Video credit: Alibaba Group

Alibaba Group’s B2C marketplace Tmall Global is on a mission to empower global brands entering China, General Manager Lynn Dong shared with Alizila in a recent interview.

With over 100 million active annual consumers, the platform is the first port of call for many overseas merchants looking to do business in the Chinese market, even in the midst of a pandemic.

“For the past three years, cross-border import e-commerce has maintained an annual growth rate of 20%. It’s one of the key drivers of China’s consumer market,” said Dong, who joined Alibaba in 2013 as a founding member of Tmall Global.

Tmall Global has helped around 40,000 international brands launch in China to date, including more than 6,400 businesses in 2021 alone, and continues to refine its offerings for merchants of all sizes.

For instance, the Tmall Overseas Fulfilment unit – also called the Frontee division – allows brands to test the sales potential of the China market without committing to a full-scale roll-out.

“How to lower costs, enhance supply chain efficiencies and enable cross-border merchants to have more certainty in their business growth — these are what we are making efforts to accelerate,” added Dong.

Last month, Tmall Global announced a partnership with online payment platform Alipay to provide liquidity to ease the financial pressure on merchants.

The platform also works with the group’s logistic arm Cainiao, to provide first-mile delivery assurance for imports. Securing air routes for merchants also helps deliver parcels to consumers on time. After those goods arrive in China, merchants can leverage Cainiao’s smart warehouse service.

Key quotes:

“We can use three keywords to describe our customers: wealthy, young and female,” said Dong.

“In import e-commerce, Tmall Global continues to lead market growth, whether it be gross merchandise value or brand awareness. We are consumers’ number one choice when it comes to cross-border shopping,” said Dong.