Retail News CRM

Tag: Alibaba

  • Alibaba hub spells trouble for malls

    Alibaba hub spells trouble for malls

    A veteran economist foresees trouble for traditional retailers when the Alibaba Group sets up its logistics hub in Malaysia. Speaking to Retail News, Hoo Ke Ping said the hub, which is expected to be operational at the end of 2019, would threaten the survival of shopping malls and small-time traders.

    He noted that traditional retailers were already facing competition from their online counterparts, but he said the hub would pose a more significant challenge.

    He described Lazada, the Alibaba-owned online retailer, as among the most competitive with its pricing and said it would be a challenge for mall-based retailers to match it because they could not avoid overheads like rent, utilities and wages.

    Hoo also said there was an oversupply of shopping malls, with many struggling to find occupants for their retail spaces.

    Last month, a news report quoted Savills Malaysia managing director Allan Soo as saying the retail market could take up to four years to improve due to the oversupply in retail spaces.

    The Klang Valley alone has 160 malls and hypermarkets, including seven megamalls. Seven more megamalls are in the pipeline.

    Hoo also noted that Pos Malaysia, which currently handles parcel deliveries for Alibaba, was building up its capabilities to tap into the e-commerce market.

    In a press interview in February, Pos Malaysia CEO Mohd Shukrie Mohd Salleh said the group was in the process of beefing up its capabilities and infrastructure so it could provide a full range of eFulfilment services required by the industry.

    The term “eFulfilment” describes the people, processes and technology used in delivering an online order to a customer.

    Hoo said Alibaba’s Malaysian logistics hub would accelerate the shift towards e-commerce.

    Recently, Reuters reported that the hub will function as a centralised customs clearance, warehousing and fulfilment facility for Malaysia and neighbouring countries and would speed up clearance for imports and exports.

    “This means it will be easier for people to sell and move their goods within the country,” Hoo said. “So the prospects for shopping malls and even small retailers in rural areas don’t look so good.”

    He noted that the situation was not unique to Malaysia.

    “The same thing is happening in the United States as more businesses switch from brick and mortar stores to the online market,” he said, citing the likes of women’s clothing chains The Limited and Bebe.

    According to a Business Insider report, The Limited shut down all of its 250 stores, laid off 4,000 workers and moved its business online. Bloomberg reported last month that Bebe was planning to take a similar route.

    Lees ook:

  • Alibaba Group’s UC News crosses 100 mn active users in India, Indonesia

    Alibaba Group’s UC News crosses 100 mn active users in India, Indonesia

    Alibaba Mobile Business Group-owned company UCWeb’s news app UC News has garnered more than 100 million monthly active users (MAUs) in India and Indonesia. With 100 million daily article views, UC News has rapidly grown in the India and Indonesia markets since its launch in June 2016.

    UCWeb is increasing its focus on digital content aggregation and distribution in India, the world’s second-largest internet market.

    Talking about the latest milestone, Alibaba Mobile Business Group, president of overseas business, Jack Huang said, “We are experiencing a fast rise in the average time spent on UC News. As of this quarter, an average user spends over 23 minutes on UC News. Users are embracing diverse digital content and their appetite for such content is being met by UC News. Going forward, we are also targeting more diversified and localised content on our platform by end of 2017 to make the local content ecosystem stronger. With over 100 million MAUs, UCWeb envisions itself as powerful as Google and Facebook, and aims to bring the global mobile internet to an era of ‘GUF’ (Google, UCWeb and Facebook).”

    Leading the user-generated content ecosystem in India, UC News recently announced We-Media Reward Plan 2.0 for self-publishers, bloggers and independent writers with an initial investment of Rs 50 million. UCWeb is investing Rs 2 billion for driving content distribution in India over the next two years.

    With the changing mobile internet landscape, UCWeb has adopted a strategy of becoming a content distribution platform from being a browsing tool by engaging and aggregating diverse form of content on its platforms—UC Browser and UC News.

    According to web analytics firm StatCounter, UC Browser now holds the highest browser market share in India. UC Browser is now the most popular browser in India in terms of internet usage across all platforms, with a market share of 43.31%, followed by Chrome’s 36.07% and Opera’s 8.34% share. UC Browser is also the dominant browser for mobile internet in India with over 100 million MOUs (as of September 2016).

    According to StatCounter, internet usage in India by desktop and tablet fell from 33.2% in January 2016 to 21% this year. Mobile internet usage jumped from 66.8% to 79% over the same time period.

    Lees ook:

  • Alibaba plans regional distribution hub in Malaysia

    Alibaba plans regional distribution hub in Malaysia

    Alibaba Group has signed an agreement with the Malaysian government covering the establishment of an e-fulfillment hub in Kuala Lumpur and a one-stop online cross-border trading platform.

    The agreement will also include cooperation in e-payment and financing, and development of e-talent training that will fit into Malaysia’s roadmap of transformation into a digital economy.

    The e-hub to be built near the Kuala Lumpur International Airport is under the Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP) initiative which is being undertaken together with the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) and other parties. The facility is envisioned to function as a centralized customs clearance, warehousing and fulfilment facility for Malaysia and the region, to deliver faster clearance for imports and exports.

    “We have set out plans to progress Malaysia’s economy and place it firmly at the center of the global marketplace. To do this we need to harness the assets that we have and provide the support for individuals and businesses to be competitive in the new digital landscape. “The Alibaba Group is at the forefront of private sector development of e-commerce solutions and their ambitions to enable trade, particularly for SMEs, make them the perfect partner in this new initiative,” said Prime Minister Razak.

    Ma proposed the establishment of digital free trade zones for small businesses while attending the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in Russia last June, suggesting that such special trading areas can act as e-commerce hubs linking up markets around the world.

    As part of Malaysia’s DFTZ initiative, the e-hub will provide new commercial opportunities on the established trade route with the country. As more trading routes are covered with new hubs that reflect the needs of the firms participating in the modern economy, a digital global e-road will be created.

    Alibaba has already played a key role in the establishment of the China (Hangzhou) Cross-Border E-Commerce Comprehensive Pilot Free Trade Area which will be connected to the DFTZ in Kuala Lumpur.

    The eWTP’s e-hub concept has been incorporated into Malaysia’s DFTZ which will see the involvement of Alibaba, its subsidiaries and affiliates such as Lazada and Cainiao Network in other areas as well, such as the proposed e-service platform, which, when connected to Alibaba’s OneTouch platform, will link Malaysia directly to the e-commerce pilot area in Hangzhou, China to allow SMEs and businesses to trade conveniently and efficiently between the two countries. Relevant parties from both sides will also explore e-payment and financing opportunities and establish training programs to help incubate startups and develop skillsets in individuals in support of Malaysia’s digital economy development.

    “With innovation throughout the supply chain, support from governments and important private sector collaborations, we will achieve our aim of enabling SMEs and young people to thrive and enjoy in the fruits of the next phase of globalization,” Ma said.

    Lees ook:

  • Korea to launch virtual reality shopping mall

    Korea to launch virtual reality shopping mall

    A virtual reality shopping mall is set to be launched in Korea, backed by the government.

    The Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy says it will be rolling out the mall during this year’s Korea Sale Festa – Korean Black Friday – in October.

    The ministry hopes that consumers will be able to use to shop and place orders and have the goods delivered to their doorstep.

    This video gives an idea of what shoppers can expect when the design is complete.

    According to the ministry, although the global retail industry recognises VR or AR shopping as the industry’s future, key players such as eBay and Alibaba are still in the testing phase.

    Korean VR technology 2

    The ministry is inviting retailers to join its initiative starting this week to establish virtual outlets on the upcoming platform. The deadline for applications is April 10.

    “We’re hoping for our project to provide new business opportunities and create a whole new market,” a ministry official said.

    Lees ook:

  • Alibaba exploring blockchain to counter food fraud

    Alibaba exploring blockchain to counter food fraud

    Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba will work with Australia Post and natural health firm Blackmores to combat the rise of counterfeit food being sold across China.

    The partners said they will work together to increase the traceability of food products and reduce the risk of fraud, and will explore new technologies for the initiative.

    The technologies to be explored include blockchain technology – a decentralised and highly available database – which could obtain crucial details from suppliers about where and how their food was grown and map its journey across the supply chain.

    The technology has the potential to enable up-to-date audits, increasing transparency between producers and consumers.

    Australia Post executive general manager for parcels and StarTrack CEO Bob Black said the project would help guarantee that only genuine Australian products arrive safely into the hands of Chinese consumers. Australia prides itself as a trusted exporter of high quality food.

    “Our food producers have a global reputation as being a clean, green and safe provider of food and we are pleased to help deliver a solution to enhance the integrity of their produce,” Black said.

    Food fraud is known to be one of the biggest issues facing the global food industry, considering the potential health risks associated with adulteration and loss of trust from consumers and governments. In recent years counterfeiters have targeted popular Australian products such as health supplements, beer and wine, honey and cherries.

    Last month, the two companies also signed an agreement to extend Australia Post’s online storefronts beyond China to Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia using the e-commerce network Lazada, which Alibaba has a majority stake.

  • How Alibaba’s Jack Ma Is Building a Truly Global Retail Empire

    How Alibaba’s Jack Ma Is Building a Truly Global Retail Empire

    Jack Ma is one of China’s richest men, with a fortune valued at nearly $30 billion. As executive chairman of Alibaba Group, he leads the dominant force in Chinese e-commerce, a company with a market value of $264 billion and some 450 million customers. A global ambassador for Chinese business, he spent 800 hours aloft last year—­visiting princes, Presidents, and Prime Ministers and lots of mere businesspeople too. “A professional pilot cannot travel that much, or so I’m told,” he boasts.

    Even so, the rich and powerful people who meet with Ma tend to come away from the experience with a fresh nugget of information, either about him or about the still poorly understood digital conglomerate he started with a bunch of friends 18 years ago in the provincial coastal city of Hangzhou. Jim Kim, a physician who is the president of the World Bank, met Ma four years ago over a dinner lasting more than three hours and was startled to find the billionaire wearing sandals, holding Buddhist prayer beads, and sitting cross-legged on his chair. Kim was so taken with Ma’s passion for facilitating global trade by focusing on small-business people that he’s rethinking his international development organization’s approach.

    Others are moved by Ma’s humanity. Jean Liu, president of Chinese ride-hailing startup Didi Chuxing, has known Ma for years and considers him a mentor. (Alibaba is a Didi shareholder.) She recently learned, through family connections rather than from Ma, about how he repeatedly visited a seamstress he had met after learning she was ill. Says Liu: “He genuinely cares about the people around him.”

    Then there’s the President of the United States, who met Ma for the first time a few weeks before his Inauguration. “Trump didn’t know that much about Alibaba,” reports company president ­Michael Evans, a former Goldman Sachs banker and Asia hand who helped set up the powwow. “He was fascinated to hear that Chinese consumers are interested in buying from U.S. small businesses. I don’t think that had occurred to him.” Ma used the sit-down to make a bold promise—that Alibaba would help create 1 million jobs in the U.S. over five years. The pronouncement was music to the President-elect’s ears. “It was a great meeting,” he declared before the cameras in the lobby of Trump Tower, a beaming Ma beside him. “Jack and I are going to do some great things.”

    President Trump isn’t the only one who could stand to learn more about Alibaba. Despite its heft in China and the blockbuster 2014 public offering that raised $25 billion on the New York Stock Exchange and introduced Alibaba to Western investors, Ma’s company remains a mystery to most non-Chinese. There’s a simple reason for that: Few outside the world’s second-largest economy are Alibaba customers. Ma is aware of this knowledge gap. It’s part of what drives him to keep logging frequent-flier miles to educate people about his company and his plans.

    To realize his vision—which relies on technology to buy, sell, finance, and deliver goods on Alibaba’s digital platforms around the world—Ma has been busily recasting himself of late as a global leader. Already he is the first Chinese business executive who can claim to have transcended his homeland for the world stage. In his travels, Ma promotes the lowering of trade barriers, touts his own brand of philanthropy, and supports causes such as primary-school education. His version of globalization is carefully calibrated and expansive enough to be consistent with the goals of his own President, Xi Jinping, as well as with Trump’s America-first positioning.

    As with so many effective leaders, Ma’s motives are complex. China is already a huge consumer market and one that’s still growing fast, but Ma knows that eventually he will need to conquer new territories for Alibaba to continue on its current trajectory. Like other Chinese champions, Alibaba has thrived at home while foreign competitors have thus far been stymied from entering his turf. If that changes, foreign markets will be even more crucial. Ma also needs for ­Alibaba—plagued by criticism over the profusion of counterfeit wares for sale on its sites—to develop a reputation as trusted around the world as Jack Ma is cherished by his fellow bold-faced names.

    Ma’s opportunity is unique. After centuries of stagnation, his country has recently reassumed its position as a world leader—just as Alibaba, one of its marquee corporate names, has joined the ranks of world-beating companies. With characteristic intuition, Ma, 52, seems to realize that this is his moment to go beyond merely being famous and take his place among the globe’s revered business leaders.

    -Fortune

    Lees ook:

  • Lazada brings Alibaba’s biggest bazaar to Singaporean shoppers

    Lazada brings Alibaba’s biggest bazaar to Singaporean shoppers

    China’s Alibaba Group has teamed up with online retailer Lazada to bring popular shopping site Taobao to Singapore, in a move to deepen the reach of the Chinese e-commerce giant into Asia ahead of US rival Amazon.

    Last year, Alibaba made headlines with a US$1 billion (S$1.4 billion) deal for control of Lazada, giving the Chinese retailer greater access to South-east Asia and closer to a goal of shedding its home-market reliance.

    The dedicated online store, Taobao Collection, went live this week, and links shoppers in Singapore directly to Taobao through Lazada’s website (taobao.lazada.sg).

    The collection targets shoppers in Singapore who want to shop directly from Taobao and are more comfortable with a local connection.

    Some 400,000 items, from electronics to home products, will be specially curated for the Singapore market, Mr Alexis Lanternier, CEO of Lazada Singapore told TODAY.

    The customised range is selected based on top selling products and customer reviews, from the existing line-up of about 1.5 billion offerings on the Taobao website, he said.

    The idea, according to Mr Lanternier, is to address some of the challenges that shoppers here face while shopping from Taobao, such as lowering shipping fees. By doing away with external agents, Taobao Collection is able to offer a flat delivery rate of S$2.99 per order.

    “Lazada is aiming at solving difficulties that currently exist when shopping from Taobao, enabling an effortless way for them to shop. The site will be translated into English (from Chinese) and shoppers don’t have to worry about shipping, payment methods and returns. Shoppers can also track their orders end-to-end on Lazada and can shop exactly as they would on Lazada Singapore,” Mr Lanternier said.

    Taobao’s entry into Singapore, according to industry players, is likely to have far-reaching implications even as it expands the playing field for e-commerce and creates a more dynamic landscape for retailers.

    “It will definitely require online retailers to continuously think on their feet to come up with new and fresh offerings, in order to keep their customers engaged. To ultimately drive Singapore’s weakening retail sector, online and offline retailers should synergise with — instead of cannibalise — each other,” said Mr Hyun Wook Cho, Qoo10 Singapore country manager.

    With more than 2.5 million registered users in Singapore, however, Qoo10 remains confident of its future prospects as an online shopping platform for Singaporeans, as it offers affordable products and understands the local market.

    “Singaporeans are highly savvy online shoppers who no longer only go for attractive prices, but also look for value-added services to have enjoyable shopping experiences,” Mr Cho added, highlighting the company’s interactive Live10 app which serves as a community chatroom where users can broadcast live demos or shopping tips to their followers.

    Meanwhile, avid shoppers in Singapore welcomed Alibaba’s move to bring its largest shopping platform much closer.

    “We now hope to have access to Taobao products much faster and expect them to be cheaper with no agents in between. Earlier, it used to take almost a month to get the products,” said 19-year-old Siglap resident Mr Nguyen Duc Thanh who buys electronic products for himself and others from Taobao at least once a month.

    “I would want to shop more now that Taobao is easily accessible through Lazada. I have always wanted to do so but given the language and other issues (related to agents), I was hesitant,” said Dakota resident Mr Andrew Fang, 30, who is keen on buying more home products.
    According to Qoo10’s Mr Cho, e-commerce players who successfully create lasting experiences that resonate with their user bases will be the ones to survive today’s increasingly competitive landscape.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Lazada launching website to sell Taobao products to Singapore shoppers

    Lazada launching website to sell Taobao products to Singapore shoppers

    Alibaba’s bringing its teeming Taobao internet marketplace to Singapore.

    Alibaba Group Holding and Lazada Group are teaming up to sell select Taobao products direct to shoppers in the affluent island-state, striking their first partnership since the Chinese company took control of Southeast Asia’s largest e-commerce operator a year ago.

    Lazada is launching a dedicated website that links directly to Alibaba’s largest shopping platform, said Alexis Lanternier, chief executive officer of Lazada Singapore. To start with, the new site will add 400,000 Taobao products that aren’t available now to an existing lineup of about 5 million products, he said.

    In linking Taobao with Lazada, the two are trying to ease a process that’s gained momentum in recent years. Bargain hunters in Singapore already buy directly from Alibaba’s Chinese marketplace, an eBay-like online bazaar where small merchants and individuals hawk items from electronics to bed-sheets. Its items often go for a fraction of retail prices in Singapore, the world’s most expensive city according to the Economist Intelligence Unit.

    Many people however buy through agents who help with English translations, payments and deliveries – for a fee. That’s led to problems with returns, Lanternier said. Scams may be another issue: Taobao re-joined the Notorious Markets list last year, a name-and-shame pool of global markets the US Trade Representative considers rife with counterfeits.

    Taobao can be difficult to police because it’s an open marketplace, but Lazada will take swift action to protect consumers if it’s notified of fakes, Lanternier said.

    “We want to solve those difficulties, enabling an effortless way for them to shop,” Lanternier said, sharing the new initiative for the first time. “Now it’s all translated into English and you don’t have to worry about shipping options, payment method, returning. You are going to be able to track your order end-to-end.”

    The move is another small step abroad for Alibaba, which has ambitions to expand beyond a slowing Chinese home market. The company and Lazada are now preparing to deepen their operations in the fast-growing region, anticipating Amazon.com’s entry this year.

    Lees ook:

  • E-commerce firms struggle to gain profits

    E-commerce firms struggle to gain profits

    Large international e-commerce firms such as Amazon and Alibaba only began making profits after 10 first years of operation. The big losses of Vietnam’s e-commerce firms were foreseeable.

    Before it was taken over by Alibaba in 2016, Lazada Group reported loss of $334 million in 2015, twice as much as the loss the year before. VNG’s latest financial report showed the company has incurred a VND100 billion loss since it began injecting money into Tiki.vn in 2016.

    Analysts pointed out that orders from clients must be dealt with through tens of different stages before goods can reach clients, and each stage can gobble up one part of investors’ earnings.

    Investors, for example, have to spend big money on storehouses. It is estimated that Lazada and Tiki have to spend no less than VND1 billion just to run one storehouse in HCMC. As such, with three operational storehouses, they have to spend no less than VND48 billion a year.

    With tens of thousands of orders each day, e-commerce firms will need high numbers of deliverymen, thus bearing high financial cost. Both Lazada and Tiki have to employ deliverymen and outsource the service.

    Lazada Vietnam has 200 workers in Lazada Express, but it still has to join forces with Giaohangnhanh, VNPost and Viettel Post to fulfill orders.

    Besides, the expenses on marketing are also enormous which eat up investors’ profits. Lazada Vietnam had to spend big money on ads in the first years of operation to lure more customers. Some sources said the firm once spent up to $2 million a month on ad campaigns.

    Chotot.vn also reportedly spent billions of dong on the ad clips with the play of comic actors. Meanwhile, Shopee.vn offers free delivery to clients nationwide applied to orders with bills of VND150,000 and higher. With more than 10,000 orders a day, Shopee.vn had to pay nearly VND1 billion on the program.

    E-commerce firms not only have to pay high for input costs and marketing campaigns, but also have to cut selling prices to compete with others. A branding expert who asked to be anonymous said some firms accept to sell goods at a loss of 10-20 percent in order to lure customers. In peak promotion season, the figure could be up to 50 percent.

    The highest risk for e-commerce firms is that they may lose orders because of the COD (cash on delivery) payment method. Customers can cancel orders at the last minute, though firms have to pay expenses to deal with the orders.

  • Alibaba Group Investments in Delivery Start Ups

    Alibaba Group Investments in Delivery Start Ups

    Alibaba and main rival JD.com will enjoy fast growth in the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) market, according to research from Goldman Sachs, as more people in China turn to online shopping for daily grocery items like food snacks, body care products and soft drinks.

    The online grocery retail market is currently substantial and will continue to grow and support the two major e-commerce platforms in China, as they take away business from offline Chinese stores in the coming years and invest in a new type of courier service, according to a report published by investment bank Goldman Sachs.

    Alibaba will use start-ups courier businesses, which works much like Uber for delivery, and similar to Instacart. The start-ups run lean, with little infrastructure. When a customer logs onto the Alibaba website or app and purchases groceries, they will send contractor couriers, many of who ride electric bikes, to supermarkets, convenience stores and local groceries as well, where store employees bag the orders for the courier to pick up.

    While delivery start-ups like this have existed for the last couple years, they have gained position since a boost of funding from Alibaba and JD.com.

    In hundreds of cities around China, consumers can order their groceries on the Alibaba or JD.com app and have them delivered to their door within an hour.

    The company is still looking for the better ways to bring perishables like fresh seafood, meat and vegetables to its customers, according to Goldman Sachs analysts led by Ronald Keung. Last year both companies finished building its nationwide fulfilment centres, enabling more than 200 cities in China to enjoy same or next day delivery for groceries ordered online.

    “We expect Tmall and JD’s new supermarket initiatives to drive further online growth in the supermarket segment,” said Keung in the report.

    “These will be enabled by their logistics improvements, wider FMCG brand participation and ongoing new user adoption. We see the FMCG market big enough for two online winners.”

    FMCG currently accounts for 37 percent of all retail spending in China and the market is expected to increase on average by 6 percent annually to reach $2.6 trillion in 2020.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Alibaba to open Malaysian distribution hub

    Alibaba to open Malaysian distribution hub

    Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba is to open a Malaysian distribution hub at KLIA Aeropolis to serve its growing business in Southeast Asia.

    According to unnamed sources quoted by financial press, Alibaba founder Jack Ma and Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak will announce the project at an event in Kuala Lumpur next week.

    The new centre will be a major feature of a 1 million sqm KLIA Aeropolis development adjacent to the city’s international airport, under development by Malaysia Airports Holdings. The plan is to create a regional distribution hub, boosting air freight traffic and attracting US$1.58 billion of domestic and foreign investment.

    “Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) has existing facility for Alibaba Group to pilot their distribution services here, and if (Alibaba) decide to expand in the future, there is the option to build more on other (undeveloped) sites in KLIA Aeropolis,” one source told Reuters.

    While Alibaba invested $1 billion to buy Singapore-headquartered online retail Lazada and has built a 14.4 per cent stake in Singapore Post, this will mark the company’s first investment in Malaysia.

    The KLIA Aeropolis is part of a planned Digital Free Trade Zone being established in Malaysia, details of which will be released during Ma’s visit to the country next week. Ma has been appointed a digital economy advisor to the Malaysian government.

    Lees ook:

  • Rakuten drone network under development

    Rakuten drone network under development

    US company AirMap is helping develop technology to manage a Rakuten drone network in Japan.

    Rakuten, Japan’s giant online retail platform, and AirMap hope drones will be allowed to be used at low altitude.

    Rakuten set a world record early this year for the longest drone delivery, flying a container of hot soup 12 km to surfers on a beach.

    CEO Hiroshi “Mickey” Mikitani expects drones to revolutionise the delivery sector. “The capacity in the skies above us is far greater than in the roads beneath our feet,” he has written in a blog post.

    Global rival Amazon is also making a push into drone deliveries.

    With more than 14,000 employees and revenue last year of more than ¥781.9 billion (US$6.8 billion), it is pushing to become a tech giant on the scale of Alibaba or Google.

    So committed is Mikitani to going global that he made English the official company language in 2010. This helped the company dispense with the honorifics and deference of Japanese, and also made it easier to hire foreigners, reports CNN Tech.

    Rakuten takes Japan’s “high-quality, really customer-oriented service mind” and mixes it “with the Silicon Valley, little bit techie, dynamic culture,” says Mikitani.

    A household name in Japan, Rakuten spent $900 million to buy messaging app Viber in 2014, and has also invested in startups such as US transportation company Lyft and Pinterest.

    Lees ook:

  • Lazada Indonesia aligns business model with Alibaba

    Lazada Indonesia aligns business model with Alibaba

    The Indonesian unit of Lazada said it plans to focus on adding small merchants to its online marketplace, emulating the strategy of Alibaba Group Holding, the Chinese e-commerce company that acquired it last year.

    Florian Holm, Lazada Indonesia’s co-chief executive, told reporters on Wednesday the company will launch a campaign in April which will also mark the first anniversary of its acquisition by Alibaba to attract more small businesses online. It already partners some 15,000 third-party sellers in Indonesia. Holm said Lazada also plans to enable some merchants to sell products to shoppers in China through Alibaba’s Taobao e-commerce platform.

    “We are learning from Alibaba and trying to apply its learnings in how we can foster more entrepreneurship,” Holm said. “We want to help all the people out there who have great business ideas … because in e-commerce you can try with minimal cost.”

    Lazada operates in six Southeast Asian countries, and entered Indonesia in 2012 as an online retailer buying merchandise from electronic and fashion companies to sell on its website. It began selling products from third-party merchants the following year, and according to Holm these now account for more than 80% of products sold on the platform, and up to 30% of products shipped from Lazada’s three warehouses in the country.

    Lazada was one of the largest e-commerce operations in Indonesia, but Alibaba’s $1 billion acquisition came at a time when it was facing increasingly stiff competition from local rivals like SoftBank-backed Tokopedia, Lippo Group’s MatahariMall.com, and Bukalapak, which is funded by a local media mogul.

    Small businesses play a large role in the Indonesian economy due to the lack of modern retail outlets outside major cities, and this is fueling the exponential growth of e-commerce, which is estimated to rise from $1.7 billion in 2015 to $46 billion in 2025.

    The Lazada acquisition has prompted speculation about the possible rollout in Indonesia of Alipay, Alibaba’s affiliated payment service. Holm said adding payment options is always a priority at Lazada, but said there is “no further news” on Alipay.

    Lees ook:

  • Alibaba plans technology boost

    Alibaba plans technology boost

    Alibaba plans to form independent research and development teams to build up core technologies that support its vision of serving 2 billion people in the future.

    The giant e-commerce and technology company unveiled its grand plan at its inaugural tech summit, “New Technology, New Future”, at its Hangzhou headquarters in China. About 5000 engineers attended, plus thousands of other staff members, technical and otherwise, watched via live stream.

    “Alibaba’s success in commerce has outshone its light of technology over the past 18 years,” Alibaba Group chief technology officer Jeff Zhang told the summit, describing it as “a tech-driven company that seamlessly combines business and technology”.

    Over the past several years, Alibaba has rolled out a wide range technologies for an array events and business areas, including Alibaba’s 11.11 Global Shopping Festival, payments, cloud computing and logistics. Zhang said Alibaba had reached “a critical point in technology innovation” and should gear up to develop more core technologies for future success.

    Executive chairman Jack Ma said he expected Alibaba to become the world’s fifth-largest economy in the next 20 years, serving 2 billion customers, creating 100 million job opportunities and enabling 10 million businesses to make profits. To hit that goal, he said the new economy he envisioned should be built on the continuing development of technological infrastructure.

    “An economy that serves 2 billion people must be backed by solid technological capacity. To shoulder the future responsibility, we will build Alibaba’s own ‘NASA”, Ma said, referring to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, an organisation he admires for what it has contributed to mankind through technological advances.

    “We will establish new teams to develop the core technologies of machine learning, chips, the Internet of Things, operating systems and biometric identification.”

    He said Alibaba once developed figurative “hand grenades”, but the new R&D-focussed team and mechanisms would allow it to develop “missiles”.

    Ma said Alibaba needed to have a discerning, independent eye when judging technology trends. Technology developed by Alibaba should empower people in the virtual economy, making it more inclusive and creating opportunities. Technology needed to ensure the new economy would be sustainable and lead to its participants having happy and healthy lives.

    Speaking about computers and robots, and the possibility they might one day replace or displace humans, Ma said machine learning should help humans do things that otherwise could not be done. Machines should serve as assistants to humans, rather than robbing them of human pleasure or becoming rivals.

    Alibaba has more than 20,000 engineers on staff, including more than 500 with doctoral degrees. Among its 36 partners — the group’s powerful decision-making body — nine come from a technology background.

    Alibaba has been investing in new technologies for many years, and has developed many key technologies of its own. These include…

    Cloud computing

    Apsara: A super computational engine developed by Alibaba Cloud. It offers clients powerful computing capability, robust technology services and software that can affect broader society.

    Database systems

    OceanBase: The first applied large-scale financial database system in China, developed by Alibaba Group and Ant Financial.

    Artificial intelligence

    ET: Artificial intelligence services that can be broadly applied to different areas in society. Cases include the Hangzhou City Brain master plan, which has enhanced the city transportation department’s efforts to ease traffic congestion. It has also helped Guangzhou International Airport with flight management.

    Personal recommendations: Tailored shopping pages on Taobao/Tmall with a most-suitable product recommendation for each buyer. About 6.7 billion personalised shopping pages were created during Alibaba’s 11.11 Global Shopping Festival last year.

    Ali Xiaomi: A smart personal shopping assistant on Alibaba’s e-commerce sites. About 95 per cent of daily inquiries can be handled by Ali Xiaomi.

    Ant Financial’s smart customer service: This can answer about 97 per cent of daily inquiries.

    Quantum computing/communications

    The Chinese Academy of Sciences -­ Alibaba Quantum Computing Laboratory was established in 2015. Quantum cryptographic data-transfer services became available on Alibaba Cloud this year.

    Virtual reality

    Buy+: Offers the world’s first end-to-end VR shopping experience, in which the entire transaction can be completed, from browsing, to order, to payment.

    Biometric recognition

    Facial recognition payment: Alipay enables facial-recognition payment with an accuracy of more than 99 per cent. It is listed among the top 10 technology breakthroughs this year by the MIT Technology Review.

    Alibaba is also using biometrics to recognise eye patterns, irises, palm prints and handwriting.

    Geolocation technology

    QianXun location network technology: Using BeiDou satellite technology, this can achieve a positioning accuracy of 1 millimetre.

    Operating systems

    YunOS: The world’s third-largest mobile operating system works in mobile phones, cars, TVs, tablets and other Internet of Things items.

    Blockchain

    Ant Financial has started deploying this technology for charitable donations. Blockchains are a database — an open ledger that records transactions between two parties in an immediate, secure, verifiable and permanent way.

    Smart logistics

    Alibaba’s smart-logistics technology includes last-mile delivery robot and its intelligent warehousing system.

    -Susan Wang

  • China main market for Korean online industry

    China main market for Korean online industry

    Sales of South Korea’s online shopping malls rose dramatically in recent months helped by the growing number of Chinese customers.

    Data released this week shows the Korean online industry growth is happening amid China’s retaliation against South Korea over Seoul’s plans to deploy an advanced US missile defense system on its soil.

    WeMakePrice, a major online shopping mall, said its sales on Alibaba Group’s Tmall rose 100 per cent in January compared with the same period last year. The comparable figure was 50 per cent for February.

    “We don’t expect any drastic decline in the sales in Tmall, one of the biggest online shopping sites in China, unless Chinese consumers stage a boycott of South Korean products,” a WeMakePrice official said.

    GMarket, another online shopping mall, said its sales to Chinese consumers surged 18 per cent in 2016 from a year earlier, and the trend is similar for the first two months of this year.

    A possible decline in the number of Chinese tourists visiting South Korea, however, may adversely affect the South Korea online industry as many Chinese tourists place orders at South Korean duty-free shops online before picking up goods in person while touring South Korea, industry sources said.

    China has been retaliating against Seoul’s decision reached in July to have the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system deployed on South Korean soil later this year. South Korea says the missile system will not target China but only counter threats from North Korea.

    In the latest retaliation, Chinese travel agencies suspended sales of tour packages to South Korea last week.