Recently, the Office of the State Council's Anti Monopoly and Anti Unfair Competition Commission conducted an investigation and evaluation of the market competition situation in the food delivery platform service industry in accordance with the Anti Monopoly Law of the People's Republic of China. In response to this, all three food delivery platforms have stated that they will actively cooperate with the investigation and evaluation work, and maintain a fair competition order in the industry. Ouyang Rihui, vice president of the China Internet Economy Research Institute of the Central University of Finance and Economics, told reporters that through the investigation and assessment of the market competition in the takeaway industry, we can clarify the competition boundary and bottom line of behavior between platforms, which will help further curb "internal" competition, promote the transformation of the platform from price competition to service competition and innovation, and reshape the new ecology of the industry. The "internal competition" in the food delivery industry has intensified, and the relevant person in charge of the Office of the State Council's Anti Monopoly and Anti Unfair Competition Commission stated that as an important component of China's platform economy, the food delivery platform service industry has played an important role in promoting consumption, expanding employment, and driving innovation. However, in recent times, the food delivery platform service industry has faced prominent issues such as subsidies, price competition, and traffic control, which have squeezed the real economy and intensified the industry's "internal competition". This has led to strong reactions from all sectors of society. In order to promote the lawful and compliant operation of food delivery platforms, fair and orderly competition, and to form a market order of high quality, good price, and healthy competition, the Office of the State Council Anti Monopoly and Anti Unfair Competition Commission has decided to conduct an investigation and evaluation of the market competition situation in the service industry of foreign delivery platforms in accordance with the provisions of the Anti Monopoly Law of the People's Republic of China. This survey and evaluation is an important measure taken by the Office of the State Council's Anti Monopoly and Anti Unfair Competition Commission to express competition concerns, assess monopoly risks, and regulate market order. Through on-site verification, face-to-face interviews, questionnaire surveys, and other methods, we will deeply understand the competitive behavior of food delivery platforms, widely listen to the opinions of operators, new employment groups, consumers, and other parties within the platform, comprehensively investigate the market competition situation, organize analysis and argumentation, transmit regulatory pressure, and propose disposal measures. Delivery platforms should actively cooperate with market research and evaluation work, strictly implement anti-monopoly compliance responsibilities, effectively prevent and resolve monopoly risks, participate in market competition fairly, and promote innovation and healthy development of the delivery platform service industry. On January 9th, three food delivery platforms, Meituan, Taobao Flash Shopping, and JD Waimai, publicly responded that they will actively cooperate with this investigation and evaluation work to maintain fair competition order in the industry. Meituan stated that in recent times, irrational competition issues such as price competition, subsidy competition, and traffic control have become prominent in the food delivery market. Meituan has repeatedly called for the industry to return to rationality and firmly opposes "inward competition". Meituan will take this investigation as an opportunity to work together with various platforms in the industry to fulfill their main responsibilities, participate fairly in market competition, and promote innovation and healthy development of the food delivery platform service industry. Taobao Flash Purchase welcomes and will actively cooperate with the industry market competition investigation and evaluation work, strictly implement compliance responsibilities, continue to work together with merchants, ecological partners and other parties to provide more diversified and higher quality services, jointly maintain a fair and orderly market environment, and jointly promote the further prosperity and development of the food delivery service industry. JD Waimai strongly supports measures to combat internal competition, maintain fair competition in the market, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, operators, and riders. As a new type of entity enterprise that integrates data and reality, JD Waimai firmly resists the vicious competition of "internal competition" in the industry. Through supply chain model innovation, it will vigorously promote the high-quality development of quality Waimai, better serve consumers, cooperative merchants and riders, and promote innovation and healthy development of the Waimai platform service industry. Zhu Danpeng, Vice President of Guangdong Food Safety Promotion Association, told reporters that since the beginning of 2025, the food delivery industry has launched a "subsidy war" by shifting from price competition to service competition and innovation. Although the 'subsidy war' has attracted a large number of consumers in the short term, resulting in an increase in orders for many businesses, it has also disrupted the healthy catering ecosystem, leading to a compression of profit margins for some businesses. Some large chain catering enterprises have seen an increase in low-priced orders, resulting in the problem of "increasing revenue without increasing profits". Some small and medium-sized businesses are in a dilemma due to their weak bargaining power and digital operations: participating in platform subsidies will erode profits, while not participating may lead to marginalization. After the joint talks with food delivery platforms in May 2025, the State Administration for Market Regulation once again held talks with relevant food delivery platforms in July of that year, requiring them to strictly implement their main responsibilities, further regulate their promotional behavior, participate in competition rationally, and jointly build a good ecosystem for consumers, merchants, food delivery riders, and platform enterprises to achieve win-win results, promoting the standardized, healthy, and sustainable development of the catering service industry. At the end of 2025, in response to the phenomenon of "subsidy wars" among food delivery platforms, the State Administration for Market Regulation has issued a recommended national standard "Basic Requirements for Service Management of Food Delivery Platforms" to strengthen the regulation of competition order. After two interviews and the introduction of the "Basic Requirements for Delivery Platform Service Management", the phenomenon of "subsidy war" among delivery platforms has been curbed. However, based on the actual performance of weekend delivery platforms and feedback from merchants, riders, and consumers, the subsidy phenomenon still exists. The Office of the State Council's Anti Monopoly and Anti Unfair Competition Commission conducted an investigation and evaluation this time. Compared with the previous two interviews, the intensity has significantly increased, which will help curb the 'internal competition' in the food delivery industry. ”Ouyang Rihui told reporters that food delivery platforms should quickly shift from price competition to service competition and innovation, promote the survival of the fittest in the industry through fair competition, help businesses reduce costs, increase efficiency and improve catering quality through digital capabilities, enhance user consumption experience through service innovation such as drone delivery, and continuously optimize algorithms to make delivery paths more reasonable, better protect the rights and interests of riders, reshape the new ecology of the industry, and promote the healthy and sustainable development of the catering industry. (New Society)