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Didi Launches Errand Businesses Amid Coronavirus

March 16, 2020 9:54 pm

Ride-hailing giant Didi launched errand business in China amid the coronavirus outbreak, aiming at offering an opportunity for Didi drivers to earn income, according to Sina Tech. The services was launched Monday in 21 cities including Shanghai, Shenzhen and Chongqing and was piloted in Chengdu and Hangzhou a week ago.

The ride-haling services operator will also launch “Delivery within the city” services in the coming days. Errand people have responsibilities to deliver and pick up items at customers’ doors.

The rate is calculated by distance and item weight. It costs RMB12 ($1.6) for an item weighing less than 5kg and to be sent within 4km and costs RMB2 ($0.28) for every extra kilometer. New users enjoy a RMB10 off for their first order.

Grain, oil, fresh food and medicine are the most popular items for the errand services, according to Didi after analyzing orders in Hangzhou and Chengdu. Milk tea is the most popular item although most milk tea stores are already open. Moreover, documents, cakes, cloths, yoga cushion are getting more popular along with people resuming work.

Didi said that the first batch of Didi errand people are teamed up of its designated drivers with a total number of more than 10,000. The ride-hailing behemoth added that it will expand the errand services to more cities if needed and will hire more errand people from Didi drivers and in the whole society.

The 21 cities launched the errand services are: Hangzhou, Chengdu, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chongqing, Dongguan, Nanjing, Suzhou, Xi'an, Foshan, Zhengzhou, Changsha, Qingdao, Xiamen, Kunming, Ningbo, Fuzhou, Hefei, Wuxi and Jinan.