Alibaba’s AI chatbot Qwen has temporarily stopped issuing shopping coupons after a wave of demand overwhelmed its systems, complicating the group’s efforts to reposition the tool as a transaction-enabled shopping assistant rather than a simple Q&A bot.
U.S.-listed shares of Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) slipped about 1% in premarket trading following the news.
Qwen began handing out coupons on Friday, allowing users to complete purchases across Alibaba-owned retail platforms directly through chatbot interactions. The initiative marked the first phase of a 3 billion yuan ($433 million) campaign designed to drive engagement during China’s Spring Festival holiday.
The rollout, part of Alibaba’s broader push into so-called Agentic AI, quickly ran into technical constraints. The company said around 10 million orders were placed within the first nine hours of the campaign. As usage accelerated over the weekend, Qwen warned on its official Weibo account on Sunday that the system was struggling to keep up and asked users to reduce activity.
“Everyone’s enthusiasm for experiencing AI shopping is too high! Currently there are too many participants in ’Qwen free order’, we are working tirelessly to maintain the campaign’s experience,” the chatbot reportedly replied to a purchase request on Monday, according to Reuters.
Qwen added that customers will still be able to redeem any coupons already issued, which remain valid until February 28.
In recent weeks, Alibaba has been stepping up efforts to turn Qwen into a central gateway for its wider ecosystem, enabling users to access multiple services and complete transactions without leaving the chatbot—mirroring how Google integrates its Gemini assistant across products such as Maps.