Meituan.com, a major group-buying website for consumer products and retail services, has now ventured into the ride-hailing industry, launching a new business line in Shanghai on Wednesday, Yicai.com reported.
The company has adopted different degrees of subsidies and incentives for both users and the drivers. For users, the first three orders will earn a deduction of 14 yuan (US$2.21), which means a trip within 3 kilometers can be free.
While for drivers who use their platforms, the company won’t charge local registered drivers for any intermediate fee for the first three months. Compared to Didi Chuxing, it gets a cut of 22% from each order from the driver.
Meituan’s ride-hailing service is embedded within its food-delivery and restaurant guide app.
So when users search for catering information, they can directly jump to the rail-hailing service by clicking the “taxi” button on the main page of a restaurant. This eliminates the need to manually type in the address.
It is reported that 30% of Meituan active users have a travel demand.