(Source: Shanghai Securities News·China Securities Network 2025-07-24)
Shanghai Securities News China Securities Network News (Reporter Liu Xuan) Recently, the food delivery war started by e-commerce giants has not stopped yet.
Meituan has announced that it will continue to work with many catering brands to accelerate the layout of brand satellite stores specializing in takeout business. It is expected that the number of such stores will reach 10,000 by the end of 2025; Taobao flash sales, a new entrant, announced summer consumption conditions, and data showed that night orders in 127 cities increased by more than 100% month-on-month; JD.com opened its first self-operated takeout store "Qixian Kitchen" in Beijing.
Looking back on the takeout war, the takeout market has been busy since the Spring Festival this year. JD.com has entered the field of food delivery, and Taobao flash sales have increased investment in instant retail. The food delivery industry has thus transformed from the binary confrontation between Meituan and the other party in the past to a "Three Kingdoms" situation in which Meituan, Alibaba and JD.com compete.
Such a food delivery war that mainly relies on large subsidies as a means of competition is actually an incremental game aimed at competing for market share. However, the negative effects of the price war have begun to appear: the quality of catering has shrunk, riders have been overstretched, profits have declined, and the market value of the three platform companies has shrunk by more than 100 billion Hong Kong dollars. Market agencies estimate that the three platform companies invested 25 billion yuan in the food delivery war in the second quarter of this year. Although it will increase daily activity and transaction volume in the short term, it will lead to greater losses in the long term.
The regulatory signal has turned on the "red light" twice. This year, the State Administration for Market Regulation met with the platform twice, setting the tone and upgrading the tone from "fair competition" to "rational competition," clearly calling an end to "involutionary subsidies," and requiring platforms to balance the interests of consumers, merchants, riders, and themselves. After two interviews, the signal conveyed was one sentence: return to compliance and rational competition.
Industry associations are also speaking out. Data from the China Cuisine Association shows that in the first half of 2025, the growth rate of domestic catering revenue dropped by 3.6% year-on-year. The catering industry showed a slowdown in operating income growth, reduced profits, and increasingly fierce competition. The association stated that on this basis, platform subsidy behavior should be standardized, a fair and reasonable mechanism should be established, and equitable development online and offline should be advocated.
Qu Qixing, a professor at the w88 casino of International Economics and w88 at the w88 casino, told a reporter from the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the essential difference between the subsidy model in the food delivery market and the early subsidy war for taxi-hailing software lies in the different market stages. Taxi-hailing software has quickly occupied the incremental market through subsidies, creating a scale effect; while the food delivery market has entered the stage of stock competition. Among the surge in orders brought about by subsidies, invalid orders such as repeated purchases and wool harvesting account for a significant proportion. This kind of false prosperity built on capital not only fails to enhance user loyalty, but also destroys the industry ecology.
“Takeaway platforms need to clearly realize that capital games cannot build long-term competitive advantages, and excessive reliance on subsidies will only plunge the industry into a vicious cycle and harm the interests of all parties.”Qu Qixing said。
In the past ten years, China’s Internet industry has experienced rapid growth, but it has also left behind the legacy of “money-burning wars” and “winner-take-all” situations. Today, as regulations tighten and capital recedes, the e-commerce and food delivery industries must rethink: how to find a balance between growth and profitability, scale and efficiency, short-term outbreak and long-term health.
In Qu Qixing’s view, The healthy development of the food delivery industry requires a balance of interests among platforms, merchants, riders and users. The platform should establish a reasonable profit distribution mechanism to ensure that merchants can obtain reasonable profit margins, riders can receive reasonable labor remuneration, and users can enjoy high-quality service experience. In addition, the platform should also strengthen communication and collaboration with government departments to jointly promote the healthy development of the food delivery industry. Through industry self-discipline, the market order can be standardized, unfair competition can be prevented, and favorable conditions can be created for the sustainable development of the food delivery industry.
From incremental game to internal consumption of inventory, where will the food delivery war go? Regulators and industries need to work together to find a rational path.
With original link:
https://www.cnstock.com/commonDetail/476234?timestap=1753439541925
