A week after entering the food delivery market, JD.com made another disruptive announcement on 19 February. The e-commerce titan’s official statement says that, from 1 March, it would start offering social security for its full-time JD Takeaway delivery riders.
This policy makes the takeaway newcomer the first-ever platform to offer social security, namely the “5 insurances and 1 fund” (pension, medical, unemployment, work-related injury, and maternity insurance, as well as the mandatory housing fund). JD.com began contributing to social security for its logistic delivery staff since as early as 2016.
On Weibo, China’s Twitter equivalent, the topic “takeaway driver responds to JD offering social security to riders” (#外卖员回应京东给骑手缴社保#) reached number 11 on the Hot Search list with 22.01 million views. Online views are overwhelmingly positive for JD Takeaway because it is providing a social safety net to its drivers. Many hope this will shake up the industry. Some pundits call it a nuclear option; others call it a “Pear Harbor” moment for competitor Meituan.
On the same day, Meituan announced that it will begin to contribute to social security for full-time and “stable” part-time riders from Q2 this year. Meituan also stressed that they had been planning this since 2022 and was not a direct response to the news from JD Takeaway. The topic “Meituan will pay social security for all riders” (#美团将为所有骑手缴纳社保#) quickly shot to number 4 of the Hot Search list on Weibo with 31.92 million views.
As JD Takeaway enter the food delivery market with many disruptive measures, Meituan will be forced to react. How these two will compete in both food delivery and “local life” services is worth watching.
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