File Photo/NBD

Feb.7 (NBD) -- Chinese online short-video platform Douyin is reportedly set to launch a nationwide food delivery service on March 1st, according to media reports. The ByteDance-owned platform has been conducting internal tests in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou and has posted job openings for senior managers in food delivery and related positions.

Douyin's "Group Purchase Delivery" project is currently in the pilot phase in Beijing, Shanghai, and Chengdu, and self-registration is now available for restaurant owners in those cities. The platform will consider expanding the pilot cities depending on testing results, but currently, there is no timetable, learned NBD citing the person in charge of Douyin Live Service.

Douyin first tested its food delivery service in July 2020, offering meal packages that could be delivered to customers' homes. However, the number of food delivery businesses on Doiuyin is still much smaller than those on other platforms such as Ele. me and Meituan.

On December 5th, 2022, third-party instant delivery platforms Dada, iShansong, and SF Express announced cooperation with Douyin's Life Service. However, Douyin's delivery efficiency remains a weak point.

On platforms such as Meituan and Ele. me, the delivery time (including meal preparation) is generally kept within 40 minutes, as they have large delivery teams and the ability to deliver multiple orders at once.

As the main business of the third-party delivery platforms that have partnered with Douyin was "intra-city errands", they are much smaller and less efficient than dedicated food delivery platforms. Their current goal is to achieve an average time of one hour for intra-city delivery.

If Douyin wants to expand its business, it must first integrate its delivery team. The priority is to build an efficient and flexible delivery network that covers the entire city.