Taobo's flash sale and JD's instant delivery are exactly the same.

Recently, JD.com and Meituan Waimai have been fighting, and many Ele.me fans are worried that when two armies clash, Ele.me might end up getting hurt.

Sure enough, Alibaba couldn't hold back either and announced yesterday that it would aggressively push into instant retail, joining the fray!

Taobao announced a series of measures, shocking the market. Public opinion quickly turned it into a "Three Kingdoms" battle, with Taobao being the "mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind."

But upon closer inspection, I found that Taobao's so-called "blockbuster measures" are actually a bit inflated.

That's because Taobao's instant retail isn't starting from scratch. Back in July 2024, Taobao's "Hourly Delivery" was already fully rolled out.

Secondly, many people say that Taobao is finally going to support food delivery.

I have to say, Taobao has long supported ordering from Ele.me, albeit through mini-programs. And it's not just Taobao—Alipay supports it too.

So, in summary, Taobao's so-called "blockbuster measures" boil down to two things, both of which are pretty awkward.

The first is a rebrand. Taobao's "Hourly Delivery" has been upgraded to "Flash Sale," borrowing a name from Meituan.

By dropping "Hourly Delivery," Taobao is indirectly acknowledging Meituan's dominance. At least JD.com is sticking with "Instant Delivery" to hold its ground, while Alibaba opts for "borrowing"—if you can't beat them, join them—and sharing the brand recognition of "Flash Sale."

The second is a product revamp. But when I took a closer look, isn’t this just a straight copy of JD.com? It’s practically identical.

You can compare Taobao and JD.com side by side.

Or compare Taobao’s "Flash Sale" with its previous "Hourly Delivery" vertically.

Every functional module lines up perfectly—the granularity is way too aligned.

JD.com’s "Instant Delivery" includes food delivery as one of its categories.

Now, in Taobao’s "Flash Sale," food delivery has also become a category, with Ele.me losing its brand visibility.

No wonder so many people exclaimed, "Taobao finally supports food delivery!"

Seriously, do you media folks even use Taobao?

With JD.com’s food delivery, JD.com is the brand.

But with Taobao’s "Flash Sale," Ele.me is just tucked inside—it’s weird. Ele.me is being sidelined.

Ele.me remains silent—right as the battle begins, it’s already been stripped of power, even its name.

……

Lately, I’ve been using JD.com’s food delivery. Aside from pleasant surprises with the riders and merchants, the product experience has far exceeded expectations.

JD.com’s product strength isn’t usually great, but this time, in how it handles food delivery, instant delivery, and JD.com’s self-operated services, it’s clear, structured, and well-organized.

Seems like Richard Liu’s leadership is paying off—simplicity and common sense are back.

No wonder Taobao chose to fully benchmark JD.com’s "Instant Delivery." After years of struggling to streamline its own messy operations, a ready-made solution appears—of course, they’d copy it.

The name comes from Meituan, the product from JD.com… Without making a sound, Alibaba has already won twice.

Set an industry-leading target, and boom—three wins. Whether you believe it or not, I’m already dreaming.

$Alibaba(BABA.US)$MEITUAN(03690.HK) $JD.com(JD.US)