Retail News CRM

Tag: aliexpress

  • Jack Ma’s strategy in final letter to shareholders

    Jack Ma’s strategy in final letter to shareholders

    In his final letter to shareholders, Alibaba founder and executive chairman Jack Ma made a case for globalisation despite recent uncertainties in US-China trade relations, consumer trends, stock markets and the manufacturing industry.

    This is the third time that Alibaba has faced a setback in the global economy over the 19 years, but experience suggests there are opportunities behind the anxiety and friction.

    “The only question is how we should pivot,” he said.

    “Monumental challenges give rise to monumental opportunities, and Alibaba is well-positioned because we are adept at weathering adversity.”

    Ma added that Alibaba’s mission to make it easy to do business anywhere is precisely suited to the current environment, in which doing business is becoming harder.

    “We have spent the past three years to develop a trading system that serves small and medium enterprises and consumers around the world,” he said, referencing the company’s goals of ‘global buy’, ‘global sell’, ‘global delivery’ and ‘global travel’.

    “I am excited that we are able to deploy Alibaba’s technology, experience and resources, thereby establishing and improving a new and inclusive global trade system for the future.”

    Alibaba claims to have helped 200,000 brick-and-mortar retailers to implement online and offline integration in line with its New Retail vision.

    Ma reaffirmed the company’s commitment to sustainable growth for at least 102 years, with the goal of serving two billion global consumers, empowering 10 million profitable businesses and creating 100 million jobs by 2036, even as he prepares to step down from the board in September 2019, when CEO Daniel Zhang will take over his role as executive chairman.

    But Ma said he will “always be happy to engage in any discussion about the company at any time in the future” and will remain a shareholder in the company and partner in the Alibaba partnership.

    He thanked Alibaba’s shareholders for their trust and support and promised that the company would not stop innovating to solve problems and create value, market opportunity and profitability.

    Lees ook:

  • Alibaba’s Robust Ecosystem Supercharges 2018 11.11 Global Shopping Festival

    Alibaba’s Robust Ecosystem Supercharges 2018 11.11 Global Shopping Festival

    Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) today officially kicked off the 2018 11.11 Global Shopping Festival in China’s capital, promising this year’s mega-event will be the largest-ever in terms of scale and reach.

    Businesses within the Alibaba ecosystem will jointly offer hundreds of millions of consumers an enriching experience that supports their pursuit of high-quality products, entertainment and fast, reliable services. The Festival will also demonstrate the enthusiasm of consumers and brands embracing Alibaba’s New Retail strategy – the convergence of online and offline retail through technology.

    “This year marks the 10th anniversary of 11.11. On the back of China’s explosive digital transformation, the Festival’s astounding growth over the past decade has powered the steady growth of quality consumption sought by Chinese shoppers. The evolution also showcases the development of the Alibaba ecosystem over time expanding well beyond e-commerce,” said Alibaba Group CEO Daniel Zhang.

    Zhang conceived 11.11 as a concept a decade ago, turning “Single’s Day” on the Chinese calendar into the world’s largest annual shopping event. The first 11.11 in 2009 brought in US$7.8 million in gross merchandise value (GMV). Total GMV generated in 2017 was US$25.3 billion. Over the past decade, China’s number of Internet users has risen to 802 million and 98% of them are mobile1. Alibaba has captured the hearts and minds of these Chinese consumers and expects to keep leading the way in retail innovation.

    “Over the last two years, we have pioneered the concept of New Retail to accelerate the digital transformation of the offline. We are excited by the impressive results achieved to date and will continue to be the driving force innovating for merchants and customers in the coming decades. We aim to become both the number-one business partner for brands and the number-one shopping destination for consumers,” Zhang added.

    This year, 500,000 items will be available for pre-order on Tmall from October 20. Customers can enjoy additional promotional coupons on Mobile Taobao and Mobile Tmall. Specifically, the 2018 11.11 Global Shopping Festival will have the following features made possible by New Retail and interactive initiatives:

    • Brand Innovation Tmall will continue to give brands access to new digital capabilities – 180,000 brands from China and around the world will participate in this year’s celebration. 200,000 smart stores in China across the apparel, fast-moving consumer goods, beauty products, automobile and home décor industries will help boost traffic to offline and online shopping destinations. Tmall Global provides 3,700 categories of imported goods from 75 countries and regions on its platform.
    • International Consumers Tmall World, AliExpress and Lazada will bring the event to hundreds of millions of overseas users, making 11.11 a truly global event. Lazada will host its first 11.11 Shopping Festival across six countries in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam, offering more engaged consumer experience and the biggest discounts of the year from LazMall and Lazada marketplace.
    • Participation of Local Services Ele.me’s on-demand platform will provide delivery services for select Starbucks stores across 11 Chinese cities, including full-service coverage in Beijing and Shanghai. In addition, 150,000 merchant partners of Koubei will offer half-price discounts on catering, beauty and hair salons and karaoke bars.
    • New Opportunities for Small Merchants 200,000 mom-and-pop stores powered by Alibaba’s Ling Shou Tong (which translates as “retail integrated”) will provide online sales promotions, along with augmented reality-based red packets that offer discounts at 3,000 “Tmall Corner Stores.” Rural Taobao will also bring coupons to its services in 800 counties across 29 provinces in China.
    • Dining and Supermarket Hema supermarket will designate 11.11 signature stores featuring a number of promotions. RT-Mart will complete the makeover of its nearly 400 stores, fully equipping them with New Retail capabilities.
    • Star-studded Entertainment Tmall Collection’s “See Now, Buy Now” Fashion Show will be broadcast live on ten platforms including Taobao, Youku, Weibo and Toutiao on October 20, starting at 6pm in China. This will provide millions of customers the opportunity to buy their favorite items on the spot and vote for their favorite looks to create a trend report. In addition, the signature countdown Gala will be held on November 10 in Shanghai’s Mercedes Benz Arena, featuring renowned stars.
    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Alibaba to thank New Retail for Its record sales

    Alibaba to thank New Retail for Its record sales

    Continuing momentum in Alibaba Group’s New Retail business helped drive a 56 per cent year-on-year growth in sales for the quarter to December 31.

    The performance of the New Retail category – which combines its online (non-marketplace) and fast-growing offline retail businesses, including investments in Sun Art Retail and other established businesses – was a core highlight of the quarter, according to CEO Daniel Zhang.

    “Alibaba had another great quarter driven by the continued strength of the Chinese consumer and the wide and innovative range of services we provide for merchants and consumers,” he said.

    “We are excited by the continued momentum in New Retail, which came to life during another record-breaking 11.11 Global Shopping Festival. We expanded the scale and footprint of our New Retail initiatives with the vision of delivering true convergence of the online and offline consumer experience through mobile and enterprise technology.”

    Maggie Wu, CFO, said the group’s core business generated significant free cash flow of US$7.1 billion during the quarter, “enabling us to invest in New Retail, cloud computing, digital entertainment and globalisation”.

    Revenue from core online commerce (marketplace) activities rose 57 per cent to US$11.257 billion and from cloud computing by 104 per cent to $553 million. Digital media and entertainment sales rose 33 per cent to $832 million.

    The number of annual active consumers on Alibaba Group’s China retail marketplaces reached 515 million, an increase of 27 million from the year to September 30.

    Net income was $3.586 billion with operating margin was 31 per cent and adjusted EBITA margin for the core e-commerce business 53 per cent.

    Group highlights

    Alibaba summarised group highlights in its earnings statement, including:

    Taobao: Artificial Intelligence (AI) drove user engagement, with the Taobao app’s intelligent personal recommendations and innovative content formats continuing to drive strong growth in user engagement, conversion and annual active consumers. “We continue to invest in machine learning technologies which we apply to use cases that match consumer intent and product selection to deliver the best consumer experience.”

    Tmall: Tmall recorded 43 per cent year-on-year growth in physical goods GMV during the quarter, reflecting robust growth across all major categories including apparel and accessories, consumer electronics (mobile phones) and FMCG. “Tmall continues to be the platform of choice for the world’s top brands, with Givenchy, Giorgio Armani Beauty and Volvo establishing Tmall flagship stores and Longines, Hennessy, Dom Perignon and Baccarat joining our Luxury Pavilion in this quarter.”

    11.11: Last year’s annual November 11 Global Shopping Festival exceeded the previous year’s records, with GMV settled through Alipay on Alibaba’s marketplaces up 39 per cent year-on-year to $25.9 billion. “The continuous success of this record-breaking event is enabled by our resilient and scalable technology, as well as payments and logistics infrastructure that is capable of operating at massive scale.”

    New Retail: Rapid expansion through partnerships and innovative technologies included the opening of five new Hema fresh grocery stores in Shanghai, Beijing, Ningbo and Suzhou, taking the network to 25 at year end. “Hema exemplifies the convergence of online and offline retail by leveraging our in-store proprietary technology, digitised supply chain system, consumer insights and mobile ecosystem to provide a seamless experience for consumers.”

    In November, Alibaba formed a strategic alliance with Sun Art Group, the leading hypermarket and supermarket chain by revenue in China with over 440 stores nationwide. “Through this partnership, we aim to equip traditional retailers with our proprietary technology and know-how in online offline convergence to implement their digital transformation. In addition, the partnership with Sun Art will also enable us to accelerate the expansion of our New Retail offerings with national scale.

    International:  Alibaba’s cross-border and international retail businesses continue to show strong growth. Revenue from international commerce retail business reached $727 million in the, representing 93 per cent year-on-year growth, driven by its Southeast Asian platform Lazada and its global retail marketplace AliExpress. “While the markets for Southeast Asia and cross-border commerce remain very competitive, they are in the early innings of the game. We are optimistic about the long-term secular growth prospects of our international markets and will therefore continue to make significant investments for market share growth and focusing on the best customer experience.”

    Cainiao Network: Alibaba’s logistics division, Cainiao Network, processed 812 million orders during the 11.11 event. Cainiao Network operates an electronic shipping label system that standardises shipping data into structured formats, which enables efficient pick-and-pack operations for merchants and sorting and routing operations for delivery partners. “The advantages of this system have resulted in broad adoption by merchants and logistics service providers, both on and off our platforms, putting us in position to serve the growing consumption economy in China and roll out our New Retail strategy.”

    Cloud Computing:  Cloud computing revenue grew 104 per cent year-over-year to $553 million, driven by both robust growth in paying customers and revenue mix toward higher value-add product.  “In the December quarter, Alibaba Cloud launched 396 new products and features and continued to introduce proprietary AI technologies to tackle real-world challenges, such as traffic planning and optimising efficiency in manufacturing and airport operations. Alibaba Cloud continues to expand its customer base across a variety of industries.”

    Alibaba Cloud customers include Watsons China, carmaker Geely, and Beijing Capital International Airport.

    Digital Media and Entertainment: During the quarter, Youku video’s daily average subscribers more than doubled year-on-year, driven by several original drama series and shows that became popular hits with users.

    AI and innovation: Alibaba says its AI-powered voice assistant, Tmall Genie, surpassed 1 million unit sales since its official launch in July and the end of the year. “Tmall Genie is supported by a growing collection of sales and services and is an effective vehicle for offering a comprehensive set of every-day living applications within the Alibaba ecosystem,” the company said.

    In January, Alibaba’s Institute of Data Science Technologies (iDST), its AI research arm, developed a deep-learning neural network for natural language processing that scored higher than humans on a Stanford reading-comprehension test, the first time a machine has outperformed humans on such a test. “This development underscores Alibaba’s commitment to technology research which we believe builds the foundation for our growth in the long run.”

    Ant Financial: Alibaba Group agreed to take a 33 per cent equity stake in Ant Financial that will strengthen its strategic relationship pursuant to the series of agreements reached with Ant Financial in 2014. “We believe deepening our relationship through an equity stake in Ant Financial will bring key strategic benefits to us, including advancing our New Retail strategy with mobile payments, increasing user acquisition and retention through collaboration with the Alipay digital wallet (Alipay Wallet), and enhancing the execution of our international expansion.”

    The number of Alipay Wallet’s daily active users more than doubled during the quarter on a year-on-year basis.

  • Alibaba tipped to record solid quarterly revenue growth

    Alibaba tipped to record solid quarterly revenue growth

    Alibaba Group Holding, the world’s largest e-commerce company, is expected to report another strong quarter of sales in the three months to September 30, as its preparations intensify for the Singles’ Day online shopping festival next week.

    Analysts estimated New York-listed Alibaba’s total second-quarter revenue for its fiscal year that ends March would increase about 50 per cent year on year.

    “We model total revenue to grow 51.7 per cent to 33.64 billion yuan (HK$38.55 billion) versus [market analysts’] consensus estimate of 33.94 billion yuan,” Alicia Yap, the head of regional internet research at Citi Research, said in a report published ahead of Alibaba’s earnings announcement on Wednesday.

    Yap estimated Alibaba’s gross merchandise volume, the total amount of goods sold through the company’s vast online retail platforms, to have grown 22 per cent year on year to 872 billion yuan in the past quarter.

    Citi maintains a “buy” rating on Alibaba shares, and has raised its target price to US$133, up from the previous US$112.

    In an open letter to shareholders early this month, Alibaba chief executive Daniel Zhang Yong said: “During fiscal year 2016, our China retail marketplaces reached a historical milestone when annual gross merchandise volume transaction surpassed 3 trillion yuan, making Alibaba Group the largest retail ecosystem in the world.”

    In the three months to June, Alibaba reported a 59 per cent year on year jump in revenue to 32.15 billion yuan. The gross merchandise volume transacted on its China retail platforms rose 24 per cent to 837 billion yuan.

    Alibaba, which owns the South China Morning Post, runs four business segments – core commerce, cloud computing, digital media and entertainment, and innovation initiatives.

    Citi estimated Alibaba’s revenue from its core commerce business would reach 28.18 billion yuan in the quarter to September, up from 27.24 billion yuan in the quarter to June.

    That segment comprises the China and international online marketplaces operating in retail and wholesale commerce, including Taobao Marketplace, Tmall.com, Juhuasuan, 1688.com, AliExpress and Lazada.

    Citi predicted Alibaba’s cloud computing revenue would reach 1.56 billion yuan in the three months to September. Led by subsidiary Alibaba Cloud, it had revenue of 1.24 billion yuan in the quarter to June.

    Digital media and entertainment revenue was estimated by Citi to have reached 3.35 billion yuan in the past quarter. This segment, which includes UCWeb and Youku Tudou, had revenue of 3.13 billion yuan in the June quarter

    Alibaba’s innovation initiatives segment was forecast by Citi to have posted revenue of 550 million yuan in the three months to September, compared with 535 million yuan in the June quarter. This segment includes the YunOS mobile operating system and web mapping and navigation software AutoNavi.

    We want to offer a large variety of daily necessities to the city’s consumers

    Daniel Zhang Yong, Alibaba chief executive

    Last week, Alibaba said its introduction of the Singles’ Day shopping extravaganza and the Tmall.hk platform to Hong Kong would ramp up e-commerce services outside the mainland.

    “We want to offer a large variety of daily necessities to the city’s consumers,” Zhang said at the launch of Alibaba’s 11.11 Global Shopping Festival in Hong Kong.

    That kicked off a flurry of activities ahead of Singles’ Day, an annual event held on November 11 that will see billions of dollars of goods transacted on Alibaba’s online retail platforms within 24 hours, making it the world’s biggest online shopping event.

    At last year’s 11.11 festival, Alibaba posted a 60 per cent year on year increase in gross merchandise volume to 91.2 billion yuan.

    Daiwa Capital Markets analyst John Choi said in a report that sentiment on Alibaba was positive as “most investors now seem to have a better understanding of Alibaba’s ecosystem”. Daiwa has a “buy” rating on Alibaba.

    Lees ook:

  • Alibaba sales soar on international expansion

    Alibaba sales soar on international expansion

    Alibaba sales have soared in the first quarter of its new fiscal year, with overall revenue growth pushing even higher than last quarter’s stellar result.

    Streaming entertainment and cloud computing boosted the business, driving revenue up 59 per cent in the June quarter to 32.15 billion yuan (US$4.8 billion).

    In a contrast to the last reporting period, it is international that has shown the most growth, with revenues rising by 123 per cent. Although this figure is aided by the consolidation of the Lazada business, it is also the result of some good numbers from AliExpress.

    That said, China retail remains the largest part of the group, accounting for just over 73 per cent of revenues. Here performance was strong, with revenues rising by 49 per cent – partly thanks to a combination of the addition of 11 million more active buyers and higher average transaction values over the prior quarter. A sharp increase in marketing spend by those brands and merchants using Alibaba’s various sites also made a significant contribution to the hike in revenues.

    Alibaba’s role as a facilitator for Western brands wanting to sell into China continues to be the company’s main commercial advantage. Its ability to work closely with those merchants to improve performance will benefit the revenue streams of both parties, as well as creating a more attractive and compelling offer for consumers.

    Despite its success at home, Alibaba has struggled to gain traction in already established markets like the US. While this was once a stated ambition, and perhaps remains a long term goal, it is off the agenda for the short term. This is the correct strategy: chasing lower margin, profit eroding international gains for the sake of vanity makes little sense.

    That said, this does not mean that Alibaba’s international ambitions are entirely on hold – as the latest results show. Tactically, Alibaba has decided to focus on high growth markets where commerce is more embryonic. The acquisition of a controlling interest in Lazada, the Southeast Asian eCommerce group, is testament to this.

    While Lazada has grown into a sizeable business, it has a number of challenges including on the delivery, payment and fulfilment front, where it has struggled to optimise the offering. Alibaba, through its expertise and financial muscle, should be able to remedy this. It will also, over the medium term, strengthen the international brands available making the site more compelling and interesting for shoppers.

    The Lazada model represents the approach Alibaba is likely to take to international growth and expansion, and this will yield good long term results.

    With both international and domestic sales forging ahead, and with new areas like cloud computing making a better contribution, Alibaba is firmly on an upward trajectory.

    Lees ook:

  • The seven reasons for Alibaba’s success ; Alibaba’s development and framework

    The seven reasons for Alibaba’s success ; Alibaba’s development and framework

    Alibaba was initially founded in Jack Ma’s apartment in Hangzhou in 1999, before Alibaba.com was launched later that same year. In 2003, as the number of Internet users in China reached 80 million,[1] Taobao.com was launched as an online market. Shortly afterwards, both Alipay and Aliwangwang (instant messenger on Taobao) were launched to complete the purchasing process in Taobao. In 2007, the number of Internet users in China rose to 210 million[2] and Alimama was launched as an advertisement transaction platform. Taobao started to monetize that same year. Tmall was launched in 2008, as Alibaba ran both B2C and C2C platforms. In 2009, Alibaba Cloud computing was founded, illustrating Alibaba’s commitment to prioritize big data as part of its strategy. In 2010, the following three platforms were launched as part of Alibaba’s increasing focus on mobile payment: Juhuasuan (a platform for C2B); AliExpress (a global consumer marketplace) and Mobile Taobao App.

    Alibaba’s framework is based on the three following targets:

    1. Chinese customers: Taobao (online shopping destination), Tmall (brands and retail platform), Juhuasuan (group buying marketplace), 1688.com (Chinese wholesale marketplace).
    2. Customers abroad: AliExpress (global consumer marketplace), Alibaba.com (global wholesale marketplace).
    3. Support platforms: Alipay (online payment service); China smart logistic (logistic information system); Alimama (online marketing services); Alibaba cloud computing (platform for internal and third-party use).

     

    Screenshot 2016-07-19 09.20.09

    The three core factors that influence Alibaba are its Business model, Profit model and Credit model. In addition, there are four subsidiary factors namely considerate service, sensitive for business chance, new transaction patterns and completed system supporting Alibaba to gain its success.

    1. Alibaba’s unique business core to provide services mainly to small enterprises and individual defines a unique business opportunity which not only emancipates the productive forces of small enterprises but also offer much more diversified consumption choices for consumers.

    Alibaba’s service offer focuses on small enterprises. Whether we talk about 1688 – a B2B eCommerce platform specifically aimed at wholesale and procurement business – Taobao (including Tmall business shopping mall) – a B2C & C2C eCommerce platform gathering numbers of individual sellers – or YiDaTong (the largest Chinese professional import and export agent) which not only subsidizes small enterprises but also helps them accumulate credit through history data, all three of Alibaba’s core businesses mainly focus on providing services to small enterprises helping them create value which could not be accomplished by any of them individually (such as cost control). Additionally, the three core businesses represent a complete eCommerce ecosystem.

    The focus on small enterprises also leads to a phenomenon whereby a large variety of goods are available to a large variety of target consumer groups (age, profession, wealth, etc.) on the platform. In 2014, the Alibaba platform as a whole experienced a total transaction volume of 2.3bn CNY (close to 330 bn EURO).

    1. Alibaba’s profit model that Alibaba gets profits by charging services in marketing and technical supports rather than by charging admission fee contributes to a large and robust market share made up of loyal customers.

    Alibaba’s profits mainly come from advertisements and keyword bidding within platforms, which in total represents 57% of profits. The second most important source of profits is the variety of technical services based on big data of consumer behaviors, representing 25% of profits. One of the important reasons why Alibaba could beat eBay China can be found in their strive to cultivate the online transaction habit among Chinese customers by allowing sellers to register for free and by removing intermediate fees. EBay China, on the other hand, was in a rush to harvest the Chinese market by charging fees for all transactions completed on the platform. Taobao thus gathered a large number of sellers, thereby encouraging an even larger number of customers to purchase via the Taobao platform. Hence, Alibaba successfully developed a strong and loyal online customer base.

    Nowadays, the Alibaba platform represents more than 0.5bn registered users, among which there are more than 0.23bn active buyers and more than 8m active sellers. The Annual orders already exceed 11bn. [3]Thanks to the large number of customers on the platform, Alibaba can make use of advertisement, keyword bidding and customer’s data for profit. Advertisements on Taobao can generate thousands of clicks for a single brand; the bidding for keywords contributes to the higher ranking of brands in search results; technical services assist sellers in the management of their online store and relationship with customers through analysis of customers’ preferences and feedbacks.

    1. Alibaba’s accurate credit model, which builds a third-party payment platform as a bridge between consumers and e-stores to standardize payment process and to protect consumer’s rights, helps to develop a good and trustworthy reputation among customers.

     

    • All sellers on the eCommerce platform are requested to pass an online certification test to verify their identity information.

    Such certification ensures the supervision of sellers on the platform at all times and reduces the possibility of illegal transactions.

    • All transactions are recorded and can be traced back by both sellers and customers. Based on the records, Taobao set up a system to measure the degree of integrity of both actors.

    Such a system ensures that any fraudulent behavior is published for everybody to see and can lead to a significant loss in the number of future transactions because of the lack of the other party’s trust. The system protects the legitimacy of each transaction and helps customers chose more reliable sellers.

    • Alipay is an online payment platform, combining ease of use, safety and efficiency. Payments are first transferred to Alipay. Once the buyers have received their product and ensured they are not faulty, the payment is transferred to sellers from Alipay. If the product is faulty or does not meet the expectations of the buyer and returned, so is the payment.

    When eCommerce first appeared in China, the safety of online purchases was the most important problem that concerned customers. Alipay provides a reliable solution which has won the trust of Chinese customers. Because of its convenience, Taobao attracts more and more online shoppers. Nowadays, people can use Alipay to pay for any fees arising in their lives in general. Besides, Alipay allows customers to purchase goods on credit used in the current month and paid back the following month. Up to 2013, the number of users in Alipay approached 0.3bn while the number of transactions reached 900bn CNY (about 128bn EURO) and the active users of the Mobile terminal reached 0.1bn which exceeded the number of users on PayPal.

    • Online feedback is largely encouraged. The more comments a customer writes for products, the more discount coupons he receives.

    Word of mouth can strongly influence customer’s behavior, especially when all information concerning a particular product is more difficult to find. The large amount of comments can guide and encourage customers in their purchasing experience and help them pick out their preferred product, while reducing post-purchasing regrets.

    1. Alibaba’s considerate service offer provides a comfortable purchasing environment and a positive online customer experience leading to high user engagements.

    Based on the analysis of its large customer base, Alibaba always knows how to provide the most suited services for optimal customer satisfaction. It helps sellers to maintain positive interaction with buyers; it offers online business training for various stores; it introduced a special coding system to manage the large number of stores on the platform; it developed its own instant communication tool to improve seller-buyer communication exchange; it enables the reimbursement of any product ensuring payment return within the following seven days, and so on. Those support services help sellers grow their business while helping buyers to find their preferred products, thus generating more and more transactions.

    1. Alibaba excels at identifying and seizing unique business opportunities, thereby positioning itself as a leader and developing customer loyalty.

    In China, two festivals have a major impact on people all over the country: Spring Festival (the Chinese New Year) and ‘Double 11’ (a festival created by Taobao).

    The ‘Double 11’ festival falls on November 11th, just between Chinese National Day and Christmas when people would prefer physical in-store shopping (offline). Although most customers would typically be avoiding shopping during that period, Taobao developed a campaign encouraging consumption, so much so that the day became an actual shopping festival. On that day, various brands offer different discounts and even launch new products. Customers pick out their various preferred products and purchase them online on November 11th. In 2014, ‘Double 11’ generated over 1bn CNY in total trading volume for Tmall within the first three opening minutes. Within the first 14 minutes 2 seconds, volumes exceeded 5bn CNY. Total volume for the day reached 53bn CNY (approximately 7.6bn EURO)! In a single day, Taobao generated revenue of 1.5bn CNY and net profit of more than 0.5bn CNY (approximately 71m EURO).[4]

    The ‘Double 11’ day has successfully developed a new popular shopping event for the majority of customers in China. At such an event, the various Tmall sellers’ needs for advertisement and software services increase largely. Alibaba thus gains enormous profits from the event, while both sellers and buyers rely more on the open platform. Alibaba’s advantage in cloud computing also represents a valuable asset for the shopping festival.

    1. Always keeping an eye on customers’ evolving needs, Alibaba dares to challenge the traditional transaction patterns and explores new ways to create more value for customers.

    C2B transaction model: When customers are in particular predominance for a certain transaction, Alibaba deploys the C2B transaction model to reduce costs in the traditional supply chain and shortens the time required for product turnover, thereby increasing customer satisfaction. On the one hand, Alibaba gathers a large number of scattered customers who express the similar needs to form a powerful purchase group that can buy single products at a wholesale price. On the other hand, Alibaba takes advantage of its massive online customer behavior data to develop products suited to particular customer habits. For example, the analysis may show that customers based in south regions use their dryers more frequently on account of the wet weather and therefore need more resistant machines while other customers may not like vacuum cleaners which require the user to bend down when using it. In that case, Alibaba takes charge of 12 product lines in 12 brands and exerts total control over the production schedule to ensure the production of the selected products which are predicted to be in high demand within shortened production cycles. Lastly, Alibaba integrates the product the production with front-end sales to bring instant personalized products to customers. Within the single day of May 8th 2014, Tianmao sold 180,000 sets of the 12 products which equated the sales volume for a period of 3 months on the internet.

    O2O strategy: In Alibaba’s plan, customers can purchase a product by scanning two-dimensional codes and then receive products with another code which involves the interaction of the instruction and after-sales functions. Customers can also take part in various brand-run initiatives and receive targeted advertisements by scanning corresponding codes. In order to accelerate the plan execution, Alibaba is actively developing its expansion to mobile terminal areas – “Alipay Wallet” represents one such significant trial. “Alipay Wallet” not only provides different ways for payment such as code scan and direct cash-transfer, but also partners with different banks in order to provide an assistance service to customers for managing their many bills and coupons. Along with many other purchased Apps covering other domains including taxi services, maps, weather, music and travel, “Alipay Wallet” aims to transfer the content and activities of customers’ daily lives onto the O2O service.      

    1. Rather than positioning itself as a simple eCommerce company, Alibaba focuses on providing excellent service quality to both sellers and buyers, by introducing easier ways to do business for the former and developing a positive purchasing experience for the latter.

    In order to achieve its goal in terms of positioning, Alibaba keeps expanding its core business to many different domains such as advertising services, logistic network, financial services and mobile terminal services.

    1. Alimama: Alimama is an advertising platform which operates as Alibaba’s B2B system: owners of advertisement positions such as blog owners post the positions in Alimama and advertisers purchase their favorite positions according to their own criteria. Nowadays, Alimama focuses on three dimensions: Big Data, “Taobao Ke” (cost per sale mode) and the combination of video and mobile terminals. Through these dimensions, Alimama aims to help merchants find their specific target customers and help customers achieve their preferred products easily.
    2. Big Data: Besides the massive internet flow, transactions and database that Alimama represents, Ali also integrates comprehensive data resources that cover almost every aspect of customers’ daily lives through the acquisition of software companies in many other domains such as map, weather, taxi, music and travel. The accurate and diversified data can thus help advertisers select the most appropriate website advertising channels and reach customers effectively.
    3. “Taobao Ke” is a group of people dedicated to assisting merchants in the promotion of their products who receive a commission when a transaction is completed (cost per sale billing model). CPS is useful for eCommerce since people who successfully identify customers and convince them to complete a purchase are rewarded by commission.
    4. The combination of video and mobile terminal: In April 2014, Taobao bought 16.5% shares of China’s largest video site, intending to leverage the strengths of video in both PC and mobile to enable the interaction of an advertisement between the two terminals. When the audience watch advertisements during videos, Taobao will send the related information to the mobiles of people in the audience in various forms, including games and coupons to entice clicks from the audience.
    5. Ali micro finance: Ali micro finance mainly provides micro deposits and loans. It uses the data collected directly from the Ali platform: credit data and behavioral data. It translates the online customer behavior data into businesses and categorizes individual credit ratings by small enterprises according to their eligibility to apply for small loans from Ali micro finance (eg. small amount, short-term, momentarily borrow and return), as these small structures usually experience difficulty in obtaining loans in the traditional banking channels. Meanwhile, Ali’s small loan service also attaches great importance to the use of new technologies. It relies a lot on the cloud computing technology to determine whether there is a particular match between a certain buyer and a seller, whether they speculate credits, what rate the risk possibility stands at and so on. This not only ensures the safety and efficiency of the service but also reduces operating costs. In addition, the Internet makes it possible to provide a set of financial services, 24/7, 365 days a year, to large-scale small enterprises at the same time. This meets the major demand for capital resulting from the increasing number of small enterprises being founded in China.
    6. CSN (China Smart Network) project: CSN project was launched by Ali in collaboration with the four most influential logistics companies in China. Ali hopes to achieve the goal of enabling the delivery of products to buyers within 24 hours of ordering via the platform. Different logistic networks belonging to different logistic companies are integrated into forming the single most effective network in terms of parcel turnover for customer delivery. Different logistic companies focus and provide their expertise on specific portions within the network to maximize efficiency. Meanwhile, based on data analysis, Ali selects the most suitable logistic company for different portions of the network and allocates delivery businesses according to performance. As a consequence, logistic companies need to improve service quality and reduce costs, while ensuring continuous delivery. Moreover, customers can choose their favorite types of deliveries such as ‘fastest’, ‘cheapest’, ‘safest’ and ‘best service’ since the CSN can deploy the work capacities of the logistic companies.

     

    ALI’S FUTURE DEVELOPMENT

    Globalization

    In November 2014, Ali expanded its commercial transaction worldwide for the first time. Since that date, Ali’s global ecosystem consisting of its eCommerce platform, logistic network, cloud computing and big data has been developed further and communicated on publicly. On Tianmao International’s platform, Chinese customers can purchase goods of popular retail brands abroad directly and customers from other countries including Russia, Brazil, the US and Canada can also purchase products from China directly. Due to the reduced amount of procedures required in foreign trades without importers, Ali is able to transfer the profits from the importers to the merchants and thus cut down transaction costs. The CSN network represents a global coverage of countries to increase the convenience for parcel delivery to customers. For example, CSN developed a special supply chain in Russia allowing customers to receive products within 35 days. It also increases the cooperation with banks in other countries to improve the payment system.

    Besides the globalization of its eCommerce activities, Ali is also developing its finance business abroad. Recently, Ali has cooperated with Lending Club – the biggest online loan platform. The cooperation signifies that small American enterprises which get loans from Lending Club can now look for Chinese producers and supply sources on Alibaba’s platform.

    Taobao Village

    Focusing on eCommerce development in rural areas of China is one of Ali’s most important future strategies. In the same way that it always looks for business opportunities among small enterprises and individual customers, Ali fosters the online purchase forces in thousands of villages across China. Taobao village represents the village where active online shops reach more than 10% of local households and trading volume amounts to more than 10m CNY. The high concentration of online shops in these villages makes it possible to form an eCommerce chain made up of producers, suppliers, shops and logistics, thereby facilitating development and economies of scale. Moreover, Taobao village helps to address the problem of local unemployment (Taobao village brings about more than 280,000 jobs and the average income at Taobao village is 2.19 times higher than that found in normal villages); it contributes to the transfer of the environmental advantage into an economic advantage (since the natural and original product is welcomed by customers); and it helps to diminish the purchase gap between urban and rural areas. Up to December 2014, 211 Taobao villages were developed. Ali provides support through credit and loans, talent training and promotion.

    Develop more offers suited to more fields in customers’ daily lives

    Yulebao: An investment platform for television work with approximately 7% annual return on investment. Investors have the opportunities to meet with directors of various TV projects, take part in premieres, travel to the filming locations of certain TV programs, etc. The customer’s preference is better evaluated and will truly influence the Chinese entertainment trends. Besides, it helps high quality projects which do not necessarily have the matching high budget to get investment for production. Yulebao was launched in March 2014.

    Ali future hospital: In August 2014, Ali collaborated with a renowned hospital in Shanghai, installing Alipay to allow patients to complete their own registration process, payment and report-fetching online. Most importantly, Alipay is combined with medical insurance in order to deliver a fully automated service to customers.

    [1] The data comes from  Alibaba’s prospectus: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1577552/000119312514184994/d709111df1.htm

    [2] The data comes from  Alibaba’s prospectus: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1577552/000119312514184994/d709111df1.htm

    [3] The data comes from  Alibaba’s prospectus: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1577552/000119312514184994/d709111df1.htm

    [4] Data comes from “Le single day Chinois bat tous les records de ecommerce”:

    https://www.le-webmarketeur.com/2013/12/10/le-single-day-chinois-bat-tous-les-records-de-e-commerce/

     

    Author :

    Prof. Xavier Pavie

    Associate Academic Director, MSc in Management, ESSEC Business School

    Director of iMagination Center

     

    Yixuan Luo

    Master student at ESSEC Business School

    Lees ook:

  • Coca-Cola Tmall flagship opens

    Coca-Cola Tmall flagship opens

    Coca-Cola, one of the world’s most iconic beverage brands, is opening a flagship store on Alibaba Group’s Tmall online marketplace.

    The Coca-Cola Tmall store comes just in time for the Global Shopping Festival, the world’s biggest online sale, on November 11.

    Coca-Cola has designed special packaging for the 24-hour 11.11 festival and its shop, now in trial operation in preparation for an official launch in early November, is already pre-selling four-packs of Coke priced at RMB 29 yuan (US$4.60) containing bottles adorned with images of Tmall’s cat mascot or the 11.11 festival logo.

    The shop will soon sell other Coca-Cola brands including Sprite, Fanta and Minute Maid, as well as related merchandise like the beverage company’s classic polar bear dolls, according to Coca-Cola.

    Coke and Alibaba have also agreed to collaborate on branding, marketing, offline services and the launch of exclusive products, according to a Chinese language press release issued by Alibaba. The collaboration shows a commitment by both parties to “embrace change and adapt to e-retail,” said Henrique Braun, Coca-Cola president of greater China & Korea, noting that the internet “has gradually changed people’s lives and consumer behavior.”

    The addition of Coke to its roster of merchants and brands participating in the 11.11 festival is a coup for Alibaba. The company has emphasised this year’s shopping bonanza is meant to be a global event, with overseas and global retailers selling directly to Chinese consumers through Tmall and consumers all over the world buying goods on Alibaba’s AliExpress international marketplace.

    Alibaba expects more than 5000 international brands from 25 countries and regions to participate in festival this year.

    To whet shoppers’ appetites for the sale, Alibaba and Coca-Cola plan to give away five million bottles of 300ml Cokes. Starting from November 1, the bonus bevvies will be distributed randomly to consumers who order other merchandise through Tmall.

    • Original reporting by Alizila, an independent but Alibaba-funded news resource on Alibaba’s global activities.
    Lees ook:

  • Alibaba promises faster deliveries to US

    Alibaba promises faster deliveries to US

    Cainiao, Alibaba Group’s logistics affiliate, has agreed to work with the US Postal Service to speed delivery of merchandise ordered by US consumers on Alibaba’s international online shopping platforms.

    Under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), Cainiao and the US’s national mail carrier agreed to collaborate on the development of enhanced shipping solutions for cross-border eCommerce. In addition to helping provide more efficient shipping channels into the US for Chinese merchants and manufacturers selling on Alibaba’s AliExpress global-shopping website, the USPS will also work with Cainiao to expand its worldwide shipping capabilities, especially in South America, according to a press release.

    The global B2C cross-border eCommerce market is expected to grow from $230 billion in 2014 to $1 trillion in 2020, according to a report from global consulting firm Accenture and AliResearch, Alibaba Group’s research arm. To reduce barriers to shipping small parcels quickly on a global scale, Alibaba and related companies have been working with several national mail carriers including Singapore Post and Spanish Post.

    Cainiao VP Wan Lin cited the agreement with the USPS as “a key part of Alibaba’s globalisation strategy and our vision to enable consumers around the world to enjoy the convenience and benefits of e-commerce”.

    With more than 600,000 employees, the USPS is the leading postal and shipping service provider in the US, the world’s biggest consumer market.

    Cainiao and the USPS said by working together they are aiming to make it easier and more efficient for Chinese companies to sell and deliver goods directly to the homes of US consumers by improving the way goods purchased from China are processed and handled during international shipping.

    “As cross-border eCommerce grows rapidly, it is critical that we evolve shipping services to the next level, with shorter delivery times and easier methods to track a shipment,” said Wan in a statement.

    “The collaboration between Cainiao and USPS will enable us to create new solutions and ultimately improve the overall customer experience.”

    Lees ook:

  • Alibaba counterfeit guide launched

    Alibaba counterfeit guide launched

    Alibaba Group has launched an English-language version of its online system for reporting intellectual property (IP) infringements that occur on its giant Chinese e-shopping marketplaces Taobao.com and Tmall.com.

    The system, called TaoProtect, is designed to make it easier for companies to report merchants who are selling counterfeit products on the Taobao and Tmall platforms, facilitating the efficient removal of infringing product listings. Through TaoProtect, companies can also file complaints for other IP violations such as copyright infringement, patent infringement and unfair use of trademarks.

    TaoProtect is similar to another IP-complaint system operated by Alibaba called AliProtect that covers global wholesale marketplace Alibaba.com, global shopping website AliExpress and China wholesale marketplace 1688.com.

    The debut of the English version of TaoProtect will make the system more accessible to Western companies, said Xinghao Wang, Alibaba Group’s U.S.-based senior intellectual property protection manager. “Because the success and integrity of our marketplaces depend on consumer trust, we have comprehensive policies and practices in place to fight IP infringement,” Wang said, including the use of data-analysis technology to monitor the sites for counterfeit-product listings.

    Due to the sheer size of Taobao and Tmall – Alibaba’s China retail platforms host some 10 million active sellers – the company also works with rights holders to make its efforts more effective. That’s where TaoProtect comes in, Wang said. By providing an online system for alerting Alibaba to infringement on Taobao and Tmall, Alibaba is better able to identify suspicious listings that may be missed by the company’s internal countermeasures, he said.

    Wang noted that filing a complaint does not automatically result in takedowns. To safeguard the rights of all parties, the TaoProtect process is set up to determine whether complaints are legitimate, and to ensure that Taobao and Tmall merchants who abide by the platforms’ established rules are not unfairly penalised.

    The reporting system helps serve a larger purpose, too, he said: “Information received through TaoProtect and AliProtect is an essential part of the rule-making effort, and the data in the reporting system may also be used in the monitoring system.”

    In the video, the founder of a US maker of innovative cutting tools explains how he uses AliProtect to keep copycats at bay.

    “The more popular your products are, the higher the likelihood that someone is going to be copying you at some point, that form of flattery that no one really wants,” says TJ Scimone of Slice. By using AliProtect, he says he successfully got knock-offs of his products “shut down (and) off the site.”

  • China’s Too Large for Retailers to Ignore

    When it comes to online retail markets, China is in a class by itself. The country is already home to the world’s largest e-commerce market, and there’s room for more growth.Chinese consumers are attaining middle class spending power at a historically unprecedented rate and using it to treat themselves to personal luxuries.

    That spending has made the country the world’s fastest growing “vanity goods” market—increasing by 15% year over year—for such purchases as high-end fashion and beauty goods, jewelry, and personal care items.China presents a vast growth opportunity for international retailers, and like any business expansion, requires a considered approach.

    It’s important to understand the market, its nuances and challenges in order to succeed.In 2013, online purchases accounted for 8% of the country’s total retail sales. E-commerce transactions totaled USD $305 billion that year, and Singles Day, the popular online shopping holiday in November, accounted for USD $5.7 billion of that total.

    E-commerce in China already outpaces that in the US, and within 5 years it’s expected to dwarf the combined online retail markets of the US plus the UK, France, Germany, and Japan.That booming growth is due in part to the rise in mobile phone usage among Chinese consumers, which helps them bypass brick-and-mortar shopping obstacles such as distance and traffic.

    It also owes something to Chinese internet-use habits. According to a McKinsey & Company report, Chinese internet users are online for as many as 6 hours more per week than the average US user, giving them more time to search for and purchase products.China is a huge nation with a middle class that will soon top 630 million people—more than 8 times larger than the US “Baby Boomer” generation that was once the world’s leading middle-class consumer demographic.

    According to McKinsey, only 4% of China’s urban residents were middle class as recently as 2000. By 2020, 75% of Chinese urbanites will have middle class status and newfound spending power.In general, Chinese shoppers like international brands and upscale goods, so offshore retailers have a certain cachet. French wines, American electronics, and Italian designer clothing are popular prestige purchases among Chinese shoppers.

    In a competitive market, your company’s “outsider” status can be an asset, especially if it’s backed up by excellent quality control and responsive customer service.Beyond that, experts recommend getting to know particular regions, rather than treating such a populous and diverse nation as a monolithic market. For example, McKinsey reports that certain cities are stronger markets for particular luxury items. By 2025, the firm expects Shanghai and Beijing to be among the top 20 global cities for upscale spirits consumption, while Hong Kong will rank first for luxury beauty goods, with Shenzen, Shanghai, and Beijing also in the top 20 for that category.

    Determine which cities and regions are a good match for your product line, and give serious thought to how you will market to those areas, as the most popular channels may be ones your company is not currently using.

    The McKinsey report on Chinese consumer internet habits makes the point that online video and instant messaging are more popular with Chinese online shoppers than email and search, which are prevalent in the US. Mobile sales accounted for 12% of all Chinese online sales in 2014, so all online efforts should be designed to display well on mobile devices.Promote sales timed to major in-country shopping holidays, such as Singles Day in the fall and the Lunar New Year in the spring.

    Shoppers expect deals at these times and will go elsewhere if your shop doesn’t provide them.As an online merchant, your customers can reach you from anywhere, but as the Australia China Quarterly points out, Chinese shoppers tend to prefer familiar outlets such as Tmall, Alibaba’s B2C platform. (For perspective, US e-tail giant Amazon recently opened a Tmall shop of its own.) If you sell from outside the country or use Tmall, you won’t need a Chinese business license, and that can save you time and money. The potential drawback for small merchants is the fee schedule. For Tmall Global, the fees include a USD $25,000 security deposit, in addition to annual fees and transaction fees.

    In order to save on fees and avoid tying up cash in a security deposit, offshore merchants always have the option to sell independently. To do so successfully, Daria said, “such merchants must seek out a payment services provider that supports multicurrency transactions and has established relationships with in-country banks and with UnionPay, which is the government-backed bankcard and interbank network for all of mainland China.”

    Globally, there are more than 3 billion UnionPay cards in use across 141 countries. A reliable and efficient shipping carrier is a must as well; look for one that can streamline the customs paperwork for your shipments into China.No matter what size your online business is, China is a market worth exploring. Capturing even a small percentage of this large and robust market can yield rewards now and in the future as China’s economy and purchasing power continue to grow.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • SE Asian consumers switch to ecommerce

    SE Asian consumers switch to ecommerce

    International information technology players have been piling in.

    Japanese telecoms group Softbank has made a string of acquisitions across Asia. It invested $250m in the region’s ride-hailing app GrabTaxi at the end of last year. In Indonesia, it invested $100m in online marketplace Tokopedia and mobile device retailer Trikomsel.

    Singaporean blue-chip companies such as Singapore Press Holdings and MediaCorp, the latter controlled by Temasek Holdings, Singapore’s government-controlled investment company, have also been involved in a raft of deals.

    This month, Temasek said it would partner with United Overseas Bank to set up a venture and debt financing fund of nearly $500m to help finance the growth of ecommerce and other technology and healthcare initiatives around the region.

    Online sales account for only 1 to 2 per cent of total retail sales in many southeast Asian countries, providing ample scope for the kind of breakneck growth that online trade has enjoyed in China — where ecommerce now accounts for 11 per cent of total retail sales, up from 2.5 per cent just five years ago, according to estimates by FT Confidential Research, a Financial Times research service.

    But ecommerce operations in Southeast Asia are often hindered by factors such as high logistics costs and the limitations of online payment systems. In Indonesia, more than 95 per cent of ecommerce transactions are settled in cash on delivery, and more than 90 per cent of visits to ecommerce sites do not result in sales.

    Nevertheless, online retailers Lazada and Zalora, both owned by German tech investor Rocket Internet, have built up robust online sales across the region. They have tackled logistical constraints by investing heavily in their own in-house logistics and supply chain providers.

    Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba, meanwhile, is expanding its international ecommerce site AliExpress across the Asean region. It recently acquired a 14.5 per cent stake in Singapore Post, which last year announced plans to spend $145m on a regional ecommerce logistics hub. Its rivals in the logistics sector include Singapore-based aCommerce, which is backed by Japan’s NTT Docomo.

    A number of pan-Asean online payment systems are in the process of being established, meanwhile, such as 2C2p and Coda Payments.

    As ecommerce expands, consolidation is set to follow. Many domestic start-ups have focused excessively on building initial sales volume at the expense of profitability. At some point soon, a shake-out appears inevitable.

  • Mobile Accounts for Almost Half of China’s Retail Ecommerce Sales

    Retail sales on tablets, smartphones and other mobile devices will reach $333.99 billion this year in China, according to eMarketer’s latest estimates of retail sales around the world, up 85.1% from 2014. That figure represents 49.7% of all retail ecommerce sales in the country this y

    This estimate puts retail mcommerce sales in China at nearly 450% of those in the US, where such sales are expected to rise 32.2% in 2015. Even more striking, in the US, retail mcommerce sales will represent 22.0% of the retail ecommerce total and just 1.6% of all retail sales this year. That compares with 7.9% of total retail sales in China coming from mobile.

    These figures indicate that China’s retail market is more digital—and specifically, more mobile—than its US counterpart. This speaks to both the power of mobile in China as well as the power of the desktop (and the store) in the US.

    “An overwhelming majority of China’s internet users now regularly access the internet via mobile phones—87.4%, vs. 74.6% of US internet users,” said Monica Peart, eMarketer’s forecasting director. “The sheer number of mobile internet users pushes retail ecommerce activities toward mobile devices in a way that is not yet seen in the US, where desktop computers still factor quite prominently for shopping activities.”

    eMarketer estimates that around the world, digital buyers will spend $1.672 trillion on retail ecommerce sales this year, or 7.3% of total retail sales. By 2019, retail ecommerce will account for 12.4% of total retail sales around the world. eMarketer does not estimate retail mcommerce sales on a global basis.

    eMarketer’s forecasts and estimates are based on an analysis of quantitative and qualitative data from research firms, government agencies, media firms and public companies, plus interviews with top executives at publishers, ad buyers and agencies. Data is weighted based on methodology and soundness. Each eMarketer forecast fits within the larger matrix of all its forecasts, with the same assumptions and general framework used to project figures in a wide variety of areas. Regular re-evaluation of available data means the forecasts reflect the latest business developments, technology trends and economic changes.

  • JD.com heads to Russia

    JD.com heads to Russia

    Chinese language on-line retailer JD.com has launched a Russian-language web site to broaden its operations outdoors its core China market.

    In doing so, it’s following within the tracks of its big rival Alibaba, which has reportedly gained speedy reputation in Russia, regardless of the nation’s struggling financial system and the home foreign money’s lacklustre worth.

    “Russia is Europe’s largest Web market by viewers and has fast-growing e-commerce,” stated JD.com chief Victor Xu in a Moscow press convention to launch the brand new website.

    “We purpose to turn out to be a market chief in Russian eCommerce.”

    In line with analysis home TNS, the Aliexpress buying website had 19.6 million Russian customers in April, rating it within the prime 10 hottest websites in Russia with visitation up 65 per cent yr on yr.

    Russia’s cross-border eCommerce market was value US$four billion final yr with an estimated 70 million parcels shipped into the nation from overseas. Almost three quarters of that quantity got here from China.

    JD.com has partnered with SPSR Categorical to ship parcels in Russia and with Yandex.Cash and Qiwi Plc to course of on-line funds.

    Lees ook:

    Lees ook:

  • Brazilian On-line Consumers Are Enamored with AliExpress

    Brazilian On-line Consumers Are Enamored with AliExpress

    Enterprise is booming in Brazil for Alibaba’s AliExpress.

    Regardless of the language barrier, lengthy delivery occasions, and cost inconveniences, increasingly Brazilians have been drawn to AliExpress because of the excessive value of many gadgets in Brazil. Even with import duties, which is greater than 60 %, many merchandise, together with garments and baggage, are cheaper on AliExpress by as much as two-thirds, in response to China Day by day.

    “AliExpress is now my favourite abroad buying web site as a result of it presents higher costs and extra choices,” stated Amanda Bernardo, who boasts over a million views on her on-line buying movies, through which she lately featured gadgets purchased from AliExpress.

    Bruno Calheiros, an exhibition designer who makes a middle-class revenue of $2,540 per thirty days, prefers to buy on-line over going to modern malls.

    “I used to purchase garments, home equipment and health gear from Ebay and Amazon, however extra so from AliExpress since I attempted it. I simply like it,” stated Calheiros. He added that he has beneficial AliExpress to lots of his acquaintances.

    On final yr’s Singles Day sale on November 11th, Brazilian spending on Alibaba’s web sites was second solely to that of the Russians.

    Current findings from analysis agency E-Bit revealed that middle-class Brazilians accounted for 62 % of internet buyers from the nation in 2014. Final yr, Brazilian internet buyers totaled 51.5 million individuals, together with 10.2 million individuals who shopped on-line for the primary time. The variety of on-line orders is predicted to rise 19 % to 123 million orders in 2015.

    Spending by Brazilian internet buyers rose 24 % final yr to $11.three billion, and analysis agency eMarketer predicts that it might attain $26.17 billion in 2018.

    In quantity, Chinese language companies accounted for 55 % of all Brazilian on-line purchasing for a complete of $2.1 billion final yr, in accordance with E-Bit.