Mu Shan, General Manager of FMCG at Taobao and Tmall Group, speaks at the recent Top Talk event in Shanghai. Photo credit: Alibaba Group
Alibaba Group’s B2C online marketplace Tmall has earmarked more resources for business development among its merchants as the platform company looks to cement its position in China’s e-commerce sector.
Executives laid out the updated management strategy at Tmall’s Top Talk 2024 event in Shanghai earlier this month.
Tmall will prioritize strengthening marketing strategies, product development and content e-commerce in the year ahead, in addition to onboarding more brands and consumers.
“Constant growth has always been our unique advantage,” Mu Shan, General Manager of FMCG at Taobao and Tmall Group, said at the event.
Alibaba Group’s Taobao and Tmall Group includes digital marketplaces Taobao and Tmall, wholesale marketplace 1688.com, second-hand retail site Xianyu and other businesses.
Taobao and Tmall Group’s eponymous commerce retail business was the world’s largest in terms of GMV for the twelve months ended March 31, 2023, according to Analysys.
But Tmall isn’t sitting on its laurels.
The platform plans to triple the scale of resources dedicated to new products, it announced during the Top Talk event, and its mobile app will feature a new product tab to highlight notable releases.
Meanwhile, Taobao will invest more heavily in content e-commerce such as livestreaming with the goal of doubling users year-on-year.
The marketplaces are making good on recent promises from Alibaba Group CEO Eddie Wu.
“We will step up investment to improve users’ core experiences to drive growth in Taobao and Tmall Group and strengthen market leadership in the coming year,” he said on an earnings call in February. Wu is also CEO of Taobao and Tmall Group.
Fueling Brand Innovation
Tmall is on the frontline of product development in China and last year, the platform nurtured more than 4,000 brands with over one billion yuan ($138.3 million) in GMV.
Tmall plans to continue this trend by extending more support to new businesses and new products.
The apparel category is responsible for a large portion of the new items launched each year, with over ten million apparel products making their debut in 2023. This year, the product launch cycle for clothing products will be shortened to as little as one week.
“Tmall’s apparel category continues to focus on two core areas: new products and content,” said Mi Lan, General Manager of Tmall Apparel, on the scene.
The platform’s home goods sector will also roll out more features in the year ahead, including live broadcasting and short video-format content boosted by AI and 3D technology.
In addition, the Tmall U First sample distribution program, which partners with merchants across a range of categories to trial items on a smaller scale, will be upgraded to reduce customer acquisition costs and help brands attract new shoppers.
