Recent trends in food delivery and instant commerce displayed that bellwether companies are committed to creating a one-stop consumer app, covering diverse services to meet local instant needs and various consumption scenarios of traditional e-commerce, Jefferies' research report indicated, recommending stocks namely BABA-W (09988.HK)  -0.400 (-0.364%)    Short selling $1.25B; Ratio 12.933%   (BABA.US)      , JD-SW (09618.HK)  +0.100 (+0.078%)    Short selling $333.34M; Ratio 19.274%   (JD.US)      , and MEITUAN-W (03690.HK)  +0.700 (+0.559%)    Short selling $1.31B; Ratio 20.940%   .

The key developments in the industry included Alibaba's announcement of integrating Ele.me and Fliggy into the China e-commerce platform, with high strategic and executional synergy among the three, Jefferies mentioned. As of June 23, 2025, Taobao Instant Commerce and Ele.me combined daily orders exceeded 60 million.

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Meituan is ambitiously expanding local instant services, launching various models such as MT Instashopping, Xiaoxiang Supermarket and MT Select. MT Instashopping collaborates with millions of offline stores to achieve 30-minute delivery and has over 30,000 flash purchase convenience stores to fortify the supply chain. Xiaoxiang Supermarket plans to cover all T1/ 2 cities. MT Select focuses on core areas, leveraging supply chain and warehousing networks to form a competitive advantage.

JD.com's JD app daily active users are growing rapidly, with new user conversion in the early stages and an increasing cross-selling ratio. The food delivery product mix is healthy, and unit economics can be improved through multiple fronts.

Jefferies also considered that the entertainment sector is defensive and is the most favored industry for 2H25. Among them, KUAISHOU-W (01024.HK)  -1.750 (-2.765%)    Short selling $191.78M; Ratio 8.549%   ’s conference in Beijing confirmed the potential of Kuaishou and trends in multiple sub-sectors.

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Overall, the competition in China's instant retail and local service market is fierce, with giants like Alibaba, JD.com, and Meituan increasing their investments to garner market share and drive rapid industry development. Jefferies maintained Buy ratings on these stocks and adjusted the target prices based on industry trends.

Here are Jefferies' key recommended stocks:

Stocks|Ratings|Target Prices
Alibaba (BABA.US)      |Buy|US$156 →US$153
BABA-W (09988.HK)  -0.400 (-0.364%)    Short selling $1.25B; Ratio 12.933%   |Buy|HK$151 →HK$148
JD.com (JD.US)      |Buy|US$66 →US$60
JD-SW (09618.HK)  +0.100 (+0.078%)    Short selling $333.34M; Ratio 19.274%   |Buy|HK$257 →HK$233
MEITUAN-W (03690.HK)  +0.700 (+0.559%)    Short selling $1.31B; Ratio 20.940%   |Buy|HK$185 →HK$165
(HK stocks quote is delayed for at least 15 mins.Short Selling Data as at 2025-07-02 16:25.) (Real-time Streaming US Stocks Quote; Except All OTC quotes are at least 15 minutes delayed.)

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