Chinese food-delivery giant Meituan announced plans to lower commissions for smaller businesses after recent government guidelines asked for lower fees for restaurants in pandemic-hit regions, reports Bloomberg. Meituan will lower the technical service fee for small and medium-sized sellers in pandemic-affected areas by 50%. It will also place a cap of RMB 1 on the technical service fee for each order, after the discount is applied.
Meituan has been grappling with regulatory and public scrutiny on multiple fronts, including its market power, the welfare of delivery riders and the size of commissions it charges restaurants, though the company has said its margins on take-outs are slim. The company has been among the targets of Beijing’s regulatory crackdown on the tech sector.
Shares of Meituan advanced as much as 4.9% in Hong Kong, with analysts saying the fee changes will have limited impact on its business. The rate cuts will be temporary and dynamic, rather than permanent reductions across the board as feared by some investors, Credit Suisse analyst Kenneth Fong said in a note.
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