AsianFin -- Alibaba is teaming up with lifestyle content platform RedNote—known in China as Xiaohongshu—to enable seamless shopping by allowing users to click directly on product links and purchase items through Alibaba’s Taobao app.

The tie-up formalizes a previously informal integration between the two platforms, combining Alibaba’s vast e-commerce ecosystem with RedNote’s influential user-generated content, often likened to Instagram for its social and lifestyle focus.

“By integrating Taobao and Tmall’s retail strengths with Xiaohongshu’s lifestyle content, we’re enabling brands to connect with consumers more efficiently,” said Liu Bo, vice president of Alibaba Group and president of Tmall.

The move marks a deepening of Alibaba’s strategic alliance with RedNote, as China’s top e-commerce players intensify their battle for market share amid sluggish consumer sentiment. The resulting surge in discounts and promotions across platforms is also adding to broader deflationary pressures in the Chinese economy.