Alibaba's Rebrands Community Marketplaces Business to 'Taocaicai'
Alibaba Group, 9/17/21
Chinese internet conglomerate Alibaba Group (NYSE: BABA; 9988.HK) announced today that on September 14, it rebranded its community marketplaces business to "Taocaicai" from Taobao Grocery and Freshippo Market. The unit aims to make more than 1 mln products from around the world available for group buying in China.
Taocaicai, partnered with Cainiao Post stations and Ele.me, is building a supply chain to help farmers sell their agricultural products to consumers through over 1 mln mom-and-pop stores nationwide. Consumers can now access Taocaicai via the homepage of the Taobao app or the Taobao Deals app.
The rebranding follows news in March that Alibaba merged its B2B retail unit Lingshoutong and community buying business Hema Market.
Community group-buying is one of the latest trends in China's e-commerce market, where a group of people in the same community band together to place a bulk order to drive down the cost of their weekly grocery shopping and secure access to a wider range of products.
Community group-buying became popular among consumers in rural areas after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic as a way to overcome challenges such as lack of shipping to remote locations. The rapidly growing retail segment is set to grow into a RMB 100 bln market by 2022, according to market research firm Statista.
Keywords: community group buying Taocaicai wireless Taobao Grocery Freshippo Market e-commerce Internet Alibaba Group BABA 9988.HK agriculture
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