Alibaba's Taobao Quick Buy Expands Retail Focus with New Store Formats and Enhanced Logistics

Reports indicate that Alibaba's (BABA) Taobao Quick Buy service held a key executive meeting prior to the Labor Day holiday, outlining its growth strategy for the upcoming year.

According to the meeting's agenda, the core objectives for fiscal year 2027 (April 2026 to March 2027) are twofold. The first is to maintain market share stability in its food delivery segment while achieving a positive unit economic (UE) model on a monthly basis within that fiscal year. The second is to increase investment in its retail operations. This will involve developing new initiatives such as "Taobao Convenience Stores" and Hema's front-end warehouses. Additionally, efforts will be made to shift orders from Tmall Supermarket and Tmall brands from long-distance to short-haul delivery, aiming to boost both order volume and gross merchandise value (GMV) for the retail business.

The reports further state that Alibaba's new fiscal year investment in Taobao Quick Buy is only half of the previous year's amount, excluding retail business expenditures. Currently, Taobao Quick Buy incurs a loss of approximately 1.5 yuan per order. However, the overall loss for the food delivery business is expected to see significant improvement in the second quarter compared to the first.

Regarding the retail segment, sources close to the matter cited in the reports say Taobao Quick Buy has set new targets for retail orders. The goal for the coming months is to stabilize daily orders at around 20 million. This figure includes orders from Tmall Supermarket's 4-hour delivery service and the portion of Hema orders integrated into the Quick Buy platform. Furthermore, Taobao Quick Buy is actively onboarding more retail brands and expanding its network of partner warehouses, which now exceeds 20,000 locations nationwide.

The reports also mention that during the recent Spring Festival period, the original plan was to open 1,000 Taobao Convenience Stores this year. This target was initially raised to 1,500 at the start of the new fiscal year, and has recently been increased internally once more, with plans now to launch 3,000 such stores.

As of the time of reporting, Taobao Quick Buy has not issued a response to these claims.