Why is Meituan Competing Simultaneously in so many Service Sectors

You can download Meituan's HK IPO filing report here, a lot of interesting data in it. Meituan is indeed a super-platform for services. Meituan is often questioned for competing simultaneously with other well funded companies in many vertical sectors, such as with Didi in ride-sharing, with ele.me in food delivery, with Ctrip in hotel booking. But the rationale of its stretch lies in a vision of ecosystem. It is a vision of winning the digital ownership of consumers by having as many touch points in a consumer’s life as possible, so that you can understand and respond to their needs faster than your competitors. This vision of ecosystem is shared by other Chinese Internet giants like Tencent, Alibaba and Baidu and that is why they seem to be competing without borders. (The views expressed in this post are mine alone and do not reflect the views of my employer)