Alibaba’s AI chatbot, Qwen, has ceased the distribution of coupons due to an influx of customer requests, urging shoppers to be patient
The artificial intelligence chatbot, Qwen, launched by Alibaba, has temporarily halted the issuance of coupons as a result of overwhelming customer demand, which is hindering a new initiative aimed at showcasing the tool’s functionalities beyond merely answering inquiries to facilitate shopping.
On Friday, Qwen started providing coupons to users, enabling in-app purchases from Alibaba’s retail platforms solely through chatbot prompts. This initiative marks the initial phase of a 3-billion-yuan ($433 million) strategy designed to draw more users to the chatbot during China’s annual Spring Festival holiday.
Since last month, Alibaba has aimed to transform Qwen into a comprehensive platform where users can directly access its other applications within the chatbot and process payments, similar to how Google incorporates its Gemini chatbot into services like Maps.
However, the implementation of what the e-commerce giant refers to as the chatbot’s Agentic AI strategy has been hindered by technical issues since the commencement of the coupon giveaway.
Alibaba reported that 10 million orders were made within the initial nine hours of the campaign. Confronted with an overwhelming surge of attempted orders over the weekend, Qwen announced on Sunday via its official Weibo channel that it was experiencing overload and requested users to allow the chatbot some respite.
Repeated purchase requests on Monday resulted in various responses indicating refusal, citing user oversubscription, as confirmed by Reuters.
“Everyone’s enthusiasm for experiencing AI shopping is exceedingly high! At present, there are too many participants in ‘Qwen free order’; we are diligently working to sustain the campaign’s experience,” Qwen responded to one of the purchase requests on Monday.
The chatbot further stated that shoppers would still have the opportunity to redeem their coupons, which will remain valid until February 28.
Alibaba chose not to provide additional comments regarding the technical challenges.
