The In Focus | Meituan premium newsletter ran from Nov. 20, 2019, to April 29, 2020. Subscribers get full access to this newsletter, and others, in TechNode’s archives.
Original introduction: After getting its start as a group-buying site nearly a decade ago, Meituan-Dianping has transformed itself into a lifestyle super-app that offers everything from on-demand food delivery to group buys and ticket booking. Locked in a cutthroat battle with other ambitious tech companies, Meituan managed to grow its core food-delivery business into the largest in China and establish market dominance by extending its tentacles into a myriad of other online-to-offline (O2O) services.
However, it hasn’t all been smooth sailing. After the company went public in September last year [2018], its performance in the following months was widely viewed as disappointing.
In recent months, Meituan seemed to have climbed out of its rut after reconsidering its core business strategy and winding down some of its other business units. In the second half of this year, the Hong Kong-listed company became China tech investors’ new darling and saw its shares rally to a historical high.
How did Meituan go from being a Groupon knock-off to a lifestyle super-app? Who is Wang Xing, the company’s charismatic founder? Now that it has managed to dominate the food-delivery market, what’s next for Meituan? Join us to find out more.
Enjoy!
Emma and Nicole
Nov. 20, 2019
There are no food delivery winners
Various parties involved in Meituan’s food delivery ecosystem are pointing fingers at one another over missing profits. It doesn’t look good.
Meituan-Dianping in uncertain times
Meituan-Dianping is just $20 billion short of its founders’ ambitious valuation goal. Facing virus economics, it’s focusing on profit.
Meituan faces challenge from Alipay on its home turf
Meituan faces a renewed challenge from Alibaba in local lifestyle market as Alipay drives users to in-ecosystem services.
MEITUAN IN FOCUS | A matter of timing
How will online travel fare in China in 2020? It doesn’t help that the virus forced mass cancelations at the busiest time of the year.
Covid-19, an opportunity for e-commerce
China’s grocery e-commerce is evolving during the virus crisis from a convenient service to a lifeline, and has spawned new selling models.
Enterprise tech is shaping the future of Meituan
Chinese super app Meituan is expanding beyond its core strengths and trying to build a foothold with business customers in a bid to find new sources of growth.
From Groupon clone to China’s largest lifestyle services provider
Meituan forays into ride-hailing and bike-rental services have been expensive gambits that haven’t yet paid off, but it has seen success in other efforts.
Meituan in focus | Meituan’s turnaround year
In May, Meituan Dianping unseated search engine Baidu as China’s third-largest listed internet company by market cap, behind only Alibaba and Tencent.