Alibaba Group's e-commerce business unit CEO Jiang Fan stated during an earnings analyst call that the company maintains its target for the overall gross merchandise volume (GMV) of on-demand retail to exceed 1 trillion yuan in fiscal year 2028. He further projected that the segment would achieve overall profitability by fiscal year 2029. Jiang Fan emphasized that Alibaba will continue to invest resolutely over the next two years to reach this GMV target while simultaneously securing a leading market position.

Jiang Fan highlighted that flash sales have significantly boosted the platform's performance over the past year. The number of annual active buyers for the core e-commerce business, which includes flash sales, increased by 150 million. Specifically, annual active buyers for physical goods e-commerce grew by 100 million, with Taobao's annual active buyer growth in this category surpassing the total growth of the previous three years combined. Moving forward, increasing the average revenue per user (ARPU) and purchase frequency among these new users will be a key growth driver for the platform in the coming years.

He also noted that flash sales have been a major catalyst for growth in categories such as food, fresh produce, and health products, accelerating the development of related businesses like Freshippo (Hema) and Tmall Supermarket. Jiang Fan described flash sales and on-demand retail as having evolved into a foundational business for Taobao and Tmall's overall e-commerce ecosystem. He stated they now play a critical role in new customer acquisition, boosting user engagement, fulfilling diverse consumer scenarios, driving transactions and commercialization, and leveraging logistics infrastructure.

Jiang Fan reaffirmed the goal for the on-demand retail segment's total transaction volume to surpass 1 trillion yuan in fiscal year 2028. Upon achieving this scale, the business is expected to generate positive cash flow at scale, with overall profitability for the on-demand retail segment anticipated in fiscal year 2029.

"Over the next two years, we will continue to invest firmly with the goal of exceeding 1 trillion yuan in total scale, while also achieving a leading market position," Jiang Fan said.