Research: What China’s AI Agents Reveal About the Future of Commerce

When Meituan, China’s dominant lifestyle super app that combines services similar to DoorDash, Yelp, and Groupon into a single platform, launched its Xiaomei AI agent in late 2025, executives internally described it not as a chatbot but as an orchestrator plus execution agent. The point wasn’t convenience; it was delegation. A user could say, “Order my usual lunch, but deliver it 20 minutes later today,” and the agent would interpret intent, apply preferences, and complete the transaction, often with zero screen interaction.