BEIJING – A Beijing consumer rights group said on Tuesday it had asked Missfresh to work on plans to refund its customers and explain how it will rectify its business after receiving a number of complaints, adding to pressures facing the Tencent Holdings and Tiger Global-backed grocery startup.
The government-backed Beijing Consumer Association said in a statement on its website on Tuesday that a large number of Missfresh customers had complained about the platform’s “abnormal operations”.
Missfresh did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The grocery delivery firm’s troubles come as China’s tech sector grapples with slowing growth amid COVID-19 lockdowns and tightening regulatory oversight.
The company pioneered one-hour fresh food delivery services in China, a model that is extremely popular with consumers but is labour and capital intensive. It listed on the Nasdaq in June last year, raising $273 million.
However, the company’s stock has lost 98% of its valuation since and in late July local media reported that it had abruptly laid off hundreds of employees and had not paid salaries, triggering labour arbitration complaints.
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Missfresh has cancelled its one-hour delivery service, changing it to a next-day model, and told local media that it had conducted layoffs due to business restructuring.
(Reporting by Sophie Yu and Brenda Goh; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)