Alibaba Group has partnered with ByteDance ahead of China's annual shopping festival, the '6.18' event. This strategy aims to attract new young users in response to competitive pressure from rivals such as Pinduoduo (PDD), which operates Temu.
On the 20th, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported that Alibaba Group is collaborating with ByteDance's Douyin (the Chinese version of TikTok) through its e-commerce platforms Taobao and Tmall to attract new users.
Alibaba's digital marketing platform Alimama and Douyin's marketing platform Xingu have jointly launched the 'Star Cube Plan' for this purpose. The plan allows Alibaba to post advertisements on Douyin, enabling users who see these ads to immediately move to Alibaba's platforms to make purchases.
SCMP explained, "This move is an effort by the leading company in China's online shopping market to retain customers from new platforms and create new growth engines amid intensifying competition with rivals including PDD."
Alibaba has established similar cooperative relationships with over 200 online platforms, including the giant tech company Tencent. In September last year, Alibaba agreed to place advertisements on WeChat's short-form video platform, which also links to stores and live streaming windows on Taobao and Tmall. Additionally, Alibaba partners with its logistics subsidiary Cainiao and Ant Group to provide logistics subsidies and shipping insurance.
Meanwhile, Alibaba launched the first discount event of the 6.18 festival at 8 p.m. on the same day and plans to start the second event at the same time on the 31st. If items already purchased go on additional discount sales, customers can receive a refund of the price difference until July 5.
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