Delivery companies will now be required to register the names of all people who avail of their services. (Photo : Reuters)
Aside from convenience, the development and popularity of takeaway food delivery apps have also drastically changed the eating habits of Chinese people living in the cities.
Since restaurant-quality dishes can now be delivered hot and ready to an individual's front door, a lot of people have now opted to eat inside rather than out. One of them is 29-year-old engineer Zhao Baijun.
"Before these apps, most restaurants did not offer deliveries. I had very few choices, mostly fast food chains," Zhao said.
Food delivery apps have also increased the sales of food suppliers to a tenfold. The growth of e-commerce in China has allowed traditional food suppliers as well as big companies to benefit from takeaway food delivery apps.
Included in this list of companies is Alibaba, the country's largest e-commerce company. The e-commerce giant recently signed a multi-billion dollar deal with electronics retailer Suning, focusing on payments, platforms and logistics.
The multi-billion dollar deal will effectively make Alibaba Suning's second-largest shareholder, as the former is stipulated to pay around 28 billion yuan ($4.5 billion) for 19.99 percent of Suning's shares. On the other hand, Suning will reportedly buy around 28 million new Alibaba shares for 14 billion yuan.
The deal with allow Alibaba and its online network to extend its services offline through Suning's collection of over 1,600 stores and 3,000 aftersales service centers.
"If we do not integrate with offline, we will not have a future," said Alibaba chairman Jack Ma, who described the deal as a "wedding."
Along with the establishment of a Suning online sales center on Alibaba's Tmall.com, the e-commerce giant will be able to step up its game against main rival JD.com.
Various e-commerce companies are now looking for business partners to align themselves with in order to expand their online services offline.
Amid all this, Zhao and many other food delivery app fans are just satisfied to be eating great restaurant-quality food within the walls of their home.
