Recently, the article "I was cut by a member of the Meituan" blasted the circle of friends and attracted media attention. The author of the article, "Father Drift", sued Meituan's takeaway members to cut leeks. In response, Meituan responded that the difference in estimated delivery fees has nothing to do with membership status, and is caused by positioning cache deviation. "Big data mastering" was once again brought to the table.
In response to this incident, Cao Lei, director of the E-Commerce Research Center of the Net Economics Agency, pointed out that the "killing" of big data exposed the asymmetry and opacity in the development of the big data industry. Meituan’s share price plunged 3%, evaporating more than 40 billion in market value.
The Internet APP reproduces big data and is familiar with it. This situation has also been discovered in the other apps before. For example, for hotel bookings on the Ctrip APP, the price of old users is several times that of new users, and the recommended service price will be higher. These Internet companies use advanced algorithm technology, master big data resources, and know the needs of users.
Meituan’s explanation for this is that the delivery fee has nothing to do with the membership status, it is because of the location cache. The user calculates the delivery fee based on the actual order. In response to the problem of location cache, Meituan Waimai is also actively improving.
The platform is based on big data. The technology behind it is the technology of e-commerce selling "a thousand people with a thousand faces". The source is that the platform is established through the platform's big data model based on the collection of user's personal information, traffic trajectory, buying habits and other behavioral information User portrait, and then recommend corresponding products, services and corresponding pricing to users based on this portrait.
Meituan and Ele. Fierce competition
The Ele.me App’s biggest contribution to the first super Meituan takeaway app is the 10 billion subsidy. For users in first- and second-tier cities who have established consumption habits, the 10 billion subsidy has limited effect, but it is very useful for users in the sinking market.
This year, Ele.me’s integration with Alibaba was finally completed. Not only did they get through with each other in terms of users and traffic, but also on Alibaba Cloud’s infrastructure such as product technology.
In July this year, Ele.me upgraded from a food delivery platform to a life service platform, representing a full-scale war with Meituan Food Delivery, and Ali became its strong backing.
Lawyer Chaoqiang said: Merchants use big data to set different sales and service prices for different customers. This is actually a kind of "price discrimination", which refers to the same level and quality of goods or services provided by providers of goods or services. The recipients of the trading conditions are unequal in price.
Fang Chaoqiang also pointed out that whether or not big data “cracked” infringes consumer rights, or what rights are infringed, should be analyzed in detail based on specific behaviors. Pure “price discrimination” does not necessarily infringe consumers’ rights and interests. It is more about electricity. Commercial economy is a special marketing method. For consumers, only by accurately understanding the phenomenon of big data "killing familiarity" can they understand more accurately whether their rights have been violated and how to defend their rights.
Attorney Zhao Occupation pointed out: When encountering the suspected "big data", consumers can "shop around." If it is found that there is indeed price discrimination, the evidence should be retained through mobile phone screenshots or video recordings, and the situation should be reported to the relevant authorities. In order to ensure the validity of the evidence and use it for prosecution, it is generally necessary to notarize the operation process.
to sum up
Meituan Food Delivery is the core business of Meituan, contributing nearly 60% of its revenue. It should not be missed, but it is now facing a huge test. Just after calming the emotions of the merchants, they are involved in the big data turmoil, and the threat of hunger Well, its life is not easy.
To take a step back, even if the Meituan takeaway achieves a lie-down win, it does not mean that Meituan can relax. On the contrary, we still have to tighten this string and maintain a high-pressure fighting posture at all times.