Baidu Waimai rebrands as Star.Ele.me

Online food delivery platform Baidu Waimai has been rebranded as Star.Ele.me, which will operate as a subbrand of Ele.me offering premium food and local services from selected vendors, after being acquired by its major rival over a year ago.

The rebranding came after Alibaba Group Holding Ltd announced on Friday it had merged two of its food review and delivery-related businesses - Ele.me and Koubei - to better compete with Tencent Holdings Ltd-backed Meituan-Dianping in the increasingly competitive Chinese on-demand services market.

Wang Lei, CEO of Ele.me, said the company would accelerate its digitalization plan with partners in the catering industry to provide a higher-quality and faster food delivery service, covering Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hangzhou and Tianjin.