On August 29, during BABA-W (09988)'s earnings call, CEO Wu Yongming explicitly stated that the technology platform centered on "AI+Cloud" and the large consumer platform integrating shopping and lifestyle services represent two major strategic opportunities for Alibaba. Wu Yongming particularly emphasized: "Alibaba's layout in the instant retail sector is not focused on competition in a single consumer category, but rather on meeting the one-stop needs of 1 billion consumers and shaping the business model of a large consumer platform in the AI era."
Coincidentally, HUITONGDA NET (09878), a strategic investment of Alibaba, released its interim results on August 28, similarly highlighting its focus on the "AI+" strategy and new consumer segments such as "hard discount" and "instant retail." Meanwhile, Fujian Wanchen Biotechnology Group Co.,Ltd. (300972.SZ), another company focused on retail warehouse formats, hit the daily limit up last Friday.
The convergence of technology and new consumption, integrating elements like hard discount and instant retail, is creating an emerging "new trend."
Alibaba strategically invested in Huitongda in 2018 and remains an important strategic shareholder and the largest institutional investor. In August this year, Alibaba Cloud and Huitongda signed a comprehensive AI cooperation agreement around "AI+Industry" for lower-tier markets. Targeting the vast market of 300 million rural households and 4.7 million township couple stores, both parties will jointly develop and deploy multiple AI Agents to expand customer base and transaction scale while promoting circulation efficiency improvements between urban and rural areas and monetizing the value of industrial and retail data in lower-tier markets.
In the "instant retail" sector, companies represented by Alibaba have sparked trends of "flash shopping" and "instant delivery" in higher-tier markets. Meanwhile, its invested company Huitongda is leveraging its deep understanding of lower-tier markets to transform traditional township couple stores into new retail terminals capable of online platform ordering and home delivery through the combination of digitalization and supply chain capabilities.
It's conceivable that following their comprehensive AI cooperation, Alibaba and Huitongda may further collaborate to widely replicate the "instant retail" model in lower-tier markets.
On another front, "hard discount" has become a popular term for multiple platforms expanding their consumer sectors. Fujian Wanchen Biotechnology Group Co.,Ltd.'s brand "Haoxianglai" has rapidly expanded with bulk snack retail, reaching over 10,000 stores with "explosive" growth in revenue and net profit, leading to a strong daily limit up on August 29. Huitongda, which operates 250,000 member retail stores, also mentioned in its recently released financial report that it will focus on expanding "hard discount" categories to meet broader customer needs.
Analysis indicates that under AI's driving force, the large consumer market is accelerating toward high-frequency, omni-scenario, and diversified experiences.