Baidu-owned group-buying site Nuomi has announced on Oct. 8 to offer 1 billion yuan ($157.6 million) worth of coupons to users, after Meituan disclosed its merger with Dianping, the Want China Times reported.
Nuomi made the announcement through its Sina Weibo microblog page, the report said.
According to its statement, Nuomi said that the Meituan-Dianping merger has bolstered the company's confidence and strengthened its belief that its rapid growth in market share was the reason for the merger.
Baidu Nuomi CEO Zeng Liang had earlier said, prior to the Weibo announcement, that the company was ready for the competition when asked about the merger of Meituan and Dianping.
Meituan and Dianping announced their merger on Oct. 8.
Industry insiders said that the merger would significantly affect Nuomi as Baidu's New York-listed shares closed 3.36 percent lower on Wednesday, Oct. 7, following reports of the merger before the deal between the two companies was confirmed.
"Some people said the O2O (online-to-offline) market will eventually become a battle of BAT (Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent). We hope to work with more innovative players in building the O2O ecosystem and industry chain in China," Nuomi said in the statement.
Nuomi added that the company will offer good deals and experiences, as it welcomed a more exciting competition with the two companies.
The company, with its technology, sufficient capital and the advantage of having the combined payment services of various O2O models as well as its pool of talents, has expressed confidence that it will succeed in a market that is undergoing major changes.