Alibaba has made two major moves in just two days. On September 9, Tmall opened flash purchase cooperation invitations to brand merchants, guiding Tmall and Taobao merchants to become instant retail suppliers. In the Tmall merchant workbench, the flash purchase entry channel is now visible. Tmall also launched the Super 88 campaign, running from September 8 to 14, with over 260 brands initially connecting to Taobao Flash Purchase via Tmall flagship stores or authorized specialty stores. After joining, merchants' products can be displayed on Taobao, Ele.me, payment platforms, and more, with a 'Flash Purchase' label and platform traffic support. The following day, September 10, Amap officially launched 'Street Sweep Rankings', using real user behavior data to reconstruct rankings for offline dining, hotels, and scenic spots. According to the latest disclosed data, Amap handles 120 million daily searches related to life services. After its full AI upgrade in August, it now recommends an average of over 63 million life service points daily. Amap's entry into life service scenarios, based on its navigation context, is a natural progression. One move targets 'to-home' services; the other targets 'to-store' services. It's clear that the signals behind these moves are unambiguous: Alibaba is rebuilding its local life services landscape, aiming to challenge Meituan, Douyin, and Xiaohongshu with a combination of 'instant retail + offline credit'. For FMCG brands, this is far more than a battle among giants. It will directly reshape industry channel logic and brand market strategies:

How do products flow from factories or warehouses to consumers?

Will the role of distributors be weakened or reshaped?

Under the mindset of 'instant gratification' and 'authentic recommendations', can FMCG brands still rely on past strategies? Instant Purchase + Street Sweep Rankings If April's upgrade of Taobao Flash Purchase marked Alibaba's formal entry into the food delivery and instant retail battlefield, then September's two moves carry even more strategic weight.

  1. Instant Purchase: Reconstructing 'To-Home' For the first time, Tmall flagship stores are integrated with instant delivery, incorporating brand and store inventory into a 'single inventory pool'. Consumers ordering on Taobao/Tmall no longer need to wait 1-3 days for delivery; instead, nearby stores fulfill orders, with delivery in as fast as one hour. Participating merchants receive traffic support across Taobao's main site, the Flash Purchase channel, Ele.me, Alipay, Amap, and more. This means Tmall flagship stores are becoming hubs for omnichannel fulfillment. They are not only the core online sales platform for brands but also a bridge for brands to mobilize offline channels and achieve local instant retail.
  2. Street Sweep Rankings: Entering 'To-Store' Amap, based on behavioral data from its 170 million daily active users, launched 'Street Sweep Rankings', focusing on dining, hotels, and scenic spots. Ranking dimensions include 'navigation-to-store count, repurchase rate, dedicated trips, and audience breadth', emphasizing 'authenticity and trustworthiness'. It benchmarks against Dianping's 'Must-Eat List' but places more emphasis on AI and real behavioral data rather than pure UGC reviews. Unlike Instant Purchase, which handles transactions, Street Sweep Rankings targets the user decision-making entry point. In the future, when users decide 'what to eat tonight' or 'where to go this weekend', Amap hopes to replace Dianping or Xiaohongshu as the first entry point. It's evident that these two moves together are building a closed loop from 'what to buy' to 'where to buy/eat/play'. Instant Purchase: A New Era of 'New Retail + New Fulfillment' For FMCG brands, the launch of Instant Purchase means a complete rewrite of channel logic.
  3. The New Mindset of Instant Gratification In the past, consumers shopping on Tmall flagship stores had to wait 1-3 days for delivery. In the Instant Purchase scenario, beverages, snacks, and daily chemical products can be 'bought and received instantly', perfectly matching the high-frequency, temporary, and emergency needs of FMCG. Want an iced drink in summer? Open Taobao, search, order, and get it delivered immediately. Need snacks and drinks for a last-minute gathering? Use Instant Purchase to mobilize nearby store inventory. This mindset shift is almost revolutionary for FMCG. It moves brands from 'planned consumption' to 'instant scenario consumption', greatly expanding sales potential.
  4. Single Inventory Pool and Inventory Digitization Instant Purchase emphasizes a 'single inventory pool'. This requires brands to connect online flagship store and offline store inventory, even incorporating distributor warehouses. For traditional distributors, 'single pricing' significantly erodes profit margins. However, brands can use this opportunity to drive distributor digitization, enabling unified scheduling and improved sell-through efficiency.
  5. Integration of Traffic and Fulfillment The advantage of Instant Purchase is that it's not just adding another channel; it combines Taobao's e-commerce traffic with Ele.me's instant fulfillment capabilities. For brands, this is unprecedented:

Tmall flagship stores handle nationwide long-distance orders;

Instant Purchase handles local hour-level orders;

Additionally, extra exposure is gained on the Flash Purchase channel, Alipay, and Amap. This means a single flagship store now serves both 'long-distance' and 'near-field' demand. Street Sweep Rankings: Reshaping 'Scenario Marketing' Unlike Instant Purchase, which handles transactions, Amap Street Sweep Rankings' value lies in influencing consumer purchase decisions.

  1. From 'Shelf Exposure' to 'Scenario Exposure' FMCG brands' past marketing logic relied heavily on shelves: whether supermarket displays or Tmall homepage recommendations, the goal was to make consumers see the brand while shopping. But Street Sweep Rankings targets dining and leisure scenarios. When users check rankings of 'local favorites' restaurants, beverage and alcohol brands can become part of the dining experience. When users plan 'weekend camping', recommended scenarios in the rankings may include linked promotions for drinks and snacks. This means FMCG brand exposure is no longer limited to shelves but is directly embedded in the consumption scenario chain.
  2. Authentic Recommendations, Impossible to Manipulate Dianping's rankings have long been criticized for being 'easily manipulated'. Amap Street Sweep Rankings' uniqueness lies in its reliance on real behavioral data—navigation, repurchase, and cross-city dedicated trips. For brands, this is both an opportunity and a pressure:

Opportunity: Products with a genuine consumer base will be naturally recommended;

Pressure: Advertising and fake orders are no longer effective; brands must rely on real sell-through. This forces brands to pay more attention to terminal consumer experience and repurchase rates, rather than relying solely on advertising spend.

  1. Extension of the Credit System Amap is not just doing rankings; it's building an offline credit system. In the future, consumer reviews may be linked to Zhima Credit, carrying more weight. For FMCG brands, entering such a 'credit evaluation system' not only provides exposure but also builds long-term consumer trust. Summary In just two days, Alibaba has deployed the 'Instant Purchase + Street Sweep Rankings' combination, clearly signaling its intent to rebuild the local life services landscape: achieving instant retail in 'to-home' scenarios while capturing the user decision-making entry point in 'to-store' scenarios. For the FMCG industry, this is not just a game among giants; it signifies a deep rewrite of channel and marketing logic. First, supply chain and inventory management must shift from regional segmentation to 'single inventory pool' coordination, compressing price differential profit margins; Second, marketing methods must evolve from shelf displays and single-channel advertising to scenario-based engagement and repurchase-driven strategies; Third, the value of distributors is no longer wholesale transit but flexible assets for local fulfillment, data feedback, and terminal relationships. Most importantly, brands and distributors must recognize that today's local life services and instant retail are undergoing massive changes, which represent a definite growth trend. In the future, those who can truly integrate instant fulfillment + scenario recommendations + digitization may emerge victorious in the next growth cycle of the FMCG industry.