JD.com Struggles to Gain Ground in China’s Instant-Delivery Market

Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com (9618.HK) is ramping up efforts to expand its instant-delivery business through JD Takeaway, launched in February, aiming to diversify revenue beyond its core retail operations. Despite significant investments and improvements in user engagement—quarterly active customer growth and shopping frequency rose over 40%—the company faces a steep challenge breaking into a market dominated by established players.

Daily active users of JD’s delivery service have declined steadily since mid-June, falling more than 13% week-on-week by July 27, according to M Science data, signaling potential market share loss. Analyst Vinci Zhang noted that Meituan (3690.HK) and Alibaba’s (9988.HK) Ele.me service possess strong expertise in food delivery, making JD’s expansion particularly difficult.

JD’s investments in food delivery have also compressed profitability, with the adjusted operating margin dropping to 0.3% in the June quarter from 4% a year ago. By comparison, Meituan recently recorded an all-time high of 120 million daily orders across food and retail, controlling nearly 70% of the delivery market, while Alibaba’s Taobao instant commerce combined with Ele.me hit 80 million daily orders, with 200 million daily active users early in July.

The market is seeing fierce competition, with the three companies collectively pledging nearly 200 billion yuan ($27.87 billion) in subsidies, fueling a price war in instant retail that has drawn regulatory attention. JD.com CEO Sandy Xu emphasized the company’s focus on platform improvements to attract more users, merchants, and delivery riders, even as competitors prepare to report their quarterly results.