After years of survey, Chinese retail giant Alibaba is finally heading towards Europe - and hopes to undercut the fees of Amazon sellers to attract local vendors, sources with direct information on the matter, revealed.
In recent months, a flood of small businesses has joined its European platform, AliExpress, but according to sources, some bigger brands are holding back.
According to sources, AliExpress has tried to woo popular labels including Benetton, Mango and Spanish fashion group Tendam, which owns Certifies, to be hosted on the site, but with very little success.
Some of the brands did not feel the site was the right channel to feature their products, sources said. A top executive of one big-name fashion company, who rejected the proposals of AliExpress in Europe, said his brand had to be in an "inspirational environment."
However, in an interview at Alibaba's headquarters in Hangzhou, AliExpress head Wang Mingqiang told Reuters that foreign brands needed time to grasp the concept of the site.
Brands can build their own homepage with pictures and video to create the feel they want, Wang stressed, with space to design their own stores within the platform.
Both Tendam and Benetton did not issue any formal comment on whether they had been approached. Neither brand is available on AliExpress, only on Amazon. Mango said it did not sell on AliExpress. It's not selling on Amazon, either.
A spokeswoman for AliExpress refused to comment on the company's approach to these or other brands. "We're continuously exploring possibilities to work with various companies to serve both consumers and sellers as a trusted partner," AliExpress said.
Through its AliExpress website, Alibaba has so far focused on selling cheap Chinese goods overseas, such as $3 USB cables and $2 crystal earrings, boosting its image to a wider audience.
But the company has begun a push over the past six months to open the platform to local vendors and brands as it tries to replicate a highly profitable model of virtual malls that has seen it swallow more than 50 percent of China's online sales.
Wang pointed out that overseas vendors have a better understanding of local users, with better designs for their goods, as they are closer to the locals.
Initially, the company set its sights on Spain and Italy, as well as Russia and Europe and other Asian regions among its top markets under the previous first-phase business model it unveiled in 2010.
