Alibaba's new 'instant commerce' portal passes 40 million daily orders

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba said Monday that its Taobao Instant Commerce portal, which delivers items within 60 minutes, has surpassed 40 million daily orders within a month of launching.

The portal brings merchants from Alibaba's food delivery arm Ele.me onto its main domestic shopping app, Taobao, and is part of a broader move among Chinese online platforms in recent months to invest billions in so-called "instant retail".