Many single dental clinics want to start group-buying but get stuck in two places. They have no brand or sales history, so newly listed offers do not sell. And they are not familiar with the platform rules, so whitelisting, POIs and offers are all a puzzle. The chain co-management model is designed for clinics like these: the clinic joins a mature group-buying brand entity, shares its library of high-volume offers and its short-video traffic matrix, and gets group-buying running quickly. This article explains how chain co-management works, who it suits and common misunderstandings, to help clinics judge whether this route is right for them.
First, what chain co-management is
Chain co-management is not opening a branch and not joining a franchise brand. It is a model in which a single store joins and draws on an existing entity: a single clinic goes live under a group-buying brand entity operated by the agency and shares that entity's accumulated library of high-volume offers, such as mature Douyin offers with 100,000+ sales and Meituan store data with 10,000+ orders, together with the short-video traffic matrix behind it.
What patients see is a clinic with a group-buying page showing high sales and genuine reviews, which lowers the trust barrier at once. The practical benefit for the clinic is that it does not have to build sales from zero: it has mature offers to sell from day one, and its own back-end data is separately visible, so it can see exactly how it is doing.
In one sentence: it borrows the sales and traffic of a mature entity to skip the hardest part of a new store's cold start.
Chain co-management solves the cold-start problem
When a new clinic runs group-buying on its own, the hardest stage is the first few months after going live. The offers have zero sales and sit at the bottom of the category list, so patients who find them do not dare to buy. Pushing sales means paid promotion and content, and budget and energy are burned at the starting line.
Chain co-management skips this cold start. Once the clinic joins, its group-buying page uses proven best-selling offers from the entity's library: the price structure, treatment combinations and detail-page copy have all produced real sales. Traffic from the short-video matrix is brought in at the same time, so the clinic's POI page has baseline exposure from launch.
With the cold start out of the way, the clinic can focus on what matters more: reception, consultation conversion and building its reputation. These are internal strengths that platform traffic cannot replace.
Which clinics suit chain co-management
Newly opened single clinics that want to go live quickly. Without an online base, working it out alone is costly; joining a mature entity is the fastest way to see traffic.
Clinics with limited budgets that want a light entry. Chain co-management is charged yearly plus a commission on redemptions: Meituan chain co-management from RMB 3,000 a year and Douyin group-buying chain co-management from RMB 4,980 a year, each plus a commission on online redemptions. The starting investment is lighter than an in-house team or refined outsourced operations; details are confirmed in discussion between both parties.
Community clinics that can handle patients but lack online traffic. The clinic can look after patients; what it lacks is an online entry point. Chain co-management adds that entry point, and the two ends fit together.
One point to note: chain co-management is a model for single clinics and new stores. Chains that already have several branches have their own multi-store systems and need multi-store matrix operations or a customised plan, which work completely differently. A chain's core needs are unified management and regional coordination, not drawing on a single mature entity.
What "co-management" means
The full name of the model is chain co-management operations. Co-management means that the agency operates the entity and the traffic, while the clinic is responsible for reception, conversion and reputation, with the two sides coordinating through the data back end.
Sanqi Internet's chain co-management includes the launch steps of listing offers, entity whitelisting, POI creation and offer design. Once offers are sold, redemption data, reviews and visit conversion are visible in the back end throughout, with weekly reports and monthly reviews; which offers perform well in which cities is decided by the data.
The model also asks things of the clinic: agreeing to adjustments to online pricing, keeping up with patient reception, and being willing to encourage positive reviews. If platform traffic reaches the clinic and the clinic cannot handle it, the traffic is wasted.
Chain co-management or single-clinic refined operations
The two models are not mutually exclusive; they are more like options for different stages.
Chain co-management suits the start: go live with borrowed strength, see traffic quickly and get the clinic's online business moving. Single-clinic refined operations suits going deeper: the whole operating system, from store set-up, offer design and the review system to data reviews, is customised to the clinic's own situation, turning its online presence into a long-term asset.
Sanqi Internet's service system offers both routes. Meituan chain co-management and Douyin group-buying chain co-management are the light starting options; Meituan single-clinic refined operations from RMB 3,000 a month and Douyin refined operations from RMB 3,500 a month are the options for going deep on one store. Many clinics in practice start with chain co-management and, once they have a feel for it, move on to refined operations.
About Sanqi Internet
Wuhan Sanqi Internet Technology Co., Ltd. (Sanqi Internet) was founded in 2015 and has focused on traffic growth for dental organisations for more than ten years. It serves more than 1,000 dental organisations in 132+ cities across China and, since 2015, has generated more than RMB 600 million in online transactions for clients. Group-buying chain co-management is one of its mature business lines, covering Meituan, Douyin and Kuaishou, alongside other cooperation models such as single-clinic refined operations, customised operations and operations coaching.
Frequently asked questions
Is chain co-management the same as joining a dental chain brand?
No. Joining a chain brand involves brand licensing, a common shop sign and a business reporting relationship. Chain co-management is only a cooperation at the level of online group-buying: the clinic's physical business, brand name and day-to-day management remain completely independent. What it joins is only the group-buying entity, its offer library and its traffic resources. Offline, the clinic runs exactly as before.
After joining, whose clinic do patients see?
Patients see the clinic's POI page (the address, opening hours and credentials are the clinic's own) together with the group-buying offers under the entity (sales and reviews come from the shared pool). After ordering, they redeem at the clinic, and the clinic provides the service. It is like the clinic's own shopfront displaying a group-buying window that has already proven its sales.
Who sets the prices of chain co-management offers?
The offer library is designed centrally by the entity, and its price structure has been tested in the market. When a clinic joins, the offers are adapted to local spending levels and the clinic's own treatment mix; they are not copied unchanged. Offer tiers in third- and fourth-tier cities differ from those in provincial capitals, and this is exactly where expertise in offer design shows.
How are chain co-management fees calculated?
They are tiered by platform: Meituan chain co-management from RMB 3,000 a year plus a commission on online redemptions; Douyin group-buying chain co-management from RMB 4,980 a year plus a commission on online redemptions. The commission is linked to online redemptions: it is only charged when offers sell, so with no sales there is no such cost, and the fee structure is tied to results. The fee structure is listed in writing before signing, and details are confirmed in discussion between both parties.
After a year of chain co-management, can we switch to running it independently?
Yes. Chain co-management is a cooperation model, not a lock-in. When the contract ends, the clinic is free to renew chain co-management, switch to single-clinic refined operations, or train its own team through operations coaching. Sanqi Internet's operations coaching (from RMB 2,980 a month) is the option for clinics that want to bring operating skills in-house.
Should a single clinic choose Meituan or Douyin chain co-management?
It depends on the clinic's target patient mix. Meituan users arrive with a clear need, which suits capturing search traffic from people who "want to see a dentist now". Douyin users are drawn in by content, which suits reaching additional patients who have not yet realised they need treatment. A clinic can also join both entities, with fees calculated separately by platform; many new clinics go live on both this way.