Alibaba's Delivery Ambition Sets Stage For China's Epic Clash Of Giants

Zinger Key Points

Alibaba Group Holding BABA reported a sharp rise in on-demand delivery transactions, with combined daily orders on its platforms, Taobao Instant Commerce and Ele.me, reaching 80 million. This information was shared in a Monday post on Alibaba’s official WeChat account, as reported by the South China Morning Post.

Taobao Instant Commerce, launched in late April, gained traction quickly. It hit 10 million daily orders in its first week and 40 million within a month, then jumped from 60 to 80 million in just 12 days amid summer promotions and subsidies.

The platform’s daily active users have now surpassed 200 million, signaling Alibaba’s intensified efforts to compete with rivals like Meituan MPNGF MPNGY and JD.com JD in the rapidly expanding instant delivery market.

Also Read: China’s Food Delivery War Heats Up As JD.com Recruits Thousands Of Full-Time Riders

In the ongoing competition, Meituan, a major player in the food delivery sector, reported 120 million daily transactions on Saturday, leading to brief server overloads as food and retail order volumes peaked during high-demand periods. Meituan maintains a steady hold on its 70% market share in domestic food delivery.

Alibaba’s strategic push into on-demand delivery is further evidenced by its commitment of a 50 billion yuan (approximately $7 billion) subsidy program for consumers and merchants over the next year. This program is designed to accelerate growth beyond Alibaba’s traditional e-commerce business.

To streamline operations and enhance its competitive edge against Meituan and JD.com, Alibaba integrated Ele.me and Fliggy into its core e-commerce unit in June.

Analysts from Jefferies told the SCMP that Alibaba now focuses on integrating food delivery, instant commerce, and traditional retail to maximize synergies across segments.

Alibaba stated that the rapid expansion of Taobao Instant Commerce has contributed to a doubling of China’s total daily instant delivery orders across different platforms from around 100 million in May to 200 million.

Investors have shown optimism, pushing Alibaba and other Chinese stocks higher on Tuesday, largely in anticipation of the upcoming U.S. tariff deadline.

According to a report from Elara cited by CNBC, Chinese equities saw $2.4 billion in inflows last week alone. This trend is part of a larger pattern, with emerging market funds attracting over $6 billion in the past three weeks, marking the fastest inflow pace since January 2023.

President Donald Trump had initially set a July 9 deadline for various countries to finalize trade deals to avoid higher tariff rates. However, the White House confirmed that President Trump will sign an executive order to delay this deadline to August 1, 2025. This three-week reprieve is intended to allow more time for trade negotiations, as the administration aims to secure favorable trade deals.

Price Action: BABA shares are trading higher by 2.40% to $108.82 premarket at last check Tuesday.

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Photo by Robert Way via Shutterstock

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