China Roundup: Alibaba rebrands its group-buying unit, and other news (update)

Alibaba rebrands its group-buying service to Taocaicai

• The new brand will encompass Freshippo Market and Taobao Maicai, the company’s existing community grocery services.
• Taocaicai is expected to offer more than 1 million products from around the world to community group-buying users in China.
• It will also work closely with Alibaba’s logistics unit Cainiao and food delivery service Ele.me.

ByteDance tests food-ordering features in its livestreaming app

• Users of Douyin, the short video app owned by ByteDance, can place food orders and find information about food vendors in their vicinity by clicking the app window.
• According to a report, Douyin has run the test for two months, but hasn’t announced the launch date for the feature.
• Meanwhile, TikTok, ByteDance’s short video app outside China, has launched the Shop feature that allows users to do online transactions inside the app.

EV maker XPeng launches new sedan model for Chinese market

• The company plans to deliver the product by the end of October this year and has indicated plans to develop another version for the European market sometime next year.
• The P5 sedan integrates light detection and ranging (LiDAR) technology, which allows for autonomous driving functions.
• XPeng is currently in the middle of building two more EV plants in Guangzhou and Wuhan.

Regulators target apps that are “bullying” customers with higher prices

• The move comes as a response to several cases where tech companies, such as travel booking site Trip.com, charge customers with higher prices while the same product is available for far less on other platforms.
• China’s State Administration for Market Regulation responded to these concerns in June by giving penalties for illegal pricing practices and threatening to revoke the business licenses of perpetrators.
• In some cases, customers have filed lawsuits, which have resulted in companies being charged for false advertising.