The Influence Mechanism of the “Pinhaofan” Function on the Meituan Food Delivery Platform

Abstract

Meituan Food Delivery innovates the takeout group purchase model through the “Pinhaofan” function. With its large user base and rapidly growing group purchase order volume, Meituan Food Delivery has demonstrated significant market potential. Although the continued expansion of China’s food delivery market has provided with broad development space, as the proportion of “Pinhaofan” orders increases, the platform faces the shortcomings of continued decline in average order value, imitation by competitors, vicious low-price competition, and food safety issues and other challenges. Based on SWOT analysis, this study showed that the “Pinhaofan” business has certain potential and good prospects. Meituan Food Delivery should broaden its focus from short-term high-volume to prioritising long-term sustainable growth, by strengthening internal supervision and fostering continuous innovation. This study contributes to both theoretical understanding and practical applications regarding the importance of group purchasing in the food delivery industry. It provides valuable insights into developing competition strategies for food delivery companies.