Why Meituan Matters for Brands with a Physical Presence in China
Meituan (美团) is not a marketing platform in the traditional sense. It is the infrastructure layer of local commerce in China. With approximately 510 million monthly active users and over 700 million annual transacting users, Meituan processes the daily transactions that keep Chinese cities running: food delivery, restaurant deals, hotel bookings, grocery delivery, bike rentals, and dozens of other local services.
For international brands with physical operations in China, particularly restaurants, hotels, retail stores, and consumer services, Meituan is a business operations platform, not a brand awareness channel. Your Meituan presence directly determines your delivery order volume, your walk-in traffic from deal promotions, and your hotel bookings from domestic travelers.
Food Delivery: The Revenue Engine
Meituan’s food delivery business commands over 65% of China’s online food delivery market. The scale is staggering: hundreds of millions of orders processed daily, delivered by a fleet of riders that is one of the largest workforces of any single platform in the world.
For restaurants operating in Chinese cities, Meituan delivery revenue can represent 30 to 60% of total sales depending on location, cuisine type, and target demographic. International restaurant chains, hotel F&B outlets, and fast-casual brands operating in China treat Meituan as a core sales channel, not a supplementary one.
Running a successful Meituan delivery operation requires specific optimization: menu design for delivery (packaging, temperature stability, portion sizing), pricing strategy (Meituan takes a commission of 15-25% per order), photo quality, and delivery radius configuration. Restaurants that optimize these factors systematically outperform those that simply list their dine-in menu on the platform.
In-Store Deals: Driving Physical Traffic
Meituan’s in-store deal business (到店团购) works similarly to Groupon but at a scale and sophistication that Groupon never achieved. Merchants create discounted vouchers (set meal deals, service packages, trial offers) that consumers purchase on Meituan and redeem at the physical location.
The in-store deal model is shared with Dianping (same group), and vouchers purchased on either platform are redeemable at the merchant location. This creates a powerful customer acquisition tool: consumers try your restaurant or service at a promotional price, and if the experience is positive, they return at full price and contribute reviews that attract future customers.
Douyin has emerged as a significant competitor in the in-store deal space over the past two years, using short video content to promote local deals. This competition has intensified pricing pressure on merchants but also expanded the overall market for online-to-offline promotions.
Hotels and Travel
Meituan is China’s second-largest hotel booking platform, with particular strength in budget and mid-range accommodations and domestic leisure travel. While Ctrip dominates the premium hotel and international travel segments, Meituan captures a massive volume of domestic bookings, especially from younger travelers and those in smaller cities.
International hotel brands operating in China should list on Meituan in addition to Ctrip to capture the full domestic booking market. Meituan’s hotel advertising tools allow properties to promote their listings through search ads and featured placements within the hotel booking section.
Instant Retail: The New Frontier
Meituan’s instant retail services deliver groceries, pharmacy products, and daily necessities within 30 minutes. Xiaoxiang Supermarket (小象超市) operates as Meituan’s self-operated grocery delivery service, while Meituan Maicai connects consumers with local grocery suppliers.
For FMCG brands, food companies, and household product manufacturers, Meituan instant retail is a rapidly growing distribution channel. Getting your products listed and promoted within Meituan’s instant retail categories puts them in front of consumers at the moment of daily purchasing need.
This segment is intensely competitive. Meituan’s instant retail expansion contributed to the company’s net loss of 23.4 billion RMB in 2025, reflecting heavy investment in logistics infrastructure, subsidies, and market share competition. The financial losses indicate aggressive growth investment rather than business model failure.
The Competitive Threat from Douyin
The most significant competitive development for Meituan in 2025-2026 is Douyin’s aggressive expansion into local life services. Douyin’s in-store deal business (到店团购) uses short video content to promote restaurant deals, hotel packages, and attraction tickets, competing directly with Meituan’s core in-store business.
For merchants, this competition creates both pressure and opportunity. Pressure because commission and promotional costs may rise as platforms compete for merchant participation. Opportunity because multiple distribution channels give merchants more negotiating power and broader consumer reach.
We help brands manage their presence across both Meituan and Douyin’s local life platforms, optimizing each channel for its specific strengths: Meituan for transaction efficiency and repeat ordering, Douyin for content-driven discovery and new customer acquisition.
Who Should Prioritize Meituan
Meituan is essential for restaurants and F&B businesses operating in China (delivery and in-store deals). It is important for hotels and hospitality brands seeking domestic Chinese bookings. It is relevant for FMCG and grocery brands exploring instant retail distribution. It is less relevant for brands without physical operations or products in China.
Meituan is a commerce operations platform, not a brand marketing platform. The investment is operational (store setup, menu optimization, deal design, commission management) rather than creative (content production, KOL partnerships). Brands approach Meituan with an operations mindset and measure success through order volume, average order value, customer retention, and margin management.