June 19, 2023: On Thursday, the group’s President stated that Alibaba would develop one of its key Chinese e-commerce sites in Europe, marking a significant stage in the Chinese tech giant’s international push.
The announcement comes just over two months after Alibaba, China’s most prominent e-commerce firm, announced plans to split its business into six units, a move designed to give each crew more autonomy and faster decision-making powers.
Michael Evans, President of Alibaba, said the group would bring one of its China e-commerce services, Tmall, into Europe.
“So, you will see something named Tmall, which we have in China, become Tmall in Europe, representing we will serve local brands and consumers in the local market,” Evans stated at the Viva Tech conference in Paris, France.
Evans state that the company is presently doing a pilot project in Spain, which “will extend across Europe.”
In China, Tmall is an Alibaba site and app that focuses on selling foreign brands to Chinese consumers.
Launching Tmall in Europe reflects a significant shift in strategy for Alibaba in its international e-commerce operations.
While Alibaba’s international push in online shopping is familiar, it has focused on a site named AliExpress in Europe. However, AliExpress has goods shipped from China into Europe. Shipping times are often long though products may be cheaper than competitors.
However, Evans recommends that Tmall in Europe would focus on selling local brands to local consumers. It’s unclear if this would be merged with AliExpress.
One of Alibaba’s six independent businesses is the Taobao Tmall Commerce Group, which focuses on its two main e-commerce products in China. But it also has a Global Digital Commerce unit focusing on Alibaba’s e-commerce push abroad.
“Europe is a top priority for all businesses with an international component. So by that, I mean the international commerce businesses, the cloud business, the logistics business in particular,” Evans said.
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