Meituan spent 5 years and over ¥110B on group-buying — then shut it down

Meituan Youxuan (美团优选) was Meituan's entry into community group-buying, a model where neighborhood 'group leaders' (团长) aggregated orders for next-day pickup of fresh produce and groceries at below-market prices. Between 2019 and 2024, Meituan's new-business segment — including Youxuan — accumulated over ¥110 billion in losses, with annual operating losses running ¥283.79 billion in 2022, ¥201.66 billion in 2023, and still ¥72.73 billion in 2024.

The business never found a stable unit economics: summer produce spoilage rates reached 20%, group leaders exploited management gaps for unauthorized fees and off-book sales, and price-sensitive customers showed little loyalty, switching group leaders or platforms over small discounts. Scale made it worse, not better — larger order volumes meant larger losses.

In June 2025, Meituan withdrew Youxuan from 19 provinces including Beijing and Sichuan, keeping only Guangdong and Zhejiang running. By the end of 2025, the company quietly shut down operations in those remaining core markets too, alongside terminating its 团好货 (Tuan Hao Huo) B2C offshoot in an internal announcement.

Meituan framed the closure as a redirection toward its stronger instant-retail and instant-delivery business, where consumer demand for immediacy — rather than next-day pickup — was proving durable. Rival Pinduoduo's Duoduo Maicai, which stayed in the category, reached roughly ¥3 trillion in GMV by November 2025, more than Meituan Youxuan and Pinduoduo's group-buying business combined had generated in 2024 — evidence that the category itself survived even as Meituan's attempt at it did not.