If Meituan Youxuan is "sold" to Taobao and becomes Taobao Youxuan

Found a very interesting phenomenon: many people can't distinguish between Xiaoxiang Supermarket (formerly Meituan Grocery) and Meituan Youxuan. I originally thought it might be because these people are too careless, but upon further reflection, it's probably because users who have deeply used both services are really just a tiny minority in the market.

After all, Xiaoxiang Supermarket was established in 2019, but so far it has only penetrated 30 cities. China has 293 prefecture-level cities. Plus, the previous name "Meituan Grocery" and "Meituan Youxuan" aren't very distinct, so it's understandable that many people confuse the two.

Later, Meituan Grocery was renamed Xiaoxiang Supermarket, and Meituan Youxuan's operations were basically shut down. Many people think Xiaoxiang Supermarket inherited the "legacy" of Meituan Youxuan, but anyone slightly more informed knows that one is a front-end warehouse model, and the other is community group buying—two completely unrelated businesses with no inheritance relationship.

At one point, Beijing had both Meituan Youxuan and Xiaoxiang Supermarket. Perhaps it was deemed unnecessary to have two competing businesses. Later, Meituan Youxuan withdrew directly, ceding the Beijing market to Duoduo Grocery. Eventually, Meituan Youxuan was shut down nationwide, surrendering all markets to Duoduo Grocery.

Lately, I've been pondering a wild idea:

Meituan Youxuan's shutdown was too abrupt. Instead of letting Pinduoduo reap the benefits, why didn't Meituan consider "selling" Youxuan to Taobao? Rather than making public statements, they could have proposed a solution to reduce the intensity of the food delivery war.

It sounds absurd, but there's a logical consistency: Taobao's flash sales are, in the long run, about synergizing e-commerce with food delivery—all for Taobao. Meituan Youxuan, though a burden in Meituan's system (severely dragging down financial reports), would be an excellent complement for Taobao.

Imagine this showdown: Taobao Youxuan (revamped from Meituan Youxuan) + Taobao Main Site VS Duoduo Grocery + Pinduoduo Main Site.

If Meituan could swap this business to Alibaba, it could redirect the battle from its core food delivery territory to the quieter community group-buying market, letting Taobao and Pinduoduo fight it out in the lower-tier markets. Wouldn't that be a brilliant "redirecting the trouble" move?

Unfortunately, business has no "what ifs." After all these years, Meituan Youxuan invested so much money and nearly formed a "duopoly" with Duoduo Grocery, only to end abruptly.

It's quite a pity, reminding me of the days at Didi working on Chengxin—a business that lasted barely over a year from start to finish.

A business we worked on day and night, leaving not a trace or a single line of code behind.

Perhaps it's the lament over such impermanence that sparked this whimsical idea—a weekend thought experiment for everyone to ponder.

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