Alibaba's Qwen milk tea promo drew users but retention lagged
China's chatbot giants are battling it out with creative promos to win users.
During Lunar New Year 2026, Alibaba's Qwen chatbot tempted people with free milk tea for app orders, a move that pulled in people like 19-year-old delivery driver Li Hao.
But even with fun perks, many users quickly switched back to favorites like ByteDance's Doubao once the deals ended.
Alibaba ByteDance Tencent in $1.1B spend
Tech companies including Alibaba, ByteDance, and Tencent were part of a combined promotional spend estimated at over $1.1 billion (Alibaba said it allotted more than $430 million for holiday promotions) sparking a surge in daily active users (Qwen recorded more than 73.5 million daily users on February 7, and Doubao's daily users exceeded 144 million during the Lunar New Year promotions).
Still, holding onto those users after the freebies run out is proving tricky.
The race is on to make AI chatbots a real part of daily life, not just a one-time novelty, and everyone's hustling to come up with the next big thing.