Meituan Pharma Reports 27% YoY User Growth as Instant Retail Enters a New Era of Family Health Management
On April 14, Meituan Medicine and Health hosted the “Forum on the Development of the Pharmaceutical Instant Retail Industry Ecosystem,” inviting ecosystem partners such as pharmacies and pharmaceutical companies to jointly explore new industry opportunities. Wu Jiani, head of Meituan Medicine and Health’s instant retail business, revealed that over the past year, the platform’s cumulative user base grew by 27%. The three major scenarios—home care, chronic disease management, and household essential medicines—led overall market growth. An increasing number of users no longer turn to Meituan solely for emergency medication purchases when ill, but instead regard it as a core entry point for daily family health management.
At the event, Meituan Medicine and Health unveiled a series of new products centered on “Family Health Management”: Xiao Tuan Health Steward offers AI-powered health consultation services, while the Health Card allows one person to purchase it for the entire family to enjoy medication discounts. Meanwhile, the platform has added in-store service access points for pharmacies, supporting chain pharmacies in their transformation into “Health Stations.” The new infrastructure for instant retail, with family health services at its core, is accelerating its implementation.
▲Wu Jiani, head of Meituan Medicine and Health’s instant retail business, delivering a speech. Photo by Liu Nan
Industry data indicates that the total size of China’s pharmaceutical retail market has stabilized, entering a new development cycle centered on structural adjustment. The importance of instant retail channels is rising rapidly, driven largely by shifts in consumer behavior. On Meituan Maiyao, users aged 20 to 40 account for approximately 80% of the customer base. As digital natives increasingly assume responsibility for household health decisions, they are extending their online consumption habits to family health management. This trend is elevating instant retail services from one-time emergency medication purchases to systematic fulfillment of comprehensive family health needs.
This shift is clearly reflected in the platform data of Meituan Medicine. The relationship between users and the platform continues to deepen, evolving from one-time emergency medication purchases to multi-category prescription compounding, and further to cross-category periodic repurchases. Notably, orders placed on behalf of family members have seen significant growth, now accounting for 20% of the total. The core consumer base of instant retail is transforming from individual users into true “family health managers.”
“Services extend wherever demand exists. The upgrading of users’ health management awareness is redefining the boundaries of instant retail—scenarios are becoming increasingly granular, while product categories are expanding,” said Wu Jiani. It was revealed that orders during the late-night hours from 0:00 to 6:00 a.m. increased by 27% year-on-year, making it the fastest-growing time slot throughout the day and reflecting users’ strong reliance on “immediately accessible” health services. In terms of product categories, combined purchases of pharmaceuticals and medical devices, as well as cross-category orders of drugs and health supplements, now account for nearly 40%, with users increasingly covering their comprehensive health needs in a single order. Furthermore, orders for medications related to home care, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, and endocrine system disorders have all grown by more than 30%, emerging as new engines driving the steady growth of the instant retail market.
"Whole-family, all-scenario, and full-lifecycle coverage has become a typical characteristic of current consumer health spending. To address this, Meituan Medicine & Health has officially launched two new products, 'Xiao Tuan Health Steward' and 'Health Card,' to comprehensively upgrade its family health service system."
Li Dawei, Head of Medical and Health Products at Meituan, introduced that “Xiao Tuan Health Assistant,” leveraging Meituan’s extensive accumulated data on medication purchases and online consultations, collaborates with a team of professional physicians to train large language models, offering distinct advantages over general-purpose models. It provides users with a range of services, including medical consultation, interpretation of test reports, and maintenance of family health records. With just a single query such as, “My baby has a cold and fever; please recommend suitable antipyretics for infants,” Xiao Tuan Health Assistant can understand the complete needs based on the family’s health records, mobilize optimal healthcare resources, and deliver end-to-end service fulfillment.
The Health Card is a paid membership service within the one-stop health service ecosystem, offering benefits such as medication discounts and one-on-one express delivery. According to reports, the Health Card’s medication discount benefit currently covers nearly 1,000 drugs, including over 300 originator drugs, with its service network spanning more than 20 well-known pharmacy chain groups across over 300 cities in China.
“Xiaotuan Health Steward and the Health Card will continue to undergo iterative upgrades in the future, partnering with more high-quality brands across the upstream and downstream value chains to continuously enrich service benefits,” said Li Dawei.
The upgrading of user demands has also placed higher requirements on the service capabilities of the supply side. At the event, Meituan Medicine and Health announced a comprehensive upgrade to its HEALTH digital-intelligence service tools for merchants, with the AI Business Manager already in the pilot application phase.
Ecological partners have responded actively to this initiative. The head of Kenvue China stated that the platform’s digital guidance is particularly valuable during peak periods of disease prevalence. “Leveraging the platform’s digital insights, industrial brands, chain pharmacies, and the platform can collaborate on refined operations, ensuring that every order and each user need is tangibly met.” A relevant executive from Innovent Biologics also revealed that Innovent has partnered with Meituan on cold-chain logistics infrastructure for pharmaceuticals. Together with chain pharmacies, the two parties will jointly build a chronic disease management system covering both online and offline channels.
Notably, on the chain pharmacy front, Meituan Medicine has launched a new online supply offering called “Health Stations,” listing professional services such as health screenings, chronic disease record establishment, and medically supervised weight loss on its platform. This initiative creates an end-to-end pathway from online customer acquisition to long-term user retention. The initial pilot includes four major chains: Gaoji Health, Neptunus Drugstore, Dashenlin Pharmaceutical Group, and Shuyu Pingmin Pharmacy. Depending on the outcomes of these pilots, the program will be expanded nationwide. “Since announcing our partnership with Meituan Medicine to launch online Health Stations, multiple brand partners have proactively approached us for collaboration. Pharmacies should not merely be places to dispense medications; they should serve as hubs for health management. We are committed to working with Meituan to explore and implement this vision,” said Xu Long, Head of New Retail at Gaoji Health.
Data shows that Meituan Medicine has covered 250,000 chain pharmacies and partnered with over 500 industrial brands. “Instant retail is not only a channel for emergency medication purchases but also an important entry point for ‘household managers’ to build a deterministic healthy lifestyle,” said Wu Jiani. Meituan will firmly maintain its positioning as the digital and intelligent assistant for pharmaceutical merchants, working with all ecosystem partners to co-create a family health protection network.