A Singles Day without livestream superhosts leaves Alibaba in a quandary

When Alibaba kicks off its Singles Day extravaganza on Monday (Oct 24), it will for the first time in years not be headlined by its two mega sales stars, casting a pall over China's biggest shopping event and leaving brands guessing how well they will do. The event, which the e-commerce giant has built up from...

Pandemic pushes Chinese tech giants to roll out more courier robots

An autonomous delivery vehicle by Meituan is displayed at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, China on July 8, 2021.Reuters file   More than a thousand robots are set to join the delivery personnel ranks of Chinese behemoths Alibaba, Meituan and JD.com over the next year as the pandemic fuels demand for contactless services. The firms...