Meituan’s recent launch of its proprietary large language model, dubbed “Magic Power,” signals a bold strategic pivot, placing AI innovation at the heart of its business model. Long known as China’s delivery super-app, Meituan now aims to compete with major players like Alibaba and DeepSeek in the generative AI space. This move underscores the increasing importance of AI in optimizing performance and deepening customer satisfaction in highly competitive environments.
The Magic Power language model currently powers existing smart customer service tools and marketing automation, offering Meituan more holistic customer engagement. This is a clear example of how custom AI models are increasingly critical to driving growth in martech. By deploying a domain-specific Machine Learning model tailored to its ecosystem, Meituan can gain better insights into user behavior, refine recommendation engines, and enhance operational efficiency.
For businesses considering AI adoption, this serves as a use-case in how a well-integrated AI model can create tangible business value. From automating marketing campaigns to improving service responsiveness, the outcome is improved user experience and higher retention.
AI expert consultancies and martech strategy partners can help replicate similar transformations. Leveraging domain-specific data to build custom models is no longer a trend but a necessity for brands aiming at scalability and differentiation.