Qwen Spends ¥3 Billion to Give Away 10 Million Milk Teas—Yet Still Faces a Wave of User Backlash

Every generation has its own version of “free eggs to collect.” For our generation, those “eggs” are food-delivery vouchers, red envelopes, and platform giveaways.

Ahead of this year’s Spring Festival, the AI red-envelope battle put on a vivid display of what real “cash power” looks like—and how unstoppable it can be.

On February 6, Alibaba’s Qwen officially launched its “Qwen Treats—Share ¥3 Billion” campaign. Users only needed to download the Qwen app to receive a ¥25 no-threshold free-order voucher, redeemable on designated food-delivery platforms.

The rules were simple, but the results were immediate and dramatic. Within less than five hours of launch, 5 million orders had already been redeemed. In just nine hours, the figure surpassed 10 million, setting a new global record for AI-driven shopping campaigns. Riding this momentum, the Qwen app surged past Tencent Yuanbao and ByteDance’s Doubao to claim the top spot on China’s App Store free download rankings.

In the internet world, pouring money into user incentives may be the most blunt approach—but it remains the most effective.

Traffic came flooding in, but what caught many by surprise was that even a veteran tech giant like Alibaba struggled to withstand such a massive surge.

Around 11 a.m. that same day, Qwen began experiencing system failures. Many users successfully claimed their vouchers but were unable to place orders. Some even found that referral-based vouchers had mysteriously disappeared. Frustrated users quickly took to social platforms demanding explanations from Qwen.

Even by the morning of the second day, the issues had yet to be fully resolved.

For many users, the free order was the sole reason they downloaded Qwen in the first place. When the very first experience turned sour, disappointment was inevitable. While the ¥3 billion campaign drove downloads overnight, poor execution risked triggering an equally fast wave of uninstalls.

Milk tea shops, meanwhile, became collateral damage.

Numerous chain stores were overwhelmed by order volumes. Some ran out of ingredients or manpower and were forced to suspend orders before noon. Delivery riders were no better off, lining up outside stores as orders ran more than an hour late. In some cases, riders simply grabbed whichever drinks were ready and left, turning deliveries into a literal “blind box” experience for customers.

As the situation edged toward chaos, Qwen moved quickly to adjust its strategy. It announced that the voucher validity would be extended until February 28 and advised users to place orders during off-peak hours.

While the fix was timely, the campaign still exposed several shortcomings.

First, Qwen clearly underestimated both user enthusiasm and its own operational capacity. Servers couldn’t cope, merchants couldn’t keep up, and user experience suffered badly—so much so that some participants openly labeled the campaign a “scam.”

Second, the messaging missed the mark. Promotional copy focused heavily on “treating everyone to milk tea,” leading many users to assume the voucher could only be used for drinks. In reality, the free-order card also applied to breakfast, lunch, dinner, fresh groceries like eggs and vegetables, as well as purchases from Tmall Supermarket and offline retail stores through the Qwen app. Poor communication caused many users to waste benefits they could have fully enjoyed.

Looking across the broader battlefield, one thing is clear: there is no “most competitive,” only “more competitive.”

Alibaba Qwen committed ¥3 billion, Tencent Yuanbao ¥1 billion, and Baidu Wenxin ¥500 million. ByteDance’s Doubao, however, appeared largely absent from the fray, choosing instead to place its bet on Spring Festival Gala exposure for a longer-term payoff.

According to available information, Volcano Engine is the exclusive AI cloud partner for the 2026 CCTV Spring Festival Gala, with Doubao serving as the core AI assistant involved in program interactions and red-envelope distribution.

From this perspective, while the other three players are spending aggressively to attract new users, Doubao hardly needs to join the cash burn. Its existing user base is already formidable—on many smartphones with multiple AI apps installed, Doubao is almost certainly one of them. For Doubao, securing the Spring Festival Gala’s top-tier traffic entrance may be far more cost-effective than direct cash giveaways.

As for Baidu Wenxin, its campaign felt noticeably underpowered. Against Qwen’s free orders and Yuanbao’s cash handouts, Wenxin failed to generate meaningful buzz, giving the impression of an effort made simply to keep up appearances.

Qwen and Yuanbao both placed their campaign entrances front and center within their apps. Wenxin, by contrast, hid its red-envelope access point inside the broader Baidu app, with no visible entry in the standalone Wenxin app—so much so that some users wondered if they had accidentally downloaded a knockoff version.

At their core, both Qwen and Yuanbao relied on social-driven viral growth, with user acquisition as the primary goal—but their endgames differed.

Qwen aimed to demonstrate real-world “AI gets things done” capabilities through tangible consumption, essentially trading free orders for retention by showing users that Qwen doesn’t just chat—it helps save money in everyday life.

Tencent Yuanbao took a more straightforward route, giving out cash while highlighting its “Yuanbao-style” AI social ecosystem.

After spending ¥3 billion, whether Qwen can truly retain users remains an open question. After all, with that level of spending, even a stone would make a splash.

Yuanbao, however, has already begun to show measurable results. On February 6, Tencent announced that daily AI image-generation calls had surged 30-fold, while average daily user time spent in the app rose by over 80%. At least in Yuanbao’s case, the money appears to have been well spent.