JD.com Launches Dedicated Food App to Rival Meituan

The delivery world never stands still. This week, we’ve cut through the noise to bring you the insights that directly impact your operations.

At a Glance: Your 3-Second Summary

• Data ownership is shifting, empowering merchants to build direct customer relationships and loyalty programs.

• Centralized robotic fulfillment models are being abandoned for flexible, store-based instant delivery.

• Rapid delivery (sub-30 minute) is the new baseline expectation across all retail categories.

Partner Spotlight

On the Ground in Lisbon: Listening to Our Riders

We firmly believe the best product feedback comes straight from the source: the riders themselves! That’s why the most crucial stop on our recent trip to Lisbon, Portugal, was a focused roundtable with local Uber Eats delivery riders. 🇵🇹

We gained invaluable, on-the-ground perspectives on how they truly manage their cargo, optimize efficiency, and navigate the high-demand streets of Portugal. These insights are essential for ensuring our gear—from design to manufacturing—truly meets their needs.

It was also fantastic to deepen our collaboration with the local Uber Eats team, including in-person meetings with insightful leadership. Boolanga has proudly served as the full-stack solutions partner for the Uber Eats Portugal eShop since 2019, handling everything from custom-branded bag design to online fulfillment.

This kind of direct, human engagement reinforces our core mission: to empower riders worldwide by equipping them with the optimal, high-quality gear they need to succeed every single day.

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What’s Happening & Why it Matters

Zomato Agrees to Share Customer Contacts

Zomato is finalizing an agreement with the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) to share customer phone numbers with restaurants, provided the customer gives consent, in a move Swiggy is expected to follow.

This resolution to a decade-long dispute gives restaurants crucial customer insights for direct marketing and loyalty programs, shifting power back toward merchants in the delivery ecosystem.

Kroger Ditches Robots, Embraces Last-Mile Speed

U.S. retailer Kroger is closing three automated warehouses built with Ocado Group after they failed to meet financial expectations, choosing instead to expand partnerships with Instacart and DoorDash.

This is a major market signal that centralized, capital-heavy automation is struggling against the speed, flexibility, and capital-light model of store-based, third-party rapid fulfillment.

B&Q Expands Deliveroo Partnership

Home improvement retailer B&Q expanded its on-demand delivery trial with Deliveroo to cover 31 major UK cities, offering access to about 10,000 products delivered in under 25 minutes.

This expansion confirms that rapid fulfillment is the new expectation across all retail verticals, forcing traditional retailers to leverage third-party delivery networks for speed and convenience.

JD.com Launches Dedicated Food App to Rival Meituan

Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com launched a standalone food delivery app and a new, non-commercial user review platform, “JD Dianping,” to intensify its battle with local service incumbents like Meituan.

Major e-commerce platforms are leveraging high-frequency food delivery to build comprehensive local lifestyle ecosystems, integrating physical retail and review content to drive long-term user engagement

The Final Word

This week demonstrates that the delivery market has fundamentally matured: platforms must either consolidate their resources to dominate efficient core markets or exit unprofitable regions. Meanwhile, the most advanced players are pivoting to sustainable revenue, meaning success is now measured less by GMV and more by the stability of diversified income streams.

What are your thoughts on these trends? Drop a comment below!

#BoolangaBites #FoodDelivery #Logistics #Qcommerce #LastMileDelivery

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