data at the source, making false reports, concealing reports and omitting reports. The standards, methods, caliber and data of departmental statistics are inconsistent, resulting in data fights, forming "data islands" and "data chimneys", and the sharing of statistical information is slow. In addition, the statistical system lags behind the needs of high-quality development in the new era. For some emerging problems, such as new technologies, new industries, new formats and new models, there is still a lack of accurate statistics.

　　In December last year, the National Bureau of Statistics submitted a report to the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) on the implementation of the inspection report on law enforcement of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) Statistics Law and its deliberation opinions.

　　Judging from the rectification over the past six months, this law enforcement inspection has made positive progress in promoting the solution of outstanding problems.

　　For example, governments at various localities and levels have squeezed the moisture from some statistical data accumulated in previous years, especially through law enforcement inspection to urge governments at all levels to solve the problem of statistical data distortion, and solve the problems of concealment, omission, false report, false report, repeated report and late report from the system, so as to effectively improve the quality of statistical data and make it true and reliable.

　　Promote the reform of national economic accounting. Organize the implementation of unified accounting of regional GDP, which will be carried out nationwide from this year. The National Bureau of Statistics will conduct unified accounting of regional GDP of all provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, stop ranking the total GDP and speed of all local regions, explore the preparation of national balance sheets, national balance sheets and natural resources balance sheets of all provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, improve the assessment and evaluation mechanism, and promote the establishment of a correct outlook on political achievements.

　　In addition, promote the reform and abolition of laws and regulations. The revision of statistical law has been included in the 13th legislative plan of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC), and related work is progressing steadily. The formulation and revision of national census regulations, folk statistical investigation regulations and other supporting laws and regulations for statistical law are also being studied and promoted.

　　Implicit debt of local government

　　Steady and orderly "dissolve the stock"

　　At the scene, a reporter asked, what measures does the National People’s Congress take to supervise and prevent the hidden debts of local governments?

　　In this regard, Zhu Mingchun responded that the debts borrowed by local governments according to law have all been included in budget management and open and transparent, and the risks are controllable. "Implicit debts are indeed risky in some places, and one of the reasons is that this base is not particularly clear."

　　He said, in accordance with the unified arrangements of the CPC Central Committee, the hidden debts of local governments were thoroughly investigated last year, and the national data are still being counted, some of which need to be screened by the relevant departments in the State Council. Judging from the special investigation organized by the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) last year, the scale of implicit debt in some places is relatively large and the growth is relatively fast. In some places, the implicit debt is higher than the debt within the legal limit, and the risks in some places are still quite prominent.

　　"Last year, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council made important arrangements to prevent and resolve the hidden debt risks of local governments, which were actively implemented by governments at all levels, and the growth momentum of hidden debt was curbed, and the work of resolving the stock was also carried out in a safe and orderly manner."

　　Do a good job in the law on administrative sanctions and the law on supervisors

　　Preparatory work before deliberation

　　Since the establishment of the Judicial Committee on Supervision of the National People’s Congress, what work has been done in supervision?

　　In response to a reporter’s question, Xu Xianming, vice chairman of the NPC Supervisory and Judicial Committee, said, "The NPC Supervisory and Judicial Committee was established in March last year, and it has been exactly one year since this year.".

　　He said: over the past year, the Supervision and Judicial Committee has conducted investigations on the reform of the supervision system and the implementation of the supervision law, learned about the latest progress of the reform of the national supervision system and the implementation of the supervision law, and put forward opinions and suggestions on the work. Intervene in the legislative work such as the law on administrative sanctions and the law on supervisory officials in advance, and promote the improvement of the supporting laws of the supervisory law.

　　"The law on administrative sanctions and the law on supervisory officials, which are derived from the supervision law, are being formulated, and our committee has been involved in the formulation of these two laws in advance".

　　He revealed that this year, the legislative work of the law on administrative sanctions and the law on the Ombudsman will be promoted. "These two legislative items have been included in the legislative plan of the 13th the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC), and our committee will continue to intervene in the drafting of these two laws in advance, and cooperate with the legislative bodies of the National Supervisory Commission (NSC) and the Standing Committee to make good preparations before deliberation."

　　In addition, it will assist the Standing Committee to carry out special investigations on the reform of the supervision system and the implementation of the supervision law. Focus on investigating new situations and new problems in the implementation of the supervision law.

　　In response to the question "What kind of consideration does the NPC have for the supervision of the supervisory organs in the next step", Xu Xianming responded that the supervision and supervision work of the NPC will be promoted in an orderly manner according to the provisions of the Constitution and the Supervision Law.

　　Text/reporter Meng Yaxu

　　China news agency, Beijing, August 13th (Reporter Chen Su) This year, China experienced extremely high temperature and heat wave. With the arrival of "dog days", the high temperature has been further upgraded recently. On the 12th, the China Meteorological Bureau issued the first high-temperature red warning this year. The high temperature in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the southwest region continued to develop, and the drought worsened. Why is the high temperature in China so extreme this year? On the 13th, many experts were interviewed by reporters to interpret the high temperature situation this year.

　　According to the statistics of the meteorological department, since late July, southern China has experienced a wide range of high-temperature weather with high intensity. As of the 13th, there were 40 days of high temperature above 35 degrees in Shanghai this year, and the extreme maximum temperature reached 40.9 degrees. Since July, the average number of days with high temperature above 35℃ in Zhejiang Province is 31 days, and the average number of days with high temperature above 38℃ is 16 days, both of which are the highest in the same period in history, among which Sanmen in Zhejiang Province has reached 43.1℃. Since July, Chongqing has experienced two rounds of high-temperature weather, with the average number of high-temperature days in the city reaching 29.3 days, the second highest in the same period since 1951. It is predicted that the large-scale high-intensity high-temperature weather will continue in the future, with the local temperature reaching 43-44℃ and the highest temperature in some districts and counties approaching or exceeding the historical extreme.

　　On the 12th, China Meteorological Bureau issued the first high-temperature red warning in China this year. On the 13th, the high-temperature red warning continued. It is estimated that the temperature in parts of 10 provinces and cities such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai will reach 40-42℃, and the local temperature will exceed 42℃.

　　Talking about the causes of this round of high temperature weather, Chen Tao, chief forecaster of the Central Meteorological Observatory, said that the high temperature weather has a certain relationship with the abnormal situation of atmospheric circulation. From the monitoring point of view, the western Pacific subtropical high has a large range and strong intensity. Under its control, the southern region as a whole is controlled by downward flow, and the sky is clear and partly cloudy. Under the influence of sunshine radiation during the day, the near-surface heating is relatively strong, so there is a large range of high temperature weather.

　　Chen Tao predicted that the subtropical high will still control the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in the future, and the high temperature weather from Sichuan Basin to the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River will continue to develop or maintain. It is expected that the high temperature red warning will last for at least 4 to 5 days.

　　Chen Lijuan, chief forecaster of the National Climate Center, said that according to the forecast, the duration of this regional high temperature process is expected to exceed 62 days in 2013, making it the longest high temperature process since 1961.

　　Affected by high temperature weather, severe drought has occurred from Sichuan Basin to the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Since July, the rainfall in the Yangtze River basin has been 40% less than normal, the high temperature days in some areas in the middle and lower reaches are close to 30 days, and the days without effective rainfall in some areas have exceeded 20 days. The water levels in the main stream of the Yangtze River, Dongting Lake and Poyang Lake are the lowest in the same period since the measured records were recorded. According to the data of the Ministry of Water Resources of China on the 11th, the drought in the Yangtze River Basin has affected 9.67 million mu of cultivated land in Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Chongqing and Sichuan, and affected the water supply of 830,000 people.

　　Chen Tao said that it is expected that the meteorological drought will continue or worsen in the future. The continuous high temperature has a great impact on cash crops such as tea and fruits in the south, and the high temperature has also increased the demand for electricity and energy, and the demand for electricity by residents has increased, which has increased the pressure on electricity and energy supply.

　　"According to the monitoring of the National Climate Center, the rare high temperature weather in China since June this year is actually the strongest event since the complete meteorological record in 1961." Chen Lijuan said that, in fact, the occurrence of high-temperature heat wave events in summer is normal from the climate point of view, but the duration, intensity and influence range of this summer’s high-temperature heat wave events have indeed reached a very strong level. This is far from the problem of weather scale, and there must be deep climate scale reasons behind it.

　　She said that the sixth assessment report of IPCC (United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) pointed out that under the background of global warming, many extreme weather and climate events have been observed since the middle of the 20th century, among which the frequent occurrence of high temperature and heat waves is a very remarkable feature. Therefore, under the background of climate change, high-temperature heat wave events will become a new normal. It is expected that similar high-temperature heat waves will occur more frequently in the future summer, and the characteristics of long-term high temperature may become more and more obvious.