Meituan
Image Source: Min.news
Meituan, China’s Groupon on steroids, is a platform app that provide a wide variety of local services, incl.:
- Entertainment
- Dining
- Delivery
- Travel
- And recently, taxi
Meituan provides recommendations and reviews for local establishments and also offer coupons and discounts to these places when purchases are made through its platform.
Predominant Market Share
Image Source: statista
As of Q2 2020, Meituan Delivery – Meituan’s online-to-offline food delivery service controls just over two thirds of the Chinese market (The market is valued at over 45 billion USD).
ele.ma is in 2nd place with approx. 27% of the market share.
Other competitors combined only makes up less than 6%.
Monopolistic Tendencies
Image Source: wsj.com
With its vast influence, Meituan began to demand vendors to “choose sides” by forcing them to list on only Meituan Delivery or only on its competitors.
Government Intervention
Image Source: china-briefing.com
On the 8th of October, 2021, the State Administration for Market Regulation slapped the market leader with a fine of 3% of its domestic sales revenue, totaling 3,442 billion RMB (533 million USD), and an order to cease engagement in its monopolistic behaviour; “choose side” policy.
Meituan has since issued official statements saying that it will strictly abide by the State’s instructions and will reflect deeply on its actions.
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