Defeating a number of local giants, Meituan dominates this market

As a leader in domestic life service e-commerce platforms, Meituan has a strong growth momentum and a wide range of business coverage. In addition, Meituan has also made arrangements overseas.

Meituan has a long-term vision and has already made plans overseas

Meituan's overseas expansion can be traced back to 2016. At the end of 2016, Meituan established an overseas accommodation project team. In February 2017, it announced the official launch of overseas accommodation business, which marked the first step of Meituan's internationalization.

Subsequently, Meituan invested in two local life service platforms, Swiggy (an Indian food delivery platform, also known as the "Indian version of Meituan") and Gojek (an Indonesian online car-hailing platform), further expanding its two major overseas markets in India and Southeast Asia.

Meituan founder Wang Xing once said: "Chinese companies should actively try to go beyond the Chinese market based on their advantages in business models and innovation. The greater opportunities lie in developing countries with similar situations to China, such as India and Southeast Asia."

In addition to the Indian and Southeast Asian markets that it was optimistic about from the beginning, in 2019, Meituan actively laid out the African market and invested in Opay, a leading mobile payment platform in Nigeria, to expand its global presence.

Opening up overseas markets through multi-party investments rather than directly turning the "battlefield" overseas shows that Meituan is cautious about its overseas business.

Obviously, in China, Meituan is already a leader in the food delivery market, but as the domestic market becomes saturated, it is also necessary to actively explore overseas markets and seek new breakthroughs and new developments.

In less than two years, Keeta, the overseas version of Meituan Takeaway, ranked first in Saudi Arabia

Meituan’s food delivery business started to go overseas in May 2023, when it launched the food delivery platform Keeta in Hong Kong. It took only 5 months to achieve full coverage of Hong Kong, which also marked the official launch of its food delivery business overseas.

After Hong Kong, Keeta, the overseas version of Meituan Takeaway , will explore the Saudi market in 2024. It was launched in Al Kharj, Saudi Arabia on September 9, 2024, and on October 9 of the same year, Keeta was launched in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

In order to attract local consumers , Keeta also provides users with a series of high-quality services and preferential activities such as half-price for the first order in Riyadh on the same day, free delivery, and compensation for late arrival .

In addition, it is reported that when the new products were first launched, consumers could directly enjoy free door-to-door delivery service, as well as McDonald’s exclusive delivery discounts and coupons worth 100 riyals (about 195 yuan), which surprised Saudi consumers.

Why did Keeta choose Saudi Arabia, a Middle Eastern country, as his second stop?

Long before officially launching in Saudi Arabia, Meituan had done a lot of preparatory work, such as understanding in advance the target market's takeaway ordering and software usage habits, market size and penetration rate, consumers' consumption levels and other basic information.

According to data from the Statista platform, the Saudi online food delivery market is expected to continue to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 5.62% from 2024 to 2029. It is estimated that by 2029, the total size of the Saudi online food delivery market will reach US$15.43 billion (approximately RMB 113.1 billion) , and the number of users will also increase significantly to 19.5 million .

Specifically, as one of the important economies in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia has great market potential, and local consumers, like Chinese consumers, are keen on ordering takeout .

In addition, the Saudi market has a high per capita GDP, and the delivery price of food delivery platforms is generally between 9 riyals and 15 riyals (approximately RMB 17.55-29.25), and the starting price is around 100 riyals (approximately RMB 195), so consumers spend more on food delivery.

Recently, Keeta received good news again.

According to AppBrain statistics, as of January 14, Keeta's latest downloads in the Saudi Arabian Google Store still ranked first in the catering list, and its downloads and ratings exceeded those of a number of local giants such as HungerStation and Jahez.

It is reported that last year, Keeta had established partnerships with 7,000 restaurants, ranging from local restaurants to global chains, including KFC, McDonald's, etc., and has registered more than 10,000 riders.

And recently there have been reports that the number of Keeta's partner restaurants has increased by nearly half, and the number of riders has increased by nearly 5,000.

Keeta's ranking first in Saudi Arabia means that it has opened the door to the Middle East market, which will help enhance its brand influence, lay a certain foundation for future global development, and add more possibilities for it to compete in the global food delivery market.

As we usher in the new year, as we enter 2025, Meituan’s food delivery service Keeta has made new progress in its overseas layout.

Keeta launched the Jeddah site on January 1, and the Mecca site on January 6. The launch of two sites in one month is amazing compared to Al Kharj and Riyadh.

From the layout of overseas accommodation business in 2017 to the subsequent expansion of food delivery business, Meituan has been continuously exploring and expanding its overseas business. Internationalization is a long-term battle and it must be viewed with a long-term perspective.

In addition to overseas accommodation and food delivery businesses, Meituan's other overseas projects are also progressing steadily.

With multiple businesses advancing simultaneously, Meituan welcomes new development opportunities

In December last year , Keeta's drone business Keeta Drone successfully obtained the first commercial operation qualification certificate in Dubai, and officially obtained the entry ticket to carry out commercial drone operations in the UAE .

This not only proves that Keeta Drone has achieved major breakthroughs in technological innovation and application practice in the field of drone delivery and has reached international advanced levels, but will also greatly enhance Keeta's ability to fulfill orders instantly.

In the future, Keeta Drone can use this qualification to carry out more extensive drone delivery business in the Middle East to meet the local market's demand for efficient and convenient delivery services.

In addition to the drone business, Meituan ’s forward warehouse business, Xiaoxiang Supermarket, has also started its overseas expansion , with Saudi Arabia still being the first stop .

With Keeta 's advanced layout, Xiaoxiang Supermarket also has experience to learn from in its development in Saudi Arabia. It is reported that Xiaoxiang Supermarket's overseas team is composed of elites from multiple business lines within Meituan, including a product research team with hundreds of people and a business team with dozens of people.

It is worth mentioning that by the second quarter of 2024 , Xiaoxiang Supermarket has opened more than 680 forward warehouses, 550 of which are located in the four first-tier cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen .

In recent years, as the domestic market has become increasingly competitive, many companies, like Meituan, hope to go overseas to seek new development opportunities, actively develop emerging markets, and seize dividends from overseas markets.

At this time, it is particularly important to choose a market that is suitable for its own development and a route that is suitable for the long-term progress of the enterprise. Meituan’s series of overseas initiatives have also confirmed the correctness of its choice. The experience and resources accumulated in markets such as Saudi Arabia will become the confidence for it to expand its presence in more overseas markets in the future.

Keeta

Saudi Arabia