Keeta builds local commerce networks. In every market, that means bringing consumers, restaurants, retailers, and delivery capacity together quickly enough to create a reliable everyday service.
Merchant agreements sit at the point where that network becomes operational. A commercial conversation only becomes an active partnership after the correct terms have been approved, the correct legal entity has signed, and the completed record is available to the teams responsible for launch.
At Keeta's pace of expansion, contracting could not remain a sequence of documents passed between inboxes. It had to become a repeatable business process: fast enough for local teams, controlled enough for an enterprise, and simple enough for merchants to complete.
Keeta selected Nota Sign to replace a document-by-document process with one governed digital agreement workflow. The new operating model cut the average merchant agreement cycle from five business days to two, reduced manual follow-up by 80%, lifted first-send completion to 92%, and brought more than 10K merchant agreements into one traceable process.
"Every day an agreement sits in someone's inbox is a day the merchant cannot move into launch. We needed contracting to operate like the rest of Keeta: fast, measurable, and built for scale."
— VP, Global Merchant Operations, Keeta
The challenge
Merchant growth was creating more contracts—and more ways for them to stall
A merchant agreement is rarely a single standard form. A new restaurant may need a platform services agreement, settlement terms, store and brand information, and a marketing addendum. A multi-location group may require a master agreement plus store-level authorizations. Each workflow involves merchant acquisition, operations, finance, legal, and an external signer.
The previous process completed contracts, but it did not scale cleanly.
Document preparation was repetitive. Teams copied earlier agreements, re-entered merchant data, rebuilt signature fields, and checked whether the file was still the approved version. Small errors created another review cycle or forced the agreement to be sent again.
Routine agreements still depended on specialists. Legal and operations were pulled into administrative handoffs and status checks that did not require professional judgment. This left less time for negotiated terms, local exceptions, and higher-risk work.
Internal approval and external signing were disconnected. After approval, the sender still had to export the file, confirm the signer, configure the request, and send the final version. The process could pause between "approved" and "sent" without clear ownership.
Status and evidence were fragmented. "In progress" did not explain whether an agreement was waiting for finance, unopened by the merchant, or blocked by incorrect signer information. Teams maintained parallel trackers, while final documents, approvals, and signer activity were stored separately.
Keeta needed local teams to handle routine merchant contracts themselves while central functions retained control over templates, approval rules, signer roles, and evidence.
The requirements
Self-serve speed without giving up enterprise control
Keeta set four requirements. Routine contracts had to be self-serve for business users. The model had to combine global consistency with market-specific entities, languages, terms, and approval paths. The merchant experience had to remove unnecessary login and verification friction. And the entire process had to remain visible and reviewable from the first internal action through the final signature.
The goal was not simply to sign faster. Keeta needed an operating model that reduced administrative work, preserved legal governance, and travelled into new markets without being rebuilt.
The solution
One digital path from approved commercial terms to an activated merchant relationship
Keeta implemented Nota Sign as the agreement execution layer for merchant contracting. Templates, internal review, external signing, reminders, status tracking, and records now operate as one continuous workflow.
A business user selects the correct agreement type, enters the merchant and commercial information, and starts from a controlled template. Nota Sign routes the agreement to the required reviewers, releases the approved version to the merchant, records each action, and retains the completed document with its signing evidence.
1. Turn approved contracts into self-serve workflows
Keeta converted recurring merchant agreements into reusable Nota Sign templates with predefined fields, signer roles, approval conditions, and routing rules. Local teams no longer copy an old contract, search for the latest attachment, or recreate signature fields.
The workflow captures the information required for the agreement and places it into the approved structure. Preparation became faster and output more consistent. First-send completion reached 92%, meaning more than nine out of ten agreements now finish without being cancelled, corrected, and sent again.
This changed legal's role. Legal owns approved language, template versions, thresholds, and exception paths. Business teams operate standard agreements themselves, while legal focuses on negotiated clauses, non-standard risk, and market-specific issues.
2. Connect internal decisions directly to external signing
Nota Sign gives each agreement a defined route. Business, operations, finance, and legal reviews run sequentially or in parallel according to the agreement type. The merchant receives the confirmed version only after every required internal decision is complete.
For a standard restaurant onboarding agreement, merchant acquisition enters the partner, entity, store, and commercial information. Operations verifies onboarding details. Finance and legal complete the required reviews. Nota Sign then sends the approved version to the merchant signatory and retains the completed agreement automatically.
This eliminated the manual handoff between internal approval and external signature. The sender no longer exports a file, re-enters signer information, or risks sending a superseded version.
3. Turn status and evidence into one operational record
Keeta's teams now see whether an agreement is awaiting internal action, sent, viewed, pending signature, or completed. Automated reminders handle routine follow-up, while visible ownership shows where human intervention will make a difference.
If a merchant has not opened the request, the business team checks the contact details. If the agreement has been viewed but remains unsigned, the team addresses a commercial or process question. If it is waiting internally, the responsible person is clear.
Every completed contract retains the final document, signer identity, timestamps, approval activity, and execution evidence in one record. Renewals, promotion addenda, store changes, and internal reviews begin with a complete history rather than a search across inboxes and folders.
"Nota Sign gave us guardrails without taking speed away. Local teams move routine agreements themselves, while legal keeps control of templates, approvals, and evidence."
— Head of Legal Operations, Keeta
The results
Faster contracting became faster merchant activation
Keeta reduced the average agreement cycle by 60%, from five business days to two. Merchant onboarding and operations teams now reach a dependable signed-contract milestone earlier, allowing store setup, catalogue preparation, system configuration, and launch work to begin sooner.
More than 10K merchant agreements are managed through the same digital operating model. Standard restaurant agreements, multi-location partnerships, promotion addenda, and recurring commercial documents share one framework while following the correct market, entity, and approval rules.
Manual follow-up fell by 80%. Visible status and automated reminders removed four out of five routine checks across email, spreadsheets, and messaging channels. Merchant-facing teams spend that time resolving commercial questions, preparing partners for launch, and strengthening local relationships.
First-send completion reached 92%. Controlled templates, structured data capture, predefined signer roles, and standard routing reduced rework caused by outdated documents, missing fields, and incorrect signing setups.
The measurable gains created broader organizational leverage:
- Merchant teams move faster. Routine contracts no longer wait for manual legal administration.
- Legal retains control. Approved templates, exception rules, and complete evidence preserve governance without turning legal into a workflow help desk.
- Operations gains predictability. Contract status becomes visible before it turns into a launch issue.
- Merchants get a simpler experience. The request is clear, direct, and designed for completion.
- Leadership gains a repeatable model. The workflow travels into new markets instead of being rebuilt market by market.
For Keeta, Nota Sign did more than shorten time to signature. It turned merchant contracting into an operating capability that scales with the network.
About Keeta
Keeta is Meituan's international food and consumer product delivery brand. It connects consumers with local merchants and delivery networks, bringing Meituan's technology-led retail and on-demand delivery experience to global markets.
As Keeta expands, its merchant ecosystem depends on processes that are fast enough for local execution and structured enough for enterprise governance. Digital agreement execution connects those two needs.
