The Next 'Battlefield': Why Did Wang Xing Personally Lead Meituan to Go 'All In' on Community Group Buying?

Prologue: The "Once-in-a-Decade" Opportunity

In 2020, a sudden pandemic completely changed the way of life for Chinese people and unexpectedly gave rise to a "new trend"—community group buying.

This "order online today, pick up in the community tomorrow" model perfectly solved the problem of "difficulty in buying groceries" for residents during the pandemic. For a time, regional players like Xingsheng Youxuan and Shihuituan saw their business volumes skyrocket.

While everyone's attention was still focused on the "pandemic" itself, Wang Xing saw a huge, "once-in-a-decade" opportunity.

He realized that community group buying might not just be a "temporary" solution. Its "pre-sale + self-pickup" model fundamentally reconstructed the "people, goods, and place" of traditional retail, representing a more efficient and lower-cost "ultimate retail form."

It could expand the e-commerce landscape from "within the 5th Ring Road" to the broader "outside the 5th Ring Road"—the "sinking markets" with hundreds of millions of people that traditional e-commerce and logistics systems struggled to cover.

At an internal Meituan meeting, Wang Xing stated his judgment on this war in an unquestionable tone:

"Community group buying is the most important battlefield for Meituan in the next decade. We must fight this battle, and we must win!"

Act I: The "Youxuan" Business Division

In July 2020, Meituan officially established the "Youxuan Business Division" and high-profilely entered the community group buying scene.

Wang Xing's emphasis on this new business was unprecedented.

First, was the high-level "organizational" support. He personally served as the head of the "Youxuan Business Division." This was extremely rare in Meituan's history. The last time Wang Xing personally led a project was Meituan Waimai, 7 years prior.

Second, was the unlimited "resource" allocation. Wang Xing announced that the investment in Meituan Youxuan would have "no upper limit." He transferred the most elite "troops" from the company's core departments, including the top tech, product, and operations talent, into this new battlefield.

"This will definitely be a tough battle," Wang Xing told his team. "Our opponents are Pinduoduo, Alibaba, some of the most powerful companies on the planet. We have no retreat."

Under Wang Xing's personal supervision, Meituan Youxuan demonstrated an astonishing "Meituan speed."

Within a few months, Meituan Youxuan's iron army had rapidly entered thousands of counties and cities across the country. They used Meituan's signature "ground promotion" model to frantically develop "group leaders" (pickup point managers in communities) and establish "central warehouses" and "grid stations."

The most brutal and crucial war in the second half of the Chinese internet had officially begun.

Act II: The Ultimate War of "Efficiency"

On the surface, the community group buying war is a war of "price."

Meituan, Pinduoduo, and Alibaba, in order to compete for users, launched "1 cent for a pound of eggs" and "99 cents for a head of cabbage" and other "cash-burning" subsidies.

But Wang Xing knew clearly that the essence of this war was not "subsidies," but "efficiency."

Whoever could build a "supply chain" and "fulfillment" system with the lowest cost and fastest turnover would be the one to have the last laugh.

And this was precisely what Meituan excelled at.

Wang Xing applied all the "core capabilities" that Meituan had accumulated over the past decade in the "Thousand Groupon War" and the "food delivery war" to this new battle.

He used the most sophisticated "data models" to predict how many pounds of cabbage and how many apples each community would need the next day, thereby minimizing "inventory" loss.

He used the most scientific "algorithms" to plan the optimal "delivery routes" for each truck, from the central warehouse to the grid stations, and then to each group leader, thereby minimizing "logistics" costs.

He used the most powerful "ground promotion organization" to manage the millions of "group leaders" across the country, thereby maximizing "fulfillment" efficiency.

This was no longer a war that could be won by relying solely on "traffic" or "capital."

It was an all-encompassing "ultimate test" of all "underlying capabilities," including supply chain management, warehousing and logistics, data algorithms, and organizational capabilities.

Epilogue: The Bet for the Next Decade

To this day, the community group buying war is still raging.

Meituan has paid a huge price for it. The massive investment has caused the company's financial reports to turn from profit to loss again. The capital market is also full of doubts and worries.

But Wang Xing seems completely unfazed.

He is a true "long-termist." He is not looking at a single quarter's financial report, but the "map" of the next decade.

He firmly believes that community group buying, this business model that can extend "digital" services to the very "capillaries" of China, will be the last and most important "piece of the puzzle" for Meituan to build his ultimate vision of "helping people eat better, live better."

He has bet his second half and Meituan's next decade on this war over "selling vegetables."

The outcome of this bet is unknown.

But it once again shows us the true colors of Wang Xing, this most resilient and "fearsome" "warrior" in the Chinese internet world.