1. Introduction 1. Background

2. Experience the environment

3. Demand Analysis

(1) Target users

According to data provided by Analysys International , the mainstream consumers of group buying services are low- and middle-income earners under the age of 30, mainly female users . From a regional perspective, they are mainly distributed in first- and second-tier cities. Among them, users with an income below 4,999 yuan accounted for 85.2%, and female users accounted for 64.2%, while females are more sensitive to prices. From the characteristics of the mainstream consumer groups, group buying business is mainly concentrated in first- and second-tier provincial capital cities, and young people are the main consumers of group buying business. This is because the Internet environment in first- and second-tier cities is relatively much more developed, and the Internet atmosphere has matured after years of development. Through the popularization of smart phones and the upgrading of basic network construction, users' Internet habits have been slowly cultivated, and young people have been exposed to the Internet through PCs since childhood. They are usually more curious about new things, willing to try, and have stronger learning ability. With the rapid development of mobile Internet , they have quickly become the mainstream consumer group of the Internet.

(2) Demand analysis

Through the above classification of group purchase target users, we can see that Meituan ’s mainstream user group should also be: low- and middle-income people, mainly women, under the age of 30. These users have been exposed to the Internet for a long time, have a high level of awareness of Internet products, are relatively sensitive to prices, and can pursue a certain quality of life. Therefore, these mainstream users need to find an Internet platform that can provide "high-quality and low-priced" products, so that they can obtain higher-quality life services at the lowest cost. Catering, food and entertainment demands account for a large proportion of people's daily consumption. Group buying platforms use this as a starting point to provide a large number of group buying discount services to meet user needs. On this basis, they continue to expand group buying discount services in other areas, thereby fully meeting people's needs in daily life. For merchants with offline physical stores, they need a cheap platform that can not only increase their sales, but also promote their stores and obtain the maximum profit at the lowest cost. Traditional advertising is not only very expensive, but the effect of the promotion cannot be guaranteed. The Internet platform has a large number of users and a viral-level transmission speed, and can meet the needs of merchants at a very low cost. The group buying platform can also meet the needs of offline merchants. It can increase their sales by launching group buying services and boost their own popularity. In summary, group buying platforms simultaneously meet the needs of users to obtain better services at low prices and the needs of merchants to increase sales and increase their visibility.

2. Product Overview

1. Market conditions

According to ASO100 data, the data of Meituan app on AppStore is as follows:

From the above figure, we can see that in the past year, the overall ranking of Meituan app in the AppStore has remained stable within the top 20, and the overall ranking of life apps has remained stable around the top 5, with occasional fluctuations. Overall, it is relatively stable and has a stable and good development trend. Among user reviews of all versions, five-star and four-star ratings account for 93.2%, while one-star and two-star ratings account for only about 4.3%. This shows that users are generally satisfied with the Meituan APP, which meets the usage needs of Meituan users.

From some of the negative reviews in the figure, it can be seen that half of the negative reviews are about after-sales customer service and merchant services, mainly involving the related experiences of customer service, after-sales and merchant services. It can be seen from the negative reviews that Meituan should also improve its after-sales customer service, improve the satisfaction of after-sales customer service, and bring users a more satisfactory after-sales customer service experience. At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen the control of merchant service quality and provide users with higher quality group buying services.

2. Product Overview-Key Page Analysis

3. Task review

According to Meituan’s product positioning and target users, there are roughly the following scenarios for users to use Meituan:

(1) Have a consumption plan and clear goals

According to the data provided by Analysys, the main user scenario of group buying apps is those who have clear consumption plans and know the target categories of consumption. In this scenario, the user's operation process is generally divided into the following two types: the first is to use the product classification provided by Meituan to directly go to the specific classification list to select or view the merchant information or group purchase information, and then decide to purchase specific group purchase discount products; the second is to search when the user does not find a clear classification or the user has a clear consumer merchant, and then filter the result list or go directly to the relevant merchant for group purchase consumption. Meituan’s category navigation entrance has fixed categories that are the most frequently used categories by users and the entrance to vertical field services. The category display on the first screen basically covers the commonly used categories. Each major category entrance has a sub-navigation page, which is customized according to the characteristics of the category and can easily guide users to find the group purchase information they want. Meituan’s search entrance is placed in the middle of the navigation bar, occupying most of the navigation bar. Users can easily find the search entrance, and then perform related operations to find the group buying services they need.

(2) There is a consumption plan but no clear goals

In a scenario where there is a consumption plan but no clear consumption goal, users will rely more on the categories displayed by the app, related operational activities, and the list of merchants recommended based on geographic location for group purchasing. In this scenario, users mainly classify and filter, filter layer by layer, and finally find the group buying information they are satisfied with, or quickly find the ideal discount merchant by checking nearby merchants. Therefore, appropriate category guidance and LBS-based store recommendations are very important. On the Meituan APP, the segmentation of the three major categories (catering, comprehensive, and hotels) and the category navigation entrances are clear and concise. Each large category has a specific navigation page, which guides users step by step to find satisfactory group buying information. The task can be completed conveniently through the category navigation on the homepage. However, LBS-based merchant recommendations lack corresponding guidance and require users to use filtering conditions to find relevant shops.

(3) Browsing when you have nothing to do

In this scenario, users browse the information in the app more out of curiosity, discovering unique merchants through browsing, or browsing related promotions in the hope of gaining something. Meituan’s mobile operating activities are quite rich, including relatively fixed thematic operating activities as well as specific thematic operating activities based on holidays. The thematic activities are rich and varied, and the activity entrances are clear and easy to see. Users can quickly enter the relevant activity homepage to learn about discount information and find the discount information they are interested in from the rich discount activities.

(4) Targeted understanding

The user's operation process in this scenario may be: receiving a discount push message, clicking to view specific discount information; searching for a specific merchant and then viewing the merchant's information, such as location, rating, netizens' comments, etc., or filtering merchants by specific categories, and browsing merchant information to get a detailed understanding of a merchant, which can serve as a reference for future group purchases. The discount information in the push messages and the information displayed for the merchant will be what users are more concerned about. In the latter case, whether the store's information display is comprehensive, whether the information is true, and the comments and ratings of other users who have consumed the business will be the focus of users' attention and will affect their judgment to a certain extent.

(5) Check out after entering the store

When users check out after spending at a certain merchant with discounts, the main process for using Meituan to enjoy discount information is: use Scan to scan the merchant's QR code for parent payment, or show your own payment code to the merchant, and the merchant scans to complete the checkout. Using Scan to complete the payment operation conveniently, and enjoy the discount information on Meituan. The operation is simple and the steps are streamlined. In addition, you can directly search for consumer merchants through search, enter the merchant’s store, use the discount to complete the checkout and enjoy the discount information. The operation is more complicated than scanning and the number of steps will increase accordingly.

(6) Other scenarios

Other scenarios may be buying group purchase packages, vouchers, etc. for relatives and friends; frequent daily visits to a merchant that offers group purchase discounts and the need to place orders quickly to complete the orders. The user flow in the above two cases may be to directly search for specific merchants for group buying, use classification guidance to directly screen merchants and then make group purchases, or directly enter previous consumption orders and make further purchases, so his user flow is basically the same as the user flow in the previous scenarios.

3. Product Analysis

1. Information Architecture

(1) Product structure

(2) Information flow

2. User main process

3. Competitive product analysis

The processes, functions, and interfaces of group-buying products are already very similar, and their user base is relatively fixed. Therefore, the competition among group-buying products is more about the scramble for merchants' group-buying resources and effective operations. They impress consumers by covering more cities, covering more merchant discounts, and providing better services. At the same time, they vigorously support rapidly developing vertical segments, strive to occupy a larger share in the local life market, and cover all aspects of life services.

4. Summary and Analysis

1. Category navigation is reasonable and effective

 High-frequency and key category navigation entrances (catering, hot pot, leisure and entertainment, KTV) are clear and concise

 Ability to effectively divert traffic to key vertical areas ( Meituan Takeaway , Maoyan Movies, Meituan Hotels)

 Classification display has a hierarchy: fix high-frequency categories and regularly switch to other categories on the first screen

2. The core functions are concise and clear

 User paths are well connected, and users can quickly complete group purchase order tasks

 Search, classification, fixed operation activities, special operation activities, merchants guide users to effectively complete the final order in a variety of ways

 Simplify the login/registration process (verification code login, quick registration), and try not to interrupt the user's order process

3. Key pages are informative and well organized

 The homepage displays rich and layered information, providing users with effective choices and guidance

 The merchant/group purchase information display page has rich content information, including maps, introductions, graphic details, user reviews and other effective information to facilitate users to make decisions

 Merchant/group purchase pages under different categories can provide personalized guidance

4. Obvious advantages in merchant resources

 Meituan has a complete range of merchant categories and rich group purchase discount information, covering all aspects of daily life, which can greatly meet users' daily consumption needs.

 Meituan’s merchants cover third- and fourth-tier cities, with a wider coverage than other competitors

5. Tips

 The merchants on the second screen highlight the concept of nearby, meet more diverse user needs, and strengthen the guidance of user decision-making in other scenarios

 The merchant list display in the search results is consistent. It is best to display some group purchase discount information in the merchant list to ensure that users can capture effective information more quickly and further shorten the path for users to complete group purchase tasks.