Recently, Meituan released its performance report for the third quarter of 2024, showing that Meituan achieved revenue of 93.6 billion yuan in the third quarter, a year-on-year increase of 22.4%.

Meituan's stock price has already achieved a cumulative increase of over 100% this year, demonstrating strong market confidence in Meituan's future development, and indirectly validating the significant results Meituan has achieved in improving efficiency and optimizing its business structure. Meituan CEO Wang Xing stated: “We will continue to meet user needs, assist and support merchant operations, care for and support rider development, and achieve win-win outcomes with our ecosystem partners.”

Synergistic effects strengthen, core business steadily grows.

Meituan's organizational structure adjustment and integration innovation of business sectors have brought significant synergistic effects. The core local business can be summarized into two major sectors: home delivery and in-store services, including dining delivery, Meituan's flash purchase, as well as in-store, hotel, and tourism businesses. In Q3, the overall core local business reached 69.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 20.2%.

Through the upgrade and expansion of the ‘Shen Member’ service, Meituan has achieved full coverage of various consumer scenarios, expanding nationwide. Currently, over 50% of in-store hotel and travel business merchants have participated, a move that not only enhances user stickiness but also provides more exposure opportunities for merchants.

Another growth point is flash purchase, where innovative models and collaborative expansions further demonstrate Meituan's leading position in instant delivery. Collaborations with retail brands and large retailers enable Meituan to meet consumers' immediate needs in different scenarios such as holidays, travel, and daily necessities. This quarter, the average daily volume of Meituan's flash purchase exceeded 10 million orders, with both users and transaction frequencies achieving double-digit growth. On the day of Qixi Festival, the peak order volume even surpassed 16 million orders.

It is worth mentioning that large retailers are beginning to accelerate their layout with Meituan. In October, Miniso announced a deep strategic cooperation with Meituan, planning to launch more than 800 ‘24H Super Stores’ in the form of flash warehouses on Meituan within the year, serving consumers' immediate needs with ‘online ordering and delivery in as fast as 30 minutes’. Currently, Miniso has opened 500 warehouses on Meituan. Financial reports show that in the third quarter, the annual number of transaction users, the annual active merchants, and the average annual consumption frequency of transaction users have all continued to grow and have broken historical records. The number of instant delivery orders reached 7.1 billion.

New businesses continue to reduce losses, focusing on healthy growth.

Meituan has made significant progress in reducing losses in new businesses, with operating losses for the quarter further narrowing to 1 billion yuan. Compared to the past five years, Meituan's investments in new businesses have become more focused on efficiency and effectiveness.

From 2019 to 2023, the accumulated losses of new businesses exceeded 100 billion yuan. Starting from 2023, Meituan's new businesses began focusing on cost reduction and efficiency improvement, with losses narrowing to 2.8 billion in Q1, further to 1.3 billion in Q2, and down to 1 billion in this quarter.

Cost reduction and efficiency enhancement is also a consensus in the current internet industry, which is a significant direct source of corporate profits. Other new businesses outside of Meituan Select achieved profitability as a whole in the third quarter. In October, Keeta officially launched in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, marking an important step for Meituan in international expansion.

As the growth rate of new businesses accelerates further, and the loss rate significantly narrows, it reflects that Meituan's new businesses are expected to enter a harvesting phase. This transformation not only demonstrates Meituan's substantial achievements in cost reduction and efficiency improvement but also aligns with the current consensus in the internet industry, which advocates increasing corporate profits through enhanced efficiency.

Ecological win-win, supporting stable development.

Meituan's business model has always revolved around ecological win-win. In terms of merchant support, Meituan has invested 1 billion in the "Prosperity Program" to provide more support for dining merchants focused on products and exploring innovations. All cash support will be dispensed in batches starting from December 31 this year, which not only enhances the operational efficiency and scale benefits for merchants but also lays a solid foundation for Meituan's long-term development.

In terms of rider support, Meituan has further enriched rider care and provided more rights protection and support through measures such as the "Rider Friendly Community" access solution, the "Rider Home" function, and pilot fatigue management mechanisms. As of the end of October, the "Rider Friendly Community" access solutions launched in cooperation with companies like Vanke Property, China OVS PPT, and Jinke Services have cumulatively served over 1.6 million riders, with expectations to be launched in over ten thousand communities nationwide by the end of the year. Additionally, Meituan has continued to expand the network of rider stations in cities in collaboration with various labor unions and offline merchants, with nearly 50,000 stations nationwide effectively addressing riders' rest difficulties.

In terms of rider income, Meituan disclosed that the monthly average income for high-frequency riders in the third quarter ranged from 5,720 yuan to 10,865 yuan.

High-frequency riders refer to those who take orders 22 days or more in a month, with an average daily order-taking duration of 6 hours or more. From the perspective of average income in various regions, the average income of high-frequency riders is slightly higher than the local residents' average income.

According to research statistics, riders' average daily delivery duration during peak season is 6.9 hours, while in the off-season it is 5.1 hours. By strengthening business collaboration, focusing on the healthy growth of new businesses, and promoting ecological win-win situations, it can be seen that Meituan has not only achieved solid growth in its core business but also made significant progress in seeking ecological balance. As Meituan continues to contribute to the retail industry's substantial development with its 'retail + technology' global strategy, it is expected to maintain its leading position in the local life service sector and create more value for all ecological participants in the upcoming year-end.