What is Alibaba's Taibang
Alibaba needs to learn how to become GenZ centric too.
Alibaba is testing Taibang, a new fashion and social shopping app similar to Xiaohongshu, as the Chinese e-commerce titan tries to consolidate its dominance in China’s e-commerce market.
Xiaohongshu, also known as Little Red Book, is a social media and e-commerce platform. It has been described as "China's answer to Instagram". As of 2019, Xiaohongshu had over 300 million registered users and the number of monthly active users is over 85 million
Alibaba needs to rejuvenate itself against younger companies and apps like Douyin (China’s TikTok). This amid new rules for the intersection of life-streaming and E-commerce regarding tax fraud problems. Platforms now need to deduct personal income tax for live streamers, a move that could translate into hefty tax payments for online influencers.
Taibang is an E-commerce GenZ Focused App
“Taibang” (Tài bàng “态棒”), a social e-commerce community focused on trendy youth culture, according to a report by Xinyan Finance this week. At present, it requires an invitation code for users to register and log in.
China is also trying to reel in GenZ and its more “individualistic” 90s born crowd that’s often educated abroad. This requires a China-first policy. To do this, according to its introduction, the app’s slogan is “Created by China with attitude.” The new platform brings together many new prominent domestic designer brands, and has a unique layout style of stores, enabling users to discover many niche brands.
Since 2020, ByteDance (Douying -TikTok) has made many successful forays into E-commerce and live-streaming.
When encountering desired products, users can place orders directly, while the purchase process is the same as that on Taobao, Alibaba‘s major online shopping platform. On the product page, users can swipe up and down – like when browsing short video apps – and the system will recommend similar products for users to choose from. In addition, users can comment their ideas about the product. Alibaba has a mixed history of creating new apps.
China “With Attitude”
I don’t know exactly what sort of attitude China hopes its GenZ consumers might have. The app advocates products created in China “with attitude,” provides young users with trendy goods and services with Chinese features, and helps young Chinese designers to be recognized by more consumers on the platform, helping young entrepreneurs realize business opportunities.
Recently, Alibaba has frequently made moves in the e-commerce realm, including with the launch of Tmall Maoxiang (Māo xiǎng “猫享”) and other self-operated e-commerce businesses. On the other hand, the company launched Fengyun (Fēng yún “蜂耘”) and invested in rural e-commerce.
The launch of Taibang represents a key attempt to capitalize on youth demographics. Industry analysts believe that Alibaba has perhaps launched these new e-commerce products in response to fierce competition in the domestic e-commerce market.
There is the perception Alibaba must struggle against newcomers like ByteDance, Meitaun and others. Competition in China’s e-commerce sector is reaching new heights with the entry of deep-pocketed high-growth low friction convenience players like Meituan and ByteDance.
What Does Taibang Mean?
Taibang, a wordplay on “super great attitude” in Chinese, is a fashion and social commerce platform targeting China’s Gen-Z, a more culturally confident generation that was born and raised during China’s economic boom.
It’s a super interesting pick for a name for an app.
The app is available for download on Chinese app stores and is currently being tested by users on an invite-only basis.
Alibaba also expanded investment into rural e-commerce with the launch of Fengyun and diversified its operation model by rolling out Maoxiang in February.
It’s hard to say what the future of E-commerce is in China, but it appears to be diversifying even down the market from Alibaba, JD.com and Pinduoduo. As such a large domestic market, China’s app and E-commerce mobile economy truly is a marvel to behold.
Why China’s GenZ Matters
China’s GenZ are often single children who are perceived as being drivers of China’s future growth. They are also not yet having children as expected by their more traditional parents and society.
China’s Gen-Zers, those born between 1996 and 2010, have become the new engine of China’s consumption growth. Alibaba is trying to tap into the young demographic that favors traditional culture and has a need for individual expression. It’s difficult to imagine how young people see Alibaba, but it’s not exactly a peer aged contemporary company.
Recently, U.S.-listed Chinese stocks jumped (today) after China reportedly considers sharing company audits. The China Securities Regulatory Commission said on Friday that it convened this week a meeting with some accounting firms and told them to consider preparing for joint inspections. This is very confusing at a time when Alibaba’s stock has been plummeting on Western markets with a 52-week low of $73.28.
From food delivery to travel booking, Meituan earned itself the title of the “Amazon of services” in China by providing a wide range of services that touch nearly every aspect of Chinese people’s lives. ByteDance too has become a significant rival for Alibaba in consumer apps and digital advertising. It’s highly likely Bytedance via Douyin and other apps will also take the leader over Baidu in mobile search.
Meituan as the same time (April, 2022) as a giant service app is expanding to Amazon-like territory, selling physical goods, a sector that will put it in competition with local retail giants like Alibaba, JD, and Pinduoduo. We can therefore begin to see Meitaun as the 4th horseman with ByteDance as the 5th of Chinese E-commerce Giants. May the best company and brand win.
Chinese and U.S. regulators’ consultations on audit supervision and cooperation are overall going well, the commission said. This needs to get fixed for companies like Meituan, ByteDance and others to be able to list on the NYSE or the NASDAQ. Since March, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has started to name specific U.S.-listed Chinese stocks for failing to adhere to the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act. It’s led to a dramatic failure of sentiment vote of retail investors in view of Chinese ADRs and stocks.
Operated under a platform model, Meituan already has a footing in physical goods e-commerce: It’s among the most popular choices for on-demand or next-day delivery of fresh produce and groceries. Alibaba is a huge ecosystem, but has more and more competitors for the same market. Some of its new apps and platforms need to work for it to remain one of the dominant leaders in the future of E-commerce, logistics and with whatever Ant Group becomes.
Chinese E-commerce is fueling the most innovation in apps in the world in recent years. Think about it, ByteDance’s Xiaohongshu clone Lemon8 has reportedly reached one million downloads in Japan after two years of operations. Meituan launched its Xiaohongshu-like pilot shopping review feature Guangguang, initially tested as Zhenxiang, in March. Review apps and GenZ communities give a new flavor to the future of retail, even as logistics networks continue to improve and scale convenience in new ways.
China Will Protect its Foreign ADRs
Passed in 2020, the act would allow the SEC to delist Chinese companies from U.S. exchanges if American regulators cannot review company audits for three consecutive years.
“We continue to meet and engage with PRC authorities in an effort to achieve a cooperative agreement that provides the PCAOB with the access required to inspect and investigate completely auditors headquartered in mainland China and Hong Kong,” the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) said in a statement.
China’s E-commerce market is easily a $1 Trillion dollar market, and Alibaba, JD and PDD still dominate, but the newcomers are arriving fast. They are also more familiar to the trend-setting consumers born in the 1990s and China’s own Generation Z.
As for live-streaming as a whole, it needs to adjust to the new regulatory demands. The new guidelines prohibit exaggerated or misleading marketing practices in live streams.
Under new rules jointly issued by the Cyberspace Administration of China, State Administration of Tax, and State Administration for Market Regulation, platforms are required to provide twice-yearly reports on their live-streamers, including information such as personal identification, bank account and income details.
Under the regulation, which came into effect recently, platforms also need to deduct personal income tax from live-streamers’ revenue, a move that could translate into hefty tax payments for online influencers.
Taibang will certainly be an app to watch in the incredible E-commerce related GenZ culture spectrum of China.