Do not attribute CPI to takeout; real-time retail competition has already elevated to a higher level.

Recently, a commentary article opposing the “cutthroat competition” in the food-delivery wars has gone widely viral. The piece advances an argument: blaming the prolonged slump in CPI on the food-delivery wars.

This view appears to offer an “official remedy” for the industry, but in reality it doesn’t hold up to scrutiny. It points to a deeper proposition: in the current competitive landscape of the instant retail sector, is the trend truly one of “cutthroat internal competition,” or is it actually an “elevation in capabilities”?

The logic trap of attributing to CPI

The core evidence in the “anti-cutthroat competition” commentary is: the delivery-subsidy price war suppresses prices and thereby lowers the CPI. This causal chain shows a clear logical bias.

The essence of why CPI is in a weak range is that the national economy has entered a deep adjustment cycle: economic growth has moved away from its high point, business strategies have shifted toward caution, and residents’ income expectations have fallen. Price competition in the food-delivery industry, however, reflects China’s economic resilience—platform companies still maintain firm confidence in consumption upgrades, and are even willing to surrender corporate profits to re-train users’ consumption habits. In fact, the so-called billion-yuan-scale subsidy spending by platform companies in the delivery wars, compared with the 50 trillion total social retail sales figure in 2025, is nothing more than a drop in the bucket. Therefore, blaming a macro issue on competition in a single industry is like trying to climb a tree to catch fish—futile.

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