In 2025, JD.com will officially enter the food delivery industry, with its strong logistics system and supply chain capabilities, trying to break the “duopoly” pattern occupied by Meituan and Ele.me for a long time. However, with its deep user base, mature rider network and rich merchant resources, Meituan seems to have built an unshakable moat. This article starts from macro industry analysis and micro platform comparison, and delves into JD Takeaway’s differentiated competitiveness, potential impact on user and merchant ecology, and Meituan’s response strategy in the competition.
Background:
JD.com will enter the food delivery industry in 2025 (pilot cities are Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, etc.), relying on its logistics system and supply chain capabilities, trying to break the “duopoly” pattern of Meituan and Ele.me, and reconstruct the logic of competition in local life.
Objectives:
Analyze the potential impact of JD Takeaway on the industry pattern, user behavior, and merchant ecology, and predict its long-term competitiveness and challenges.
Research Route:
Macro industry analysis→ micro platform comparison→ JD.com’s differentiated competitiveness verification→ and hierarchical enterprise impact deduction.
01 Macro perspective – overall snooping
1.1 The overall situation of the food delivery industry in 2024
User volume
Number of merchants
1.2 Major competitors in the industry
Meituan, JD Takeaway, Ele.me, the corresponding number and scale of users
1.3 User pain points
Food safety issues: 315 has repeatedly broken out black-hearted takeaway workshops, platform supervision is ineffective, and many merchants with hygiene problems
Serious premium: After Meituan became dominant, the merchant share ratio was high, resulting in high product prices and consumers did not have many platforms to choose from
Selection fatigue: homogeneous merchant recommendation algorithm (user bounce rate exceeds 30%)
1.4 Rider pain points
The mechanism is strict: fines for overtime, fines for bad user reviews and reduced algorithms
No basic protection: There is no purchase of five insurances and one housing fund, it all depends on how much you work and what you get
Unfair: The platform always stands on the side of the user, and there is no way to appeal if there is a complaint
Serious involution: The economic environment is poor, and a large number of people have changed careers to engage in manual labor occupations such as takeaway and Didi, resulting in fewer and fewer platform rewards and more and more harsh recruitment
1.5 Merchant pain points
The platform commission is high: the commission rate of Meituan/Ele.me is 18-25%, the net profit margin of catering merchants is severely compressed, and the profit is basically zero
What does a product manager need to do?
In the process of a product from scratch, it is not easy to do a good job in the role of product manager, in addition to the well-known writing requirements, writing requirements, writing requirements, there are many things to do. The product manager is not what you think, but will only ask you for trouble, make a request:
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It’s not fair:
1) The platform always stands on the side of users, and the power of the shop is seriously reduced after bad reviews
2) Monopoly problem: The rules of Taiwan subsidy activities are complicated, and merchants need to participate in full reduction and coupon supplement activities as required to obtain traffic (such as Meituan’s 18th Divine Coupon Festival every month)
Traffic problems: Head merchants monopolize exposure resources, and the cost of customer acquisition for small and medium-sized merchants has soared, so they can only buy and acquire customers
Account period pressure: The T+7 settlement cycle affects cash flow, most of the catering is small businesses, and the brand can withstand it, but small businesses will face the problem of paying wages, rent, and payment turnover
02 Micro perspective – dismantling insights
2.1 Mainstream platform actions
1. Meituan takeaway:
Mainly membership rights, rider benefits have also been upgraded
April 3 | rider
tactics: Start the pilot of rider pension insurance
background: On the basis of the expansion of the “new occupational injury” pilot to 17 provinces and cities, it is launched based on the flexible employment insurance policy
Coverage: The first batch of Quanzhou, Fujian and Nantong, Jiangsu, will be gradually promoted nationwide
Subsidy conditions: If the monthly income reaches the lower limit of the payment base at the place of employment, and 3 months in the past 6 months have reached the standard, Meituan will subsidize 50% of the payment amount
Pilot example:
- Quanzhou: The minimum base is 4,433 yuan, and the monthly subsidy for riders is 443.3 yuan
- Nantong: The minimum base is 4,879 yuan, and the monthly subsidy for riders is 487.9 yuan
Brief comment on: Meituan provides a 50% pension insurance payment subsidy
April 15 | user
tactics: Flash sale service upgrade “30 minutes delivery”
- Service content: The delivery time of supermarkets and department stores and fresh food products has been shortened from “waiting for express delivery” to 30 minutes
- scenario: Optimize the instant retail experience for users
April 15 | business
tactics: Flash sale project launches short-term support
Core policy：
- Adhere to the industry’s shortest account period of 3 days, and support withdrawals at any time
- It is 2 months shorter than the average payment cycle of self-operated express e-commerce
target: Optimize the efficiency of merchants’ capital turnover
April 21 | rider
event: Online rumors that crowdsourcing riders are asked to “choose one of the two” (if you take JD.com, you can’t pick up Meituan)
status quo: Without official verification, Meituan has refuted the rumors
link：
- Link 1
- Link 2
April 28 | user
tactics: In-store benefits – 0 yuan all-you-can-drink event for black gold members
Activity content：
- Black Gold / Black Diamond members can enjoy 0 yuan drinks, which can be used immediately at the store and are valid for half a month
- Until May 23, a total of 5 opportunities to claim (limited to 1 time per Friday, from April 28)
variation：
- Early stage: Covering Bawang Chaji, Nai Xue’s tea and fruit tea, etc
- Later stage: Shrink to a little bit, Mixue Bingcheng, Naixue only coffee is available
Comparison of membership rights：
How to participate：
Entrance: Member Center
Search keywords: Li Dan, Xu Zhisheng, Hulan
May 14 | user
tactics: Black gold member takeaway coupon upgrade
Benefits details：
Members below Black Diamond：
- 20-15 yuan coupon: limited to 1 time in the cycle
- 15-10 yuan coupon: can be claimed every day (can be reclaimed after use)
Black Diamond Member: 30 yuan no threshold takeaway coupon
bright spot: It is usually difficult to use coupons for drink takeaway, but this time it is more intense
2. JD takeaway
Adjustment of user subsidies, merchant policies, and internal structure of the company
February
object:business
tactics：
JD takeaway pilot period policy: 0 commission, but merchants need to pay JD payment channel fee (0.6%) and logistics fees (strongly bound with JD Logistics, and the delivery fee bears 0%-30%).
March
object:user
tactics：
JD.com Takeaway launched the “God Coupon” activity: 15-10 yuan coupons, which can be received once every two hours, which are available to some merchants, and merchants need to bear part of the subsidy costs.
April 2
object: Employees (Dada employees)
tactics：
Dada employee salary upgrade: upgraded to 19 salary in 2025 and 20 salary in 2026; Some outstanding employees were awarded JD Group shares.
April 10
object:user
tactics：
JD Takeaway launched the “Takeaway Ten Billion Subsidy Channel”, focusing on cheap chain brands (such as Zunbao and Burger King), and the price of some gift certificates is similar to that of Meituan.
Before May 1
object: Merchants (Comparison Platform Policies)
tactics：
Meituan takeaway：
- The basic commission rate is 18%-25% (the average for catering categories is 22%), and the delivery fee is borne by the merchant 80%-100%;
- Additional fees: marketing promotion fee (CPC bidding, click 0.3-2 yuan), guaranteed commission (less than 5 yuan will be charged 5 yuan);
- Support policy: 50% commission reduction for new merchants in the first month, and KA merchant tiered rebate.
Hungry：
The basic commission rate is 17%-23% (additional + 3% for member stores), and the delivery fee is borne by the merchant 70%-90%;
- Additional fees: membership subsidy (1-3 yuan per order, shared by merchants), precision marketing package (from 500 yuan/month);
- Support policy: Alipay traffic weighting, exclusive cooperation rebates for chain brands.
JD takeaway：
Merchants who settle in before May 1, 2025 will be commission-free throughout the year (pilot period policy), and the delivery fee will be 0%-30% (strongly bound with JD Logistics), and the additional fee is only JD.com’s payment channel fee (0.6%).
May 9
object:user
tactics：
JD Takeaway launched a recharge meal card activity: recharge 100 yuan to get a “20-12” coupon.
03 The impact of JD takeaway on the industry
3.1 Is JD Takeaway really good for users?
Let’s first review the pain points of current takeaway users:
1) Food safety issues
Positioning: Previously, JD.com advertised that it was the main “quality dine-in restaurant” to settle in, but in fact, there are many “unknown small merchants” on it, and the subjective sense of security is low! (The path in Meituan is to click on the evaluation and actual review map of this takeaway on Dianping, and then make a decision)
Platform Measures:
It does give the reported user a good deal:
1) Stores without dine-in will be offline if they are reported three times, and the service provider will be fined;
2) Reward users for reporting users
Users who complain and time out will indeed receive refunds
PS: Service providers are equivalent to agents, helping to introduce merchants to JD.com
2) Monopoly problems lead to premiums
Judging from the upgrade of Meituan’s couponing efforts, it has cheapened users to a certain extent, but in fact, the measures for merchants and the long-term takeaway prices have not declined. In fact, it is just a benefit during the takeaway war, and it has not shaken the price of the industry for the time being.
3.2 Are JD riders really “brothers” of Brother Dong?
3.2.1 Objective part:
Overall, JD.com’s basic salary is higher and the benefits are better. But the ceiling may not be as high as Meituan’s, after all, the number of orders is too small! Meituan is the system of more work
So how can you become a self-operated rider of JD.com?
First of all, you need to meet the recruitment conditions:
- 18-50 years old
- Complete documents: health certificate, motorcycle driver’s license
Attached: Recruitment brochure for self-employed riders
How much is the five insurances and one housing fund, and how much does Brother Dong have to pay extra when converted into costs?
According to the average rider’s salary, the cost of social security provident fund borne by a rider is about 2,000-2,700 yuan/month
It is worth mentioning that the personal payment part of the five insurances and one housing fund is also borne by enterprise subsidies, that is, all of them are paid by JD.com, which is worthy of praise (that is, medical insurance, pension insurance, and provident fund were originally borne by some individuals)
The provident fund contribution ratio is 5%-12%, most of which is 5% (this is the same as JD Logistics), but because it is all paid by JD.com, even if it is unilateral 5%, the personal part adds up to 10%
Attached: JD riders pay five insurances and one housing fund
Attached: The relationship between JD.com and Dada
Why are some JD.com takeaway orders undertaken by Dada Delivery?
Dada is a wholly-owned subsidiary of JD.com;
JD.com increased its holdings with about $546 million in cash and strategic resources, and finally held about 52% of the shares, achieving financial consolidation, and Dada became a subsidiary of JD.com
3.2.2 Objective part analysis
Subjective feedback from the rider lap
I met a delivery man in the elevator room and did some qualitative research by the way. Overall, there are more slots than highlights.
Complaint points:
- Guaranteed trap: Self-employed riders may not be able to get the “guaranteed income” because the amount of orders is too small! It can’t complete the task at all
- The check-in process is cumbersome: there is an additional time requirement for arrival time (Meituan only needs the time for the meal to reach the user’s hand!). ), and take pictures! You have to take photos when you arrive at the store and to the user (and ask for a receipt)! Trouble (no other use) A total of two times to be reported for one order
- The timeout mechanism is too demanding: the time required to arrive at the store is too short (12-15 minutes), because timeout is really a daily thing for riders, and it is uncomfortable to always deduct money
- Rider’s software junk: no navigation! And the positioning is inaccurate, so you can only rely on Baidu Maps and AutoNavi to assist
- Order grabbing mechanism: You have to keep ordering to grab the order (Meituan is dispatching), and it is very dangerous to deliver food itself. And the route planned for the rider is not very good, very unfriendly to novices! And the order is not easy to grab, the good order is not in seconds (the order that can be grabbed is about 6 yuan, and the good order is 8~12 yuan)
- Peak prices for lunch and dinner: but prices are very low in the afternoon!
The good points:
- JD.com is real-time and deducts in real time. Meituan can only actually arrive the next day.
- JD.com’s unit price is a little higher, JD.com is 5-6 on average, and Meituan is 3-4 yuan
- Insurance premium: Meituan is 2 yuan 5 yuan per day, JD.com is 3 yuan per day. (This perception is weak)
3.3 Is JD.com really friendly to merchants?
1. 0 commission strategy
However, merchants still have to pay logistics fees, and JD.com pays a channel fee of 0.6%
2. Why are there still few takeaway merchants on JD.com?
Entry is conditional:
- Merchants have dine-in (meals) or physical stores (snacks, braised dishes, etc.);
- Merchant business categories: Chinese and Western meals, Chinese and Western fast food, buffets, seafood, hot pot, hot pot, roasted tea, supper and other scenes of business Meng (coffee and tea cakes except for midnight snacks and other scenes);
- Required merchant scoring standards: Douyin 4.0 or above, AutoNavi 4.0 or above, Meituan Food 3.8 or above, Dianping 3.8 or above; Upload a screenshot of the store score during the assignment; Chain stores with more than 5 stores are not restricted from individual stores with a score of less than 3.8
The reason why big-name merchants have not yet settled in
- The concern is the capacity of the riders!
- Care about the system’s ordering problem!
- Activity subsidies are required to be borne by merchants
