Alibaba Retires Ele.me Brand in Shift to Instant Retail
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A Taobao Shangou deliveryman delivers goods in Yichang, Hubei province, on Nov. 29. Photo: IC Photo
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. officially retired 16-year-old food delivery brand Ele.me on Friday, completing the platform’s absorption into the e-commerce giant’s instant retail unit.
The Ele.me app will be fully rebranded as “Taobao Shangou” after users update to the latest version, absorbing the food-delivery platform into Alibaba’s broader instant-retail push under its flagship Taobao marketplace. References to the Ele.me brand will also be phased out across all user touchpoints in the coming weeks.
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- Alibaba retired the Ele.me brand, rebranding it as "Taobao Shangou" and integrating it fully into its instant retail unit under Taobao.
- Aggressive subsidies fueled a 37% year-over-year revenue rise for instant retail to 37.7 billion yuan in H1 FY2026, with growth accelerating to 60% in Q2, but EBITA dropped 76% due to heavy spending.
- Executives say spending peaked in Q2 2026; per-order losses have halved since midsummer as operational efficiency improves.
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Who’s Who
- Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
- Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. has fully integrated its food delivery brand Ele.me into its instant retail unit. The Ele.me app will now be known as "Taobao Shangou." This move aims to consolidate Alibaba's ecosystem under the Taobao banner, amid intense competition. Alibaba acquired full control of Ele.me in 2018.
- Ele.me
- Ele.me was a 16-year-old Chinese food delivery brand, originally a campus startup, that grew into China's largest restaurant delivery platform. Alibaba acquired full control of Ele.me in 2018. The Ele.me app was recently rebranded as "Taobao Shangou" and integrated into Alibaba's instant retail unit, reflecting Alibaba's strategy to consolidate its services under the Taobao marketplace to compete with rivals like Meituan.
- Taobao
- Taobao is Alibaba's flagship e-commerce marketplace. The food delivery brand Ele.me is being fully rebranded as "Taobao Shangou" and absorbed into Taobao's broader instant retail unit. This move consolidates Alibaba's ecosystem under the Taobao banner to compete with rivals like Meituan.
- Meituan
- Meituan is a major competitor to Alibaba in China's local consumption market, particularly in food delivery. Despite Alibaba's efforts with Ele.me, Meituan has maintained a dominant market share (around 70%) and has been a driving force in the competitive landscape, leading to "delivery subsidy wars."
- JD.com Inc.
- JD.com Inc. is identified as a competitor to Alibaba in the e-commerce and food delivery sectors. They invested in Ele.me during its early stages and formally entered the food delivery market in February, intensifying competition in the industry.
- Tencent
- Tencent was an early investor in Ele.me, participating in a $350 million funding round in early 2015. Ele.me later aligned more closely with Tencent after its merger with Dianping in late 2015. However, the information mainly discusses Alibaba's actions and investments in the food delivery market, with Tencent appearing as a past investor in Ele.me.
- Ant Group
- Ant Group, acting as an affiliate of Alibaba, jointly acquired Ele.me in 2018 for $9.5 billion. This integration was pivotal in forming Alibaba's local services arm, creating a significant competitor in China's local consumption market.
- Koubei
- Koubei was merged with Ele.me in 2018 to form Alibaba's local services arm. Together, they competed with Meituan-Dianping in China's local consumption market. By 2021, Ele.me and Koubei combined held about 30% of the market share, a gap that widened compared to Meituan's dominant 70%.
- Amap
- Amap (高德) was grouped with Ele.me, Koubei, and Fliggy into one business group at Alibaba in 2021. This was part of a larger strategy by Alibaba to consolidate its services and compete in the local consumption market.
- Fliggy
- Fliggy, a travel platform, was grouped with Ele.me, Koubei, and Amap into one business group in 2021, with Yu Yongfu as president. In June, it was announced that Fliggy and Ele.me would be integrated into Alibaba's core e-commerce division.
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What Happened When
- 2009：
- Ele.me was founded by Zhang Xuhao and others as a campus food-delivery startup in Shanghai.
- 2014：
- Ele.me completed an $80 million funding round.
- 2014：
- Alibaba entered the food-delivery market through its own service, Tao Dian Dian.
- Early 2015：
- Ele.me raised $350 million from investors including Tencent and JD.com.
- Late 2015：
- Meituan and Dianping merged and aligned more closely with Tencent.
- December 2015：
- Alibaba took a controlling stake in Ele.me.
- 2018：
- Alibaba and Ant Group acquired Ele.me outright in a $9.5 billion deal and merged it with Koubei.
- 2021：
- Alibaba grouped Ele.me with Koubei, Amap, and Fliggy into one business group and appointed Yu Yongfu as president.
- 2023：
- Alibaba’s corporate restructuring placed Ele.me under its local consumer services group with Yu Yongfu as chairman and chief executive.
- Early 2024：
- Yu Yongfu stepped down as chairman and chief executive of Ele.me.
- February 2025：
- JD.com made its formal entry into food delivery.
- April 2025：
- Alibaba upgraded its instant retail business 'One-hour Delivery' into Taobao Shangou and closely paired it with Ele.me’s logistics network.
- By June 2025：
- Alibaba announced that Ele.me and travel platform Fliggy would be folded into its core e-commerce division.
- Midsummer 2025：
- Per-order losses for Taobao Shangou were halved by November 2025 compared to this period.
- July 2025：
- Taobao Shangou unveiled a 50 billion yuan ($7 billion) subsidy plan.
- April 2025 to September 2025：
- Revenue from instant retail services generated through Taobao Shangou and the Ele.me app rose 37% year over year to 37.7 billion yuan in the first half of Alibaba’s 2026 fiscal year.
- June 2025 to September 2025：
- Growth accelerated to 60% year over year and adjusted EBITA at Alibaba’s e-commerce group fell 76% year over year, reflecting heavy subsidies.
- September 2025 quarter：
- Alibaba Chief Financial Officer Xu Hong said investment likely peaked in this quarter.
- November 25, 2025：
- At an earnings call, Alibaba e-commerce chief Jiang Fan said Taobao Shangou had completed its initial scale-up phase and was making progress on unit economics.
- December 5, 2025：
- Alibaba officially retired Ele.me and completed its absorption into the instant retail unit.
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