Alibaba to Help 700,000 Chinese Shops Sell Abroad – Yicai Global
What happened: Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba announced Wednesday an initiative to promote domestic brands globally by enlisting its cross-border and international-facing platforms. The e-commerce giant said its plan it will help 200 heritage Chinese brands realize an annual sales goal of more than RMB 100 million ($14.8 million) each. The company will also throw its weight behind another 200 domestic brands by selecting 200,000 large Taobao shop owners through which to sell their goods with a goal of RMB 1 billion in annual sales. Domestic businesses were 71% of total brands on Alibaba’s platforms last year. A total of 46 official time-honored Chinese brands brought in more than RMB 100 million sales last year, according to the company.
Why it’s important: In line with the company’s globalization initiative, Alibaba is among the first Chinese tech giants to push cross-border e-commerce in both directions. Alibaba has been selling Chinese brands internationally mainly through Tmall World, AliExpress, and Lazada. The announcement follows a statement made in late April by the Tmall president about plans to double transaction volumes on the platform over the next three years. In March, Alibaba’s import unit Tmall Global unveiled how it would bring $200 billion worth of international goods into China over the next five years, a commitment it made in November at the state-backed China International Import Expo. Alibaba’s announcement also follows closely on the heels of rival Pinduoduo’s announcement about efforts to promote heritage Shanghai brands on its platform in response to a municipal government initiative to revive domestic consumer goods manufacturing.