The young people's "home cooking", the elderly's "home care", and the life service consumption represented by housekeeping, washing, and maintenance are "fresh" and "hot".

On March 21, Gong Yuqing, head of Meituan LE (Life Service) business, revealed at the Shanghai Life Service Industry Summit that these door-to-door services have supported a trillion scale market. In 2023, the transaction volume of Meituan's life services (including housekeeping, washing and maintenance) will double year on year, with more than 70% of consumers aged 20-35. Third tier cities and below will become the "new engine" of growth. Digitization and standardization further reshape the life service system and drive the industry to improve quality and expand capacity.

Sorting and storage, shoe washing and repair, door-to-door cleaning... young people drive the professional and differentiated development of life services

With the change of the lifestyle of the young generation, more and more people are keen to use professional services to complete life tasks - door-to-door cleaning, shoes washing and clothing changing, home appliance maintenance and other types of "door-to-door" service consumption are increasingly frequent, and differentiation and specialization become a new trend.

According to Meituan data, the consumption frequency of life services is increasing year by year. In 2023, the transaction volume of life services (including housekeeping, washing and maintenance) will increase by 100% year on year, and Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu, Chongqing and Guangzhou will become the top 5 cities in the number of life service businesses. One month before and after the Spring Festival, the number of home service orders such as housekeeping and cleaning increased by 150% compared with the same period last year. In March, all regions welcomed the "busy season change". As the "just need" of the season change, the search volume increased by 75% month on month.

▲ The demand for living services continues to be strong, and the industry is full of "heat".

The sinking market is becoming a "new engine" for growth. Meituan data shows that in 2023, the scale of user transactions in third tier cities and below will increase by more than 80% compared with 2021, ranking first in all tier cities. Wei Dong, general manager of Lenovo Baiying, introduced that in August 2023, 2500 physical stores of Lenovo Baiying will be stationed in Meituan, and the potential of sinking the market will be activated. Taking Jinzhou, Liaoning Province, as an example, the average daily sales of single stores in Meituan in this area can rank among the top cities in China.

Subdivision services, such as sorting and storage, door-to-door pest control, land reclamation and cleaning, have emerged, injecting new vitality into the life service market. Low carbon and environment-friendly home appliance maintenance services, such as the "old for new" service, have become more popular. As of March 12, the number of merchants providing the old for new service on Meituan has increased by 300% year-on-year, and the sales volume of group purchase has increased by 150%. The rise of services such as "home cooking" and "home feeding cats and dogs" has become a new trend for young people to pursue efficiency and convenience. Since this year, the number of relevant searches has doubled year on year. New demands such as "door-to-door pest control" came into public view, and the search volume on Meituan increased by 140% year on year.

With the "Internet+" express, the shoe washing industry has become a "new outlet" for growth in the past few years. Since 2020, the washing and care businesses represented by Dajingxi have achieved a compound annual growth rate of 30% relying on online platforms such as Meituan. "At present, among our consumers, the per capita annual frequency of shoe washing has reached 8 times, and consumers aged 18-35 account for 75%." Zhang Guoqing, the founder of Dajingxi, introduced that the current market supply has increased 7-8 times, The laundry factory model of serving online orders began to appear, and the industrial division was further refined. According to Meituan's observation, new services such as shoe washing and luxury care will drive consumers to try more categories of washing services, and the industry chain effect will appear.

Ensure the digitalization of consumption experience and create a new standard of performance service

With the release of policy dividends, social cognitive innovation, and the improvement of digital technology in the efficiency of supply and demand matching, the scale of the life service industry is rising. According to Meituan data, it is estimated that in 2026, the number of users of household appliance digital maintenance track will reach 480 million, and the market size of cleaning service track will grow fastest, up 26% compared with 2023.

For a trillion level market, the life service industry has a remarkable pattern of "big market, small main body". Each business type is highly discrete. Most brands are operated in a single city. The problem of insufficient and unbalanced service supply is particularly prominent in peak seasons. In addition, a group of Meituan survey data shows that 86% of consumers choose online platforms to find and place orders for services. Service quality and service guarantee are the core concerns when choosing stores. At present, Meituan and other platforms are promoting the brand, chain and digital development of the industry through digital technology.

In response to consumption problems such as "minor illness overhaul" and hidden charges, Meituan will upgrade its supply standardization services in three areas of washing, cleaning and household appliance cleaning in 2023, and take a series of measures such as service standardization and price transparency to improve service certainty and reduce transaction friction. Since the supply standardization transformation, the visiting purchase rate of household appliances cleaning and washing products on Meituanshang has increased by 37% and 32% month on month respectively.

In terms of breakdown, in the field of household appliance cleaning, woodpecker family maintenance and Meituan explored three standardized systems of cleaning service process standardization, service charge standardization and service scope standardization; In the field of IT services, Lenovo should jointly promote the new "Buy It Now" pricing model with Meituan to improve the price opacity and non-standard phenomenon in non-standard industries; In the field of washing, as the first batch of merchants participating in Meituan's standardized service, Dajingxi has deepened the standardized process into the factory operation. Independent water washing standards and comparison of pre washing and post washing effects have become a must.

At the event site, Meituan also cooperated with partners such as Big Whale Wash, Funet, Swan Home, Woodpecker Home Maintenance to launch a performance service guarantee initiative, explore new standards for performance services in the digital context, create a transparent performance experience across the link, and provide consumers with a reassuring and reassuring service experience.

▲ Life service performance guarantee project officially launched, photographer: Wu Haimin

It is understood that in 2024, Meituan will continue to deepen the implementation of life services and consolidate the online system. On the one hand, the platform will introduce external services such as merchant quality guarantee deposit and commercial insurance; On the other hand, in the domestic and maintenance industry, Meituan Life Service will upgrade its digital performance capabilities such as booking after placing an order, online trading, and small program development for service personnel. In the washing industry, it will open up the SaaS system in all stores, facilitate consumers to access the washing process in real time, and truly feed businesses with digitalization to drive industry growth.

"Life service connects people's livelihood at one end, consumption and employment at the other. Meituan will continue to exert its platform capabilities, use digital technology to innovate home service experience, improve the convenience, standardization and quality of service consumption, better meet consumer needs, and help the industry improve quality and expand capacity." said Gong Yuqing, head of Meituan LE business.

Correspondent Ma Shanshan

Edited by Xu Fanfang

Second instance Li Jie

Third instance Min Jie