Chinese App Meituan-Dianping Claims To Help Create 20m Job Opportunities

Meituan-Dianping, the Chinese mobile services provider that is best known for its Yelp-like business directory and food delivery services, said it has created 19.6 million job opportunities in China.

The app has accrued a total user base of over 400 million.

Meituan-Dianping services cover more than 2,800 cities and counties across China, with half of China's smartphone users utilising the platform to make payments, its co-founder and CEO Wang Xing said, according to a Tencent news report on Friday. 

Key businesses of the Tencent-backed Meituan-Dianping include catering reviews, food delivery, shared bike, hotel and travel booking, as well as leisure and entertainment-related services. 

See: Alibaba enhances delivery push by acquiring 14 percent stake in STO Express

As one of the two major food delivery platforms in China, Meituan-Dianping has created 2.7 million food delivery jobs, with 25 million food delivery orders being made daily through the app. Food delivery also saves an average of 48 minutes for consumers who order through the mobile app in comparison to walking out and queuing at a restaurant, the report said.

Among the 2.7 million food delivery workers on Meituan-Dianping's app, about 75% of them live in rural areas, and their average monthly income ranges from 6,000 yuan (US$870) to 8,000 yuan, well above those working at traditional manufacturing plants and the average income levels in China.

Meituan-Dianping's main competitor, Ele.me, is the food delivery arm of Alibaba. The two apps own 64% and 34%, respectively, of the Chinese food delivery sector's market share, according to data from research firm DCCI. 

During a teleconference that took place this week, Alibaba's CEO Zhang Yong said the company would continue to invest in Ele.me and is aiming to go to lower-tier cities in China to acquire new users. 

Apart from its food delivery business, Meituan-Dianping has also created nearly 16 million merchant jobs, according to the report, which says the Beijing-based company has helped create a number of new jobs online, such as beauty trainers, baby nurses, car beauticians, and test eaters, through digital transformation of traditional industries.

In 2018, Meituan-Dianping raised $4.2 billion in Hong Kong, which was the second-biggest tech-related initial public offering in the city for the year.

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