Meituan drives into Saudi market

Staff reporter

China's food delivery giant Meituan (3690) launched its overseas brand KeeTa in Saudi Arabia yesterday, continuing its expansion following its success in Hong Kong.

The Arabic version of KeeTa's mobile app became available in the Gulf kingdom at 11am yesterday, according to mainland media.

Meituan is offering vouchers with discounts of 50 percent and free delivery to Saudi diners to attract users, the reports said.

KeeTa is also recruiting merchants and riders, in addition to human resources, public relations and legal jobs.

KeeTa, which tapped into Hong Kong last year, has surpassed established players Food Panda and Deliveroo to become the city's top food delivery platform, with a 44 percent market share by orders in March, data from Measurable AI shows.

Food Panda, however, said the company is firmly focused on the long-term and sustainable development of the city's food delivery industry instead short-term gains.

Meituan said in June that the success in Hong Kong significantly boosted its confidence in further overseas expansion and it is proactively evaluating the potential of heading for countries in the Middle East.

But Meituan won't blindly pour money into overseas businesses and will maintain financial self-discipline during the process, the company added.

Meituan's annual revenue growth has slowed from 56 percent in 2021 to 22.6 percent in 2023 amid the increasingly saturated market in mainland China and the intense competition with Alibaba's (9988) Ele.me and Freshippo and the TikTok-owner ByteDance's local services businesses.