Taobao Flash Sale In-store Group Buying is really here.

It has been rumored in the business community for a long time that Taobao Flash Sale would enter the in-store group-buying market, and now it has really happened.

This morning, 36Kr exclusively inquired and learned that Taobao Flash Sale indeed launched its in-store group-buying business on September 20th. The first batch covers the core commercial areas of three cities: Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Jiaxing, involving multiple catering categories such as tea drinks, desserts, full meals, buffets, and local specialty snacks. These group-buying products are available not only on Taobao Flash Sale but also on multiple platforms such as Alipay and Gaode APP simultaneously.

"It's a natural development of our business. Since the launch of Flash Sale, both consumers and merchants have been hoping that the discounts and services of Flash Sale could be extended to dine-in services," a relevant person in charge of Taobao Flash Sale told 36Kr. "Therefore, our products and services have also been upgraded accordingly."

From the perspective of Alibaba as a whole, this is another step forward in the in-store business after Gaode's Street Scanning List fired the first shot.

According to 36Kr, the "in-store group-buying" business of Taobao Flash Sale is currently mainly managed by the Ele.me team in terms of product, supply, and operation, and it also collaborates deeply with Gaode and Alipay. In the three cities where the service was launched in the first batch, users can enter the group-buying section through the prominent position on the Taobao Flash Sale channel or by searching for keywords like "in-store group-buying". In addition, there are corresponding entry points on the Gaode merchant pages and in the Alipay Card Package's special coupons section, allowing users to place orders for group-buying products.

These three entry points represent a potential traffic base of over one billion daily active users (DAU).

Of course, in-store business not only requires traffic but also strong merchant supply and on-the-ground infrastructure such as user-generated content (UGC) and review systems.

According to 36Kr, many of the first batch of Taobao Flash Sale group-buying merchants have achieved significant growth in the previous Flash Sale takeaway business. In addition to offering their own discounted in-store group-buying packages, the platform also provides certain subsidies this time to enhance the attractiveness of the final price of group-buying products.

The group-buying business currently mainly focuses on catering, including tea drinks, desserts, full meals, buffets, and local specialty snacks. The cooperative brands participating in Taobao Flash Sale's group-buying business this time include both national chain catering brands such as Guimanlong, Xinwang Tea Restaurant, and Qinghuajiao Huajiao Fish, as well as local specialty catering merchants and regional brands loved by local consumers, such as Downstairs Yogurt and Fengxiaozhang Old Hot Pot.

In terms of product supply and overall discount levels, the group-buying business is quite competitive. For example, the original price of the Xu Funiu Hot Pot's "Reunion in the Moonlight" double meal was 170 yuan, but the group-buying price is only 68 yuan. The original price of the Qinghuajiao Huajiao Fish's "Inherited Sichuan Flavor Secretly Made Grilled Fish" set was 207 yuan, and after the discount, the group-buying price is only 153 yuan.

Looking back, there were actually early signs of Taobao Flash Sale's launch of the in-store group-buying business.

At Alibaba's Q2 earnings conference, Jiang Fan, the CEO of Alibaba's e-commerce business group, once revealed: "The Flash Sale business currently has about 150 million DAU, and these users also have some needs for in-store pick-up and group-buying. From the perspective of meeting user needs, especially in coordination with the home-delivery business, we are considering providing users with more diversified services and are currently conducting tests and explorations in some cities."

Alibaba's in-store business has shown a momentum of simultaneous progress in both content and transactions within just 10 days.

Gaode's Street Scanning List, which fired the first shot in the in-store innovation business in September, has reconstructed the logic of industry lists and product recommendations. According to Li Gang, the person in charge of "Gaode Street Scanning List", the "Gaode Street Scanning List" is essentially a credit evaluation system, which means it has a sticky tool attribute.

After four years of experimentation, Gaode has indeed managed to build an effective product recommendation mindset. As Gaode CEO Guo Ning said at the "Gaode Street Scanning List" press conference: "Gaode can provide real data based on AI navigation (i.e., real in-store information), which reflects users' actual choices."

According to official information, on the first day of its launch, the "Gaode Street Scanning List" reached 40 million DAU. Li Gang also recently told 36Kr that the overall traffic of the "Charming Small Stores" on the list has increased by 187%. He also mentioned that Gaode is still trying to enrich the content. Currently, the content on the platform is mainly generated in two ways: the structured list content is produced by the Gaode team, while the unstructured UGC content is provided by platform users, with the former still being the dominant source.

The transaction scenario is the second step, divided into online and offline. Online, Taobao Flash Sale, Gaode, and Alipay will all provide traffic support for merchants' group-buying products. Offline, participating merchants will display relevant promotional materials in their stores. Consumers can receive discounts and place orders by "tapping" through Taobao, Gaode, and Alipay, such as scanning table stickers or card stickers.

Over the past 100 days, Taobao Flash Sale has obviously accumulated a considerable number of active and purchasing users. Launching the in-store group-buying service now will undoubtedly allow platform merchants to further capitalize on this wave of traffic dividends.

"Any additional profit is a gain," a merchant participating in the first batch of group-buying business told 36Kr.