China's Singles' Day shopping festival has a new bestseller this year, and it is not lipstick, cosmetics or home appliances. It is computing power itself: packages of artificial intelligence tokens, sold by the millions through livestreams and dedicated storefronts, as China's biggest shopping event turns AI credits into an ordinary consumer product for the first time.
The shift was on full display on Monday, November 2, 2026, when top livestreamer Austin Li — known across China as the "Lipstick King" for selling vast volumes of lipstick online — sold 100,000 monthly memberships of Alibaba's QwenWork office AI service within half an hour during a Taobao Live broadcast, according to Alibaba, as reported by Reuters. That haul is equivalent to about 2 trillion AI tokens, the units of text processed by AI models.
Illustration: A generic livestream studio selling AI token packages during a shopping festival.
What Happened
Reuters reported on November 3, 2026, that this year's Singles' Day festival marks the first time AI token packages have been offered as a significant consumer product category. Singles' Day, originally held on November 11 each year, is the world's largest shopping festival, and it has long been associated with cut-price cosmetics and home appliances. This year, computing credits used to access AI tools have joined that lineup.
The livestream was the first sale of AI products by Li, Reuters reported. Alongside the QwenWork token plans, the broadcast showcased AI-enabled laptops and workplace devices. Chen Yusen, an Alibaba Group vice president and chief executive of QwenWork, also appeared on the broadcast. Li asked Chen whether AI could be used to build a digital avatar of himself to chat with fans around the clock. While AI could not replace Li, Chen responded, he hoped it could handle everyday tasks for users, freeing them to spend time with their families.
Chinese media reports cited by outlets including Aju Press put the promotional monthly price at 0.01 yuan, against a regular price of 28 yuan, and reported 50,000 sales in the first 10 minutes of the broadcast. Reuters did not confirm those price figures, noting that it was unclear how much the token plans were discounted from normal prices — a caveat worth keeping in mind when judging how much of the rush was bargain-hunting and how much was genuine demand.
The token rush extends well beyond one livestream. Alibaba's Tmall has launched an AI Token Center for the festival, offering consumer token packages from Alibaba Cloud, MiniMax, Moonshot AI and Z.AI, the e-commerce giant said. Rival JD.com has also introduced an AI token section bringing together services from companies including DeepSeek, Z.AI and ByteDance's Volcano Engine.
Illustration: AI token packages sold as a consumer category during an online shopping festival.
Background
Singles' Day began in 2009 as an effort to spur consumer spending, and it has grown into the world's biggest shopping event. Last year it earned total revenue of 1.70 trillion yuan ($255 billion) across platforms, according to third-party data provider Syntun, as cited by Reuters. The festival's early sales period now stretches for weeks before the November 11 climax, giving platforms time to test new categories — and this year, AI is the test that matters most.
An AI token, in this context, is not a cryptocurrency or an investment asset. It is a unit of computing usage: roughly, a chunk of text that an AI model processes when it reads a prompt or generates an answer. Office AI services such as QwenWork typically sell access in monthly memberships that include a token allowance, and heavy users can run through that allowance and need to top up — much like a mobile phone plan.
That top-up logic is already visible in the early numbers. Alibaba said sales of AI token plans from October 1 to October 20 soared 450% from the previous month. Sales of AI personal-computer laptops surged more than 300% year-on-year in the first hour of the November 11 checkout period, according to Alibaba, as reported by Reuters. The two figures point in the same direction: Chinese shoppers are not just curious about AI tools, they are buying the hardware and the credits to run them.
Lian Jye Su, chief analyst at tech research firm Omdia, told Reuters that Chinese consumers are now very accustomed to using AI productivity tools. Frequent users can run short of credits, he added, which makes extensive purchases during a sales period "a very reasonable action". In other words, stocking up on tokens during a festival sale may be less impulse buying than bulk-buying a utility people already use every day.
Illustration: An office worker using AI productivity tools to draft documents and organise work.
Why It Matters
The Singles' Day debut matters because it moves AI from a business purchase to a household one. Until now, AI tokens have mostly been bought by companies, developers and professionals through cloud platforms, in deals negotiated in boardrooms. Putting them on a livestream hosted by China's most famous beauty seller — and in dedicated token centres on Tmall and JD.com — reframes them as something any shopper might add to a cart alongside a phone case or a jacket.
That reframing has commercial consequences. If consumers start buying AI credits the way they buy streaming subscriptions or phone top-ups, the companies that control the storefronts and the models gain a direct, recurring relationship with millions of users. Alibaba is plainly betting on that: QwenWork is its office AI service, and the token centre gathers rival models too, making Tmall the marketplace where shoppers compare AI providers. JD.com's rival token section, featuring DeepSeek, Z.AI and ByteDance's Volcano Engine, shows competitors see the same opening.
There is also a cultural signal. Li built his fame selling lipstick, a product whose appeal is immediate and visible. Selling invisible computing credits through the same format suggests AI tools have become familiar enough that a mass audience no longer needs persuading that they are useful — only that they are good value. The question for sellers is no longer whether ordinary shoppers understand AI, but whether they will pay in advance for it.
That question cuts both ways, as Omdia's Su warned. The tokens' relatively long expiry periods could spur users to stock up, he said, but rapid changes in AI products may make consumers wary of prepaying for services at risk of being replaced or retired. A token bundle bought today could belong to a model that is superseded next quarter — a risk shoppers do not face when they buy lipstick or a kettle.
What Happens Next
The immediate test comes on November 11 itself, when the festival reaches its climax and final sales figures will show whether AI tokens were a novelty act or a durable new category. Watch for how Tmall and JD.com report token sales relative to last year — there is no prior-year token category to beat, so the platforms' own framing will matter — and for whether other livestreamers follow Li into selling AI products.
Further ahead, the model could travel. If token packages sell well as consumer products in China, e-commerce platforms elsewhere may try the same format, bundling AI credits with devices and subscriptions. Regulators may also take an interest: prepaid credits raise familiar consumer-protection questions about expiry dates, refunds and what happens if a service shuts down — questions that already apply to gift cards and phone top-ups, and that will now apply to AI.
For now, the most telling number remains the simplest one: 100,000 memberships in 30 minutes, sold not by a tech company but by a livestreamer famous for lipstick. Whatever happens next, AI has officially entered China's shopping mainstream.
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FAQ
What are AI tokens?
In this context, AI tokens are units of computing usage — roughly, chunks of text an AI model processes when reading a prompt or generating an answer. They are not a cryptocurrency. Office AI services sell them as part of monthly memberships, and heavy users top them up like a phone plan.
Who is the "Lipstick King"?
Austin Li, also known as Li Jiaqi, is one of China's top livestreamers. He earned the "Lipstick King" moniker for amassing a huge following while selling vast volumes of lipstick online. His November 2 broadcast was his first sale of AI products, according to Reuters.
How many QwenWork memberships were sold, and how fast?
Alibaba said 100,000 monthly QwenWork memberships were sold within half an hour of the Taobao Live broadcast, equivalent to about 2 trillion AI tokens. Chinese media reports put 50,000 of those sales in the first 10 minutes, a figure Reuters did not independently confirm.
Where else can shoppers buy AI tokens during Singles' Day?
Alibaba's Tmall has launched an AI Token Center offering packages from Alibaba Cloud, MiniMax, Moonshot AI and Z.AI. JD.com has introduced an AI token section featuring services from companies including DeepSeek, Z.AI and ByteDance's Volcano Engine.
What is the risk of buying AI tokens in advance?
Omdia analyst Lian Jye Su warned that rapid changes in AI products may make consumers wary of prepaying for services at risk of being replaced or retired. Longer expiry periods can encourage stocking up, but a bundle tied to one model may lose value if that model is superseded.
Sources
Reuters, "China's 'Lipstick King' touts AI tokens in first for Singles' Day festival," November 3, 2026. Aju Press, "Chinese Live Commerce Star Li Jiaqi Sells 2 Trillion AI Tokens," November 3, 2026 (promotional price and 10-minute sales figure, via Shanghai Securities Journal reporting). PANews, "Li Jiaqi's Livestream Sells 100,000 Qwen Office Monthly Cards in Half an Hour," November 2, 2026.
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