Alibaba’s Taobao is sending more traffic to the “instant commerce” service of its food delivery arm Ele.me, via a prominent portal at the top of the e-commerce platform’s homepage, as Alibaba pushes faster delivery to align with its “user-first” strategy. The move comes after Alibaba denied multiple news reports that it intends to sell Ele.me. The “instant commerce” service, which previously mostly covered nearby supermarkets and could be found within Ele.me’s mini-program or app is in the process of luring more Taobao merchants to join. According to Alibaba, all Taobao and Tmall sellers who have local warehouses that can meet users’ needs for instant delivery can sign up to join the service. [TechNode reporting]
Correction: An earlier version of the article misidentified “instant commerce” service as one-hour delivery.
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