Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com has opened a new front in China’s intensifying on-demand local services war, rolling out a stand-alone food-delivery app and a “JD Review” platform for what it says are genuine, non-commercialised user ratings, in a direct challenge to Meituan and Alibaba Group Holding-backed services.
The twin launches mark JD.com’s latest attempt to claw back relevance in instant commerce, a fast-growing segment where Meituan and Alibaba have consolidated dominant positions, leaving the company lagging in user traffic and local merchant coverage. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.
The stand-alone food delivery app, launched on Monday, was aimed at fixing a user experience problem: some customers had difficulty finding the right button to order takeaways on JD.com’s main shopping app, said company founder Richard Liu Qiangdong at an event in Sanya, in the southern island province of Hainan.
Since JD.com ventured into the sector in February, it has embedded the service into the main shopping app, accessible via an “instant delivery” channel that requires at least one click on the main page.
More significant than the stand-alone food app is JD.com’s simultaneous roll-out of “JD Dianping”, a platform designed to provide authentic, reliable consumer reviews of eateries, hotels, shops, tourist spots and household services, challenging Meituan’s Dazhong Dianping in both name and content.
The review channel is available on both JD.com’s main shopping app and the new food delivery app and includes a “JD True List”, which is designed to find the best cuisine based on transaction data, user reviews and AI-generated summaries.
