(Yicai Global) May 20 -- The meal delivery unit of Meituan Dianping, China’s app for everything, plans to more than double its user count to 1 billion and set up a new fresh food delivery business, according to its general manager.

The Beijing-based firm is trying to expand from just delivering prepared meals and has already tried shifting medicines, books and other products during the Covid-19 pandemic, Wei Wei said at a press briefing yesterday. Orders for necessary goods* quadrupled during the virus outbreak in China, and those for prescription drugs for chronic diseases more than tripled.

Wei believes fresh food deliveries will be the next big thing, but there is not yet an ideal solution for the sector as there is for other e-commerce products like electronics, meals and clothing. Fresh food sales rose during the pandemic and the growing proportion of such orders has helped boost customer unit prices*, which Wei says will be good for the long term.

Retail is more difficult to crack than catering though, he added. There is a longer supply chain and the gross profit margins are lower, he continued, saying it is necessary to integrate real-time inventory and delivery data and find efficient delivery methods.

This means helping retailers go digital, Wei believes, and he plans for Meituan to help 10 million stores undergo a digital transformation and create 3 million jobs.

Meituan's operator Beijing Sankuai Online Technology, founded 2010, is already China's biggest group buying and reviewing platform, with a market value of HKD733 billion (USD94.6 billion).

Editors: Zhang Yushuo, James Boynton