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China’s Moonshot and Z.ai bring AI model subscription race to Tmall’s retail shelves

By packaging tokens and coding plans like everyday retail goods, AI labs are opening a new front in their push for sustainable revenue

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Tmall is expanding into AI subscriptions as developers seek new ways to reach and retain paying users. Photo: Shutterstock
Chong Ming Lee

China’s artificial intelligence developers are competing for paying users on a new consumer front: Alibaba Group Holding’s Tmall, where AI subscription plans are now being sold alongside smartphones, skincare and luxury fashion brands.

Moonshot AI, developer of the Kimi K3 model, and MiniMax were in talks to open official flagship stores on the e-commerce platform, people familiar with the matter told the South China Morning Post on Monday. The move comes as AI developers look for new channels to convert soaring user numbers into recurring revenue.

Beijing-based Z.ai, also known as Zhipu AI, kicked off the trend last week by opening an online storefront selling subscriptions to its GLM Coding Plan. A day later, Tmall launched an “AI Space Station”, a central marketplace where users can buy AI subscriptions, top up tokens and purchase specialised packages from Alibaba Cloud, Z.ai, MiniMax and DeepSeek.

Early market signals have been positive. Within 48 hours of Z.ai opening its storefront, transactions involving AI tokens and subscription products across Taobao and Tmall jumped by more than 160 per cent, a Tmall spokesperson told the SCMP on Monday.

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