PYMNTS.com·2026-02-09 20:14Group 1 - Alibaba's AI chatbot, Qwen, has paused issuing coupons due to an overload of customer requests, impacting its promotional campaign [1][5] - The coupon initiative is part of a 3-billion-yuan ($433 million) effort to attract more users during China's Spring Festival holiday [3] - The chatbot experienced technical issues that hindered its ability to handle the surge in orders, with 10 million orders placed within the first nine hours of the campaign [5] Group 2 - The strategy aims to integrate Qwen as a hub for accessing Alibaba's other apps and making payments, similar to Google's approach with its Gemini chatbot [4] - Research indicates a growing reliance on AI for shopping, with nearly half of "power users" replacing traditional methods with AI-driven alternatives, an increase from 39% [7] - The trend shows that growth among AI adopters is driven by deeper integration into daily workflows rather than new user acquisition [8]