After returning to revenue growth and ringing up its first-ever profits in 2024, online grocer Dingdong (Cayman) Ltd. signaled that more change is in the air for 2025 as competition in its already-competitive sector heats up even more.
Among other things, the company said it will start working more with partners, marking a departure from its current business model that relies heavily on a self-operated business. The company’s latest quarterly report also hinted that after posting profits in each of last year’s four quarters, Dingdong might return to the red in the first quarter of 2025.
Life hasn’t been easy these last few years for Dingdong, which has struggled to find a sustainable business model since its inception in China’s fast-evolving online grocery market. After starting out with an eye to selling basic groceries to people throughout China, the company has been slowly retrenching to focus on its home base in Shanghai and the similarly affluent surrounding Yangtze Delta area in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces.