Rebirth 07: Start adding points from elementary school students

Chapter 215: Just Talk

The concept of takeout is not new, it may even be a bit old.

In the planning proposal that Li Yan had just seen, takeout was directly traced back to the Song Dynasty… As long as it was a familiar store, he would say hello to the shopkeeper and have the food box and lantern delivered to his house, and that was takeout.

After mobile phones became popular, many restaurants have also launched takeout services. Familiar customers can make a phone call to order a meal, and the meal will be delivered directly downstairs or even to your door.

But each one of them is small in scale. Insufficient manpower is a major flaw. We can’t deliver orders that are far away, and we can’t handle too many orders. It is difficult to explain if problems arise.

This has never become a large-scale business. For diners, they can just go downstairs and eat hot food. There is no need to ask restaurants outside to deliver the food.

"So, if you really want to expand the takeaway business, the 'community' scale is actually the right one. Being able to order food from one or two kilometers away, or even three, four, five or six kilometers away, and have it delivered to your door without leaving your home, is the motivation for people to place an order - no one is willing to pay extra for delivery unless it's worth it."

Li Yan talked for a while, and Li Kai frowned.

"All your statements are OK. I have thought about them."

It is obvious that these college students do not really recognize Li Yan at the moment.

"But there are many difficulties." Li Yan took over the conversation, "That's why I said that this is based on the mobile network. The premise of the discussion is the widespread popularization of smartphones. Everyone has a phone like... Chuangzu W8 or Pineapple 3."

As he spoke, Li Yan showed off his mobile phone.

"Damn, he's a rich man!" The polo man was very boastful.

"Smartphones are becoming more popular?" A man with flowing long hair sitting opposite Li Yan laughed. "With this price and production cost, it won't become popular. Mobile phones will inevitably become polarized. Nokia's small feature phones are a necessity, while big smart phones can only be toys for the rich."

"We can assume that at least the Chuangzu is in great demand now. When the supply chain is established and there are more brands, the price will go down." Li Yan responded sharply, "Besides, assuming a possible future, wouldn't it be good for your work?"

The long-haired man rolled his eyes and nodded.

"If it becomes popular, then what?" Li Kai thought very quickly. "I will assume that computers are popular and everyone has a small computer. It's the same. Many people in our dormitory have computers. It's nothing more than ordering on the platform. There's nothing different."

“It’s very different because not only do customers have mobile phones, but merchants also have mobile phones, and delivery people also have mobile phones.”

"and then?"

"GPS positioning can expand the ordering range. Customers know where the merchant is and how far away it is, and the merchant also knows where to deliver the food, as long as there is GPS navigation."

"GPS?" The long-haired man answered, "We do have this. I remember Nokia had one a few years ago, but it was useless."

"Let's assume it's feasible. For privacy reasons, I'll assume that everything is delivered downstairs." Li Kai quickly followed up, "What about the money? The merchant delivers it downstairs, and then we exchange the money and the goods?"

"Mobile payments."

"Ah?" The college students were stunned, and the discussion at the next table stopped.

“A very small online shopping trip.”

Li Kai laughed out loud. "Middle school students are still middle school students. Your point of view is very unique, but things like mobile payment are... too difficult. I won't even talk about the food delivery platform. I'll just talk about this mobile payment platform. It's extremely difficult to get official approval! What about information security? How to eliminate payment risks? And what if the platform collects the money but doesn't give it to the merchants? There are so many difficulties that I..."

"It's not like we can do it." Li Yan pulled back the momentum with one sentence, "Just think of it as everyone having a small computer and doing small online shopping. The key is to imagine how to build a new community food ecology when these conditions are met."

Every time Li Yan brought up this topic, she was able to calm down this group of college students, because they really had no confidence in this topic, but if there was anyone willing to offer suggestions and ideas for the topic, they would listen carefully.

"You say." Li Kai nodded to show that he agreed with this premise.

"If both of these are established, takeaways can be delivered at home and ordered from a few kilometers away. And because the platform holds the merchants' money, it also has a certain degree of supervision power. Problems such as wrong or missed deliveries can be handled by a subject." Li Yan talked about it. "You have already experienced the benefits of the platform for data processing. It is not difficult to process a large amount of information. The logic is essentially the same. The platform is divided into the merchant side and the client side. Merchants upload menus and receive orders, and customers select dishes and place orders from the integrated merchant information."

"Wait, wait," Li Kai interrupted, raising his hand high. "You skipped a very important step. Who will deliver it?"

“A dedicated delivery person.”

"Ah?" The group of college students were stunned again, and this time even the people at the next table stopped discussing.

"I don't quite understand this. Who will support the dedicated delivery staff?" "The food delivery platform." Li Yan said, "As long as the platform reaches a certain scale, delivery will be an independent link. The merchant prepares the food and calls the delivery staff, who will take the order and deliver it, and earn the delivery fee."

“How does the deliveryman deliver?”

"That's what GPS is used for. They also have cell phones." Li Yan said with a smile.

Li Kai also laughed, "You overlooked two important issues this time."

The Polo man also followed the train of thought and nodded frequently.

"One is how to ensure the timeliness of delivery. No one wants to eat cold food. Another is that if the delivery fee is only one or two yuan, the delivery staff can't make any money at all. If they also want to make money, then ordering takeout will be much more expensive than going to the store, which makes no sense."

Li Kai and the Polo Man looked at each other, "Since you've thought of it..."

"Then I will naturally respond. The issue of timeliness is actually how to let the delivery personnel accept orders within a certain small range and calculate a relatively smooth route so that the platform can assign orders to them."

"This is not just talk, it's very complicated and requires a powerful algorithm... Never mind, I know what you're going to say, just assume there is such an algorithm."

"No." Li Yan shook her head. "I think that Senior Li's research is just a precious sample that can be used as experimental data for the algorithm. Of course, it is not something that can be accomplished overnight. All the problems found in this research process are paving the way for subsequent work and are very forward-looking."

"You kid, you speak in a very eloquent way and you are quite good at talking." Li Kai said this with a happy expression.

"As long as the goal can be achieved, it doesn't matter if it's just words. Another problem is actually very simple, the merchants give concessions."

"This is not easy at all," said the senior student with a buzz cut who was sitting next to the long-haired guy, "In my opinion, the most difficult part of what you said is that the merchants are making concessions."

"They make concessions in order to earn more. Joining the platform requires concessions and room for delivery costs, but it will expand the scope of their business. Small profits but quick turnover is an eternal truth. It can also be regarded as an opportunity for small shops with insufficient space and staff to provide on-site services. They will agree."

Ding!
[Economics +1, Level 23 skill, total ]

Li Yan has long understood the principle of small profits but quick turnover. Could this be the first time he has considered it from a practical perspective? Could it be considered a breakthrough?
In any case, extra points are good.

At this point, everyone in Li Kai's team, who had been asking questions, suddenly looked thoughtful.

A senior student wearing glasses from the neighboring project team turned her head frequently, her eyes full of curiosity about Li Yan.

"Li Yan..." Li Kai bared his teeth and tapped his head, "Are you a junior high school student?"

"First grade."

Everyone present was in an uproar.

"You've lived this long in vain, Brother Kai." The polo man smiled and stretched out his hand to Li Yan, "That's amazing, you're young and promising. My name is He Bo, deputy team leader."

Li Kai also began to introduce each team member one by one.

"I have been working on this project for two years. In fact, I have thought about expanding it, but I always feel that there are some things that cannot be solved." Li Kai sighed, "I didn't expect that a junior high school student would make my blood boil."

"Have you regained your youthfulness, Brother Kai?"

"Well, he is a real young man, and heroes emerge from youth." Li Kai waved his hand, "Let's just get excited."

Finally you recognize me, right? Li Yan sighed imperceptibly. He was still counting on the various data from this research, so it wasn't a waste of effort.

Suddenly, I felt a soft touch, like being leaned against a large, heavy pillow.

Senior Sister Hu Xinyue took Li Yan in her arms and said to the group members with a smile: "Have you really never heard of this brother's name?"

Li Yan got goosebumps all of a sudden. Damn woman, let me go!

(End of this chapter)