Ele.me to Officially Rename to Taobao Flash Sale, Internal Testing Launched

Ele.me to Officially Rename to Taobao Flash Sale, Internal Testing Launched

On November 3, many users found that after updating the Ele.me App to version 12.0.1, it has been officially renamed “Taobao Flash Sale”.

According to Xin Huanghe reports, “Taobao Flash Sale” is currently in the grayscale testing phase, open only to some users. The slogan for the updated “Taobao Flash Sale” is “Order takeout with confidence, food arrives on time”.

During the grayscale test, some users can experience food delivery and instant delivery services for daily necessities through “Taobao Flash Sale”. Currently, Ele.me’s delivery capacity has fully taken over Taobao Flash Sale orders, covering more categories.

Strategic Integration of Alibaba’s Instant Retail

This renaming is part of Alibaba Group’s instant retail strategy integration, aiming to strengthen the positioning of “Taobao Flash Sale” as a unified brand.

Alibaba’s adjustment transforms Ele.me from an independent food delivery platform into a “fulfillment infrastructure” for “instant retail”, collaborating with Taobao’s traffic entrance to achieve the goal of “30-minute delivery of everything”. Since October 2025, visual elements such as rider uniforms and App icons have been updated to Taobao’s brand color orange to further strengthen brand awareness.

This integration is seen as Alibaba’s response to competition in “instant retail” from rivals like Meituan and JD.com. By concentrating resources and unifying the brand, it aims to improve delivery efficiency and user experience.

Expansion of Taobao Flash Sale Ecosystem

In late April this year, the instant retail business “Hourly Delivery” under Taobao Tmall was upgraded to “Taobao Flash Sale” and displayed as a first-level traffic entrance on the Taobao App homepage. In September, Tmall also launched the “Taobao Flash Sale” business, supporting hour-level delivery of products from official brand flagships.

On October 22, citing sources from Cainiao, First Financial reported that Cainiao Supply Chain joined the “Taobao Flash Sale” business to provide “hourly delivery” services. Currently, Cainiao has launched services in some areas of Shanghai, Hangzhou, Nanjing and other cities, and plans to expand to more key cities, covering categories such as 3C digital, clothing, beauty care, and food.

On October 31, Jiemian News learned that “Taobao Flash Sale” officially released a new chain convenience brand “Taobao Convenience Store”. This brand will use a flash sale warehouse format, leveraging the supply chain advantages of the Alibaba ecosystem to provide consumers with a shopping experience of “24-hour operation and 30-minute delivery”, and will be officially launched on November 1.

It is understood that the first batch of Taobao Convenience Stores will open 34 slots to merchants, with main warehouse types being flagship warehouses and standard warehouses with around 10,000 SKUs; for campus scenarios, special warehouse types will also be launched to meet the needs of student users. In the future, Taobao Convenience Stores will gradually cover more than 200 cities nationwide.

Business Performance and Future Outlook

In an earnings analyst call in August this year, Jiang Fan, CEO of Alibaba’s China E-commerce Group, revealed that “Taobao Flash Sale” had a peak daily order volume of 120 million, with an average daily order volume of 80 million on Sundays in August, driving a 20% growth in Taobao’s DAU (Daily Active Users) in August. The daily active riders for Flash Sale exceed 2 million, a threefold increase from April.

Jiang Fan (expects) that in the next three years, Flash Sale and instant retail will bring 1 trillion yuan in transaction increments to the platform.

In November 2024, Alibaba’s China E-commerce Group was established, integrating businesses such as Taobao Tmall Group, International Digital Commerce Group, 1688, and Xianyu, covering Alibaba’s entire industrial chain e-commerce business. Since then, Ele.me and Fliggy have joined the group, marking the transformation of Alibaba’s e-commerce platform into a large consumer platform.