Taobao Flash Sale management discusses the first "Double 11": The next wave of growth comes from collaboration and efficiency improvement

Text | Peng Qian

Editor | Qiao Qian

Where is the second half of the growth curve for Taobao Flash Sale?

The "Double 11" shopping festival, the best testing ground, may provide some answers.

On the day of the "Double 11" press conference, 36Kr met with Fan Yu, the CTO of Alibaba Group, the Chairman and CEO of Ele.me, and also an Alibaba partner, in Shanghai. We talked with him about issues that the outside world is very concerned about, such as "the goals of Taobao Flash Sale's participation in Double 11", "the progress of platform efficiency improvement", and "how Alibaba's various businesses can collaborate".

The biggest variable in this year's "Double 11" is that the cross - selling between food delivery and e - commerce has started to take shape. Fan Yu also gave an example: "A user said that when he opened the Taobao app for lunch, he saw cat food at the bottom of the page. He only realized that 'I came here for lunch' after placing the order."

According to 36Kr, there have indeed been some changes in the order structure of Taobao Flash Sale recently. In August this year, the proportion of tea and beverage orders in flash sales was 22%, retail orders were 8%, and other food orders accounted for 70%. By October, the proportion of tea and beverage and food orders had declined, while retail orders had exceeded 10%. On the one hand, this is due to seasonal changes, and on the other hand, it is also the result of the adjustment of the platform's operation direction.

The "Double 11" press conference revealed that the daily order volume of Taobao Flash Sale has stabilized at over 80 million. The platform has made reasonable adjustments to the subsidies for merchants and riders, and the subsidy efficiency has been continuously improving. Official data shows that from its launch in June 2025 to August, the peak daily order volume of Taobao Flash Sale reached 120 million, driving a 20% year - on - year increase in the daily active users of the Taobao app. The flash sale business has now helped 77 retail brands achieve monthly turnover of over 10 million yuan and 490 brands over 1 million yuan.

At the first "Double 11" node, the management of Taobao Flash Sale shared where its future growth will come from.

Seek growth from the collaboration between businesses

"The growth goal is definitely not to'maintain' the scale, but to continue growing," Taobao Flash Sale clearly stated in an interview after the "Double 11" press conference.

They have noticed that as the retailization process of flash sales accelerates, more flexible consumer demands are emerging rapidly. These demands are based on richer experiences and products, rather than just growth based on speed and low prices. This is the new growth generated by flash sales.

As Jiang Fan once revealed at an earnings conference, Taobao Flash Sale may reach a scale of one trillion yuan in the next three years.

This requires close cooperation between various businesses. However, will there be the so - called "self - cannibalization" problem that some are worried about?

In an interview with 36Kr, Fan Yu said, "In this process, the overall logic of Taobao Flash Sale and the collaboration of various businesses will be viewed from a more global perspective, aiming to accurately and timely deliver all orders to consumers." From the perspective of consumers or merchants, consumers have different consumption needs. When users hope to complete multiple needs in one place, these business scenarios will naturally combine.

Fan Yu also mentioned that in this collaboration mechanism, there are several important connecting elements, such as the "88VIP" and the Taobao membership system. All businesses can develop in their respective scenarios and generate greater synergy, ultimately achieving 1 + 1 > 2 - this is what is happening in reality.

Scale first, then efficiency

Different from the e - commerce "Double 11", which aggregates a huge amount of pulsed demand, flash sales require the improvement of overall traffic, delivery, and supply to generate continuous demand and growth. This also tests the platform's ability for further refined operation.

This is Taobao Flash Sale's first "Double 11", and it has adopted an old - fashioned and straightforward approach: Taobao Flash Sale gives two 50% discount vouchers to 88 VIPs every day. However, in addition to continuing to attract users with generous discounts, Taobao Flash Sale is also accelerating the improvement of operational efficiency on the basis of achieving scale.

At the Alibaba earnings conference at the end of August, when Jiang Fan talked about "UE and operational efficiency", he said, "I think we can't talk about efficiency without considering scale. In the past, our order volume was one - third of that of our peers, and in many provinces and cities, our market share was even less than 20%. With such a huge gap in market share, efficiency may not be meaningful." He further mentioned that the short - term narrowing of losses mainly comes from the optimization of user structure, order structure, fulfillment efficiency, and cost.

How is the improvement of "UE and operational efficiency" specifically carried out in the current flash sale business?

"Investing 10 billion yuan may not achieve ten times the effect of investing 1 billion yuan. We should pursue subsidy efficiency, that is, to provide the right subsidies to the right people and in the right scenarios." According to Fan Yu, the efficiency improvement of flash sales in terms of user structure and marketing is ongoing.

According to 36Kr, Taobao Flash Sale has launched a marketing discount engine in combination with Taobao's operational advantages. The subsidy intensity for users has not decreased, but at the same time, the "subsidy ladder" has been optimized. The higher the order value, the more discounts users can get. In addition, more subsidies are also tilted towards 88 VIPs and Taobao members.

In terms of order structure, Taobao Flash Sale is also adjusting the category guidance according to user needs. With the e - commerce promotion stimulating sales, it is a good time to increase retail orders. At the same time, the order structure of merchants is being more accurately matched with traffic, and ultimately, multi - dimensional matching and improvement are achieved through technology, scheduling, and marketing discounts.

In the fulfillment process, after the start of the food delivery war, flash sales quickly increased the number of riders to ensure user experience, but this also increased costs. Currently, the focus of flash sales has also shifted to better scheduling and arrangement around the order structure and logistics structure to further improve the efficiency of the logistics process.

 "I believe that as long as we improve the user experience, we can definitely bring overall growth. This is also the starting point for our large investment in building a 'big consumption platform'," Fan Yu said.