(Yicai) Nov. 17 -- Chinese e-commerce giant JD.Com has added a review section to its food delivery platforms as an umpteenth move to gain the upper hand against its rivals after the end of the subsidy war.

The review section was launched on Nov. 15 and is divided into three: Discover Foods, Hotel Stays, and Pick Good Things. Users can leave reviews with pictures of products and takeout services they have purchased or restaurants and hotels they have dined or stayed in.

Dianping, China’s leading review platform, was the first one to enter the local life information business. Founded in 2003, it was acquired by JD.Com’s rival Meituan in 2015. Last year alone, users posted nearly 400 million reviews on Dianping.

Adding a review section is an important layout in the local life services business, aiming at building an ecosystem of content influencing plus instant consumption, while fending off competition from Meituan and Alibaba Group Holding, Chen Liteng, a digital life analyst at 100EC’s e-commerce research center, told Yicai.

JD.Com’s review business can also guide consumer traffic to its on-demand retail business and provide a basis for decision-making, Chen noted, adding that users can generate immediate demand by reviewing content and directly jumping to the order section, shortening the consumption process.

In September, Alibaba released a major update to its navigation platform Amap, adding a new artificial intelligence-powered feature allowing users to leave a ranking for local businesses, just like on Dianping. On the same day, Dianping announced it would restore its food delivery service to create a synergistic effect with Meituan’s takeout platform.

Alibaba and Meituan have been continuously increasing their investment in the review business since then. Amap said on Sept. 23 that it would exempt all catering merchants on the app from the annual fee for one year. Later, it claimed it had received inquiries from 150,000 catering merchants within three days.

On Nov. 5, Dianping announced it would invest at least CNY3 billion (USD422.2 million) in the next five years to upgrade its local life service business infrastructure.

Editor: Futura Costaglione