Alibaba rebrands Ele.me as Taobao Shangou

Alibaba is rebranding its food delivery platform Ele.me as Taobao Shangou, expanding its instant commerce efforts in China.

A beta version of the updated app is now available to select users and features Taobao’s orange color scheme instead of Ele.me’s blue.

The move follows Alibaba’s plan to phase out Ele.me’s branding, including changing courier uniforms to orange with Taobao logos.

Ele.me was acquired by Alibaba and Ant Group in 2018 for US$9.5 billion and merged into Alibaba’s main China ecommerce division in June 2025.

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Ele.me and Taobao Shangou hit 120 million daily orders in August 2025, while Meituan peaked at 150 million in July 1. Meituan held about 70% share in food delivery, with roughly 90 million daily food orders in June 2.
Instant commerce (sub-hour delivery of local goods) volume at Alibaba climbed from about 40 million in May to 120 million in August, a threefold jump 2. The company still trails in food delivery, where Meituan had about 65% share versus Ele.me near 33% in 2024 1.
The Taobao rebrand leans on a 16% rise in daily active users to funnel shoppers into instant delivery, which could turn browsing into orders 1.

Alibaba put 1 billion yuan into Amap, an AI-ranked local guide that spans over 300 cities and 1.6 million businesses, linking search to delivery demand 1.
The company also set aside 2 billion yuan to build Taobao-branded convenience stores 1. Rivals Meituan and JD.com are rolling out thousands of central kitchens (large-scale prep facilities serving multiple outlets) to speed fulfillment 1.
Restaurants and fresh food brands can trial delivery-only kitchens (also called cloud kitchens) and menus through Taobao Shangou’s merchant tools 3. Subsidies fade, while regulators cool the price war (heavy discounting to win users) 3.