Alibaba's Taobao takes on Temu, Shein with free overseas shipping

HONG KONG -- Taobao, the flagship retail platform of China's Alibaba Group, will introduce free overseas shipping on apparel orders as it attempts to challenge cross-border e-commerce rivals Temu and Shein.

The program will start from Aug. 3 and initially be available for shoppers in Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao. The list will expand to additional Asian markets around the end of the year, according to the company, which is currently trying to persuade more merchants to take part.