We have been covering the expensive food delivery and quick commerce war in China between major tech companies Alibaba and Meituan.
For a long time, it was rumoured that Alibaba will officially retire the name of its food delivery division “ele.me” (饿了么) and consolidate the brand into Taobao.
As winter approaches, on the streets of major cities in China such as Shanghai, more and more riders have changed their blue “eleme” uniform into the new orange/black Taobao Instashopping uniform.
On 5th of December, Alibaba made it official – ele.me will officially be transitioned to Taobao Instashopping (淘宝闪购). Ele.me brand and its blue identity will become history.
Ele.me was founded in 2008 by Zhang Xuhao and his university mates. Using university campuses as key strongholds, Ele.me grew rapidly and eventually broke out to the cities with venture funding.
Things took a turn in 2015, when its major rival Meituan merged with Dianping – China’s leading food review platform. Ele.me lost an ally (Dianping, a fellow Shanghai-founded company, had been a partner and investor in ele.me), and more importantly, the edge in China’s cutthroat food delivery race back then.
In 2018, Alibaba, which had been expanding into local services, acquired ele.me. We had extensive chats with early employees of ele.me on the reason why Meituan was able to charge ahead.
While there are factors such as Meituan’s strong ground forces, as well as traffic support from Wechat (Tencent was a major investor of Meituan), they were unanimous on the most fundamental reason: “Alibaba was not determined enough to win this war”.
Now in 2025, Alibaba is determined with dozens of billions of RMB burnt in subsidies – but they also consolidated the organisation. Moving everything into the Taobao umbrella makes operations as well as customer cross-sell more efficient for Alibaba.
Recently, the opening screen of Taobao featured a slogan: “The Omnipotent Taobao: Shopping, Food Delivery, Travel”.
Below is the full notice from Alibaba, and our English translation:
Update, Upgrade! Today, We’ve “Orange’ed”!
Moving Forward Together, for a Better Journey
Over the past few years, the name “Ele.me” has been present in many precious moments of people’s lives:
A hearty lunch between university classes, a cup of coffee that keeps you awake during early morning meetings, a drink that recharges you late at night, a bouquet to celebrate office anniversaries, midnight snacks during wedding preparations, the spicy hotpot that satisfies a craving, the little joys of free quiz answers…
From simple food delivery to indispensable high-quality services, we have witnessed how everyday life is becoming increasingly better – together with you.
In recent years, the name “Taobao Instashopping” (淘宝闪购） has also become familiar to more and more friends. From milk tea cravings to urgent document delivery, from birthday surprises to emergency medicine at night – “Instashopping” has also been part of many “just in time” moments.
We have served millions of users, partnered with brands like VIVO and over 3,500 other well-known companies across categories including cosmetics, FMCG, fresh groceries, and more. We’ve also collaborated with Tmall Supermarket and Freshippo to offer faster, more convenient, on-demand delivery experiences.
After a very special 2025, we feel that it’s time to take another step forward – together.
Starting today, once the Ele.me app is updated to the latest version, it will be fully renamed as “Taobao InstaShopping”. At the same time, services previously under the Ele.me brand will also be gradually integrated into the Taobao InstaShopping ecosystem.
Users’ growing demand for instant lifestyle services has inspired us to keep innovating, stay flexible, and push ourselves even further.
At this moment of “transformation,” we are fully prepared to bring you a refreshed experience:
- After updating to the latest version of Taobao InstaShopping, simply search “Update for Better” to enjoy exclusive benefits prepared just for you.
- Every user can receive a must-have 288 RMB benefits package, plus a chance to win exclusive gifts for over 1 million users – a small token of our appreciation.
From being “blue” to becoming “orange,” this upgrade is about becoming better – and that motivation comes from you.
In the future, we will continue to improve the services you rely on, offering faster delivery, more abundant selections, and better value. No matter who you are or where you are, we hope you will experience increasingly improved and delightful services.
Taobao InstaShopping — Let’s SHINE GO together!
Note: “SHINE GO” sounds like “Shangou”, which is the Chinese name for “Instashopping”.
