The channels through which large model vendors sell tokens are quietly shifting from their official websites to the familiar shopping cart of everyday consumers. MiniMax has officially joined Taobao, opening its first official brand flagship store. The store lists M Plan subscription packages in three tiers: Go, Explore, and Build, supporting monthly or annual purchases. This moves what used to be done only on the official website directly onto the shelves of e-commerce platforms.

This trend of opening stores has arrived faster than expected. Before this year's Double 11, Zhipu, Alibaba Cloud, and Qwen Office had already opened stores on Taobao. In response, the platform launched a "AI Space Station" token recharge center, consolidating subscription services from multiple large models into one entry point. According to a report from the Shanghai Securities News on September 5, companies like Kimi and StepStone Star have also been in talks with Taobao, preparing to open stores and sell token subscription packages. In other words, the model usage quotas that were once exchanged between developer documentation and official payment pages are now clearly priced products, waiting for consumers to enter the store and add them to their cart.

For the manufacturers, this move makes perfect sense: no matter how convenient the official website is, it cannot reach the mass users on Taobao who may not understand APIs but are willing to pay for AI tools. By packaging subscriptions into plans and turning quotas into recharges, it translates what was once a technical transaction into an e-commerce language that ordinary people can understand. When MiniMax hung the sign of its first flagship store on Taobao, the competition among large models has already shifted from parameter rankings and benchmark tests to the counter that is closest to the user's wallet.