On November 21, "Star Daily" (Reporter Gaomengyang Xucihao) reported a major change in Alibaba's e-commerce business.

On November 21, the reporter of "Star Daily" learned that Alibaba Group has undergone a new round of adjustments internally. According to the full email sent by Alibaba Group CEO Daniel Zhang, Alibaba Group established the Alibaba E-commerce Business Group, appointing Jiang Fan to oversee and report to Daniel Zhang. The new e-commerce business group will comprehensively integrate Taobao, Tmall Group, International Digital Business Group, as well as 1688, Xianyu, and other e-commerce businesses, forming a business cluster covering the entire industry chain at home and abroad.

Alibaba's latest adjustment continues the strategy focused on e-commerce and AI technology since Daniel Zhang took over as CEO of Alibaba Group last year.

"Both China and global e-commerce formats are entering a new era, and the globalization of supply chain capabilities, fulfillment capabilities, and consumer service capabilities will determine the future competitive landscape." In the internal memo, Daniel Zhang made his own judgment on the current competitive situation. To ensure support and security for the core strategic direction, Daniel Zhang also revealed in the internal memo that the finance and legal departments will also be under unified group management.

In fact, this adjustment is not without precedent. Especially since 2024, apart from international business, Alibaba's various e-commerce businesses like Taotian and 1688 have been attempting to expand globally. Now, with the implementation of the aforementioned adjustments, Alibaba's e-commerce business has entered a new phase of development.

Professor Cui Lili, from the Digital Economics Department at Shanghai Finance University and Director of the Digital Commerce Research Center, told "Star Daily" that as the youngest partner familiar with domestic and international e-commerce business within the Alibaba system, Jiang Fan is the most suitable candidate in all aspects.

"This merger should have a positive impact on Alibaba in terms of optimizing business organization, sharing sse select resources industries index, and further expanding its advantages in the overseas market." said Cui Lili.

Wu Yongming 'plants trees' for a year.

According to sources close to Alibaba, this integration was not sudden, but the result of long-term brewing and discussions. Rumors of Jiang Fan's 'return to Taotian' have also repeatedly surfaced.

In fact, in September last year, Wu Yongming took over as the CEO of Alibaba Group, and also served as the CEO of Taotian Group and Yunzhi Group.

Alibaba had previously bet too much on new directions in Taobao, which actually resulted in insufficient investment and attention to the basic needs of e-commerce. After taking office, Wu Yongming's most important task was to focus on a strategic shift to 'user-first, AI-driven'. He also reorganized Alibaba's vast and intricate business, made radical reforms to organizational structure and business strategies, and promoted the youthfulness of the management team.

Taking the Taotian Group as an example, Wu Yongming initiated a youth-oriented management team by 'selecting' six young and middle-aged managers from various businesses under the group to join Taotian Group, most of whom were born in the 1980s.

Facing competition from PDD Holdings, Asia Vets, and other platforms, in order to solidify Taobao and Tmall's market position, Wu Yongming adjusted the strategy.

In terms of commercialization, the release of the 'site-wide promotion' for merchant products was implemented to open up free and paid traffic pools for Taobao and Tmall to increase transaction volume. Taobao has integrated with Tencent and jd.com's payment, logistics, and other businesses to seek new growth areas. At the merchant level, Taobao and Tmall are no longer purely focused on low stock price competition, gradually loosening the restrictions on 'refunds only'.

In the past year, Alibaba has made many attempts to integrate domestic and international e-commerce, including Taobao's expansion from apparel into the entire industry, the Hong Kong free shipping program, comprehensive integration from apparel to the entire industry on the supply side, as well as improvements in consumer experiences such as free shipping and English versions. Behind these series of attempts, Taobao is responsible for supply chain operations and Alibaba Overseas is responsible for consumer operation.

In the past year, Wu Yongming's integration and sorting of Alibaba's business not only verifies that fusion can bring more incremental volume, but also creates objective conditions for Jiang Fan's assumption of office.

"Taobao and Tmall are the most competitive parts of Alibaba." An industry insider told the Kechuangban Daily reporter that at this stage, although there are international sites, AliExpress, Lazada, Daraz, and other businesses in the global market, they are still operating independently. Zhou Fancai believes that Jiang Fan's role adjustment will further promote a chemical reaction within the domestic and international e-commerce business team.

The e-commerce landscape is evolving, Alibaba needs Jiang Fan to move forward.

From an external perspective, Alibaba's domestic and international e-commerce businesses are facing intense competitive pressure.

In the domestic market, PDD Holdings, asia vets, have risen rapidly, posing a serious challenge to traditional e-commerce giants such as Taobao and Tmall.

Taking PDD Holdings as an example, according to the financial report for the third quarter of 2024 ending on September 30 released today, PDD Holdings' total revenue for the third quarter was 99.3544 billion yuan, a 44% increase from the 68.8404 billion yuan in the same period of 2023. The net income attributable to ordinary shareholders of PDD Holdings was 24.9807 billion yuan, a significant 61% year-on-year increase.

In the international market, global e-commerce giants like Amazon are actively expanding, SHEIN, under PDD Holdings, and TEMU are gaining momentum in multiple global markets, while the TikTok Shop fully replicating the traffic advantage of Douyin and TikTok's success.

In addition, there are some regional e-commerce platforms, such as Shopee in Southeast Asia, Flipkart in South Asia, which are also emerging in their respective markets.

At present, it can be seen that the competition in e-commerce has entered a new stage. Among the top e-commerce companies, it is no longer a competition between single markets and single supply chains.

Obviously, Jiang Fan, as the new CEO of the e-commerce business group, undoubtedly bears the high expectations of Alibaba Group.

Before, Jiang Fan, who worked at Taobao and Tmall for more than 7 years, led and participated in the mobile transformation of Taobao and the personalized content work during the management of Taobao. In 2019, he served as the President of Taobao and Tmall.

Starting in 2022, after taking over Alibaba International Digital Business, Jiang Fan quickly conducted overseas research and reorganized the business, forming a pattern of 2 domestic cross-border businesses (AliExpress, International Site) + 4 overseas local businesses (Lazada, Miravia, Trendyol, Daraz), and launched fully managed, semi-managed, and self-operated models.

According to Alibaba Group's latest performance report for the second quarter of the 2025 fiscal year (the third quarter of the 2024 calendar year) released on November 15, Taotian Group's revenue returned to positive growth, reaching 98.994 billion yuan, a 1% year-on-year increase; in this quarter, it contributed approximately 42% to Alibaba Group's overall revenue. Taotian Group's contribution to profit exceeded the sum of the six major groups. Although international business revenue grew by 29% and its share of group revenue increased to 13.4%, second only to domestic e-commerce, it incurred a loss of 2.9 billion yuan, indicating that the international business still needs financial support from the group.

"Jiang Fan has accumulated deep experience in domestic e-commerce and an international e-commerce management background. In the past few years, the international business he managed has also been vigorously promoting AI practices," industry insiders believe, these all demonstrate his forward-looking vision and innovation capabilities in this area, and also align with the "focus on the core business" strategy formulated by Wu Yongming.

Some industry analysts believe that based on the previous several major adjustments at Alibaba, it is expected that the integrated e-commerce business group will further adjust its organizational structure and team management. By optimizing reporting relationships and team structures, Alibaba can more efficiently manage e-commerce operations and enhance overall execution.

Cui Lili, a professor in the Department of Digital Economy at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics and the Director of the Digital Commerce Research Center, told the "Star Market Daily" reporter that although Alibaba's e-commerce business achieved some growth this year, there is still considerable pressure from the current market competition landscape. From the latest changes in some industries in the second half of this year, the integration of a wider range of goods, payments, and logistics can bring new synergies in the existing market. At the same time, the incremental growth in overseas e-commerce markets is not only the purpose for many merchants to try to go global, but also the space for platform growth.