Alibaba Looks to Boost Sales Beyond Mainland

Alibaba is eyeing the wallets of Chinese communities in Southeast Asia， integrating more domestic brands into its existing sales channels in order to tap into markets beyond the Chinese mainland， in a bid to lure customers with similar shopping needs and tastes.

“Domestic Chinese merchants whose products attain certain quality and certification standards will be able to sell through a single platform to mul-tiple markets，” said Zhang Zhouping， director of cross-border business at the China E-commerce Association.

“This answers the calls of exportbased manufacturers， who desperately seek new channels for their products as traditional trade remains limp.”

Hong Kong， Taiwan， Singapore and Malaysia are the core regions where the Chinese e-commerce giant will launch its Tmall World brand， to broaden its scope in these markets with better“logistics， payment and localization support，” the company said in a press release.

However， others in the industry believe that Tmall Worlds prospects might not be as rosy as the company would like its merchants to believe.

Although Alibaba brings the goods of thousands of certified foreign sellers to the doorsteps of Chinese consumers through Tmall Global， the international reach provided to domestic manufacturers seeking export is far less mature， and mostly achieved through Alibabas lesser-known Aliexpress and Lazada services.

The two platforms combined saw 83 million active buyers last year. Meanwhile， Taobao — Alibabas E-bay-like site — had six times as many buyers in a single month， according the companys quarterly report in March.

Aliexpress and Lazada

“Vendors on Aliexpress have seen their share of troubles selling through the platform， to say the least，” said Pan Yehui， the executive president of a trade association in Yiwu， a city known for making goods for export. “Theres no localization to speak of， and those trying to export this way are merely cannon fodder.”

“Previously， Alibaba promised merchants that Aliexpress was the path to the global marketplace， and after they made a profit charging fees on merchants， the company is now turning in a new direction，” said Pan， complaining of heavy expenses sellers must pay with every new export platform.

Currently， shoppers in Southeast Asia， greater China， Japan， the U.S.， and Canada are technically able to purchase items manufactured in China through the international version of Taobao， but transactions are not always possible.

Chinese is the only language of communication for nearly all shop owners， while shipping fees for a 10 yuan scarf may ring in as high as 200 yuan， and many of the payment methods preferred by overseas shoppers are not supported.

Alibaba currently has a presence in Southeast Asia through online retail site Lazada， in which it acquired a majority stake in April last year.

The company is considering a complete buyout of Lazada as the two increase cooperation， said Alibaba Vice President Joseph Tsai during its investor conference.

Online consumers in Malaysia and Singapore can buy apparel， electronics and other goods from mainland Chinese vendors through a special “Taobao Collection” entrance on Lazada. These purchases do not charge extra taxes or shipping fees， the website says.

Last year， the Alibaba Group has agreed to acquire a controlling stake in Lazada Group， a top Southeast Asia ecommerce platform， thus boosting its drive to generate more business from international e-commerce. Founded in 2012， privately owned Lazada， based in Singapore， runs retail websites in Indonesia， Malaysia， the Philippines， Singapore， Thailand and Vietnam.

The company， which operates its own logistics networks， has an established presence in a region where online shopping is relatively undeveloped but is growing fast as consumers learn to use their smart phones to purchase products that are unavailable in local shops.

Through its stake， Alibaba establishes an important new foothold outside China. The company said the transaction is expected to help brands and distributors around the world that already do business on Alibabas online marketplaces， as well as local merchants， to reach the Southeast Asian consumer market.

“With the investment in Lazada， Alibaba gains access to a platform with a large and growing consumer base， a proven management team and a solid foundation for future growth in one of the most promising regions for ecommerce globally，” said Alibaba Group President Mike Evans in a statement.“This investment is consistent with our strategy of connecting brands， distributors and consumers wherever they are，”Evans added， noting that the deal will“support our ecosystem expansion in Southeast Asia to better serve our customer base.

JD.com Plans to Launch Services in Thailand

Alibabas plans to expand Tmall World international come shortly after its rival JD.com said it plans to launch services in Thailand by the end of the year， adding to existing activities in Indonesia.

JD.com Inc ， Chinas second-largest e-commerce company， plans to invest in Thailand by the end of this year， expanding its footprint beyond Indonesia which currently accounts for almost all of its overseas business.

Richard Liu， founder and chief executive of JD.com， told reporters the company planned to use Thailand as a hub to service other Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam and Malaysia.

He declined to say how much JD.com would invest in Thailand.

Amid intense competition， JD.com has expanded heavily into fast moving consumer goods， including household supplies and food and beverage products. The company has also diversified into data， cloud and artificial intelligence services.

Alibaba Logistics Arm Reaches Out for Parcel Locker Buy-In

Alibabas logistics arm is planning to buy into one of the largest package drop-off and pickup station providers in China， as the nations courier information leader edges into the final leg of delivery services.

The firm that operates Sposter， a chain of parcel-retrieval lockers commonly found in apartment complexes， announced a pending deal that would make Alibabas Cainiao Networks a key stakeholder， according to a statement by Sposters parent company， Chengdubased Santai Holdings.

The deal would give Cainiao — the logistics-tracking platform 47% owned by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. that records the movement of goods as they are shipped from the groups e-commerce merchants — guaranteed access to data-tracked parcels down to the final segment of delivery.

The companies did not release information about the size or scope of the proposed buy-in.

The refrigerator-size parcel lockers are frequently used as drop-off stations by deliverymen when recipients are unable to sign off from their doorsteps. Sposter currently updates the Cainiao tracking platform when the parcel lands in a certain locker， and Cainiao in turn sends out an alert to users phones.