JD.com hires full-time riders to rival Meituan, Alibaba

JD Logistics, a subsidiary of JD.com, has started hiring full-time meal delivery riders to support its expansion in China’s food delivery market.

The service, launched in February 2025 after a trial last year, now handles over 25 million daily orders.

To meet this demand, JD.com has hired over 120,000 full-time riders and aims to reach 150,000 by the end of the quarter.

However, JD.com’s rider count remains far below that of rivals. Meituan employs over 7.45 million couriers, while Alibaba’s Ele.me has around 4 million.

JD Logistics said hiring full-time couriers is aimed at enhancing efficiency through synergies with its broader operations.

🔗 Source: South China Morning Post

🧠 Food for thought

1️⃣ JD’s full-time rider strategy extends its long-standing vertical integration model

JD.com’s decision to hire full-time food delivery riders aligns with its established business philosophy of owning the entire supply chain, a strategy that distinguishes it from competitors.

Since its early days, JD has operated with a vertically integrated model, owning warehouses, delivery networks, and employing its own delivery personnel to ensure quality control and customer satisfaction 1.

This approach contrasts with market leader Meituan and Alibaba’s Ele.me, which primarily rely on gig workers, making JD’s full-time employment model a potential competitive differentiator in service consistency.

As of 2015, JD was already operating 196 warehouses across 46 cities with over 4,760 delivery stations, enabling same-day and next-day delivery for over 85% of orders 1.

The company’s recruitment target of 150,000 full-time riders by quarter’s end represents a significant investment but remains far smaller than Meituan’s 7.45 million and Ele.me’s 4 million riders (mix of full and part-time), highlighting the scale challenge JD faces.

2️⃣ China’s food delivery market presents massive but fiercely contested growth opportunity

JD’s entry into food delivery targets a market valued at $81.9 billion in 2024 and projected to grow to $197.9 billion by 2033, representing a 9.79% compound annual growth rate 2.

Despite being a late entrant, JD has scaled to 25 million daily orders since its February launch, though this still trails Meituan’s reported 90 million daily orders and Alibaba’s 60 million quick commerce orders 3.