In early 2024, Zhou Mo stepped into a new role at Meituan, shifting from food delivery to lead the company’s user growth and operations. His first order of business: integrate Meituan’s “God membership” program across the platform’s broader ecosystem.
At the core of this move was the “God voucher” system, once limited to food delivery, now retooled for cross-category use. The overhaul set the stage for something Meituan had long lacked: a unified membership program, usable across all verticals and structured around cost-manageable perks. “The S-team revisits the idea periodically—whether now is the time to pursue it,” Zhou told 36Kr, referring to Meituan’s top executive team that includes CEO Wang Xing and local commerce head Wang Puzhong.
On March 31, Meituan officially launched its membership program. The former God membership was rebranded and expanded into a unified offering with benefits that now span dining, hotels, transport, daily services, and entertainment.
Though Meituan is a late entrant to the membership race, the timing might work in its favor. The company says it now has 770 million annual transacting users, equivalent to more than half of China’s population. With growth slowing, retaining existing users has overtaken acquiring new ones as the primary objective. “That makes increasing frequency among existing users a bigger priority,” Zhou said.
Membership programs aren’t new. Amazon Prime set the benchmark in 2005. Alibaba’s 88VIP and JD.com’s Plus programs followed in 2018 and 2015, respectively, offering subscribers premium perks and services. Retailers like Sam’s Club and Costco use paid memberships as access gates.
But Meituan isn’t copying those models. “There’s not much we can copy and paste,” Zhou said. Meituan is trying to build something different: a platform-wide, user-inclusive membership structure that cuts across service categories.
The plan is to make user segmentation visible—and usable. Merchants gain tools to target high-value customers more precisely, while users get nudged to spend more across categories. “If someone only needs a cup of coffee, a night at a hotel, or a flight ticket to level up, well-placed suggestions can trigger that extra spend,” Zhou said.
The ambition is sweeping: “Our hope is that Meituan membership becomes the go-to membership for everyone in China,” he said. That goal, Zhou noted, has galvanized teams across Meituan’s sprawling verticals.
The following transcript has been edited and consolidated for brevity and clarity.
36Kr: Was the membership program launched last November?
Zhou Mo (ZM): The idea goes back further, but yes, the decision to proceed was made after the “God voucher” integration, around October or November 2024.
36Kr: Who made the call to launch it?
ZM: I can’t share names—it was both a top-down and bottom-up process. The S-team has brought up the idea periodically over the years.
36Kr: How long has this been in discussion?
ZM: At least five years ago. With Meituan spanning so many areas of daily life, a cross-vertical membership has always made sense. We just needed the right conditions. Every time it came up, we had to reevaluate feasibility and risk.
36Kr: So, why move now?
ZM: Because membership is about increasing frequency among existing users. In earlier years, when the business was growing rapidly with new users, it was a lower priority. Now that growth is slowing, we need new levers for existing users.
Also, the hardest part about memberships is finding a universal, low-cost benefit. We didn’t have anything like that before. The God voucher changes that.
36Kr: What makes the God voucher different?
ZM: It’s flexible in value. Unlike point systems, its value isn’t fixed and can scale, vary by category or margin, and be tightly controlled in volume. Compared to traditional discounts or redemptions, it’s more efficient.
36Kr: Where did the internal push come from?
ZM: As we explored what the God voucher really was, we realized it could be the basis for a membership program. That sparked a broader internal discussion, which quickly led to consensus.
36Kr: When did consensus form?
ZM: The end of last year, during annual planning. The question became not if, but how. We agreed not to evaluate it by short-term metrics and instead aim for a system with five to ten years of runway.
36Kr: The base voucher pack costs RMB 2.99 (USD 0.4). How was that price set?
ZM: From a margin perspective, of course it’s a loss. But the priority was clear, consistent value for users. Each tier gets a corresponding number of vouchers. We didn’t overthink the price—we just accepted the loss.
36Kr: Are the losses significant?
ZM: There are unknowns. We’re betting that as users level up, the lifetime value (LTV) rises. But it’s hard to model precisely. Will more gold members upgrade to platinum if the price is RMB 2.99? What about RMB 3.99 (USD 0.6)? It’s unquantifiable.
36Kr: When do you expect to break even?
ZM: That framing treats membership like a revenue unit. But for us, it’s infrastructure. A base layer.
36Kr: What do you mean by “infrastructure”?
ZM: Traditional digital marketing is algorithm-based and opaque akin to a black box. You push a notification, but who gets it? No one really knows. Membership tiers, by contrast, are transparent—a “white box.” Everyone knows what level they are on, what benefits they get. And each business can target perks accordingly. Meituan’s job is to make that system feel valuable to users.
36Kr: Then how do you define success?
ZM: We’re not setting performance targets yet. If we had to, we’d look at redemption rates or tier upgrades, like how many users go from gold to platinum or beyond. But for now, we’re deliberately avoiding rigid KPIs.
36Kr: So you’re not tracking ROI?
ZM: Not in the traditional sense. ROI assumes one dollar spent yields how many dollars earned. We’re working with LTV. You might lose money on a single transaction but gain long-term loyalty. Say we give a VIP box to a concert to black diamond members—it’s a loss in the short term, but potentially a gain in perception and stickiness.
Rigid ROI metrics at this stage would distort the product.
36Kr: Are you benchmarking against other models?
ZM: We’ve looked at others. Some memberships are gatekeeping mechanisms—Sam’s Club, Costco, 88VIP. Others are point-based, like Rakuten in Japan. Meituan is building a system where every user can benefit and level up based on their spending. Airline loyalty programs are similar, but only apply to flying. Ours spans verticals.
36Kr: Why not follow those two models?
ZM: Because we’re targeting the entire user base. Every level needs to feel worthwhile.
Merchants can use our system to segment and target their customers. That opens up a much bigger roadmap.
36Kr: Is traffic still being funneled from food delivery?
ZM: I wouldn’t call it funneling. High-frequency businesses like food delivery are (figuratively speaking) natural springboards. The worry was that vouchers might cannibalize food delivery, but in fact, users bought more of them.
36Kr: Are newer services like Meituan Youxuan integrated yet?
ZM: Talks are still ongoing. But eventually, there will be one membership across all of Meituan. Old vertical-specific memberships—bike, hotel—will likely shed the “membership” label. Integration is underway, but it takes time.
36Kr: Are you asking each unit to contribute perks?
ZM: It’s not just about contributing perks, but helping each business line to reframe how user operations are managed under this new system.
36Kr: Is there resistance? Are there any business units reluctant to join?
ZM: There are always challenges, but a lot of business units feel the pain themselves. Coming from food delivery, I understand. When you’re running a business, you often find you can’t offer the best perks to your best users.
36Kr: Can you give an example?
ZM: Pricing, for one. Legally, businesses can’t discriminate on price. But merchants want to offer better deals to high-value customers. Businesses also want their subsidies to target real loyal users, not just those chasing deals. Memberships allow that kind of precision.
So we’re giving each business a new toolkit, not asking them for favors. Now, demand for integration is outpacing supply.
36Kr: Which units are moving fastest?
ZM: Food delivery, flash sales, and lodging have all contributed strong benefits. We’re starting with lighter initiatives—weekly flash campaigns by membership tier, for example—and collecting data to refine the system before heavy product development.
36Kr: In your research, what’s the main pain point for merchants?
ZM: Probably the wastage of marketing resources on the wrong users. Promotions often attract “bargain hunters” who disappear when the deals end. Industries are stuck in price wars they don’t want. Memberships can help merchants invest more efficiently in real loyal users.
36Kr: So this is about user stratification?
ZM: Exactly—making stratification visible. Merchants can choose which tiers to reward. Users feel incentivized not to let perks expire. It drives better cross-vertical behavior. That’s why I believe Meituan has a real shot at becoming a ubiquitous membership program—because it spans more lifestyle areas than any single vertical.
36Kr: Could this shift ad spending to Meituan?
ZM: Indirectly, yes. Merchants have two buckets of marketing spend: buying traffic (ads) and offering direct subsidies (discounts). Right now, membership mainly optimizes the subsidy side. Ad spending could be next, but that’s not the immediate focus.
36Kr: What does the ideal perks system look like in your mind?
ZM: We’re starting with discounts and savings because it’s simple and tangible. But in the long term, we’re moving toward services and experience-based perks. I can imagine a future where you flash your Meituan membership card offline—at a hotel, a restaurant, wherever—and receive instant upgrades or bonuses based on your tier.
36Kr: Will the membership ever become a paid product?
ZM: For consumers, no. For businesses, it’s not positioned as a profit center right now either. Our mission is to strengthen user engagement and drive business growth.
In the future, though, if we can help brands and merchants connect with millions of China’s best, most affluent consumers, the commercial potential will be enormous. If we choose to monetize, there are plenty of models available—but that’s not today’s concern.
36Kr: What is Meituan’s management prioritizing when it comes to membership?
ZM: Any long-term, meaningful initiative starts with a high degree of ambiguity. Even for me, my focus evolved over the past three months.
Today, we have a shared vision that energizes everyone, and at least one method that makes sense. We’re not obsessing over monthly metrics like the number of perks or members.
36Kr: How has your thinking changed?
ZM: Initially, I was tempted to set hard KPIs, targets. But through continuous discussions, I realized that would constrain us too early. I’ve become much more relaxed—and more ambitious—about the project.
36Kr: You called it an S-level project. What does that mean in Meituan?
ZM: It means strong resourcing in terms of budget, leadership attention, and pace of decision-making. Compared to other S-level initiatives, the membership initiative is probably “SSS-level.” It’s rare to have a project that’s so strategic, so well-resourced, and given so much patience.
36Kr: Are there competitive considerations behind this push?
ZM: Of course. Every sector has its rivals. The real power of Meituan’s membership is that it cuts across verticals. When you face competition in travel, dining, or services, a cross-category membership brings cumulative advantages that single-vertical competitors can’t match.
KrASIA Connection features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This article was written by Ren Cairu for 36Kr.