Meituan (03690) 2024 financial report: annual revenue of 337.6 billion yuan, increasing investment to promote a win-win ecosystem

On March 21, Meituan (03690) announced its results for the fourth quarter and full year of 2024. Benefiting from the boost in domestic consumer confidence and the release of consumption potential, the company's various businesses achieved steady growth, with annual revenue of 337.6 billion yuan (RMB, same below), an increase of 22% over the previous year.

In 2024, Meituan will continue to focus on the “retail+technology” strategy and continue to increase investment in the Chinese consumer market and technology research and development, reaching 21.1 billion yuan in R&D. This year, Meituan's annual number of trading users, annual active merchants, and average annual spending frequency of annual trading users all hit record highs.

“In 2024, we will adapt to changing consumer trends, actively help innovate the industry, and better serve more users and merchants, thereby driving more consumption and creating more employment.” Meituan CEO Wang Xing said, “As a beneficiary and participant in the rapid development of China's retail industry, Meituan will continue to actively fulfill its social responsibilities, promote industry growth and technological innovation, and help everyone eat better and live a better life.”

Innovate supply to build an inclusive consumer ecosystem

This year, Meituan continued to use its advantages in multiple application scenarios in product retail and service retail, leading industrial innovation, promoting new changes in consumer lifestyles and merchant operating models, and actively building an efficient and inclusive consumer ecosystem. Meituan's annual trading users surpassed 770 million, and the number of annual active merchants rose to 14.5 million, all of which reached new highs.

In 2024, Meituan's core local businesses continued to exert synergy and achieved steady development. The business segment's revenue increased 21% to 25.2 billion yuan.

In terms of takeout business, this year, Meituan will further promote supply chain innovation, enrich cost-effective supply, and improve new service models such as “branded satellite stores” to meet diversified takeout consumption needs. The peak number of orders on the instant delivery day reached 98 million on the first day of autumn.

Instant retail is becoming a “high-certainty” lifestyle for more and more people. Meituan Flash Shopping continues to expand high-quality supply, providing consumers with a “30 minute shopping experience with everything at home”. By the end of 2024, Meituan Flash Sale had reached cooperation with over 5,600 large retail chains, 410,000 small local merchants, and over 570 brands.

Demand for offline consumption continues to unleash. With abundant and cost-effective supply, Meituan's in-store business order volume increased by more than 65% year-on-year this year, and the number of annual trading users and active merchants reached record highs. The fully upgraded Meituan “God Member” further promotes collaboration, brings discounts to users, and helps merchants increase efficiency and generate revenue. Currently, more than 70% of in-store wine tourism merchants participate in “God membership.”

As operational efficiency continues to improve, Meituan's new business operating losses will narrow to 7.3 billion yuan in 2024. In terms of overseas market exploration, following its launch in Riyadh in October last year, Keeta further expanded to all major cities in Saudi Arabia, and the number of users and orders grew rapidly.

Increase investment and achieve a win-win situation with ecological partners

In 2024, Meituan will actively fulfill its social responsibilities, strive to build a sustainable industrial ecosystem, and work better with ecological partners.

On the merchant side, Meituan has simplified the promotion system, standardized marketing activities, and created a healthier business ecosystem. In order to further support the development of merchants, in December 2024, Meituan launched the Catering Merchant Assistance Campaign and invested 1 billion yuan to help merchants explore and innovate. Currently, 38,000 high-quality merchants have received “real money” cash support.

On the rider side, Meituan continues to upgrade rider rights protection and welfare care, including improving the “rider friendly community” traffic solution, launching the “rider home” function, and implementing “anti-fatigue” measures.

Since July 2022, under the guidance of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Affairs, Meituan has taken the lead in launching a pilot occupational injury protection project for new employment types. It has invested 1.4 billion dollars to pay occupational injury premiums for more than 6 million riders in the seven pilot provinces and cities. Also, under the guidance of relevant departments, a preliminary pilot social security plan for riders has been formed, which will be implemented in some cities starting in the second quarter of this year.

Furthermore, Meituan is further promoting the construction of a food safety system. Recently, the “Bright Kitchen Bright Stove” section was launched to vigorously promote “Sunshine Kitchen” across the country, which will provide participating merchants with support such as hardware equipment, subsidies, and platform traffic slant.

As a technology retail company, Meituan continues to explore the use of technology to help the retail industry innovate. This year, the company invested 21.1 billion yuan in R&D. By the end of 2024, Meituan automated delivery vehicles and drones had completed 4.91 million orders and 450,000 orders respectively. In addition to the upcoming launch of a delivery route in Hong Kong, Meituan drones have recently begun commercial operations in Dubai.

“In 2024, Meituan maintained steady performance, demonstrating our long-term resilience in a dynamically changing market.” Meituan CFO Chen Shaohui said, “We will continue to increase investment in ecosystem construction to create greater value for all participants in the industry.”