E-Commerce Morning Brief: Xiaohongshu Doubles Down on AI Companion Products; TikTok Shop Allocates $1 Billion for U.S. Market

News 1: Domestic Gold ETF Inflows Drop 66% in First Half of the Year

According to CCTV News, as learned from the China Gold Association on August 6, China's gold output reached 152.908 tons in the first half of this year, a year-on-year decrease of 14.62%; gold consumption hit 511.412 tons, up 1.23% year on year. The China Gold Association stated that against the backdrop of sharp volatility in high gold prices and the implementation of new gold tax regulations, the domestic gold consumption structure continues to diverge, with gold bars and gold coins becoming popular categories in the market. Meanwhile, high gold prices have pushed up gold usage costs for industrial enterprises, leading to a decline in industrial gold consumption. Affected by factors such as weaker gold prices, domestic gold ETF inflows stood at 28.677 tons in the first half of the year, down 66.17% from the same period last year.

News 2: JD Food Delivery Launches "Half Price Today" Promotion

JD Food Delivery recently rolled out its "Half Price Today" campaign, running from Monday to Friday. Each day features a specific signature category, covering five categories in sequence: rice noodles and malatang, pizza and pies, steamed buns and dumplings, burgers and roujiamo, and rice bowls. From 10:00 to 19:00 daily, users can snap up special offers on the day's featured category at every whole hour. All meals available in the hourly flash sale are priced at no more than 9.9 yuan at maximum.

News 3: Xiaohongshu Increases AI Investment: Lays Out AI Social Networking Track, Starts In-house Development of AI Companion Products

Xiaohongshu is comprehensively accelerating its AI strategy, with layout in areas such as AI social products and AI community interaction tools, shifting from back-end technology application to full-scale competition in front-end in-house development, productization and ecosystem building. Xiaohongshu has been intensively recruiting AI application R&D talents recently. Among the positions, the job responsibilities of "AI Social Product Manager" include leading the design and development of AI companion products, exploring in-depth applications of AI in dimensions such as emotional connection, interest matching and personalized interaction, and building a warm AI companion experience.

News 4: Douyin E-Commerce Upgrades Merchant Experience Score Specifications, Adds Bonus Items Including Next-Day Delivery

Douyin E-Commerce has updated and upgraded its merchant experience score specifications. This upgrade covers multiple aspects such as logistics indicators, calculation weight rules, as well as bonus and deduction mechanisms, to make assessments more reasonable and more accurately reflect store operation capabilities.

News 5: 60% of Chain Catering Enterprises Record Net Growth in Store Count in First Half of the Year

Recently, the China Chain Store & Franchise Association released the 2026 H1 Briefing on the Development of Chain Catering Enterprises. Data shows that 71.7% of the sampled enterprises achieved year-on-year sales growth or remained basically flat in the first half of the year, of which more than one-third (34.7%) recorded positive growth, and 13% of the sampled enterprises registered a growth rate of more than 10%. In the first half of the year, 60% of the sampled enterprises saw net growth in the number of stores. Together with enterprises that maintained stable store counts, two-thirds of enterprises kept their store networks stable or expanded. Meanwhile, 30% of enterprises proactively optimized their store networks, focusing resources on healthier store models. The chain expansion process is moving from a phase of quantitative expansion to a new stage of high-quality development.

News 6: Bain Capital Announces Acquisition of Bubble Tea Brand Gong Cha

Bain Capital recently announced that it has agreed to acquire the bubble tea brand Gong Cha from TA Associates and other shareholders of Gongcha Global. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026, subject to customary closing conditions. Gong Cha, currently headquartered in the UK, operates nearly 2,200 stores across 33 markets.

News 7: TikTok Shop U.S. Cross-Border POP Launches Emerging Merchant Acceleration Program: Allocates $1 Billion in Resources to Support Four Types of Merchants

Recently, TikTok Shop U.S. cross-border POP launched its "Emerging Cross-Border Merchant Acceleration Program", announcing a $1 billion resource package to support new merchants. The program is open for recruitment to four types of high-potential cross-border merchants: content-focused merchants, well-established merchants, brand distributors, and original factories, aiming to help newly settled merchants hit the $1 million annual sales target within 90 days.

News 8: Amazon MCF Launches 12-Month Delivery Fee Discount for TikTok U.S. Orders

Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF) has rolled out an exclusive 12-month limited fee reduction policy for orders from TikTok Shop U.S. Eligible orders will enjoy a 35% reduction in delivery fees. The discount takes effect automatically without requiring manual sign-up from sellers, but only applies to TikTok Shop channel orders identified and tagged by Amazon-recognized integrated service providers. Orders manually created by sellers through the MCF backend are not eligible for the discount. In addition, the order channel field must be accurately transmitted back to normally enjoy the freight deduction. This policy means that TikTok U.S. sellers can leverage Amazon's warehousing and distribution network to process cross-channel orders at a lower cost.

News 9: Disney and TikTok Reach Partnership, Open IP for Creators to Make Short Videos

According to foreign media reports, The Walt Disney Company and TikTok recently announced a cooperation plan, under which creators on the platform can produce short videos based on content from Disney's brands including Star Wars, Marvel and Pixar, and relevant content can be uploaded and distributed on both TikTok and Disney+. The partnership is billed as the first of its kind in the industry. The first batch of features will be rolled out to U.S. users in the coming months, and will gradually cover more countries later.

That's all for today's morning brief. For more e-commerce insights, please stay tuned to Ebrun audio news.