Chinese consumers accelerated their shift toward AI-powered commerce during the Lunar New Year, driving a massive spike in activity on Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s (NYSE:BABA) Qwen platform.
Chinese consumers embraced AI-driven shopping during the Lunar New Year holiday, placing more than 120 million orders on Alibaba Cloud’s flagship artificial intelligence app, Qwen, within six days as the company rolled out a multibillion-yuan promotional campaign.
Alibaba Cloud, the AI and cloud computing arm of Alibaba, said nearly half of those orders came from residents in counties and hinterland areas.
About 1.56 million people aged 60 and above made their first online purchases through Qwen, SCMP reported on Thursday, citing a company statement.
$431M Incentive Blitz Powers Growth
The surge followed Alibaba’s Lunar New Year campaign launched on February 6, under which it plans to distribute 3 billion yuan ($431 million) in incentives through Qwen.
Alibaba ramped up Qwen promotions as competition for consumer AI apps intensified.
Founder Jack Ma visited the Qwen office ahead of the holiday incentive push.
The effort forms part of a broader “red packet war” ahead of the Spring Festival, with mainland tech rivals Tencent Holdings Ltd. (OTC:TCEHY) and Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU) also offering incentives to draw users to their AI apps.
Internet data service QuestMobile said the Spring Festival had become a key battleground for tech companies seeking to turn their apps into entry points for the AI era.
Behavior Shift Signals AI Commerce Inflection Point
Alibaba said the campaign had triggered “a behavioural shift towards AI-powered shopping,” which it expects to become a more common lifestyle choice.
QuestMobile data showed sharp gains in daily active users (DAU) for major AI apps.
Qwen also moved to the top of China’s Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) App Store rankings within hours of the campaign launch and held the No. 1 position from February 6 to 11.
The push has also supported other services within Alibaba’s ecosystem.
Alibaba previously said it was integrating Qwen with its broader platforms, including Taobao and Shangou for shopping and on-demand delivery, Fliggy and Damai for travel and ticketing, and Alipay for payments.
BABA Price Action: Alibaba shares were down 1.01% at $162.66 during premarket trading on Thursday, according to Benzinga Pro data.
Photo by VTT Studio via Shutterstock
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