China's Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. signed a partnership deal with Office Depot to grow its trading platform and easily cater to the needs of small to medium businesses in the US. This is the first time that the giant Chinese company has ever teamed up with an American firm.
Bloomberg reported that the deal will expand Alibaba and Office Depot's business line plus it will open new opportunities to both sides. The former will also be able to build a new online destination to easily access the latter's office supplies' network of distributors. This means that Jack Ma's company will be granted access to the American firm's database of customers and sales agents.
As cited on Reuters, Alibaba has over 150,000 global networks of suppliers while Office Depot has 10 million customers and around 1,800 sales agents. These details will be very advantageous to both companies since they each can use them to further grow their business and sales.
Additionally, it was stated that as part of the deal, Alibaba and Office Depot would launch a co-branded e-commerce webpage on Alibaba.com so that customers will have an exclusive site where they can do business dealings and avail their needs at the same time. The new site is targeting the small and medium businesses that would need supplies for their companies.
"It connects businesses together for products and services," Gerry Smith, CEO of Boca Raton's Office Depot store, said. "We are really bringing the world capabilities back to the U.S."
John Caplan, chief of Alibaba Group's North America B2B added, "We have a common mission to be a catalyst for growth for small businesses. If you are a bicycle manufacturer, you buy office supplies from Office Depot. Now, Office Depot can introduce you to Alibaba.com, where you can get access to the manufacturers of bicycle parts that you need."
The alliance between Alibaba and Office Depot will offer small business owners in America, a platform where they can get everything they need in a single online shop. The will have access to the best suppliers and a wide range of catalogs for goods and services to choose from.
For the companies selling on the platform, they will, in turn, improve their business as well as they will have the chance to sell their wares to thousands of business owners around the world. Smith stated that customers and users of the new e-commerce website that will be launched by Alibaba and Office Depot will also help businesses to save time and money since it offers the convenience of one-stop shopping.
