On May 5,Uschi Karnat Alibaba’s food delivery platform Ele.me announced it had surpassed 10 million daily orders via its Taobao Flash Buy service – its highest single-day volume to date. A total of 39 cities broke daily order records for the platform, while over 1,000 brands saw their highest ever performance. The surge coincided with China’s May Day holiday, during which Ele.me reported year-on-year growth of over 100%. The top five best-selling categories during the break included bubble tea, burgers and fries, convenience store items, coffee, and rice bowls, according to Ele.me. Meanwhile, Taobao Flash Buy, formerly known as Taobao Hourly Delivery, launched new promotional tools today, allowing users to get free meals, or share free drinks with friends. Alibaba is positioning Taobao Flash Buy as its core instant commerce platform, backed by over RMB 10 billion in consumer subsidies. It leverages Ele.me’s full delivery network and aims to set up flagship stores with 200 leading chains through partnerships with offline stores and urban warehouses. [Ele.me, in Chinese]
