Meituan Sets Up Special Team for Retail-Related Business

At a monthly business meeting held on Wednesday, Chinese web retail and services platform Meituan announced a new round of adjustments, including the establishment of a special group to make decisions regarding all retail-related businesses, Chinese media outlet LatePost reported.

The group has five members including Wang Xing, Founder and CEO of Meituan, Wang Puzhong, Senior Vice President of the firm and President of Daojia Business Group, Chen Liang, Senior Vice President of Meituan and General Manager of Youxuan Division, Guo Wanhuai, General Manager of Kuailv Division, and Li Shubin, Vice President of Meituan and General Manager of the Meituan app.

Meituan also integrates the business of Youxuan, Kuailv and grocery shopping, which is taken charge of by Chen Liang, while Guo Wanhuai will assist Chen Liang in management. Integrating the above businesses is conducive to a more rational allocation of resources.

Chen Liang has three years of experience in leading the team in fresh food and retail. He joined Meituan in January 2011, and has been responsible for mobile, hotel, travel and grocery shopping. In 2020, he began to be responsible for the community group buying that Meituan focused on.

Meituan‘s retail team imitates Amazon’s “D-team.” In 2008, Amazon’s retail business matured, and Bezos personally set up the “D-team” in order to discover new opportunities in the digital field. Meituan is also facing a similar situation today. Businesses such as group buying, food delivery and travel have matured, while new businesses are still being explored.

LatePost also reported that at a strategy meeting in September, Wang Xing announced that he would upgrade Meituan‘s strategy from “Food and Platform” to “Retail and Technology.” The establishment of a retail team is the first step of Meituan‘s new strategy.

E-commerce platforms are also exploring retail services. In July, Alibaba handed over the three major sectors of AutoNavi, Fliggy and Local Life to Yu Yongfu, a partner of Alibaba and chairman of AutoNavi.

In addition, the report mentioned that Guo Qing, General Manager of Cycling Division and a member of S-team, the highest decision-making body of Meituan, will leave his post.

Guo Qing joined Meituan in March 2014 and was in charge of hotel and travel business until the first half of 2021. Less than six years later, in January 2020, Guo Qing joined in the S-team. The two businesses that Guo Qing was responsible for are relatively mature within Meituan.

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Guo Qing is not the only senior member of Meituan to leave his or her job in the past two years. At the beginning of 2020, Liu Lin, a member of S-team and Senior Vice President of Meituan, was transferred to serve as the company’s senior consultant. In December 2020, Wang Huiwen, Co-Founder and Senior Vice President  of Meituan, as well as a member of S-team, retired.