Douyin reportedly mulls to expand food delivery services in China

ByteDance-owned video-sharing platform Douyin, also known as the Chinese version of TikTok, is reportedly planning to launch "group-buying" food delivery services in China, as it looks to boost its eCommerce business in the region.

According to CNBC, ByteDance has been trialling a type of food delivery service in China via Douyin, and is mulling to extend the service beyond the trial.Byte Dance said it is testing a feature in Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu that enables merchants to promote and sell “group-buying” packages to Douyin users in these select cities and have them delivered, said the report.

Douyin’s gross merchandise value (GMV) has increased 320% year-on-year in the year ending in April 2022 as the company sold more than 10bn products, eCommerce president of Douyin Wei Wenwen said at a eCommerce conference last year. Douyin has also rebranded the concept of "interest eCommerce" as “full-field interest eCommerce” after introducing the idea last April.MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to ByteDance for a statement. 

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This comes as the company aims to showcase its ability to lure consumers via various channels such as short videos, livestreaming and its search function, said Wei. Wei also said Douyin aims to take over 50% of the industry’s growth marketing in the future as she saw plenty of opportunity remaining in the sector.

On the other hand, Chinese food delivery group Meituan has strived to fend off a challenge from ByteDance by revealing plans to recruit as many as 10,000 staff this quarter. The initiative will span the country from Beijing to Shenzhen, according to Bloomberg.

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