China’s Alibaba thinks outside the box, and inside the minibus, as Uber tie-up gives online shoppers ‘mobile dressing rooms’

E-commerce giant Alibaba is promoting its Taobao marketplace in its home market China this weekend by inviting the public to try on stylish wardrobes in roving minibuses provided by Uber that serve as "mobile dressing rooms".

This is the result of a new tie-up with the car-hailing app after a rash of complaints from Taobao's customers about product quality. 

Users of the Uber app can call the buses for free - if they are fortunate enought to catch one in time - and keep any clothes they like without paying, Taobao said.

A total of three vehicles, each with an interior space of 30 square metres, will patrol three provincial capitals – Guangzhou in southern Guangdong, western China’s Chengdu in Sichuan, and Hangzhou in east China’s Zhejiang – on Saturday and Sunday, the company added. 

“Taobao will see how customers respond to the mobile dressing rooms before deciding whether to roll the programme out on a bigger scale,” a spokesperson told the South China Morning Post on Friday.

Taobao has taken flak from consumers and authorities this year for allowing the sale of counterfeit goods on its sites. More Chinese have been disappointed by the clear disconnect between how products sometimes appear online and out of the delivery box.