Many friends are discussing Taobao Flash Sale's daily order volume of 60 million, but this data is more meaningful when viewed in context:

May 2: Taobao Flash Sale officially launched;

May 5: Daily orders exceeded 10 million;

May 26: Daily orders exceeded 40 million, with non-beverage orders accounting for 75%;

June 23: Daily orders exceeded 60 million, with non-food retail categories growing 179% year-on-year.

While marketing subsidies played a role, the strategic determination is clearly unwavering.

While JD.com's Richard Liu is still pushing hard on food delivery marketing, Taobao Flash Sale has quietly surpassed 60 million daily orders and is heading toward 80 million. The current order data undoubtedly proves the success of Alibaba's internal resource integration and unified strategy.

Perhaps inspired by the significant effects of internal coordination, on June 23, Alibaba announced the merger of Ele.me and Fliggy into its China e-commerce business group. Ele.me and Fliggy will maintain their corporate management models but align business decisions with the China e-commerce group's centralized goals and unified strategy. This further integration is expected to enhance Taobao Flash Sale's overall competitiveness.

Investment banks have also given positive feedback on Alibaba's internal coordination: Bloomberg believes this move shows Alibaba aims to deepen synergies in local services and accelerate Taobao's transformation into an integrated consumption platform. Successfully improving usage and cost synergies will enhance the competitiveness of these two service segments.

Looking back, I believe Taobao Flash Sale's rapid success stems from two key factors:

First, it aligns with the broader trend. With the maturation of domestic e-commerce and food delivery infrastructure, as well as the development of product supply, instant retail has reached a tipping point. Younger consumers, in particular, dislike stockpiling and prefer buying on demand. They refuse to sacrifice choice for convenience or speed for price. They expect Taobao to deliver anything within 30 minutes at online prices—a seemingly demanding requirement that reflects a growing new consumer demand, which instant retail perfectly satisfies.

Second, Taobao offers an extensive product supply, Ele.me provides a robust fulfillment network, and the Alibaba ecosystem enables cross-scenario service integration. These long-accumulated capabilities allowed Taobao Flash Sale to become a super gateway for instant retail from day one.

Current data shows that Taobao Flash Sale not only brought in a large number of instant retail users but also boosted Taobao's DAU and usage frequency—a win-win outcome.

When Taobao Flash Sale meets the needs and expectations of instant retail consumers, what they want isn't the cheapest option but the right one—timely, contextually appropriate, and with ample choices. This also offers a way out for the hyper-competitive e-commerce industry: creating incremental value through scenario innovation and service integration, rather than engaging in price wars over existing market share.$BABA-W(09988.HK) $JD-SW(09618.HK) $MEITUAN(03690.HK)