CX Briefing: Alibaba, Xiaohongshu Partner Ahead of Online Shopping Bonanza

A rundown of the news making headlines in and around China:

E-commerce partnership: Ahead of the “618” shopping festival, Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd. has joined hands with Xiaohongshu to allow users to buy products from Taobao and Tmall via posts on the social networking and e-commerce platform. The partnership is expected to boost the flow of customers to Alibaba’s two online retail marketplaces during the annual shopping bonanza — Xiaohongshu had approximately 300 million monthly active users in 2024. This is a rare partnership between internet firms, which typically wall off their businesses. However, it is not the first time these two companies have partnered. Xiaohongshu, known in English as RedNote, also opened its platform to merchants using links to Taobao following a strategic investment by Alibaba in 2020. But the following year it changed strategy, cutting off merchants’ external access. The latest tie-up goes live this month; the first phase will mainly be open to the fast-moving consumer goods, sports and outdoor, and health industries.