Taobao to Launch A Special Channel, Focusing on Cost-Effectiveness

Taobao, the e-commerce platform owned by Alibaba, has introduced a dedicated sales channel on its homepage for select users. This new channel is prominently displayed alongside Taobao Live in the most visible position on the homepage and features an entrance displaying “9.9 yuan” ($1.43), media outlet The Paper reported.

Currently, this channel is not visible to all users. According to an e-commerce industry expert, Taobao has only granted access to a select group of users and plans to make it available for everyone by the end of this month. The main feature of this channel is its affordability, which emphasizes cost-effectiveness and free shipping. It offers a wide range of products including daily necessities, food items, flowers, and plants across multiple categories.

A source close to Taobao has stated that the recent move by the company is aimed at enhancing its price competitiveness. In March, Taobao conducted a small-scale test of a new feature that enables users to compare prices for identical products.

During a meeting in March, Trudy Dai, the President of Alibaba’s Core Domestic E-commerce, emphasized that Tmall and brands will have three major growth opportunities: “good products at good prices”, “contentization”, and “user value growth”. According to the information disclosed during the meeting, Alibaba aims to pursue “good products at good prices” without resorting to vicious price wars or attempting to disrupt reasonable pricing systems with subsidies. Instead, it intends to collaborate with merchants for long-term development.

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This year, Taobao has updated its rules for store owners. They can now set prices specifically for members, fans, old customers and new customers that are lower than the prices offered during shopping festivals.