by SONG Jianan

Alibaba has merged food delivery platform Ele.me and travel site Fliggy into its China e-commerce business group, deepening integration across retail, local services and travel.

CEO WU Yongming announced the move in an internal letter on June 23, stating that while Ele.me and Fliggy will continue operating with separate management, their business execution will now align with the broader strategy of the e-commerce unit.

Formed in November 2023, the group combines Taobao, Tmall, Alibaba's international commerce division, 1688 and second-hand platform Xianyu. The addition of Ele.me and Fliggy marks a pivot toward building a full-scale consumer services platform.

The business is led by JIANG Fan, a longtime executive who oversaw Taobao's mobile transformation and helped drive 29% year-on-year revenue growth for Alibaba's international commerce arm in Q3 2024.

With "growth" set as the top priority in 2025, Alibaba has been ramping up support for categories such as apparel, beauty and outdoor gear, offering incentives including free traffic for new products and commission rebates.

Ele.me's integration with the group began earlier this year. In April, Taobao's on-demand retail service rebranded as "Taobao Flash Buy" and linked up with Ele.me's infrastructure. By late May, combined daily orders exceeded 40 million, with non-beverage products making up 75% of volume—signaling a move toward general merchandise.

The tie-up gives Ele.me access to Taobao's traffic and branding capabilities, while broadening user choice and helping the platform grow market share.

In February, Ele.me chairman WU Zeming also took over as CEO. HAN Liu was appointed to lead logistics operations, reporting to Wu. Wu, born in the 1980s, is one of Alibaba's youngest partners and rose through the company's technical ranks after joining Taobao in 2004. His past roles include CTO of local services and deputy head of the DAMO Academy, Alibaba's R&D arm.

On June 20, Han was reportedly taken in by police for investigation. Ele.me later said it had discovered evidence of potential misconduct and voluntarily alerted authorities. Police inquiries are ongoing.

Fliggy, originally launched as AliTrip and rebranded in 2016, has been led by ZHUANG Zhuoran since 2020. He also serves as Alibaba vice-president, CTO of Alibaba Entertainment, and COO of video platform Youku. Fliggy is expected to tap into Taobao's user base and retail expertise, while contributing travel offerings to the broader platform ecosystem.

The reorganization comes amid broader reflection within Alibaba about its past acquisitions. Some former employees have said that platforms like Koubei, Ele.me, Youku and Lazada did not meet expectations, attributing the shortcomings to a culture focused on operational data over long-term product development.

With the new structure, Alibaba is seeking greater internal alignment across e-commerce, local services and travel, as it faces growing competition from JD.com, Meituan and others.