Many people have heard about China’s cashless society and how we pay for everything with WeChatPay and AliPay, even for in-person transactions–but did you know that we use apps for almost everything, including grocery shopping? In China, MeiTuan (美团）(see here for more information about it) and Eleme （饿了么）are two of the most popular food delivery apps, while Pinduoduo (cheap goods, used more by local residents–the company that owns Temu, by the way) and JSS & Sherpa’s (for foreigners in English) are other ends of the spectrum.
How do you look up what you want to buy on Meituan or Eleme? First, look it up in your chosen Chinese/English dictionary (Pleco & KT Dict C/E are popular), then open the app, and copy and paste the characters into the search function. Alternatively, you can tap on the store of choice (ie WuMart, April Gourmet) and search within that vendor for what you want.
Even if you’re not great at Chinese, it’s a good idea to memorize the basic food words you order a lot. For me, these are:
- Coke Zero: 零度可乐
- Oatly oat milk: Oatly 燕麦奶
- Soda water: 苏打水
- Tomatoes:西红柿 or 番茄
- Paper towels/napkins: 纸巾
- Toilet paper: 厕纸
- Chocolate: 巧克力
- Spinach: 菠菜
- Cheddar cheese: 红切达
- Pasta：意大利面
See the video from the start, this post, or the video linked below to see this step by step!
Finally, tap on the yellow in the bottom right where it says “去结算“ and add your address to start checking out. It’s a great idea to keep your local address alongside your first name and phone number in the Notes app if you live in China–but this also works for your hotel if you are visiting! These delivery apps are MUCH easier to use than signing up for WeChat, as long as you have AliPay set up with your foreign bank card1. The location finding is good for large hotels but can be tricky for local addresses, especially in traditional, old parts of cities–or in smaller cities in China.
Tap on the yellow in the bottom right where it says “去结算“ and add your address to check out.
One more tip: if your home is hard to find in China and you don’t speak Chinese well, you can often send photos or text that you translate with directions to the delivery men. More on that in a future post!
Once you confirm your address and submit the order, you’ll be taken to Alipay or WeChat to pay (you can choose), and then you wait until a rider is assigned and brings your order!
That’s all for today. Please leave any comments below related to daily life in China for foreigners! Coming soon is a video about the top apps that we use in China. For a free quick guide to China, or to receive updates on future posts, go here.
- See this YouTube video for step by step directions–the link takes you directly to the AliPay part about adding a bank card. ↩︎
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