Nearly 5 billion yuan! Meituan "acquires" Dingdong Maicai

Fresh produce instant retail sector sees major consolidation again.

On February 5th after market close, Meituan announced on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that it will acquire 100% equity of Dingdong Maicai China business for approximately $717 million in initial consideration. Before market open on February 5th, Dingdong Maicai’s market value was $694 million.

Chart: Zhang Li

The announcement states that Dingdong Maicai’s overseas operations are not included in this transaction and will be divested before closing. During the transition period, Dingdong Maicai will continue to operate under its previous model.

In the fresh e-commerce field, Meituan’s Xiaoxiang Supermarket and Dingdong Maicai are two key players operating under the front warehouse model.

Founded in Shanghai in 2017, Dingdong Maicai focuses on “delivery within 29 minutes.” Initially, it concentrated on the Shanghai market. After completing a $330 million D+ round of financing in June 2021, it listed on the NYSE. At that time, the front warehouse model attracted many investors, and amid aggressive spending by various players, Dingdong Maicai, as an independent player, shifted its focus to “efficiency first, scale second,” emphasizing the Yangtze River Delta region.

Since then, Dingdong Maicai has maintained steady growth. According to its Q3 2025 quarterly report released last November, the company achieved GMV (Gross Merchandise Volume) of 7.27 billion yuan and revenue of 6.66 billion yuan, both hitting record highs; under Non-GAAP standards, net profit was 1 billion yuan, marking 12 consecutive quarters of profitability; under GAAP standards, net profit was 800 million yuan, with 7 consecutive quarters of GAAP profitability; as of the end of Q3, cash reserves reached 3.94 billion yuan.

Starting in early 2025, the instant retail industry entered a new development phase, with Alibaba, Meituan, and JD.com expanding their “battlefields” in this sector—from food delivery to supermarkets and convenience stores, from mobile digital devices to healthcare and medicine. Fresh produce, being a high-frequency category, has led Dingdong Maicai to adopt a cautious approach to the “burning money” model, internally implementing the “4G” strategy: Good Users, Good Products, Good Service, Good Mindset.

In October 2025, Dingdong Maicai officially announced the “4G” strategy. At that time, founder and CEO Liang Changlin stated that they would abandon low-price strategies and low-cost products, prioritizing serving a select few: “Not doing 75% for everyone, but 120% for the few.”

In terms of market penetration, Dingdong Maicai launched in Yancheng, Jiangsu, in January this year, entering the northern Jiangsu market and completing the last piece of its Jiangsu puzzle, achieving full penetration in East China. Data shows that Dingdong Maicai continues to expand its front warehouse network in the Yangtze River Delta, opening over 200 new warehouses in the past two years, with more than 60% located in third- and fourth-tier cities and county-level areas.

Meituan has accelerated its layout in the instant retail sector in recent years, exploring various models such as Meituan Flash Purchase and Xiaoxiang Supermarket. Notably, in June 2025, Meituan announced a comprehensive expansion of instant retail, aiming to upgrade retail formats. Xiaoxiang Supermarket, as Meituan’s self-operated front warehouse instant retail business, is a key focus for the group’s growth.

By June 2025, Xiaoxiang Supermarket had nearly 1,000 front warehouses across 20 cities nationwide. Market estimates suggest that by 2025, Xiaoxiang Supermarket’s agricultural product sales will exceed 20 billion yuan. It is foreseeable that Dingdong Maicai’s advantages in East China will significantly boost the future development of Xiaoxiang Supermarket.

Meituan’s announcement states that the company highly values its instant retail business. Dingdong Maicai’s philosophy of “Good Users, Good Products, Good Service, Good Mindset” aligns well with Meituan’s mission to “Help everyone eat better and live better.” This acquisition will help leverage both sides’ strengths in product quality, technology, and operations to provide consumers with a better shopping and delivery experience.