Meituan Executive Says Instant Retail Has Passed Hardest Stage

The framing matters more than the milestone: Meituan's core local commerce chief is signalling that the costly, infrastructure-heavy phase of instant retail is behind it, which shifts competitive weight toward assortment, sourcing and unit economics rather than coverage and rider density. That is a different contest, and it favours players with supply-chain depth over those that competed purely on delivery speed. Whether rivals read the same transition the same way — and whether Meituan's own language translates into investment priorities rather than positioning — is the open question worth tracking.