How Meituan Scaled Its Supply‑Chain Platform from Manual to Multi‑Business Automation

Supply Chain System Overview

Meituan started with a group‑buy core business and later added payment, merchant management, verification, and voucher services. The supply‑chain system handles production and operation of local life‑service packages, vouchers, and other offerings, supporting the entire sales flow from BD contracts to consumer purchase.

Evolution of the Supply Chain System

The architecture grew gradually with the company, undergoing continuous evolution.

1. Manual Stage

In 2010, the system was a manual, one‑order‑per‑day process modeled after U.S. examples; orders took seven days to appear online. By 2011, management decided to increase daily order volume.

2. From Online to Automation

Targeting 250 orders per day, Meituan introduced a contract and CMS to replace manual editing, splitting work among three editors and later enabling one person to handle 11 orders. Templates and dynamic forms automated attribute handling, reducing order‑posting time to two days and scaling to 14,000 orders per day by September 2014 with only ten editors.

Towards Multi‑Business Support

1. Platform + Differentiation

Facing new services such as food delivery, breakfast, KTV, hotels, and ticketing, the supply‑chain system needed to support diverse business lines. By analyzing commonalities and differences across these services, Meituan structured a unified platform with differentiated workflows, using an Attribute Center (AC) and Dynamic Form (DF) to generate channel‑specific templates.

The CMS now generates pages based on attributes, allowing product‑center platformization while adapting to specific business needs, such as KTV room booking or varied pricing and inventory rules.

2. Product Center Structure

The product center abstracts consumption units (e.g., a haircut) and sales units (e.g., a bundled package of iPhone, earphones, and film). Sales units sit above inventory, and product rules define launch times, purchase channels, and purchase limits, enabling the platform to support tourism, delivery, hotel, and logistics services seamlessly.