E-Commerce Morning Brief: Taobao Tmall to Kick Off 2026 Double 11 on Oct 17; Douyin E-Commerce Launches Select Creator Program

Item 1: Taobao Tmall Double 11 to Officially Launch on October 17

On September 21, Taobao and Tmall released the merchant recruitment rules for its 2026 Double 11 Shopping Festival. The core promotional mechanic is platform-sponsored instant discounts, meaning consumers will enjoy direct price cuts at checkout without needing to bundle purchases or collect coupons. This year’s festival is split into two phases: pre-sale and regular spot sales. For Tmall’s pre-sale segment, the warm-up period runs from 00:00 to 19:59 on October 15; deposit payment is open from 20:00 on October 15 to 17:59 on October 20; and balance payment is scheduled from 20:00 on October 20 to 23:59 on October 25. For spot products on both Taobao and Tmall, the unified warm-up period starts at 00:00 on October 17 and ends at 19:59 on October 20, while the spot sale window runs from 20:00 on October 20 to 23:59 on November 13, totaling nearly 25 days. The platform noted that all products participating in the promotion are required to set official instant discount rates aligned with their respective category requirements.

Item 2: Douyin E-Commerce Officially Launches Select Program; 70,000 New Creators Hit RMB 1M Annual GMV From Zero in Past Year

On September 21, Douyin E-Commerce held its 2026 Creator Summit, where it officially launched the “Douyin E-Commerce Select Program”. The initiative offers high-quality content and creators tens of billions in traffic support, partnership resources with one million premium merchants, and dedicated operational services. The program evaluates content quality across dimensions including user viewing intent, content trustworthiness, and consumer decision-making value. Selected creators are eligible for exclusive traffic allocation, merchant partnership resources, one-on-one operational support, and up to 100% rebates on technical service fees. Data disclosed the same day shows that over the past year, Douyin E-Commerce added more than 4.56 million active selling creators, among which 70,000 grew their annual gross merchandise value from zero to over RMB 1 million. The platform’s total creator base has surpassed 12 million, with over 1 million daily live streams, more than 85 million new e-commerce content pieces generated per day, and nearly 14.9 billion daily views. Small and mid-tier individual creators accounted for 99% of all newly added active selling creators.

Item 3: Meituan Unveils Chinese Brand Name “Miaoshou” for CatPaw; AI “Smart Shopkeeper” Tool Covers ~1.3M Catering Merchants

On September 21, Meituan hosted the “Miaoshou Open Day · Catering AI Operations Special Event” in Wenzhou, where it officially launched the Chinese name “Miaoshou” for its AI product CatPaw. The tool is designed to serve local lifestyle scenarios including catering, services retail, pharmaceutical and healthcare, hotel and travel, and instant retail. It connects the consumer demand, transaction, supply, review, and fulfillment data accumulated on the platform to help merchants move from problem identification to decision-making and execution. At the 2026 Meituan In-Store Catering Industry Conference held the same day, the company disclosed that its AI tool “Smart Shopkeeper” for in-store catering merchants now covers approximately 1.3 million catering merchants and over 130,000 brand stores nationwide, and has cumulatively helped merchants resolve around 8.6 million operational issues. Over the past year, the tool has partnered with more than 100 brands for use cases including operational analysis, reputation management, and store management.

Item 4: Multiple Express Carriers Raise Service Fees in Anhui, Jiangsu and Other Regions

According to a September 21 report, express delivery firms including ZTO Express, YTO Express, STO Express, Yunda Express, and J&T Express recently issued notices stating that starting at 00:00 on September 20, 2026, express service fees for all outlets and cooperative clients will be uniformly raised by no less than RMB 0.1 per parcel. Service prices in the Anhui region were also raised starting from 00:00 on September 20, with a uniform minimum increase of RMB 0.15 per parcel on top of existing prices, applying to all shipping clients. The service fee adjustment targets outlets and cooperative clients, and will not affect individual retail shipping prices.

Item 5: Xianyu Responds to Crackdown on Pornographic Traffic Diversion, Has Frozen 98,358 Risky Accounts to Date

On September 21, secondhand e-commerce platform Xianyu issued a response stating it takes a zero-tolerance stance against illegal activities involving the use of pornographic content for traffic diversion and fraud. The platform has set up a dedicated task force and established an integrated prevention and governance mechanism covering “pre-emptive identification – immediate disposal – police-enterprise collaboration”. From January 2026 to date, Xianyu has cumulatively frozen 98,358 risky accounts involved in pornographic traffic diversion. It has also proactively transferred relevant leads to public security authorities, and has jointly taken down 15 pornographic criminal rings via police-enterprise cooperation so far this year. Xianyu noted that its screening has covered tens of millions of product listings, the vast majority of which are legitimate, and called for coordinated action across all platforms.

Item 6: Alibaba Appoints Liu Dayiheng as New Head of Qwen Large Language Model Team

According to two informed employees cited in a September 21 report, Alibaba Group has appointed veteran AI researcher Liu Dayiheng as head of its Qwen large language model project. Sources noted that following multiple rounds of organizational restructuring earlier this year, Liu’s appointment further clarifies the management structure of the Qwen team. Alibaba’s annual Apsara Conference is set to open on Tuesday; on the event’s official website speaker roster, Liu’s profile is prominently placed right after Group Chairman Joe Tsai and CEO Eddie Wu, with his title listed as Head of the Qwen Large Language Model Project.

Item 7: Lazada 9.9 Mega Sale: Orders Over $100 Contribute Nearly 60% of GMV

Per data released by Lazada for its 2026 9.9 Mega Brands Sale on September 21, orders valued at $100 and above contributed nearly 60% of total GMV during the promotion. In Singapore, that share reached roughly three-quarters, while both Thailand and Malaysia hit 60%, driving an overall nearly 50% year-over-year increase in average order value. LazMall orders accounted for 49% of total orders across Southeast Asia, with the share reaching 78% in Singapore and 76% in Vietnam respectively. Affiliate channel GMV rose more than 15% compared to the 6.6 sale, contributing nearly 30% of total sales. AI shopping assistant LazzieChat drove nearly $2.2 million in GMV, with consumers using the AI tool spending 2.1 times more per order than those who did not. Additionally, the number of brands hitting $1 million in GMV increased by nearly 10% compared to the 6.6 promotion.

Item 8: Shopee 9.9 Sale Performance Across Three Markets: FBS Orders in the Philippines Grow 2.5x; Large Home Appliance Installation Orders in Vietnam Surge 8x

According to a September 21 report, during Shopee’s 2026 9.9 sale, the markets of Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam rolled out multi-dimensional competitive strategies covering pricing, content, logistics, and services. In Malaysia, over 60% of orders were shipped within 24 hours, with average delivery time cut by 20% compared to last year’s 9.9 sale; VIP members saved a total of 146 million Malaysian ringgit, and total views of Shopee Live streams and short videos exceeded 1.7 billion. In the Philippines, order volume via FBS (Shopee’s fulfillment by Shopee warehousing service) grew 2.5 times year over year; 1-2 day delivery was achieved in Metro Manila, while outer island regions saw 3-5 day delivery; the number of affiliate marketers doubled from last year, and live stream views surpassed 3.7 million. In Vietnam, order volume for large home appliance installation services grew eightfold.

Item 9: Taobao Unveils Double 11 Cross-Border Playbook: Simultaneous Launch Across 20 Global Markets, Free Shipping to 13 Countries and Regions

On September 21, Taobao announced new cross-border initiatives for this year’s Double 11 festival. The event will launch simultaneously across 20 global markets, with over 1.2 million Taobao and Tmall merchants participating in cross-border sales covering more than 20 sectors including apparel, beauty, home goods, home improvement and building materials, industrial products, and food. Free shipping will be offered to 13 countries and regions, with zero-threshold free shipping available to Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR, Singapore, and Malaysia. Cross-border product offerings have expanded from light, small parcels to medium and large categories such as furniture and home improvement materials, with over 90% of medium and large items available for direct overseas shipping. Taobao will also add a dedicated overseas traffic entry on its homepage, launching a Discover channel, overseas rankings, and curated product lists. Per Taobao’s disclosure, its cross-border business GMV has notched double-digit growth for six consecutive years, with over 150,000 merchants achieving year-over-year revenue doubling after expanding overseas.

Item 10: TEMU Joins Three Belgian EPR Schemes, Bringing EU Partner Organizations to Over 60

According to a September 21 report, TEMU has recently joined three Belgian Producer Responsibility Organizations (PROs) – Recupel, PV CYCLE Belgium, and Bebat – which are responsible for waste recycling of electrical and electronic equipment, photovoltaic panels, and batteries respectively. Following the partnership, TEMU sellers will gain access to local Belgian registration, declaration, collection, and recycling systems, as well as financial arrangements and organizational support for relevant waste management. TEMU stated that these partnerships are primarily designed to help platform sellers meet Belgium’s Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) requirements, while supporting local waste collection and recycling systems. The company noted it has now established partnerships with over 60 PROs across the European Union, covering multiple EPR categories including packaging, batteries, electrical and electronic equipment, and photovoltaic panels.

Item 11: Australian Retail Traffic Sees Overall Decline in August; AliExpress Becomes Only Platform in Top 20 to Record Positive Growth With 14.35 Million Visits

Per latest data from Semrush cited in a September 21 report, total visits to Australia’s top 20 retail websites declined in August. Bucking the trend, AliExpress recorded 14.35 million visits, up 5.37% month over month, making it the only platform on the list to achieve positive growth. The Australian retail market saw overall traffic pressure over the period, leading to a redistribution of market share across platforms.

Item 12: Amazon Releases Vietnam-to-US Inbound Fulfillment Rate Cards; New FBM Rules Require 90% On-Time Delivery Rate

On September 21, Amazon Global Logistics (AGL) officially launched four Non-FOB inbound fulfillment rate cards for shipments from Vietnam to the US, effective immediately. The services cover single-destination inbound, priority inbound, AGL split-warehouse priority, and Ship to AWD, fully connecting direct Vietnam-sourced inventory to Amazon’s official cross-border logistics network. Meanwhile, Amazon updated its seller performance metrics for Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM) on its US and European sites, requiring 90% or above performance across stocking time accuracy, On-Time Delivery Rate (OTDR), and Business Hours Delivery Rate (BHDR). A transition period for the new rules will end on September 30, and sellers failing to meet the thresholds will lose eligibility to create new FBM listings.

That wraps up today’s morning brief. For more e-commerce insights, stay tuned to Ebrun Audio News.

This article was first published on the official website of Ebrun.