Model Labs Opened Shop Counters on Tmall
Compute is being sold like phone credit, with most listings still priced at list and typical volumes around a hundred units.
Since September 2026, Zhipu, Qwen Office and others have opened official storefronts on Tmall, which launched an AI station with a Token recharge centre now hosting Qwen, Zhipu, MiniMax, Moonshot and StepFun. Tmall said Token category sales on the 20 October opening day rose 450% cycle-on-cycle. Reporting also found most listings hold at list price with little discount, and typical sales volumes still around a hundred units. The commercial read, in the words of retail analyst Zhuang Shuai, is that this is the platforms staking out a new AI category entrance rather than a sales event — the symbolic weight currently exceeds the actual volume, and the test is whether top-ups become a habitual repeat purchase.