Among the tens of billions of subsidies burned by the takeaway platform, milk tea, coffee and other beverages account for nearly 60% of the resource investment, and activities such as “1.9 yuan to drink Cudi” and “0 yuan to grab jasmine milk white” have become the core starting point for attracting users. This article disassembles how this “category subsidy” strategy runs through the entire life cycle of users, forming a complete closed loop from attracting new users and increasing frequency to monetization and activation.
Open the takeaway APP, and the pop-up windows of “1.9 yuan to drink Cudi” and “0 yuan to grab jasmine milk white” can always accurately hit the attention. In the tens of billions of subsidies burned by the takeaway platform, milk tea and beverages contracted nearly 60% of the resource investment.
Behind this, there is a proven user growth formula: with the right category, subsidies can change from “burning money” to “hematopoiesis”.
In the previous article, I left a topic “Why is the takeaway war, and the platform is crazy to subsidize milk tea, coffee and other drinks?” I have talked about the logic of user growth many times in my official account, and if you are interested, you can turn forward, today we will talk to you about the basic logic of “takeaway war selection” through the topic of takeaway wars.
This strategy accurately steps on the triangular fulcrum of “platform operation indicators – user life cycle – category characteristics”, from the number of members and activity rate to the unit price and profit, to achieve the leverage of full-link user growth.
1. Underlying logic: Why milk tea? The 4 gold standards for category selection
Not all categories are worth tens of billions of subsidies. The core of milk tea can become a “strategic weapon” of local life platforms is that it perfectly adapts to the growth needs of users throughout the life cycle:
1. Attract new people: low decision-making cost (5-19 yuan pricing) + high dissemination (social fission of young people)
2. Frequency: full-time consumption (demand from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m.) + light scene penetration (office, commuting, drama chasing)
3. Profit: High frequency band and low frequency (30% of users will match high gross profit snacks) + member conversion hook (milk tea coupons promote member opening)
4. Activation: Immediate demand (sudden urge to drink) + low threshold for action (no need for complex decisions)
This also confirms the core view of “My Growth Notes”: the best subsidy category is a leveraged product that can run through the entire life cycle of users.
Next, I will take you to disassemble and analyze it.
2. Attract new people: use “milk tea hooks” to break through the user’s psychological defense line
The number of new user registrations is the lifeline of the number of users on the platform, and milk tea is inherently the “king of cost performance” to attract new users.
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The key to attracting new people is to reduce the cost of trial and error. The original price of a cup of milk tea is 9.9 yuan, and after superimposing platform subsidies, it can be pressed to less than 1 yuan – this price band of “buying without losing money with your eyes closed” allows users to directly return the decision-making threshold to zero.
In the first week of JD.com’s takeaway, it achieved a 300% increase in new customers by relying on milk tea subsidies; Taobao’s flash sale “100 million cups of milk tea giveaway” event has exceeded 7 million orders for Cudi Coffee in a single day. More importantly, the post-90s group (accounting for 50% of milk tea consumers) will take the initiative to share low-price strategies on Moments and Xiaohongshu, forming a fission effect of “users with users”.
In essence, the platform is using the cost of a cup of milk tea (about 3 yuan) to lock in a lifetime user who may continue to consume – this account is still very valuable.
3. Frequency improvement: full-time penetration, so that users can “improve stickiness”
The core of the platform’s activity rate is “a reason for users to open the APP”, and milk tea and coffee can contract 80% of the fragmented time of various consumption scenarios throughout the day.
- A cup of iced Americano for breakfast to start the day with caffeine;
- Lunch with a cup of milk tea neutralizes the monotony of the work meal into a small blessing;
- have a cup of freshly squeezed juice for afternoon tea and press a “pause button” for the brain;
- a yogurt shake after dinner helps the digestion of the stomach and intestines;
- If you watch dramas late at night, you can also order a special drink, and life will be more enjoyable.
It is this feature of “full-time penetration + scene binding” that makes drinks a category password for the growth of food delivery platform users.
Ele.me data shows that milk tea orders contribute 65% of the volume in afternoon tea (14:00-16:00) and night (20:00-23:00), just filling the gap period of meals, and high-frequency behavior can cultivate user dependence.
Meituan data found that users who often order milk tea open the APP an average of 18 times a month, which is 2.3 times that of ordinary users. When these users drink milk tea, 30% will add fries and cakes – slowly developing the habit of “ordering takeout and opening the APP first”.
Milk tea connects users’ fragmented needs, allowing the platform to change from “opening when needed” to “wanting to open at any time”.
4. Profit realization: 1 cup of subsidy loses 2 yuan, and it is earned back by “related consumption”
Don’t be fooled by the superficial loss of “0 yuan milk tea”, the platform considers the number of SKUs ordered by users.
The profit formula for user growth has been dismantled: the profit of a single product is not important, the user LTV (life cycle value) is the key.
Through the “tea + soft European package” model, a certain tea has achieved a unit price of 32.4 yuan, of which the gross profit margin of bakery products exceeds 60% – this is the value of “high frequency band and low frequency”.
For the platform, what is more important is the conversion of members. Meituan’s strategy of “opening a member and getting 4 category coupons” can increase the membership opening rate by 25%.
The average monthly consumption of high-value member users is 180 yuan, which is 2.2 times that of ordinary users – this subsidy cost has long been earned back through long-term consumption.
5. Silent activation: 1 cup of milk tea to wake up users who have not placed an order for 30 days
For silent users who “don’t open the APP for 30 days”, milk tea subsidies are the most effective “activation tool”.
I tested it with a convenience retail customer: the wake-up rate of pushing “8.8 yuan coffee single product coupons” was 28%, which was 2.5 times that of meal coupons. The reason is simple: users may suddenly want to drink a drink, but rarely order a big meal for a coupon.
A coffee giant relied on this trick to bring back the repurchase rate of sleeping users to 35%. When users receive a text message about “1.9 yuan raw coconut latte”, the behavior of “too lazy to open the APP” will be activated by immediate consumption demand – this is the “instant impulse” advantage of milk drinks.
6. Pay attention to operational risks and long-termism
Although milk tea subsidies are effective, there are still three pitfalls to be wary of:
- User subsidy dependence: 50% of “0 yuan purchase” users will not repurchase after the subsidy ends.
- Ecological imbalance of merchants: After some milk tea shops participate in the subsidy, the original price of 19 yuan orders only earn 1.69 yuan, which may lead to merchants withdrawing in the long run.
- Discounted service quality: A surge in orders can lead to delivery overtimes, wrong orders – and loss of user trust.
Looking at the underlying logic of category subsidies from the milk tea war The essence of the food delivery platform is to use the category characteristics of “high frequency, low price, and full scenario” to connect the full-link operation of attracting new customers, repurchases, profits, and activation, and finally realize the positive cycle of “membership growth→ activity rate increase→ ARPU value increase→profit monetization”.
