6 month 1 day, Alibaba revealed, Hong Kong618 period Tmall Supermarket launched in Hong Kong. Hong Kong consumers buying from Tmall Supermarket can enjoy “next day delivery” service: orders paid before 16:00 same day arrive next day; orders after 16:00 arrive the day after.
According to Ding Zhencai, GM of Taobao Hong Kong station, the first batch of products exceeds 80,000 items, covering food snacks, home & personal care, pet supplies, and baby & maternal products.
This also means the battle of 618 shopping festival has for the first time spread to Hong Kong at scale. In Hong Kong, JD.com already entered Jiabo last year, fully expanding into the physical retail market. Earlier, in 20235 month, Keeta as Meituan’s overseas core carrier officially landed in Hong Kong. Besides, the market already has Foodpanda and Deliveroo, Tmall’s entry will definitely intensify competition in this market.
Previously, on 5 month 20 day, Alibaba Group Chairman Joe Tsai and CEO Eddie Wu jointly published a shareholder letter. The letter said instant retail has become a core strategic pillar for Taobao and Tmall.“We see the strategic significance of instant retail in using AI to acquire new users, enhance user stickiness, meet diverse consumption needs, boost transaction volume, and improve monetization.”
QuestMobile data shows, as of 20263 month, the total monthly active users of general e-commerce, local life, food service, and fresh food e-commerce reached 10.95 billion, 5.69 billion, 1.89 billion, and 1.37 billion respectively. The local consumer market battle has fully spread from single food delivery to group buying, fresh retail, and full-category instant consumption. Traditional e-commerce platforms are no longer limited to remote e-commerce logic but deeply enter local life through high-frequency entry points.
Data shows, as of 20263 month, Taobao APP, JD APP, and Meituan APP monthly active users reached 9.57 billion, 5.98 billion, and 5.12 billion respectively, up 0.6%, 8.6%, and 3.2% year-on-year. In the local consumer market, Alibaba relies on ecosystem synergy to build a “big consumption platform”; JD focuses on quality food delivery and self-operated stores; Meituan as a defender builds lightning warehouses to strengthen offline fulfillment capabilities.
In fact, since 2022, 2023, Alibaba, Meituan, Douyin, and JD have all been strengthening instant retail.
2023 month 4 month, Tmall Supermarket officially launched “half-day delivery” in Hangzhou, offering morning order afternoon delivery, evening order morning delivery ultra-fast and door-to-door service. Platform data shows, from 2011 to 2023, over the past 12 years, more than 400 million Tmall Supermarket packages were delivered to Hangzhou consumers’ doorsteps. 8 out of every 10 Hangzhou residents are Tmall Supermarket users. After that, by end of 2023, Tmall Supermarket expanded to 20 cities nationwide.
Besides Alibaba, Meituan has been strengthening instant retail since 2022, Douyin has also pushed online supermarket business across the country, and JD saw the potential. Meituan financial report shows, in 2022, the platform had nearly 300,000 instant retail related convenience stores and small supermarkets, more than double that of 2019; merchant sales grew over 400% compared to 2019.
Then after two years, Tmall Supermarket evolved from half-day delivery to “4 hour delivery”. In 20257 month, Tmall Supermarket officially connected to “Taobao Flash Sale” and launched “4 hour delivery” service, covering more consumption scenarios. By 8 month 7 day, orders exceeded 1 million. Within two months, Tmall Supermarket Flash Sale expanded from 20 cities to 31 cities across the country. Tmall Supermarket Operations Center GM Xun Jin said at that time: “Near-field flash sale opens up 300 million new users for Tmall Supermarket and brands.”
2025 month 12 month, Tmall Supermarket announced through official livestream an upgrade of its own brand “Tmall Supermarket Premium Select”. Tmall Supermarket Food, Fresh & Health GM Yan Hengli said: “Consumer demand for food, fresh, and health has long shifted from pure ‘low price’ to ‘good quality at good price’ and ‘assured experience’. Our consumers care more about clean ingredient lists, origin, and whether the product brings joy. Everyone is moving from ‘buy it’ to ‘buy the right one’.” Future development will focus on products tailored for flash sale scenarios, like small oil bottles, small rice bags, to meet high-frequency instant demand.
According to latest financial report, 2026 Q1 (Alibaba FY2026 Q4), Alibaba achieved revenue of 2433.8 billion yuan, up 3% year-on-year; net profit attributable to parent company 254.76 billion yuan, up 96%; non-GAAP net profit 235.02 billion yuan, up 76%. China e-commerce business revenue reached 1222.2 billion yuan; customer management revenue (CMR) grew 8% on a comparable basis; instant retail revenue grew 57% year-on-year.
Financial report shows Alibaba core e-commerce shows strong resilience. Traditional Taobao and Tmall stabilize the base with “contentization + low price” strategy; instant retail becomes the second growth curve, with Ele.me and Taoxianda orders rising continuously, plus higher per-ticket food delivery orders driving revenue surge and improving unit economics. Also, 88VIP membership exceeded 62 million, with repurchase rate over 70%, high-value user stickiness continues to strengthen, providing long-term support for e-commerce base.
