Meituan Revenues Up Nearly 30 Pct YOY In Q3

Food delivery emerged as the top earner in the third quarter for China-based firm Meituan, according to a report from the company.

Meituan works in food delivery, travel and other services.

Total revenues for the company increased in the third quarter by 28.8 percent year over year to 35.4 billion renminbi ($5.4 billion), the report stated. That included a huge boost from the food delivery component of the business, which saw a 32.8 percent revenue increase compared to last year.

As in much of the rest of the world during the pandemic, the increase was a result of the greater dependence on delivery apps in lieu of going out in person, so as to avoid infection.

The daily average number of food transactions increased by 30.1 percent to 34.9 million since last year, the report stated, while the average value per order increased 4.5 percent year over year. All of that resulted in food delivery revenue increasing to 20.7 billion renminbi ($3.1 billion) for the third quarter.

The report noted that summer is usually the peak in terms of order volume, and Meituan worked on expanding its base of merchants and increased the number of options available for restaurants, with the hope being to stimulate the recovery of the company’s food delivery business and help local restaurants.

The company also worked on flexibility through more delivery time options for riders, and it worked on new algorithms to help boost rider safety. The company also worked to make sure riders got reasonable compensation and had more options for healthcare and education, the report stated.

Meituan was valued earlier this year at $100 billion, becoming only the third Chinese company to get to that level after Tencent and Alibaba, PYMNTS reported. The pandemic caused a downturn for Meituan’s overall operations early in the year, with transactions dropping while people tried to save money. But the larger food delivery orders helped the company continue making money anyway.