Exclusive from 36Kr | The peak order volume of Taobao Flash Sale in collaboration with Ele.me has exceeded 60 million orders, and it is expected to reach 80 million orders by the end of this summer.

Text by | Peng Qian

Edited by | Qiao Qian

36Kr has exclusively learned that during the 618 period, the peak order volume of Taobao Flash Sale in collaboration with Ele.me has exceeded 60 million orders. Among them, Taobao Flash Sale accounted for nearly 40 million orders, while Ele.me exceeded 20 million orders.

In less than a month, this figure has increased significantly. On May 26th, Taobao officially announced that the daily order volume of Taobao Flash Sale in collaboration with Ele.me had exceeded 40 million. Among them, non-tea beverage orders accounted for 75%.

Since its official launch on May 2nd, the order volume of Taobao Flash Sale has been soaring. According to 36Kr, Taobao originally expected it to take more than ten days to reach 10 million orders, but it actually only took six days. Moreover, the time interval between reaching 10 million and 20 million orders was also very short.

36Kr has also learned that Taobao internally predicts that by August 30th this year, the order volume of Taobao Flash Sale in collaboration with Ele.me is expected to reach around 80 million orders.

According to 36Kr, from April 30th to August 30th (the end of the summer campaign) is the first stage of Alibaba's instant retail strategy. During this period, the core indicators for Taobao Flash Sale are order volume, DAU, and purchase frequency. Currently, after supporting Taobao Flash Sale, Taobao's DAU has increased significantly, and users' purchase frequency has also increased notably. With substantial subsidies, the opening rate of Taobao's main app has become higher. Previously calculated on a weekly or monthly basis, now it is calculated on a daily basis or even by each "meal" of takeout orders. Currently, Ele.me's core goal is still profitability, but with its integration into Alibaba's e-commerce business group this time, it may shift to GMV/order volume.

According to multiple Alibaba employees, instant retail is now the top priority of Alibaba's e-commerce business. Alibaba's multiple actions since Q2 also confirm its high - level attention to the instant retail business. At the end of April this year, Taotian provided various resources such as a first - level entry on Taobao, 10 billion yuan in subsidies, and the integration of Ele.me to fully enter the instant retail battlefield. At the beginning of June, Taotian purchased advertising space on Alipay to drive traffic to Taobao Flash Sale, and may also provide a first - level entry in the future.

To better coordinate resources, Wu Yongming, the CEO of Alibaba Group, also announced on the third day after the end of the 618 promotion that Ele.me and Fliggy would be integrated into the restructured Alibaba e - commerce business group and report to CEO Jiang Fan. Ele.me and Fliggy will continue to maintain a corporate management model, and in terms of business decision - making and execution, they will align goals with the China e - commerce business group and fight together.

In May this year, Wu Yongming, the CEO of Alibaba Group, also said on the internal network: "This year, the group will adopt a saturated investment approach and focus on several core campaigns. These key campaigns will involve multiple business units, leveraging their respective advantages and strengths to formulate coordinated strategies for each business based on the optimal overall value."

At the Q1 earnings conference, Jiang Fan, the president of Alibaba's e - commerce business group, also said: "Flash sale is a high - frequency scenario for Taobao, which will better reflect users' activity and scale. There will be more possibilities for integration between Taobao and near - field e - commerce. In the next period, the focus will be on active investment to convert more Taobao users into instant retail users and upgrade Taobao's business model based on this business in the long run." At the earnings conference, he also estimated that the current market size of China's instant retail is 500 - 600 million people, and it can grow to 1 billion people in the future, with room for double growth.

According to 36Kr, after the summer ends, Taotian will conduct a review based on the battle situation and data to clarify the strategy and investment for the next stage of the instant retail business.