Alibaba tests online platform for major push into US this year

South China Morning Post
By Bien Perez
12 September 2009

Mainland internet giant Alibaba Group will soon embark on full-scale operations in the United States.

Its main subsidiary, Alibaba.com, is now testing an online platform that will allow US companies to buy directly from mainland suppliers. The platform is expected to be launched by the end of this year.

"We will be there," group chairman and chief executive Jack Ma Yun said.

However, he said the initiative would depend on whether the company pursued a partnership, an acquisition or built up on its own.

"Our customers and members in the US want us to do it," Ma said.

The Hangzhou-based company estimated that the mainland had 63 million internet entrepreneurs, mostly small businesses that have boosted the domestic economy.

Alibaba's announcement was made at the opening of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation SME summit in the city yesterday. Alibaba, which controls e-commerce firm Alibaba.com, is marking its 10th anniversary.

"E-commerce has become an important tool for companies to survive during this tough economic environment," Ma said.

In a live feed from his home in New York, former US president Bill Clinton urged governments around the world to adopt China's example in empowering small businesses to grow through online commerce.

"Small and medium-sized businesses are the key to long-term economic growth and stability," he said.

Clinton said that since leaving office, the Bush administration had put "too much emphasis on concentrating wealth in the big financial institutions and too little on building small and medium-sized businesses".

Alibaba said its research indicated that the growing e-business turnover reflected an increase in the number of mainland online businesses. China's business-to-business market reached 2.96 trillion yuan (HK$3.36 trillion) last year, up 39.4 per cent from 2007.

Figures supplied by iResearch show that revenue from online shopping reached 128.18 billion yuan, up 128.5 per cent over the previous year, including 99.96 billion yuan traded at Alibaba subsidiary Taobao, the country's leading online shopping portal.