JD.com's US$1.4 billion plan heats up on-demand delivery battle with Meituan, Alibaba
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The
Beijing -based
e-commerce giant's latest initiative seeks to elevate sales of select brands beyond one million items on its platform via measures that include increased traffic, marketing incentives and enhanced after-sales service.
The new plan reflects JD.com's determined effort to unseat
Meituan as mainland China's top on-demand local delivery services provider, while also trying to fend off a strong challenge from online shopping rival
Alibaba Group Holding . Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.
JD.com's plan was unveiled after a weekend price skirmish between Alibaba and Meituan, which involved discount coupons that allowed more consumers to buy milk tea at unusually low prices. A surge in orders led to overwhelming demand, which prompted delivery riders to work extended shifts and temporarily crashed Meituan's servers in certain regions.
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Taobao reported on Wednesday that in the previous week, 4,124 restaurant brands on its platform set record sales and orders, while orders for 2,318 non-food categories doubled. Non-food orders surged 143 per cent compared with the platform's initial launch figures, according to Taobao.
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