Jack Ma visited an Alibaba office tied to the company's Qianwen (千问) project this week, an unusual public appearance that coincides with a major promotional push for the fledgling app. Qianwen is preparing a RMB3 billion "Spring Festival Treat" campaign set to begin on Feb. 6, promising large cash red envelopes and widespread fee waivers for dining, entertainment and leisure, although Alibaba has not yet disclosed the detailed mechanics of the program.
The Qianwen app has already been linked into Alibaba’s broader consumer ecosystem — including Taobao Flash Sale, Alipay, Taobao, Fliggy and Amap — and is testing AI-enabled shopping features. An internal source told reporters that the project’s aim is to weave Qianwen into real-life consumption during the holiday period, turning the app into a front door for routine spending rather than a one-off marketing gimmick.
The timing and scale of the campaign matter for several reasons. Lunar New Year is the largest seasonal consumption window in China, when households spend on travel, gifts, food and social activities; a well-executed promotion can substantially lift user acquisition and short-term gross merchandise volume. By subsidising everyday expenses at scale, Alibaba is betting it can accelerate Qianwen’s adoption across multiple offline and online touchpoints within its ecosystem.
Equally significant is the optics of Jack Ma’s presence. Since 2020 Ma has kept a low public profile following a regulatory crackdown on China’s internet platforms, and his occasional reappearances are watched closely by markets, employees and competitors alike. His visit can be read as a morale-boosting gesture and a signal of senior-level backing for an AI-driven consumer initiative that sits at the intersection of commerce and everyday life.
The strategy carries risks. Heavy subsidy campaigns are expensive and can compress margins or distort competitive dynamics, potentially inviting regulatory scrutiny in an environment sensitive to anti-competitive practices. The long-term test for Qianwen will be not only whether it can convert short-term traffic into loyal users but also whether its AI features and ecosystem integrations produce sustainable merchant and consumer value.
For rivals — from Tencent to PDD to local experiential platforms — Alibaba’s move raises the stakes for holiday marketing and the broader push to monetise AI-driven shopping assistants. If Qianwen succeeds in embedding itself in routine consumption, it could become another conduit through which Alibaba leverages its payments, logistics and travel assets to capture incremental spending.
In the coming months observers should watch three metrics closely: new-user growth and retention on Qianwen, the campaign’s take-up across offline partners, and how regulators and competitors respond to aggressive subsidy tactics. The campaign will reveal whether Alibaba can translate its technical integrations and promotional firepower into a new, habit-forming consumer product.