Shanghai retail alliance logs 72 purchase intentions at CIIE and adds Taobao Instant Commerce

The Shanghai trade delegation's large retail buyers' alliance (大型零售采购商联盟) has logged 72 purchase intentions at the ninth China International Import Expo (CIIE), according to a partial count (据不完全统计) cited in coverage of its concentrated purchasing ceremony on 8 November at the National Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai. The figure was reported by China News Service (CNS), Xinmin Evening News, Jiemian and Shanghai Securities News. None of the reports gives values, and CSP did not find the total on an official CIIE or Bailian group page.

At the ceremony, organised by Bailian Group according to Shanghai Securities News, exhibitors including L'Oréal, Estée Lauder, Shiseido, Lindt, Yihai Kerry (Wilmar group), Pfizer, Abbott Nutrition and Zeiss signed with buyers including Bailian group companies, CNS reported. Jiemian, Xinmin Evening News and Shanghai Securities News list the pairings: Bailian Shares (百联股份) with L'Oréal, Estée Lauder, Shiseido and Japan's Sankyo Seiko (三共生兴), to bring new launches to the Chinese market; supermarket chain Lianhua (联华股份) with DP World, Lindt and the Russian Export Center, among others; Shanghai No.1 Pharmacy (第一医药) with Pfizer and Abbott Nutrition; and Sanlian (三联) with Zeiss on eyewear and optical services.

At the same ceremony, Taobao Instant Commerce (淘宝闪购), Alibaba's quick-delivery service, the 一号会员店 membership store and the Shanghai No.1 Yaohan department store (第一八佰伴) joined the alliance. According to the reports, the aim is to link online and offline channels.

The alliance is one of four buyers' alliances in the Shanghai delegation and was set up in June 2018, according to CNS. Zhu Min, deputy secretary-general of the Shanghai municipal government and deputy head of the delegation, said membership had grown from 21 at launch to 45 and that the Shanghai delegation has led local delegations in intended deal value for eight years in a row, according to CNS and Shanghai Securities News. Bailian Group chairman Pu Shaohua said the alliance has signed more than 250 projects on site across all CIIE editions, that Bailian group companies reached 28 purchase intentions at this edition, and that the group has close to 200 purchase projects over nine years of CIIE.

Ge Hong, deputy director of the China International Import Expo Bureau, urged the alliance to turn fair negotiations into purchase orders and to make contacts from the event into stable partnerships, CNS reported. The ninth CIIE runs from 5 to 10 November 2026.

CSP analysis: for companies selling consumer goods to China, the useful signal from this ceremony is the channel, not the number. The alliance puts exhibitors in front of supermarket, pharmacy, optical and department-store buyers, and now an online quick-delivery service as well. Because the 72 are intentions in a partial count, with no values, the commercial result only shows when an intention becomes an order. This reading is ours, not the organisers'.