China's E-commerce Opens Instant Retail Battle, Market Hits $178 Billion

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โดย Money & Banking·

Summary · why it matters

Reuters reports that China's e-commerce battlefield is shifting from discount wars to building Instant Retail networks, or immediate delivery retail. This market is expected to reach 1.2 trillion yuan, or about $178 billion, by the end of this year, and is projected to grow at an average annual rate of 12.6% until 2030. After the food delivery subsidy war ended, it changed consumer behavior to expect a wide variety of products within one hour. Chinese tech giants like Meituan, Alibaba, and JD.com are spending billions of dollars to compete for users, but the result is pushing Instant Retail into a new battleground. Data from Analysys shows that in the second quarter, Alibaba's Taobao Instant Commerce held a 45.7% market share, surpassing Meituan's 45.3%, while JD.com stood at 7.7%. This new round of competition focuses on investing in logistics infrastructure, such as dark stores and lightning warehouses, to deliver goods within one hour. Meanwhile, Chinese regulators have fined and seized funds from companies totaling 3.6 billion yuan for violations of food delivery safety requirements.