Boxed Up's New Rush: Opening 100 Fresh Stores, Targeting $10 Billion

Boxed Up Times Finance Photography

Farewell to membership stores, Boxed Up has announced a new store opening plan.

On August 7th, Boxed Up publicly revealed that the company plans to open nearly 100 new Boxed Up fresh stores in fiscal year 2026 (i.e. from April 2025 to March 2026), with over 50 cities added.

Recently, the last Boxed Up X membership store announced that it will cease operations by the end of the month, sparking market concerns. This store is located in Shanghai's Pudong New Area and was the first warehouse-style membership store created by Boxed Up.

At the time, the domestic warehouse membership track's market scale expanded rapidly, with global leader Sam's Club opening its first Chinese store just one year later. As the first national brand in China's warehouse membership track, Boxed Up X membership stores bore extremely high expectations, both as a key growth driver for Boxed Up and as a challenge to international giants.

With the closure of the store, Boxed Up will officially end its five-year exploration of warehouse membership stores.

The latest expansion plan signifies that Boxed Up will focus more energy on core business and expand its influence in the new retail battlefield through Boxed Up Fresh Stores.

Boxed Up Fresh Stores to Open Nearly 100 New Locations

As one of Boxed Up's main businesses, Boxed Up Fresh Stores also has its first store located in Shanghai.

On January 1st, 2016, the first Boxed Up Fresh Store opened in Shanghai's Pudong New Area, featuring a "store-warehouse" model and launching fresh produce delivery services within 30 minutes. This marked Boxed Up's entry into the new retail industry.

After nearly ten years of development, Boxed Up Fresh Stores has established itself as a leading player in China's retail market, with its core product categories including seafood, water products, and quick-service meals. It has also implemented online-offline integration and self-service systems to achieve a business upgrade.

As of March 31st, 2025, Boxed Up Fresh Stores had opened over 420 locations. The company disclosed that in the first half of this year, it has already opened new stores in multiple cities, including Taizhou, Suzhou, Tianjin, Tangshan, and Suining, with a presence in over 50 cities across China.

According to Alibaba's 2025 financial report, Boxed Up's overall GMV (gross merchandise value) exceeded 750 billion yuan in fiscal year 2025 (i.e. from April 2024 to March 2025), marking the first time it has achieved a full-year profit.

This year, Boxed Up's performance has shown significant growth. According to reports, in fiscal year 2024 (i.e. from April 2023 to March 2024), Boxed Up achieved an overall GMV of over 590 billion yuan, with a year-on-year growth rate of only 7%, while in fiscal year 2025, the company's growth rate exceeded 27%.

Boxed Up Fresh Stores' rapid expansion has become the driving force behind its business performance. Since 2024, Boxed Up has accelerated its expansion, opening nearly 70 new Boxed Up Fresh Stores and adding 27 cities to its coverage area.

Looking forward, Boxed Up expects to open over 100 new locations in fiscal year 2026 (i.e. from April 2025 to March 2026), with over 50 cities added. By then, Boxed Up Fresh Stores' layout is expected to exceed 100 cities nationwide, with the total number of stores reaching over 500.

As an omnichannel retail model, online transactions have contributed more than 60% to Boxed Up's GMV in recent years.

To support its growth plan, Boxed Up has announced that it will integrate its member system with Taobao VIP and connect to a pool of over 50 million members. Starting from August 4th, Taobao VIP users can receive a valid 90-day Boxed Up X membership experience card, while also being able to pay 88 yuan to become a Boxed Up year-round member.

According to reports, the Boxed Up X membership program was launched in 2018 as a loyalty program for Boxed Up Fresh Stores customers. As a paying member, users can enjoy exclusive benefits such as 88% discounts on member days, VIP coupons, and free delivery services.

Boxed Up has revealed that after integrating with Taobao VIP, its membership numbers have achieved a doubling growth rate, far exceeding expectations.

Targeting $10 Billion, Boxed Up Focuses on Core Business

Focusing on core business and withdrawing from the warehouse membership track is a strategic adjustment made by Boxed Up after exploring various industries.

On December 31st, 2024, Boxed Up CEO Yan Xiaoqi announced an internal memo stating that over the past nine months, Boxed Up has achieved three things - regaining user value, focusing on development direction, and promoting organizational construction. Among these, development direction is to build a dual-engine growth model through focusing on Boxed Up Fresh Stores and Boxed Up NB.

According to reports, this marks the culmination of Boxed Up's exploration of various industries, with its two core models representing the market's consumption trends.

Yan Xiaoqi has been a key figure in Alibaba since joining the company in 2016. He was previously responsible for UC Business and Silver Taiping Finance, becoming Boxed Up CFO in 2018. In March 2024, he took over as CEO.

In the future, under the new management team, Boxed Up will continue to evolve and seek opportunities.