Chinese food delivery leader Meituan on Monday posted a third consecutive quarterly loss and met revenue growth estimates as a year of bruising, subsidy-fuelled competition in China’s one-hour delivery space showed signs of easing.
Meituan’s revenue growth and profits have faced pressure for several quarters since e-commerce giants Taobao, owned by Alibaba, and JD.com launched new “instant retail” platforms in early 2025.
Instant retail or quick commerce refers to online purchases – often of food, bubble tea and other daily use items – that are delivered within 60 minutes.
Since early 2026 – following repeated criticism by Chinese regulators who dubbed the instant retail battle a “race to the bottom” – discounting activity on food delivery platforms has subsided as the industry enters a more normal phase of growth.
Meituan’s revenue for the quarter ended March 31 reached 91 billion yuan ($13.45 billion), a 5.6% rise from a year earlier, in line with analyst expectations.
Its adjusted net loss narrowed to 4.97 billion yuan from a 15.1 billion yuan loss in the fourth quarter. A year earlier, Meituan posted a profit of 10.9 billion yuan.
“With industry-wide subsidies finally getting more rational we are seeing a shift back to the fundamentals of operational efficiencies and user experience,” CEO Wang Xing told analysts. “This transition plays to our strengths.”
In April, China’s market regulator fined seven e-commerce platforms – including Meituan – a combined 3.6 billion yuan over food delivery safety violations.
Last week, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation instructed local regulators to carry out a special inspection campaign until December on companies operating in sectors from live-streaming to food delivery in an effort to prevent what it calls “involution”-style price wars.
($1 = 6.7647 Chinese yuan renminbi)
Reuters
