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The Demise of China’s Hottest Online Shopping Craze
As China’s digital economy matures, community group-buying platforms are being replaced by faster, more convenient delivery services.
But as pandemic lockdowns ended and Chinese companies, including Meituan, continued expanding their dense networks of couriers, they started to offer delivery in as little as 30 minutes, eliminating the need for people to get together with their neighbors to do a group buy. Called tuanzhang —a playful twist on the Chinese term for the military title “regimental commander”—these people often have deep connections to local communities and are recruited by platforms to promote their services and assemble bulk grocery orders. Meanwhile, Meituan and many other Chinese tech companies have moved on to providing groceries primarily through instant delivery, and they are spending a lot in discounts to incentivize customers to use the more premium service.
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