Food delivery giant Meituan adds more video features to app as Douyin marches into its market with Starbucks and Haidilao

Meituan is adding video features to its app as China’s food delivery services giant braces for competition from Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, in the online local services sector.

As ByteDance’s Douyin pushes into the local delivery market, dominant player Meituan has taken a page from Douyin’s playbook by using a mix of video content from live streaming to short videos on its platform to facilitate transactions. Analysts say the move could help Meituan to stay popular among younger consumers who are glued to mobile video content.

“Meituan made the move [to launch video content] to cater to [Chinese] consumers’ changing preference for viewing and receiving [online] information,” said Zhang Yi, founder and chief analyst at Guangzhou-based market researcher iiMedia. “The younger Chinese have acclimated to … live-streaming and short video content.”

Brands such as US coffee giant Starbucks and local hotpot chain Haidilao have been quick to utilise Meituan’s live-streaming capabilities, contributing to their increased online sales, according to a statement from Meituan.

Starbucks experimented with selling its frappuccino drinks through Meituan live-streaming last month, and increased national sales by 370 per cent year-on-year in the week it held promotions on the app. Haidilao also saw its weekly sales up by 51 per cent over the same period, according to data provided by Meituan.

Meituan’s dominance in local delivery is being challenged by Douyin, which has over 600 million daily active users. Since last year, ByteDance has been adding links to videos to take advantage of on-demand local services.