Alibaba launched a new English website that should help increase Tmall's foreign reach, in a move that will further propel the Chinese e-commerce giant towards the grandest stage of all: the world.
According to Bloomberg, Alibaba made one step closer towards its goal of reaching the entire world through the new service. The English website was launched on Wednesday, with the purpose of attracting foreign merchants to sell through the channel.
Alibaba's English Tmall site will allow for non-Chinese sellers to promote their brands and products to the world's most populous nation as well as buyers from other countries that make purchases through the online retail outlet.
It is worth noting that Founder Jack Ma made it clear that he wants to see Alibaba generating half of its revenue from channels outside of its home turf. Industry analysts said Ma's goal may have stemmed from the ongoing China-U.S. trade war.
The trade spat between the world's largest economies has largely affected giant companies from both sides. Alibaba is one of China's so-called Big BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent). These three firms are in the face of uncertainties as the trade war ensues.
Through the English website, Alibaba is expected to curb the trade war's impact on its home offices by accelerating international operations and attracting foreign deals and partnerships.
"The website will widen our reach to merchants, especially to those medium and small sized businesses around the world. We will help them with our logistics and marketing services," deputy general manager of the English site, Yi Qian, noted.
Foreign merchants can now fill out English forms to provide Alibaba with details about their business and products. The company will then reach out to sellers within 72 hours to let them know if they fit with the firm's selling standards that focus on quality.
Tmall only allowed for merchants to sell through the e-commerce platform if they are introduced by an affiliate or if they have taken part in trade fairs involving Alibaba. The new application system is a major breakthrough in the company's opening-up strategy.
Reuters reported that the English portal will help Alibaba achieve its goal of reaching the 40,000 marks in foreign brands within the next three year. Tmall currently has around 20,000 international brands spread across 77 countries.
Dubbed as Tmall Global, the portal is expected to help Alibaba recover losses from weakening online retail activities in China amid the trade war with the United States government.
