China's "Everyday App" Battle: eCommerce and Food Delivery

This Goldman Sachs report analyzes the escalating competition among major Chinese e-commerce players like Alibaba, JD, and local services leader Meituan in the food and instant delivery sectors. The core objective for these companies is to become the dominant "everyday app" by leveraging high-frequency food delivery to cross-sell other, lower-frequency offerings such as general e-commerce and travel services. The report explores various market share scenarios and their potential impact on profitability and customer acquisition costs (CAC), estimating significant short-term losses due to heavy investment, particularly for Alibaba and JD, before a projected long-term normalization. PDD is noted as being less involved in this direct competition.