China’s largest food delivery company, Meituan (HKG: 3690), has quietly removed Alipay as a payment method from its platform, leaving WeChat Pay, Meituan Pay, and Apple Pay as payment options, local outlet 36Kr reported on Wednesday, without revealing how many users have been affected.
Alipay is a subsidiary of Ant Group, which is 33% owned by e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE: BABA). The e-commerce giant also owns Ele.me, China’s second largest food delivery company.
Meituan did not comment when contacted by KrASIA on Thursday.
However, Wang Xing, founder and chairman of Meituan, seemed to call out Alibaba on social platform Fanfou by highlighting that users of Taobao (an e-commerce platform owned by Alibaba) cannot use WeChat Pay.
The development comes as competition between Meituan and Ele.me heats up, with both launching campaigns to gain brand awareness via their delivery drivers’ uniforms. Meituan drivers have recently been spotted wearing kangaroo ears while Ele.me drivers dawn dragonfly figurines on their helmets.
This article is part of KrASIA’s “China Brief” section, where KrASIA’s reporters will provide quick daily updates about the tech ecosystem in China.