On 17 April, it was reported that Xiaoxiang, the online supermarket from Meituan, is planning to launch its offline presence, taking aim at Freshippo. This would be the first time in 8 years that Xiaoxiang has attempted new offline shops, and 5 years since they closed its last offline location in 2020.
Meituan is reportedly recruiting for location scouts and construction work for the offline Xiaoxiang supermarkets. The first stores are said to be in Beijing, Hangzhou, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. The new offline locations would be benchmarked against Freshippo’s NB (neighbourhood business) type of stores, which are smaller and a cross between a convenience store and a pickup point for warehouse deliveries. However, it was also reported that Meituan hasn’t ruled out future bigger offline supermarket branches like regular Freshippo stores.
Xiaoxiang Supermarket has a large coverage in China, delivering in 30 tier-1 and tier-2 cities with 800 warehouses/distribution centres by the end of last year. Data shows that by 18 March 2025, Xiaoxiang was the number 1 distribution centre-based online supermarket in China in terms of order numbers. It was recently reported to be “going overseas” (出海) with its first stop set in Saudi Arabia, where Meituan’s Keeta also has a presence.
Xiaoxiang, however, faces fierce competition in the supermarket business, from not just Freshippo, but also Dingdong and conventional players such as Aldi. With JD.com also doubling down in the “local life” services with JD takeaway, which is taking on Meituan’s core food delivery business, the sector is set to become even more crowded in 2025.
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