Meituan Flash Purchase will jointly build instant retail official flagship stores with thousands of brands to jointly develop new growth opportunities.

On October 29, Meituan Flash Purchase announced that it will collaborate with thousands of brands to establish "Brand Official Flagship Lightning Warehouses". Brands can open official flagship stores on Meituan Flash Purchase by settling in the "Official Flagship Lightning Warehouses", where Meituan Flash Purchase will provide brands with instant retail "infrastructure" such as storage, delivery, and digital systems, assisting various brands in entering the instant retail market with light assets and low costs, and expanding their business in a new field. This is the world's first format innovation where brands open their own instant retail flagship stores. The lightning warehouse format will expand from traditional retail brands to purely online electronic brands. Prior to this, Deloitte released a report stating that by 2025, traditional offline retail formats in China will fall short of expectations, but new formats such as instant retail are rapidly growing, highlighting the urgent need for innovation in physical retail operations. The rapid growth of instant retail and how it can help brands innovate their operational strategies and formats is a topic of common concern in the industry. Data shows that Meituan Flash Purchase, among other non-catering instant retail platforms, reached a peak of more than 27 million daily orders this year, making it the world's largest instant retail platform for goods. The introduction of "Brand Official Flagship Lightning Warehouses" is pioneering a new mode of instant retail business by exploring "brand warehousing" within the industry. It is understood that "Brand Official Flagship Lightning Warehouses" have been quietly piloted in various locations for several months. According to the Meituan Flash Purchase website, since October, over a hundred brands such as Sony PlayStation, Proya Cosmetics, JBL, Nature's, Venonat, Allcotton Times, Logitech, Kingston, MAO GEPING, L'Oreal, Jiaoxia, Lifan, Sophie, Edifier Technology, Philips, and Anker have already settled in. The "Brand Official Flagship Lightning Warehouses" have quickly opened in dozens of cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, and Changsha. When consumers purchase brand products, they can directly enter the relevant "official flagship store" to shop. Since the beginning of this year, the retail industry has been undergoing continuous changes. On the one hand, storefronts of traditional retail brands are limited by high costs such as rent and manpower, gradually transitioning from "sales channels" to "experience exhibition centers", while brands continue to strengthen their online presence. On the other hand, many electronic brands have begun to explore new instant retail models, attempting to open up new sales channels. Meituan Flash Purchase's launch of "Brand Official Flagship Lightning Warehouses" aims to help brands fully explore the growth potential of the lightning warehouse format, truly transforming instant retail into a stable, efficient, and low-cost new field of operation. "In the long run, in the future, consumers may experience products through different channels, and place orders through a brand's official flagship store in the instant retail channel. By the time consumers return home, the goods have already been delivered to their doorstep," an industry insider participating in the operation of "Brand Official Flagship Lightning Warehouses" analyzed. "Brand Official Flagship Lightning Warehouses" can be seen as a key format for brands to lay out in the instant retail market, becoming the last puzzle piece in the upgrade and transformation of brand retail channels. Meituan Flash Purchase has stated that after initial pilot explorations, "Brand Official Flagship Lightning Warehouses" are expected to expand to thousands of brands, covering various categories such as 3C, beauty, sports, apparel, maternity and baby, pets, and general merchandise. As the consumption model of "30-minute flash purchase of all things" becomes increasingly popular, consumers' expectations of brands are also constantly evolving: hoping to buy and use any product instantly, with items delivered to their homes in a flash. For brand merchants, especially those traditionally relying on e-commerce channels, the rising cost of online traffic and intense competition have led to the need to find new retail channels that are "low-cost, high-mindshare, scalable, and have stable repeat purchases," becoming the core demand of the industry. Meituan Flash Purchase's relevant person revealed, "Brand Official Flagship Lightning Warehouses" are a product of brands' desire for innovation. "As the lightning warehouse format rapidly grows, we have received a large number of brand cooperation requests. After piloting with brands, we decided to help brands enter the warehouse and quickly enter the instant retail market." Meituan Flash Purchase is responsible for helping brands build a complete set of digital infrastructure for lightning warehouse operations, with the brand having complete autonomy in operating. With the "Official Flagship Lightning Warehouses", brands can complete sales at the lowest cost, providing consumers with the ultimate shopping experience of "open 24 hours, product in hand within 30 minutes". "In the future, brand management will gradually shift towards 'using product strength to create ultimate experiences, establishing loyal brand communities, and using lightning warehouses to complete sales and innovate based on user needs'," the industry insider believes that this retail channel innovation is expected to fundamentally boost brand growth and drive the retail industry into the era of "brands entering the warehouse and taking root in the instant retail market". During this year's Double 11 promotion period, the hundreds of new brands mentioned above will also participate in Double 11 for the first time through the Meituan "Brand Official Flagship Lightning Warehouses", utilizing a new model to participate in offline and online channels.