外賣大戰(wàimài dàzhàn): Food delivery competition

The meal delivery competition in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, has been curbed by the local industrial and commercial department after it held a meeting with Didi Chuxing, Meituan and Ele.me, calling for a halt to their behavior to snatch market share that was getting out of hand.

The East China city has the highest number of meal deliveries in China, and the competition among delivery companies heated up when Didi Chuxing, the country's leading ride-hailing provider, began offering a meal delivery service in the city on April 1, after Meituan, a major meal delivery company, launched a car-hailing service in Shanghai.

Didi's entry into Wuxi's meal delivery sector sparked fierce competition.

To attract customers the food delivery platforms offered coupons or discounts to customers that in some cases could offset the cost of a meal, leading to some restaurants having to cancel orders because they were too busy to handle all the orders they received.

Some restaurants were forced to leave one food delivery platform if they registered on another.

And customers in Wuxi found that in the tussle, the quality of the meals they ordered suffered and their meals took longer to arrive.