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This week, Alibaba Group’s e-commerce marketplace Taobao unveiled plans to offer free shipping on a range of apparel items in markets including Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan.
In other news, the platform company’s latest ESG report showcased a broad array of philanthropic activities completed by its employees during the last fiscal year.
Taobao Announces Global Free Shipping Plan for Hong Kong, South Korea and More
Taobao and Tmall merchants are being recruited to take part in a regional free shipping program covering apparel products, fashion accessories and more.
The initiative, in partnership with Alibaba’s international commerce arm, will cover six Asian markets: Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and South Korea.
Merchants will retain independent pricing rights and be able to directly display and sell their products to consumers in these markets without dealing with the hassle of cross-border logistics.
It’s the latest in a series of merchant and consumer-focused programs introduced by Alibaba’s Taobao and Tmall Group (TTG).
Earlier this year, TTG earmarked more resources for business development, with plans to triple the scale of resources dedicated to new products for Tmall merchants and invest more heavily in content e-commerce on Taobao.
A Year of Doing Good
Alibaba and its employees engaged in a variety of philanthropic activities over the last fiscal year, according to the latest ESG report released on Monday.
The company leveraged its broad ecosystem across society, empowering more stakeholders to do good more conveniently and efficiently.
Over the year ended March 31, 2024, the Goods for Good program on Alibaba’s e-commerce platforms attracted 1.87 million merchants and 470 million users, with a net donation amount of about RMB290 million ($40 million).
Alibaba staff – also known as Aliren – clocked over 260,000 hours of volunteer service, while 184,665 people took part in more than 2,000 Hugs and Help group events.
“I hope all Aliren will be forward-looking, maintain positive intentions, and be pragmatic,” said Alibaba Group CEO Eddie Wu.
In addition, 4,856 philanthropic organizations are now using Alibaba’s “Three Hours for a Better World” platform. During the 2024 fiscal year, the platform attracted over 6.21 million users, who engaged in over 240 million philanthropic actions.
Explore more stories about Alibaba’s philanthropic activities
Alibaba International’s Aidge AI Toolkit Hits Half a Million Merchant Adoptions
A generative artificial intelligence toolkit developed by Alibaba International has been used by around 500,000 merchants since it launched last year, the business group reported this week.
The suite of AI-powered tools, Aidge, helps vendors boost conversion rates and cut costs by offering translation services, text and image generation, customer service assistance and more.
Alibaba Progresses Towards Carbon Neutrality Goals and Digital Inclusion: 2024 ESG Report
Alibaba Group reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from its own operations by 5.0% during the year ended March 31, 2024, according to the company’s latest Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) report published on Monday.
The platform company is edging closer to reaching carbon neutrality by 2030, with clean electricity accounting for 39% of total electricity consumption, an 11.8 percentage-point increase from last year.
Discover more highlights from the report
Alibaba Celebrates Gender Equality at Paris 2024 with AI-powered Restoration of Historic Photos
The last time Paris hosted the Olympic Games, less than 5% of competitors were women. A century on, this figure has climbed to 50% —making Paris 2024 the first Games to achieve full gender parity.
To mark the milestone and celebrate the female Olympians who paved the way, Alibaba has leveraged artificial intelligence technology to colorize and restore vintage photographs of female athletes from 1900 onwards.
See the images and watch the movie
Alibaba Cloud and OBS Unveil AI-powered OBS Cloud 3.0 at Paris 2024
Cloud technology and artificial intelligence will transform how viewers experience the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympic Games, as an upgraded broadcasting solution puts them closer to the action than ever before.
OBS Cloud 3.0, launched on Thursday by Alibaba Cloud and Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS), boosts efficiency and streamlines workflow for media and organizers alike.
