Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, September 14: How the takeaway delivery service industry has entered the era of "standardization"
Xinhua News Agency reporters Wang Feng, Cao Yiming, Shao Kun
At present, the food delivery service market is developing rapidly, but on the other hand, the phenomenon of food delivery timeout, incomplete food, and uneven quality of food delivery personnel are also constantly exposed. Experts say that to solve the many problems existing in the food delivery industry, it is necessary to effectively manage and standardize all aspects of food delivery, so that it can truly enter the era of "standardization".
Takeaway delivery pain points attract "standard" attention
Recently, a news that "the delivery guy thinks the food is slow, and he cooks it by himself" has attracted the attention of netizens. Some netizens watched and praised it, but many people expressed their concerns about the safety of food delivered by takeout.
In recent years, with the accelerating pace of work and the deepening of Internet applications, takeaway delivery services such as food delivery have emerged and grown rapidly. According to a report released by iiMedia Consulting, the transaction volume of China’s takeaway market is expected to reach 2045.6 billion yuan in 2017.
However, at the same time, there are still blind spots in the supervision of the takeaway delivery industry, the lack of unified industry norms, and the rapid development of the industry have also brought many problems, leading to continuous consumer complaints.
Some industry insiders said that the current takeaway delivery industry threshold is not high, the quality of practitioners is uneven, the personal flow is relatively large, coupled with some enterprise management is not in place, many factors lead to food delivery timeout, incomplete food, poor health and safety conditions and other problems have occurred, similar to the "takeaway brother started cooking" case, naturally easy to attract consumer attention.
"At present, the food delivery service is still in the stage of’barbaric growth ‘. The pain points of the industry are the same for all food delivery companies. What the industry needs most at present is a unified standard," said Chen Xue, head of Meituan food delivery in southern China.
Some provisions of the preliminary "prescription" need to be improved
In fact, recognizing the importance of standards, leading industry companies have recently increased their efforts in this area.
Recently, the Commercial Industry Branch of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade officially launched the "Takeaway Delivery Service Specification", which attracted widespread attention in the industry. For the first time, the "Specification" provides comprehensive and systematic regulations on the service organization requirements, service personnel, service processes, abnormal situation handling, service quality control and service quality improvement of takeaway delivery.
A person in charge of the public relations department of "Ele.me" said that "Ele.me" has also developed a set of corporate distribution standards, which have been updated to the fourth edition. The standard includes basic norms such as employment with health certificates, clothing, employee training management, and detailed rules such as preparation for departure, delivery, and conduct at customers.
"Meituan also released its own takeaway delivery standard not long ago." Chen Xue said that it is generally consistent with the "Specification" issued this time, and will further refer to the "Specification" to continuously improve the company’s standards.
In response to the launch of the "Specification", many industry insiders said that many of the content is launched for the actual problems of the current industry, which is of great reference to enterprises. But on the other hand, the specification is only a group standard, not a mandatory national standard, so it is difficult to fundamentally solve the many problems of takeaway delivery.
However, Jiao Min, a lawyer at Henan Guohou Law Firm, believes that the greatest significance of the launch of the "Norms" is not whether it is mandatory in itself, but in the comprehensive and systematic regulations on all aspects of takeaway distribution, such as stipulating that takeaway distribution institutions should have enterprise legal person qualifications; delivery personnel must be at least 18 years old, and delivery personnel should be subject to identity review. These contents have a good guiding effect on the healthy development of the industry.
He also said that the "Code" only provides a preliminary "prescription" for the current problems in the food delivery industry, and the content of many aspects is still rough and needs to be further refined.
Wang Dianming, a lawyer at Beijing Tongchuang Law Firm, also said that some provisions in the "Code" are still relatively vague and need to be further clarified. "For example, it is stipulated that food delivery staff cannot accept tips. At present, there is a function to reward food delivery staff on major food delivery platforms. The amount ranges from 1.1 yuan, and some platforms do not even cap it. Is this a tip?" Wang Dianming said.
Expect higher standards in the future
From the actual situation, most merchants in the takeaway delivery industry are currently enforcing their own rules and regulations, but a set of standards is not conducive to the long-term development of the takeaway delivery industry, and may also cause trouble to consumers.
Wan Ying, secretary general of China IoT E-commerce Logistics and Express Branch, introduced that the standards in our country can be roughly divided into four levels: group standards, local standards, industry standards, and national standards. Social groups can formulate group standards without national standards, industry standards, and local standards, and quickly respond to innovation and market demand for standards to fill the gaps in existing standards.
Some experts said that as a group standard, the "Code" can attract attention from all parties to the problem of takeaway delivery, and can also establish and promote internal self-discipline in the industry. But for the "Code" to be implemented, it must rely on the joint compliance of merchants, takeaway service companies and consumers.
Some industry insiders said that after the implementation of the "Standard", in a sense, it will guide both distribution companies and consumers. Consumers will choose distribution service companies according to the "Standard", and distribution companies that are difficult to "meet the standard" may face the pressure of being eliminated by the market.
Xu Yong, chief consultant of Express Logistics Information Network, said that with the further development of the takeaway distribution industry, it is urgent to establish more generally binding and enforceable industry standards or national standards to create conditions for the standardized development of the entire industry.
"After the launch of this" standard ", if it is tested by practice, it is indeed more scientific and has a certain degree of operability. It cannot be ruled out that after continuous improvement and national recognition, this standard will eventually form an industry standard or even become a national standard." Xu Yong said.