IT'S OFFICIAL: ELEME REBRANDS TO TAOBAO INSTANT COMMERCE

Last month, I shared how Eleme's blue outfits were starting to be replaced by new 'Formula 1'-style orange Taobao outfits. Well, it's official now.

Last summer, Alibaba cemented Taobao Instant Commerce as the place for quick commerce and food delivery ordering (and burned over RMB 50 billion in consumer discounts in the process).

It's clear that Alibaba is serious about instant retail (quick commerce). It's ditching the branding of the food delivery service that it acquired in 2018. Eleme has never had much priority in the Alibaba Group, and there were even rumours of a possible sale last year. But Alibaba realised that supermarket Hema (which was also for sale for some time) and Eleme were valuable assets in the booming instant retail business.

Besides its original business of food delivery, Eleme had already been delivering goods from physical stores for several years and, last year, integrated with Taobao. Taobao shoppers could have certain goods delivered from local stores by Eleme. This year, the local services division of Alibaba was split, and Eleme was moved to the domestic commerce division.

On April 30th, this former Taobao Xiaoshida service was rebranded to Taobao Shangou (Taobao Instant Commerce), and a few months later, the food delivery war I frequently wrote about ensued. Meituan's 70% market share decreased by approximately 15% to 25%, while Alibaba's increased by approximately 10% to 15%, and JD’s by approximately 8%. It remains to be seen, though, if Alibaba can retain this conquered market share.

In Q3, the first orange uniforms started appearing, and this week, Alibaba officially put the Eleme brand to bed. Under the Taobao brand, consumers should better understand that it can deliver anything, not just food.

In 3 years, Alibaba plans to be processing 1 trillion transactions on Taobao Instant Commerce. Further integration with the Alibaba ecosystem is already underway: Cainiao logistics offers ‘hourly delivery’ in several cities, and Amap (Gaode) navigation is optimising delivery routes.

Going to the Eleme website, you’ll already find it rebranded and full of orange. My Eleme app is still the old one, but people have reported having the rebranded one. And as some of you might know, I collect the courier outfits for presentation purposes. The new one is already available on Pinduoduo for 4 euros. 🤣

-Ed