How a newcomer is dishing out a tough time for Alibaba
(SOURCE) https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/how-a-newcomer-is-dishing-out-a-tough-time-for-alibaba/articleshow/68624280.cms
From The Economic Times:
BEIJING: In Beijing, it’s often cheaper to have food delivered than to get it yourself. Like, way cheaper. Abey Lin, a 19-year-old Californian studying at Beijing Film Academy, uses his smartphone to order a local restaurant’s roast duck dish for 20 yuan ($2.99), about 80% less than it costs at the register, via delivery app Meituan. He can get a 40% discount on two pizzas topped with golden potatoes and barbecued seafood.
Meituan charges $1.46 for a bean curd dish from another shop, a little over a third of the price on the restaurant’s menu. It would be tough for Lin to beat that price even if he had a kitchenette to make the dish himself. “It blew my mind,” he says.
Lin, an aspiring director, arrived in Beijing mentally prepared for the hardships of the capital — the blackened air, the bitter winters, the government bans on Instagram and Snapchat. He wasn’t as thoroughly briefed on China’s new order of ..