Douyin sees steady growth in on-demand services but is some way off from mounting a serious challenge to Meituan

Douyin, the domestic sister app of short video hit TikTok, has achieved steady growth in its local services business although it is still some way off from challenging Meituan’s dominant market position, according to a local media report by LatePost.

Local services at ByteDance-owned Douyin reached a gross merchandise volume (GMV) of over 100 billion yuan (US$13.9 billion) in the first half, less than half of the same business at Meituan. Douyin had previously set a GMV target of 290 billion yuan for the operation in 2023, according to a previous report by LatePost.

ByteDance did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

China’s on-demand local services market is expected to reach 2.5 trillion yuan in 2025, according to a report by research firm iiMedia. Development of the local services sector in new tier-one and tier-two cities is expanding at pace as growth exceeds cities such as Shanghai and Beijing, according to the report.

Meituan and competitor Ele.me, owned by Alibaba Group Holding which also owns the Post, have established a complete local life services ecosystem and lead the market currently. But “as Douyin accelerates its entry into the market, the local life services industry will become a multi-platform competition in future,” the report adds.