The companies that competed most fiercely in the food delivery wars have found a new battleground.

On August 5, JD.com announced the simultaneous opening of five JD discount supermarkets across two locations - Suqian in Jiangsu Province and Zhuozhou in Hebei Province, with the first Zhuozhou store set to open on August 16. This time, JD.com plans to pack over 5,000 "market-beating price" daily necessities into 5,000-square-meter stores, targeting the lower-tier market.

JD.com's discount supermarket venture is far from a rushed decision. As early as June and December 2024, JD.com partnered with Beijing Huaguan to pilot two discount supermarkets in Fangshan, testing a dual-channel model of "offline pickup + online instant delivery." After a year of trials, JD.com is now expanding into broader territories.

Interestingly, the discount supermarket sector that JD.com is now targeting has also attracted investments from MEITUAN-W and Alibaba. Recently, within a construction site in Hangzhou's Gongshu District, MEITUAN-W's "Happy Monkey" hard discount supermarket is nearing completion of its renovation and is expected to welcome customers by the end of August.

Meanwhile, news has been circulating about Hema closing its membership stores and increasing investment in Hema NB, which represents one of Hema's most important strategies. Currently, Hema NB, positioned as a community-focused discount store format, has nearly 300 locations, with Alibaba's distinctive yellow and blue signage rapidly spreading across community street corners. Particularly in the Yangtze River Delta region, Hema NB plans to further increase store density.

While these three giants are just now converging in this space, discount supermarkets are not an entirely new concept. However, they have become a coveted prize among giants in 2025, driven by underlying shifts in consumer trends and market opportunities.

The fundamental driving force is the transformation in consumer attitudes. Consumers no longer blindly pursue "experience" but increasingly focus on "reasonable pricing after experience." Discount supermarkets are the product of "anti-consumerism" - they no longer aim to attract customers through service but to convince them through value for money.

Additionally, the enormous potential of lower-tier markets is a key factor. Consumers in third and fourth-tier cities are more price-sensitive, yet their demand for quality remains uncompromised. JD.com's choice of Suqian and Zhuozhou reflects its recognition of this market gap.

The explosive growth of snack discount stores has already proven the viability of this model. In 2024, China's snack market exceeded 400 billion yuan, with bulk snack stores featuring "low prices + rich SKU variety" achieving a 45% annual growth rate. By 2024, the total number of discount retail stores nationwide exceeded 35,000, with over 5,000 new additions annually, representing a 15% growth rate. In many lower-tier cities, the prominent storefronts of discount retail stores have even become local landmarks.

Furthermore, establishing offline discount supermarkets during this period of plateauing online internet traffic serves as a relief valve for each company's traffic anxiety.

Examining the current competitive landscape in discount retail, three differentiated models are emerging.

JD.com's discount supermarkets essentially represent an offline response to PDD Holdings' pricing logic and, more importantly, a role transformation "from platform to operator."

JD.com's confidence stems from its robust supply chain system. Through direct sourcing from production origins, eliminating intermediary links, and leveraging JD.com's private label brands, it promises "everyday low prices." This model doesn't rely on individual store profitability or franchise replication but depends on having a "solid foundation," using efficient logistics and warehousing systems to reduce overall costs.

MEITUAN-W's "Happy Monkey" takes a different approach, aiming to build a three-dimensional ecosystem of "instant retail + hard discount + local life services," creating a complete "consumption-fulfillment-service" closed loop.

MEITUAN-W's threat to retail lies not in the products themselves but in the network effects of its local life services.

MEITUAN-W positions its stores as "Front Warehouse 2.0," where customers' in-store consumption simultaneously replenishes online order inventory. In terms of delivery capacity, by integrating with the "Meituan Errands" network, it achieves a dual fulfillment model of "to-store + to-home." This design fully leverages MEITUAN-W's advantages in delivery while compensating for its lack of offline experience.

Hema NB represents the specific manifestation of Hema's overall lightweight expansion into lower-tier markets. After closing 20,000-square-meter membership stores, Hema NB precisely positions itself within community capillaries, becoming the neighborhood grocery basket.

Having already focused on low prices, future competition will be a battle over the penetration efficiency of supply chain capillaries. JD.com is betting on the "large store siphoning effect," Hema NB plans to dominate through regional density, while MEITUAN-W uses instant delivery to rewrite spatial and temporal rules.

From the three companies' strategies, the retail industry no longer distinguishes between online and offline. The future competition will primarily focus on efficiency - supply chain efficiency, instant delivery efficiency, and operational efficiency.

With these three players entering the market, the discount supermarket sector is set to witness new developments.