August 4, 2025 –
China’s three major food delivery platforms—Meituan, Taobao Flash Delivery (Taobao Shanggou) & Ele.me, and JD.com—have jointly called for a return to fair and orderly market competition, pledging to put an end to unfair pricing practices and cutthroat subsidies.
The coordinated statements, made on August 1, mark a significant shift in tone for an industry recently gripped by ultra-low price promotions such as “0-yuan deals” and “1-cent flash sales.” These tactics, originally aimed at drawing in users, have increasingly sparked concern over market disorder and regulatory risks.
A Shift Toward Market Discipline
According to the People’s Daily, rectifying disordered, low-price competition is essential to correcting market failures and fostering a unified national market where all players can compete fairly. The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) has repeatedly summoned executives from the three platforms, urging strict compliance with laws including the E-commerce Law, the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, and the Food Safety Law.
Regulators emphasized that platforms must take full responsibility for their conduct, restrain from irrational promotions, and ensure healthy market dynamics.
The Real Stakes Behind the Price War
The recent wave of deep discounts wasn’t just about selling a single meal. Platforms are fighting for user habits and dominance in the instant retail and local services ecosystem—particularly the crucial “last mile” of delivery.
But unchecked competition is already taking a toll:
- Merchants face pressure on margins, risking business viability.
- Consumers may benefit from short-term deals, but often at the cost of time, frustration, and a worsened user experience.
- Delivery riders face increased order volumes, which could raise safety risks.
As the editorial warns, irrational competition turns into a lose-lose game, where platforms “kill 1,000 enemies but wound 800 of their own”—a Chinese idiom meaning self-inflicted harm.
Toward Rational, Innovation-Driven Growth
Regulators stress that regulating competition isn’t about banning it, but rather encouraging platforms to shift focus from price wars to value creation. This includes:
- Investing in technology and service upgrades
- Exploring differentiated business models
- Creating new consumption scenarios
- Improving operational discipline
By pursuing sustainable, rational competition, platforms can better serve consumers, support merchants, protect delivery workers, and foster a healthier digital ecosystem.
Legal Changes on the Horizon
Reinforcing this regulatory push, the newly revised Anti-Unfair Competition Law—set to take effect on October 15, 2025—explicitly bans platforms from forcing (or effectively forcing) merchants to sell below cost according to platform-set pricing rules. Such behavior, the law states, disrupts market order and is strictly prohibited.
A Market Big Enough for Everyone
With a population of over 1.4 billion, China’s domestic market is large enough to accommodate multiple platforms competing fairly. The editorial concludes with a call for platforms to leverage their strengths, open up, and grow the pie together—benefiting not just platforms, but consumers, merchants, and riders alike.
“Through openness and cooperation, platforms can grow the delivery market ‘pie,’ create a better ecosystem, and contribute to a better life for all,” the article states.
Source: https://www.samr.gov.cn/xw/mtjj/art/2025/art_030a63762eac44da9a0fe3fa1e4bdc74.html
