Meituan’s global expansion is accelerating with a renewed emphasis on grocery retail, international market, and artificial intelligence. CEO Wang Xing revealed this in a recent meeting. The company is celebrating its 15th birthday and aims to diversify its business beyond its core food-delivery and group-buying operations.
What’s important: Meituan’s current business landscape has never been more complex. Meituan reports record profits as consumers tighten budgets, more people turn to gig work, such as delivery riders, while restaurant owners struggle to remain afloat. The public has been more interested in how Meituan balances its growth with social responsibility. Wang Xing is moving towards grocery retail, technology investment, and international expansion as worker welfare questions are at the forefront. Meituan’s future will be shaped by how it navigates through these tensions, and this will influence the broader discussion on platform economy governance.
Details
- Meituan’s push into retail grocery aligns with the company’s long-term mission of “helping people eat and live better,” which encompasses both self-operated food delivery and marketplace based retail services.
- Of the three priorities Wang Xing set, international expansion has made the most progress. Keeta is Meituan’s food delivery platform in Saudi Arabia. Keeta, which has already reached the country’s nine biggest cities and nearly half of its population in Saudi Arabia, is now looking to expand into Kuwait and the UAE. Meituan’s three-year plan to solidify its Middle East presence aims to expand Keeta into all six Gulf Cooperation Council countries, including Saudi Arabia and the UAE. It also includes Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain.
- AI is a key focus for Meituan as it seeks to leverage AI to build a local commerce ecosystem that is integrated and efficient.
Context : Meituan has undergone rapid transformation in the last decade. It has maintained its dominant position in China’s hypercompetitive local service market despite pressures from rivals such as Alibaba, JD.com and Douyin.
- Meituan is focusing on the international market as it enters its second decade. International expansion is a great opportunity for growth, as food delivery penetration in China is already high. Middle East, and in particular Saudi Arabia, have emerged as strategic markets due to their young, tech-savvy population, and strong consumer spending. Meituan wants to establish a global footprint by expanding Keeta in the Middle East.
- Meituan’s increased profitability has also brought new challenges. In 2023, Meituan reported record earnings. However, this coincided with increasing concerns over the company’s labor practices and platform economy. The ongoing debate about social security for delivery drivers reflects a wider societal expectation that platforms like Meituan take more responsibility for worker welfare. Meituan’s next decade will be shaped by how it balances profits, expansion and social responsibility as it pursues growth in new market. Shuang is a Shanghai based tech reporter for Technode.com. She covers AI, tech companies, ecommerce and retail. Find her via e-mail: shuang.jing@technode.com. More by Shuang JING (19659016)
