Wang Xing launched a major counterattack

Author | Liu Baodan

Over the past year, ByteDance's rapid growth in the local life market has put pressure on the leader, MEITUAN, and its stock price has been affected. Starting on January 10th, MEITUAN Chairman Wang Xing spent HKD 3.2 billion to repurchase stocks for 8 consecutive days, boosting investor confidence.

On February 2nd, MEITUAN's highest decision-making body, the S-team, reorganized its core local business and merged the at-home and in-store business groups, which were unified under the leadership of Senior Vice President Wang Puzhong.

Specifically, MEITUAN's adjustment this time includes the integration of the at-home business group, in-store business group, MEITUAN platform, and basic research and development, all reporting to Wang Puzhong. The Dianping, SaaS, cycling, and power bank businesses will be led by Senior Vice President Zhang Chuan. In addition, Wang Xing personally took over the drone and overseas businesses.

The core local business of both in-store and at-home services is the foundation of MEITUAN, contributing over 70% of its revenue. Now that these two departments are integrated, MEITUAN can be more flexible in facing competition from ByteDance.

Moreover, with many independent business groups integrated into one large department, MEITUAN's in-store business will have more resources to mobilize, truly consolidating its forces and focusing on defeating the enemy.

It is worth noting that there has also been a change in the leadership of MEITUAN's in-store business group, with Wang Puzhong replacing Zhang Chuan as the new head.

Jiang Han, a senior researcher at Pangu Think Tank, believes that integrating in-store and at-home services will help achieve resource sharing and better respond to market changes.

An insider close to MEITUAN said that group buying and food delivery have a high degree of overlap on the supply side, meeting similar consumer needs through different fulfillment methods. Integrating them with the platform, research and development, and other aspects reflects MEITUAN's determination to further improve organizational efficiency and upgrade the product experience.

Zhuang Shuai, a retail e-commerce industry expert and founder of Bailian Consulting, believes that in the future, MEITUAN will be more competitive in terms of product variety and pricing. From the perspective of merchants, the linkage and promotional capabilities of in-store and at-home businesses will be strengthened, and the development of instant retail business will also be enhanced.

With Wang Puzhong taking the helm, MEITUAN's core local business will have more proactive actions.

Wang Puzhong joined MEITUAN in 2015 and has held positions such as Senior Product Director of Food Delivery and Head of Food Delivery and Distribution Departments, successfully expanding the instant retail business. Currently, he is the youngest member of MEITUAN's S-team and one of Wang Xing's most trusted subordinates.

At the end of last year, ByteDance also underwent a leadership change in its local life business, with ByteDance Group's Commercialization Director Pu Yanzi also serving as the head of ByteDance's life services business.

With both ByteDance and MEITUAN welcoming new leaders in the local life sector, the strategic changes and tactics of both sides will become the focus of market attention in the future.Currently, it is still unknown how Wang Xing will respond. Several catering companies that have cooperated with Meituan have stated to Wall Street News that they have not yet received any policy direction from Meituan regarding its delivery and group-buying businesses.

In addition to competing with ByteDance in the local life market, Meituan has also sent positive signals regarding its technology and international business in this organizational adjustment.

Wang Xing has unlocked a new task for himself, and in the future, Meituan's drone and overseas businesses will report directly to him, thereby raising the priority of these businesses.

Currently, both Meituan's drone and overseas businesses are in the exploration stage. In 2017, Meituan launched the exploration of drone delivery services, aiming to promote transformative changes in fulfillment tools through technological innovation.

As of December 2022, Meituan's drone delivery has been implemented in 5 commercial areas in Shenzhen, with a total of over 120,000 orders fulfilled for real users.

In terms of overseas business, Meituan has taken the first step. In May 2023, Meituan launched a new delivery brand called KeeTa in Hong Kong, and by December, KeeTa's market share in Hong Kong had risen to 37%, ranking second.

Whether it is the core local business or the exploratory business representing the future, this organizational adjustment points to Meituan's most core fulfillment capabilities and shows the determination of a sharpened Meituan.

Local life has always been an exceptionally competitive market, and Meituan is a company that has grown from the Hundred Regiments Battle and the food delivery war. At its peak, Meituan had almost no competitors. However, faced with ByteDance's continuous attacks, Meituan clearly underestimated the strength of its opponent.

In the past year, Meituan has implemented a series of strategies such as reducing merchant fees and launching live streaming to counter ByteDance's attacks. It also promoted five vice presidents at once, attempting to enhance organizational combat effectiveness by promoting the younger generation internally.

This organizational adjustment is the first time that Meituan has made large-scale adjustments to its organization and personnel since shifting to the "retail + technology" strategy in 2021. The last adjustment to the Home Business Group can be traced back to 2017.

This is an important milestone. If the previous competition was led by ByteDance, controlling the pace of attack while Meituan could only passively respond, then this adjustment means that Wang Xing is starting to regain the initiative in the competition. Meituan has re-entered "battle mode" after many years.

The core organizational adjustment is to match strategic needs, which also indicates that Wang Xing has a new approach to the local life market in 2024.

In an internal email, Wang Xing unusually mentioned Meituan's current situation. He stated that there are various challenges both internally and externally at present, but at the same time, this is an opportunity for the company to further grow.Whether Meituan can win the third major battle in local life will be crucial in 2024, and the competition among giants has already begun.