Core Insights - Alibaba and Meituan are engaged in a competitive landscape, with Alibaba launching new features on its Amap platform to challenge Meituan's market share in local services [1][5] - The local services market in China is projected to reach CNY35.3 trillion by 2025, indicating significant growth potential [6] Alibaba's Strategy - Alibaba introduced an AI-powered feature called "Street Stars" on Amap, allowing users to rank local businesses based on their behavior and Alipay's credit score [2][3] - The "Street Stars" initiative covers over 1.6 million offline service providers across more than 300 cities, including 870,000 restaurants and 230,000 hotels [4] - The strategy aims to leverage Amap's 700 million monthly active users to drive traffic towards local businesses, effectively turning navigation into a shopping opportunity [7] - By integrating Alipay's credit system, Alibaba enhances the reliability of reviews, filtering out fake comments and prioritizing trustworthy ratings [8] - A CNY1 billion subsidy is being offered to encourage spending on services like dining and car rides, creating a synergy with Ele.me's delivery services [9][10] Meituan's Response - Meituan has relaunched its "Premium Delivery" service, promising 30-minute delivery from top-rated restaurants, while also utilizing AI to filter reviews [11][12] - Despite a revenue increase of 12% to CNY91.8 billion, Meituan's net profit fell by 89% to CNY1.5 billion, indicating challenges in profitability [13] - Meituan's strength lies in its network effect, but it faces challenges in maintaining trust due to issues with fake reviews in in-store services [14] Industry Dynamics - The competition is shifting from traditional marketing to AI-driven solutions that prioritize user behavior over subjective reviews, indicating a transformation in local service decision-making [16] - The future of local services will likely hinge on the capabilities of AI assistants to understand consumer needs and deliver superior experiences [17]

Core Viewpoint - Alibaba Group has launched an AI-powered ranking feature on its Amap service to enhance its competitive position against Meituan in the lifestyle services market [1][5]. Group 1: Amap Street Stars Feature - The Amap Street Stars feature utilizes AI algorithms to rank offline destinations such as restaurants, hotels, and tourist attractions, aiming to position Amap as a key player in lifestyle services [2][4]. - The service will initially cover over 300 cities and provide recommendations for 1.6 million local businesses, leveraging data from navigation patterns and user reviews [3]. Group 2: Competitive Landscape - The launch of Amap Street Stars is a strategic move by Alibaba to compete directly with Meituan's Dianping restaurant rating app, highlighting the rivalry between the two companies [5]. - In response, Meituan announced plans to implement AI models for screening consumer reviews and to introduce a "quality food delivery" service on its Dianping app [6]. Group 3: Unique Features and User Engagement - The ranking system emphasizes authenticity, relying on real user behavior and high credit ratings to generate recommendations [4]. - The AI feature allows for customized recommendations based on specific user requests, such as weather conditions or time of day, which standard rankings cannot provide [6][7].