Taobao

Alibaba seeks growth in Mongolia with new e-commerce platform selling Chinese goods from wholesale marketplace 1688.com

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Alibaba Group Holding is expanding its business foothold in Mongolia, as the Chinese e-commerce giant’s wholesale marketplace 1688.com joins forces with local technology group Intelmind to launch a new platform. The new online marketplace, ShoppyHub.mn, aims to offer “millions of products” sourced from 1688.com’s merchant network, providing Mongolian consumers and business clients with products from … Read more

Alibaba’s Taobao launches 3D-capable shopping app ahead of Apple’s mainland release of Vision Pro mixed-reality headset

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The app was rolled out last Friday for use on the US$3,499 mixed-reality headset, which the US tech giant released in February in the United States, the only market where the wearable device is currently available. Apple chief executive Tim Cook has said that the Vision Pro is expected to be available in China this … Read more

Jack Ma steps into ‘mistakes’ brouhaha to boost Alibaba’s morale, urges staff to embrace change and prepare for AI to upend e-commerce

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Alibaba Group Holding has fundamentally changed its corporate culture to put customers first in its adaptation of technology, its co-founder Jack Ma wrote, as he stepped into a social media hubbub over the hubris that caused what was once the world’s largest e-commerce platform to lose ground to competitors. “We hacked away at the big-company … Read more

Alibaba connects Taobao and 1688 to tap new users as fierce e-commerce competition ratchets higher

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Alibaba Group Holding is integrating the services of its online wholesale marketplace 1688 with its flagship consumer shopping platform Taobao, as the e-commerce giant continues to consolidate assets amid internal restructuring and rising competition. Taobao has recently featured three online stores under the 1688 name as it pushes to win over new users, according to … Read more

Alibaba’s Taobao cuts fees for merchants and subsidises content as it seeks to protect its market lead, reports say

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Alibaba’s Taobao cuts fees for merchants and subsidises content as it seeks to protect its market lead, reports say Taobao, the main e-commerce platform of Alibaba Group Holding, has decided to increase subsidies and cut fees for merchants as China’s largest online marketplace moves to defend its lead amid increasing competition, according to local media … Read more

ByteDance-owned Douyin launches stand-alone shopping app in China, heating up the competition against Alibaba, JD.com, PDD

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Douyin Mall was launched last week as a downloadable app for Android users in mainland China, the world’s largest smartphone market. An Apple iOS version of the app was not released as of Tuesday. The new app serves “as an extension of the Douyin platform, designed to elevate the overall shopping experience of [its] existing … Read more

Chinese flying taxi maker EHang sells autonomous passenger drone for US$332,000 on Taobao as nation’s low-altitude economy takes off

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The ambitious domestic and international marketing campaigns show EHang’s confidence in generating strong market demand, months after its self-developed EH216-S became the world’s first recipient of a Type Certificate and Standard Airworthiness Certificate for pilotless eVTOLs. Those certifications were issued last October and December, respectively, by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). A screenshot … Read more

Alibaba tests generative AI tools for Taobao and Tmall merchants as new tech arms race heats up China’s e-commerce sector

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The generative AI tools provided by Huiwa, operated by Alibaba subsidiary Hangzhou Lianfan Information Technology, enable merchants to create both text and graphics content. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post. A merchant, for example, can input a brief description of a product, which prompts the tool to create customised content for marketing and promotion. … Read more

ByteDance’s Douyin makes instant refunds mandatory, following PDD, Taobao and JD.com amid fierce e-commerce competition

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Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok that is betting big on e-commerce, has made its “express refund” policy mandatory, forcing merchants to immediately return money to consumers upon request to compete with similar offerings on Taobao and Pinduoduo. The platform operated by Beijing-based ByteDance, which added a shopping channel in 2019, allows users to get … Read more

New refund policies from Alibaba’s Taobao and JD.com spark fears of customer abuse among merchants

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New “refund only” policies introduced by Chinese e-commerce players including Alibaba Group Holding’s Taobao and JD.com have sparked concern among some sellers about potential abuse of the terms, according to merchants and analysts. Taobao and JD.com in late December introduced new policies that – in certain circumstances – allow shoppers to receive a refund for … Read more