Dingdong promised Shanghai families fresh vegetables, meat and fish at the door in about thirty minutes. To do it, the company ran small warehouses tucked into city neighborhoods, close to its customers. Shoppers ordered on an app, and riders on scooters carried the food. The pandemic turned it into a daily habit for millions. In June 2021 Dingdong listed in New York, just as Beijing grew wary of Chinese tech companies selling shares abroad.

A Warehouse on Every Block

Changlin Liang founded Dingdong Maicai in Shanghai in 2017. The bet was that busy city families would pay for fresh groceries delivered fast, and that speed depended on location. Dingdong built front-line warehouses a short ride from homes, and sourced much of its food straight from farms. Fresh food spoils fast, so the company leaned on data to guess what each neighborhood would buy each day.

A Small Offering, Then a Retreat

Dingdong priced its IPO at $23.50 per American depositary share in June 2021 and listed on the New York Stock Exchange as DDL. It sold only 4,072,000 ADSs, a small offering for a company of its size. The stock fell hard over the next year. Dingdong pulled back from weaker cities to focus on the Shanghai region and on cost control. It still trades on the NYSE, with founder Changlin Liang in control.

Cover: Old Man with a Basket of Fruit and Vegetables, Jacques André Portail. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a man carrying a basket of fresh produce (grocery delivery).