摘要
Two of China＇s biggest online-to-offline （020） service providers have decided to take measures to avoid a price war,opting to join forces in order to become a more formidable presence in the rapidly growing sector. 020 service providers connect online us- ers with brick-and-mortar offline services-- including group-buying deals and restaurant bookingvia the Intemet and, more frequent- ly, through smartphone applications. Meituan. corn, a group-buying site backed by China＇s e- commerce king Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., and consumer review service Dianpinp=com, which is funded by Tencent Holdings Ltd., China＇s leading online games and social-networking company, announced on October 8 that they have decided to carry out a strategic merger.
