The food delivery war just opened a new front, continued from MeiTuan strikes back for JD marching into food delivery business:
After weeks of Meituan and JD pummeling each other with coupons and PR stunts, Ele.me—Alibaba’s long-silent soldier—finally raised its sword.
On April 30, Taobao Flash Delivery (淘宝闪购) rolled out, seamlessly fusing with Ele.me and plugging straight into Alibaba’s empire. Since users already know what flash-delivery means and work, thanks to Meituan and JD fighting with each other on huge PR budget—Alibaba just walked in and collected the rent. JD took 40+ days to hit 10M daily orders, Ele.me + Taobao hit the same number in one day. The market now rains free milk teas and cheap lunches.
Taobao didn’t start from scratch—instead, it just turned its homepage into a front-end battlefield and integrate with Ele.me’s infrastructure —meals, convenience goods, anything deliverable—are now instantly available to Taobao’s billion-strong user base. Fulfillment is handled by Ele.me’s riders, while supply comes from brand warehouses, Tmall storefronts, and local offline stores already wired into Alibaba’s logistics matrix.
The platform war is no longer duopoly. Welcome to the instant retail 三国杀.
Cross-platform happy hour: JD’s boss in red, wrapping up his one-day delivery cosplay, toasting with Meituan (yellow) and Ele.me (blue) couriers.