Xiaodi and his friends walked into the fifth floor of the mall at noon on the weekend, found the curry omelet rice restaurant that ranked first on the snack fast food list according to the recommendation of ***, and bought a double ** coupon online. This restaurant is known for 4A high score of 7 and a second place pull away from 0The distance of 4 minutes is particularly popular in this second-tier city.
Over the years, following the list has been the default rule for him and his friends: sometimes they deserve their names, sometimes they surprise them. However, post-00s like Xiaodi, who lack social connections and experience accumulation, and like to catch up with consumption heat, need to rely on online platforms to explore surrounding catering services and maximize consumption value within limited spending. But over-trusting the online list also means the risk of being deceived and manipulated.
The two sat down with a plate, and the owner immediately gave each person a small sticker, fried goods and cold dishes: "If you are satisfied, please give us a good review on the platform, right?"”
The smile was still on his face, and Xiao Di was embarrassed after only taking one bite: "The fishy smell and the salty sauce are mixed together, how can this be a Japanese-style omelet rice." Looking up at the shopkeeper at the counter, he smiled and nodded to the two.
Xiao Di sighed secretly: "It's so unpalatable, but I still have to give praise." Looking at the praise in the comment area, he also contributed one of his own against his will: "After all, people gave us small gifts, but we didn't give them." Not so good. ”
A few days later, Xiaodi passed by this store again, recalling the taste at the time, he opened the software and deleted the ** praise written at that time: "Just don't give bad reviews, good reviews really can't be played." ”
The high-scoring stores that rely on operational means are being abandoned by young people recently-"35 points store" on this month's hot search, people no longer simply trust the inflated rating of the store and platform evaluation system, but choose to return to the experience of life, believe in those old stores that have been in business for many years and "automatically" established word of mouth, although it has a rating of only 3 in various food rating apps5。
Go to **Looking for a reliable "Chinese Michelin"?
Xiaodi's hesitation can be seen that the small gifts of merchants do help to improve the rating of their stores: food delivery, free nail and hair treatment, dancing and gifts. In order to get more ** on the catering evaluation platform, merchants put the hospitality of business to the maximum, and also use some stupid methods. A catering practitioner revealed that he would mobilize his staff to call customers after lunch and ask them to write a good review.
In the most primitive transaction scenario of the service industry, whether a store is a "** assassin", "Haidilao service" or "Northeast currency exchange rate", customers who have completed the experience can only pay obediently. With fewer choices and a lack of feedback systems, former consumers can only passively open blind boxes.
Over the past 20 years, various scoring apps and social ** platforms have brought more room for expression to consumers, giving them the opportunity to choose food and beverage services based on quantitative scores. However, from giving gifts to paying for points, major**, reviews and social ** are gradually transforming into marketing platforms for merchants to compete for the highest degree, and in the face of similar high ratings, consumers seem to have returned to the chaotic state of the past.
At the same time, there are also some operations in the industry that seem to be in a hurry for quick success: a third-party agency operating company called** to persuade merchants to set up a quota for overlord meals (see Hedgehog Commune's previous article "Overlord meal platform is prevalent, who is paying for free lunch?".It also provides the service of swiping orders and deleting good reviews and bad reviews;More covert trolls disguised themselves as real consumers and infiltrated the comment area to earn money for the financiers.
Article 8 of Chapter 2 of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law clearly stipulates that business operators shall not make false or misleading commercial promotions about the performance, function, quality, sales status, user evaluation, honors, etc., of their goods, so as to deceive or mislead consumers. It can be seen that most of the above-mentioned acts have been suspected of violating the law.
And in this increasingly fierce wheel war, consumers like Xiaodi who write reviews against their will can't get out of it - it is the entanglement of interests of many parties that has contributed to today's situation of inflated ratings.
And some gourmets who are determined to withdraw from it and no longer cooperate have also summed up a set of platform consumption experience:
Avoid: New stores with long text and beautiful ** reviews - high-scoring stores that have not been verified by the market on a large scale should wait and see;
Chain stores with a score close to 5 – you can't go wrong with these kinds of stores, but they won't be stunning either;
Filtering: Reverse view the bad reviews among the many good reviews - pass directly if there is a hygiene problem, and try to go if there is a problem such as service attitude or slow serving;
The collected positive reviews have no reference value - they often come from trolls and paid influencers;
Highlights: Repeat customer reviews such as special trips, multiple visits, introductions to friends, etc.;
First choice: a long-established store near the business district - it must have its strength to survive in a highly competitive high-rent location;
3.5-4.3 points of old stores - these are often the shops that do not have points and do business steadfastly;
There is no slightly high-scoring store on the top - this often means that its own customer source is sufficient, and it is unwilling to take profits from the platform;
A store with a moderate number of reviews, pertinent text, and a not-so-polished one.
There are also some more experienced diners who are tired of the routine and choose not to follow the review strategy anymore.
Guo Yang, who is 93 years old and has been deeply involved in the Internet industry for 10 years, said frankly that compared with complex and unpredictable online recommendations, the stores verified by friends and colleagues are more worthy of choice: "Whether it is the collection of Xiaohongshu, the high score of Dianping or the ** on Douyin, I don't read it now." ”
Guo Yang, who is familiar with the gameplay of Internet platforms, believes that moderate scoring and promotion behavior is an important part of the platform's revenue, and it is also a reasonable marketing means for merchants to cope with market competition. However, if the platform lacks follow-up screening and supervision methods, so that the capital investment completely affects the ranking of merchants, then the platform will gradually lose the trust of users. The worst-case outcome is a gradual exodus of users – leaving platforms, merchants, and influencers to play self-exalted marketing games.
The "3 branches" that do not cost money reflect the traffic anxiety of new and old stores
In the eyes of insiders, marketing on the review platform has entered deep waters;And some merchants are still waiting in line to enter, for them, landing on the platform means new business increments.
Li Haiquan's massage shop was originally opened in the community, with 1 shop, 4 beds, and 4 technicians, but there was no platform or signboard. Due to the high massage skills of the technicians, a large number of repeat customers have been accumulated. A small shop with a sufficient number of customers has been open steadily for 5 years without a signboard. However, since 2020, the store has been relocated twice, and although the distance between the old and new stores is less than 1 kilometer, business has dropped significantly: "Many old customers have been lost".
In February 2023, this 5-year-old store finally decided to settle in Dianping and put 10 kinds of massages on the shelves*** hoping to increase the customer source by relying on the platform.
Before the customers came to the door, Douyin, Kuaishou, and third-party stores have already followed: "Your rating is not high, do you want to try other platforms?".Would you like to try our help you operate?Considering the higher amount of the draw, Li Haiquan refused one by one. For a masseuse, he believes in good technology and services, and it is enough to put on the ** platform, and he is unwilling to let marketing over-encroach on his business.
Searching for the keyword "massage" on Dianping, the most popular ones have a rating of 48 or more, you have to turn a few pages to find Li Haiquan's shop. Obviously, for unfamiliar customers, this massage parlor does not have a competitive advantage in terms of scores, reference reviews and **.
We are also worried about the lack of customer flow, every time there is a customer who comes to the store, we will send one or two items or plasters, hoping that they can write more reviews for us. But you can't force the customer with this thing. Moreover, some customers are older and don't need Dianping at all, what should you do?”
Soft-spoken requests can't be exchanged for customer support on the platform, and Li Haiquan is reluctant to use the profits in the store to brush points or set up free trial places. 10 months after it was launched, so far, his Dianping store rating is still 39, only 49 reviews. Despite his concerns about the source of customers, Li Haiquan has the confidence to turn new customers into repeat customers through massage techniques, so he can still maintain his business.
But behind Li Haiquan's confidence, there are some factors that are difficult to ignore: for example, his store is the third in the subway entrance, and at the same time, he is a business in the community, which can bring natural customer flow while accumulating repeat customers.
And more stores with poor locations, no natural customer flow, and lack of popularity are scrambling to use their brains in operation"If you're opening a new store in the middle of nowhere, how do you let customers know you're open?"How can I trust you and still come to consume?Without the previous reviews and ratings to pave the way, new online customers are reluctant to come. Especially when there are many merchants in the same category, how do you fight your way out of the encirclement and stand in front of customers?A catering practitioner explained the logic of his score.
At present, the market is roughly divided into two scales, one is by the headquarters of the marketing center of the chain brand stores, often take out hundreds of thousands of marketing expenses;The other is individual merchants: how much money is given to do how much work, and the general investment is about 1-20,000 yuan.
In addition, for merchants, their anxiety is not only the customer flow taken away by their opponents, but also the problem of how to choose a marketing platform.
Meituan Dianping – Attract customers through ranking scores;Or Douyin live broadcast**?Pull the order volume through the live broadcast of short ** content and low prices;Or Kuaishou, Xiaohongshu?When the four giants heard the news, and the marketing lecturers talked to themselves, what can finally attract shops to enter the game is the possibility that traffic brings to business.
And in all strategies, marketing ultimately comes back to the strength of the merchant itselfSpending money on marketing can only bring out Internet celebrities, and only the merchants themselves can make long-term red stores.
How to survive in the "wild" store that refuses to brush points
At a time when many merchants are having a headache and anxiety for traffic, there are still some low-scoring stores that seem to be "old-fashioned" and making a fortune, which is due to luck, strength, and strategy.
Li Juan from Liuzhou, Guangxi, has been busy lately.
This year, the college student special forces trip has brought fire to the catering service industry here, and also to her small shop. This is a dim sum shop opened in the Internet celebrity vegetable market, and I don't know which college student wrote her shop into Xiaohongshu notes for the first time. Nowadays, when searching for Liuzhou raiders on Xiaohongshu, her store is always among them.
Li Juan, who was puzzled, saw that there was a long queue in her shop, and recruited two new assistants, and the business reached saturation or even overload. The ** of other platforms to push and operate on behalf of others also called one by one, and she refused one by one:
Our Xiaohongshu is very popular, and there are so many customers who have found it, so other platforms are not considered. We have to take some points, we are doing business well, why do we have to do more?”
She believes that her own experience speaks volumes about how when merchants provide enough quality taste or service, they will naturally gain more and more customers.
In the county town of Langfang, Hebei Province, Zhou Xiaoqing's Xuan** Zhu Malatang is also on the rise without paying for the marketing of points. But he believes that all good business is not just about taste or service can win, and the aroma of wine is also afraid of deep alleys - he is unwilling to pay, and he has summed up a set of business marketing strategies:
First of all, for a brick-and-mortar store, location is always the most important. Zhou Xiaoqing's shop is located on a restaurant street, surrounded by brand stores such as Yang Guofu and Zhang Liang and many small shops. "There are so many Malatang gathered here, and everyone who comes here is here to eat Malatang by default, which ensures the flow of customers first. ”
The second is the differentiation of the store, that is, the memory point. "In the case that there are all around the spicy hot, opening another traditional Malatang will definitely be a death. He took shampoo as an example, Piaorou positioning softness, Head & Shoulders positioning dandruff, and Bawang positioning anti-shedding: "My store is the same. When others weigh me, I will help myself, and when others cook soup, I will make the bottom of the pot. ”
After establishing the main business of his own store, Zhou Xiaoqing believes that ** is also a decisive factor in business. Here, the consumption level of residents is generally low, and it is located on Malatang Street, so it is even more necessary to come up with a competitive **.
In the past, it was possible to earn 1 yuan a day, but now it earns 1 yuan in 2 days. In the case that the unit price of the surrounding Malatang is generally located at 30-50, he set the unit price at 28 yuan for unlimited eating, and at the same time constantly optimizes the food ingredient business, finds the source merchant, and improves the frequency of ingredient updates: "Under the trend of consumption downgrade, it is necessary to do this kind of extremely cost-effective catering in order to tear open a hole in the market." ”
The affordability has brought him significant customer flow: "As soon as customers come into the store, there will be many sales opportunities, such as beverages. The profit of these products is about 5%. ”
lowered the ** and attracted customer flow, and Zhou Xiaoqing also strictly controlled the labor in the store - this is the bulk of the catering cost. In the eight months since it opened, there have only been two employees in the store. "A traditional Malatang restaurant requires 4-6 people, and if you want to do takeaway, you need more people. Now I can build a store with two people, and at the same time cut the more troublesome takeaway business. In this way, in the case of the off-season in November, our family can still protect the capital, before the National Day, our daily turnover is about 2000, the net profit is about 35%, and the monthly net profit is 1Around 8w. ”
When asked about marketing spending, Zhou Xiaoqing said frankly: "My investment is 0. ”
As soon as the signboard was hung up, I was approached by a shopkeeper. They shoot a propaganda ** for 2-3,000 yuan, invest in 3-5 accounts, and take 10-15% of my commission. In addition, Meituan Dianping and Kuaishou's local push also came to the door, but Zhou Xiaoqing refused all of them.
All agency marketing is taking advantage of the weakness of human nature - laziness to make money, and it is absolutely okay to study these things yourself. So I don't do paid marketing on any platform, all in personal IP. In the eyes of a catering marketing researcher, he stepped on the destination of many brick-and-mortar operators - "telling stories and shaping boss IP".
In the case of zero investment, Zhou Xiaoqing has uploaded the in-store environment and appeared on the platform every day since the trial operation, and released an average of 3 pieces a day, and can send 6 messages at most. This made him well-known among local clients. On the first day of opening, the admiring customers raised his turnover to 3,900 yuan.
Since then, Zhou Xiaoqing has been paying attention to accumulating his "private domain traffic". He posted a guide on the table and wall of the store*** to attract customers to his WeChat group in the name of "putting half-price free coupons and updating dishes". Today, he has more than 1,000 "private customers".
On the other hand, according to Zhou Xiaoqing's statistics, 80% of the new customers in his store are from the short ** platform: "Some customers don't eat, but they also want to come to the store to see me and say hello to me." The huge private domain customers and the short-term ** platform even helped him resolve a ** crisis.
As one of the merchants who escaped from the review system, Zhou Xiaoqing is no longer entangled in the pressure and anxiety brought by the rating: "If you don't care, you won't be coerced." "He found a new way to survive from the short ** platform. He mentioned a customer review he had seen: "Don't rely too much on the rating given by **, try it yourself." ”