Meituan Strengthens Short Video and Livestream Content to Compete With Douyin

Chinese shopping platform giant Meituan is revamping its short video and livestreaming features in response to competition from Douyin’s entry into the take-out field, Tech Planet reported. Douyin is TikTok’s sister app in China.

Meituan‘s official livestream channel showcases take-out deals and offers from Starbucks, McDonald’s, Dairy Queen, Pizza Hut, Burger King, Haidilao (Chinese hot pot chain), Dicos (Chinese fast food chain), and other shops.

For these popular brands, the process of preparing orders is standardized with little to no special cooking requirements. Their established supply chains and logistics capabilities allow for high volumes of orders to be processed quickly.

According to Meituan‘s livestreamers, the channel is active for 10 hours every day, from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Seven live broadcasts have been held. Although still in its testing stages, the livestream broadcasts drew in over 297,000 viewers at its highest point.

With the evolution of information dissemination from text and pictures to short videos, internet companies are trying new methods to improve transaction volume and user retention. Meituan is no exception.

From 2020 to 2023, Meituan launched at least three different types of livestreams for travel, online courses, and aesthetic medicine. In April last year, Meituan launched an app to provide free broadcasting tools for merchants.

Meituan is also exploring to expand its use of short videos. When opening the Meituan app, users encounter a short 30-second video that tends to recommend food. Tapping on the video brings up the merchant’s information. Not long ago, Meituan launched a mini-program on WeChat to incentivize users to upload videos of themselves trying food in new stores. The mini-program is still in testing stage and is only available in certain cities.

SEE ALSO: Douyin Still Testing Food Delivery Business in Top Chinese Cities

The period of rapid growth in Meituan‘s take-out business has elapsed. In the first quarter of last year, its take-out revenue reached 24.16 billion yuan ($3.5 billion), up 17.4% year-on-year, while the growth rate of the same period in 2021 was 116.8%. Faced with challenges in providing higher volumes of orders without compromising product quality, merchants turn to try livestreaming on Douyin. Competition from Douyin is accelerating the transformation of the take-out industry in China.