China’s delivery platforms have stopped buying instant-retail customers with coupons and are competing on warehousing instead, with Meituan building supermarkets while Alibaba and JD.com open dark stores, after the market regulator repeatedly summoned all three and levied 3.6 billion yuan in April penalties, according to Reuters. The year of discounting cost every one of them, since Alibaba’s profitability slipped, JD.com’s profit nearly vanished, and Meituan swung to a loss, though the second quarter brought Alibaba’s instant-retail revenue up 45% to 53.3 billion yuan and returned Meituan to profit as spending eased. It also cost Meituan its lead, because it held 75% to 80% of meal delivery before the war and now trails Taobao Instant Commerce 45.3% to 45.7% in instant retail.
