China's chatbot industry is fiercely competing for customers. Cue the freebies

stlpr.org Mar 30, 2026

China’s chatbot industry is fiercely competing for customers. Cue the freebies

Curated by Shubham · TechCapsules · Mar 30, 2026

AI-summarised brief · reviewed before publication

China's chatbot industry is fiercely competitive, with top tech companies like Alibaba, Tencent, and ByteDance investing heavily to win customers. To entice users, companies are offering freebies, such as milk tea, to get people to try their apps and task chatbots with purchases. Over $1.1 billion was spent on promotions during the Lunar New Year holiday, fueling innovation and competition in the market, with analysts drawing comparisons to past promo battles.

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