Quick Take — China: instant retail – ‘quick commerce’ – is set to reach $178 billion by the end of the year

according to the government.

Its competitors are Meituan, JD.com and Alibaba, which spent billions of dollars on vouchers, free deliveries and incentives for retailers last year.

Now, so-called ‘instant commerce’ has established itself as the new battleground for online shopping. Whilst the companies’ spending spree has channelled billions in drinks towards budget-conscious consumers, analysts have stated that the most significant challenge lies in changing purchasing habits, particularly in major cities where consumers increasingly expect a range of goods, such as groceries and cosmetics, to arrive within 60 minutes. Home delivery of drinks and meals may generate frequent visits to the app, but the real opportunity lies in converting these visits into purchases of higher-margin non-food items…

N.B.: The challenges facing quick commerce in Italy also stem from an unclear situation regarding delivery services.

Drafted on 6 September, updated on 7 September 2026

Quick Take — The 3-euro EU tax has caused a slump in Chinese parcel deliveries: Temu, Shein and AliExpress have seen sales fall by up to 40 per cent

A month and a half after the measurewas introduced, the first measurable effect was already evident: imports of small parcels from China to the European Union had fallen by between 30 per cent and 40 per cent. This was announced by theFrench Ministry of the Economy…(Italy has no data and had tried to ‘go its own way’).

It is a measure designed to target the very business modelthat has madeTemuandSheinmass phenomena: individual shipments with a low unit value, sent directly from China to the end consumer, which until June benefited from a total customs exemption for all parcels under 150 euros…

The measure is intended to be temporary. It will remain in force until awider reform of the European customs system is completed, which is expected within two years…Source

Shein has an advantage over its Chinese competitors because it has a warehouse in Poland (which is, in fact, what Amazon has done, with e-commerce warehouses across Europe).

Read more about it here.

Quick Take — Alibaba reports continued profit compression due to investments in artificial intelligence and instant retail (Quick e-commerce)

Alibaba reported a 3 per cent increase in revenue for the quarter ending 31 March, which fell short of expectations due to a slowdown in the company’s international e-commerce business (Total revenue stood at 243.38 billion yuan for the quarter, or €30.6 billion)

Cloud Intelligence revenues increased by 38%, with artificial intelligence products now accounting for 30% of external cloud revenues. Earlier this year, the company separated its artificial intelligence business from its cloud computing division.

Alibaba said adjusted EBITDA fell 84 per cent due to spending on technology and fast-track commerce, which involves deliveries within 60 minutes. Reuters

There has long been an e-commerce and delivery war going on in China, which, like in the US, has the same customers.

Jensen Huang (Nvidia) on China and the US

We are witnessing in real time the biggest shift in global economic power. While America debates tariffs, summons its own Fed Chairman to a hearing and spends $380 billion on AI infrastructure with no measurable returns…China has just implemented the most aggressive industrial strategy since the Marshall Plan…
China is building the future. America, unfortunately, seems to be merely discussing it.

Quick Take — US concludes Alibaba and BYD have ties to Chinese military: trade acquires additional geopolitical role

The companies are among those that the Pentagon believes may pose a threat to US national security (Financial Times)

… The decision to include Alibaba on what is formally known as the 1260H list comes three months after the FT reported that US intelligence agencies believed the e-commerce giant posed a threat to national security. The Pentagon will also add BYD, the world’s largest electric car manufacturer, and Baidu, the search engine, to the 1260H list established by Congress. Although trade tensions between the US and China have eased since Trump and Xi met in South Korea in October, the addition of major Chinese groups to the list will trigger new tensions ahead of their April summit…

Read about it : Where the world is going: with Amazon, Alibaba, Shein and Temu, trade takes on a geopolitical aspect