Alibaba, Xiaohongshu in tie-up as China e-commerce competition intensifies

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba is partnering with popular content platform Xiaohongshu to allow users on Xiaohongshu to directly click on product links to shop on Alibaba’s Taobao platform.

The move essentially formalises an app-to-app shopping connection between Xiaohongshu – also known as RedNote and often compared with Instagram – and Alibaba’s e-commerce infrastructure.

“By combining Taobao and Tmall’s commerce expertise with Xiaohongshu’s strength in lifestyle content, we’re helping brands reach consumers more effectively,” said Liu Bo, vice-president of Alibaba Group and president of Tmall.

The broadening of the strategic partnership between Alibaba and Xiaohongshu comes as China’s e-commerce giants vie for market share on multiple fronts amid weakened consumer confidence, leading to near-constant incentives to attract shoppers and contributing to broader deflationary pressures.

The online battlefront has recently shifted to the “instant retail” space, which initially began with food delivery services, but has expanded to include electronics and apparel, delivered within one hour.

China’s instant retail market has long been dominated by food delivery giant Meituan with Alibaba’s Ele.me in second place.

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In February, another e-commerce giant, JD.com, began bringing restaurants onto its own food delivery arm, known as JD Takeaway.

In recent weeks, Alibaba has enhanced Taobao’s instant retail capabilities, with purchases via an “instant commerce” portal on the Taobao app delivered within the hour with the help of Ele.me’s army of couriers.

In a bid to attract users, JD.com and Alibaba have invested heavily in subsidising instant retail purchases on their platforms.

JD.com said in April that it would commit “over 10 billion yuan” (S$1.8 billion) within the year to instant retail. On Monday, Alibaba said it had fulfilled 10 million instant retail orders in just five days.

The app-to-app shopping function between Xiaohongshu and Taobao aligns with Alibaba’s push for instant retail growth, with the initial pilot programme focusing on fast-moving consumer goods and healthcare products, both growing instant retail categories. REUTERS