Alibaba.com celebrates 100,000 member milestone in Vietnam

HANOI, July 22, 2009 – Alibaba.com, the world's largest B2B e-commerce company, today announced that it had surpassed the 100,000 member milestone in Vietnam. With an average of more than 4,000 Vietnamese small businesses joining every month, Alibaba.com's global online marketplace (www.alibaba.com) has expanded its membership here by more than 100 percent from mid 2008 to mid 2009.

"Alibaba.com would like to play a key role in empowering small businesses in Vietnam during these challenging economic times. With the country's growing importance as a popular base of low-cost quality products, efficient marketing channels such as online marketplaces have become critical for exporters' success. Strong local interest in e-commerce has already been validated by the substantial growth in our Vietnamese membership in the past year," said Brian Wong, Senior Director of Marketing and Strategic Business Development, Alibaba.com.

At a member event to celebrate the 100,000 member milestone, Mr. Cuong Bui Viet from MC Mitra Co., Ltd, the 100,000th Alibaba.com member from Vietnam, was presented with a commemorative plaque. "It is a great honor for me to be the 100,000th member of Alibaba.com in Vietnam. Having joined Alibaba.com for just a few days I have already found it to be a very useful channel for marketing our products. I'd like to congratulate the Alibaba.com team for their good performance in Vietnam, and I look forward to seeing more support services for Vietnamese exporters from them," said Mr. Cuong.

Founded in China in 1999, Alibaba.com connects small businesses with potential buyers and trusted suppliers from around the world for every imaginable good. As of March 31, 2009, it had 8.6 million registered users on its international marketplace from 240 countries and regions.

While Vietnam has been relatively resilient to the downturn among emerging economies, the collapse of global demand coupled with a rise in world prices of food, oil and other raw materials caused the country's trade deficit to hit US$17 billion in 2008. The gap narrowed to an estimated US$2.1 billion in the first half of 2009 following the government's measures such as tax reduction and interest rate subsidies to stimulate production. (Source: General Statistics Office of Vietnam) Nevertheless, in the long term, embracing online business is important for Vietnamese exporters to accelerate their entry into the world trade community.

"Online marketplaces like Alibaba.com can provide companies of any size with a quick and easy way to participate in global trade and diversify their markets. It is encouraging to see that the Vietnam government shares our vision of promoting e-commerce adoption among local businesses, and we feel that this vision will ultimately lead to faster economic recovery and the creation of more employment opportunities in Vietnam," Wong said.

In June 2009, Alibaba.com signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Vietnam Industry and Trade Information Center (VITIC), part of the Vietnam government's Ministry of Industry and Trade, to jointly promote the local development of e-commerce. Alibaba.com also closed a channel sales partnership with OSB Investment and Technology Joint Stock Company, Vietnam's leading e-commerce service provider, to reach out to more local exporters who are in need of online trade.

A full house of Vietnamese members gathered in Hanoi to learn about Alibaba.com's latest export-oriented offering, Gold Supplier International Edition.

Brian Wong, Senior Director of Marketing and Strategic Business Development of Alibaba.com, presented a commemorative plaque to Cuong Bui Viet from MC Mitra Co., Ltd, the 100,000th Alibaba.com member from Vietnam.

About Alibaba.com

Alibaba.com Limited (HKSE: 1688) (HK.1688) is the global leader in business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce and the flagship company of Alibaba Group. Founded in 1999, Alibaba.com makes it easy for millions of buyers and suppliers around the world to do business online through three marketplaces: a global trade marketplace (www.alibaba.com) for importers and exporters, a Chinese marketplace (www.alibaba.com.cn) for domestic trade in China, and, through an associated company, a Japanese marketplace (www.alibaba.co.jp) facilitating trade to and from Japan. Together, its marketplaces form a community of more than 40 million registered users from over 240 countries and regions. Originated from Hangzhou in eastern China, Alibaba.com has offices in more than 40 cities across Greater China as well as in Europe and the United States.

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