The Alibaba News Roundup is a weekly digest of events and happenings across the company. This week, we look at Freshippo’s expansion of its “Daily Fresh” line and increasing demand for online learning classes on Taobao. We also have news about Vitabiotics’ strategic partnership with Alibaba Group and Lazada, as well as the group’s one-million-follower milestone on LinkedIn.
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Freshippo Expands ‘Ultra-Fresh’ Food Range
Alibaba’s New Retail-powered supermarket on Monday announced plans to introduce more products under its “Daily Fresh” line. Launched in 2017, the program brings consumers produce and meat that are given a shelf life of a single day to ensure freshness. The Daily Fresh range currently features over 400 types of products, packaged in small sizes that are just enough for one meal. Freshippo said it will expand its ultra-fresh push to cover all categories from select stores in Shanghai, including seafood, dairy and baked goods.
Back to School: Taobao Sees Bump in Online Learning Demand
As China’s students return to school from winter vacation, Taobao has been seeing interest in online courses boom. The Alibaba-owned C2C online marketplace saw a tenfold increase in the sales of classes for elementary students in the week ending Feb. 21, compared to the same period last year. Popular subjects ranged from math and English to extracurricular activities, such as coding and learning how to play the game of Go, somewhat similar to the Western game of Reversi or Othello. About 52% of courses sold over the period were purchased by consumers in lower-tier cities, up 17% from last year. The platform’s education division, Taobao Education, was launched in 2013 with the goal of helping educators digitize, recruit new students and optimize the learning experience for students online. It launched a new initiative last June to help more than 1,000 education and training organizations attract 100,000 new students over the next three years, from K-12 students, hobbyists, language learners to working professionals looking to upskill.
Vitabiotics Ink Partnership with Alibaba Group and Lazada
British vitamin brand Vitabiotics recently signed a strategic partnership with Alibaba Group and Lazada Group. The aim is to accelerate its growth across China, where its sales saw a 30% year-on-year jump on Tmall Global and Lazada in 2020. The collaboration will see Vitabiotics leverage a variety of Alibaba’s existing technologies, such as its Data Bank tool, which helps brands better define and target different consumer groups. Vitabiotics will also continue to use Alibaba’s livestreaming platform, Taobao Live, to further enhance its in-market presence, through partnerships with several high-profile influencers.
Alibaba Group LinkedIn Page Reaches One Million Follower Milestone
Alibaba Group has recently reached one million followers on LinkedIn. Over the past several years, the group and its content hub Alizila have shared corporate news, brand stories and videos with the goal to “make it easy to do business anywhere” for businesses of all sizes around the world. If you are still not following our LinkedIn account, click here to ensure you stay up-to-date on key happenings at Alibaba.
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