Alibaba Group Holding said the destination ranking feature in its Amap mapping service has racked up 400 million users since being launched last month, as the tech giant doubles down on efforts to challenge rival delivery platform Meituan in local services.
As of June this year, Amap had 895.5 million monthly active users (MAUs), making it the fourth biggest mobile app in China by MAUs, according to analytics firm QuestMobile. The top three were Tencent Holdings’ super app WeChat, with 1.1 billion MAUs, followed by ByteDance’s TikTok equivalent Douyin and Alibaba’s online marketplace Taobao.
In response to the launch of Street Stars, Meituan announced plans to use AI models to screen consumer reviews of restaurants and merchants, as well as the launch of a “quality food delivery” service on its Dianping app.
Meituan said on Tuesday that it would distribute subsidies for more than 10,000 small to medium restaurants during China’s eight-day National Day holiday break in a campaign that aimed to “help small businesses withstand operational pressures and foster the healthy development of the industry”. A single grant was capped at 50,000 yuan, Meituan said.
Meituan’s Hong Kong shares have lost 30 per cent since the beginning of this year, while Alibaba’s have gained 128 per cent.
