Alibaba platform to help SMEs tap China
Alibaba Group has brought its 1688.com platform to Southeast Asia to help small and medium-sized exporters sell their products in the Chinese market more easily.
The 1688.com platform is an online wholesale marketplace in China. It is aimed at responding to the demands of Chinese consumers and businesses for imported products, said Michael Mang, head of business development and marketing for Asia-Pacific, Middle East and North Africa, Alibaba.com and 1688.com.
Currently, 1688.com boasts more than 10 million Chinese companies as potential buyers. It is in the process to increasing the number of SMEs sellers overseas. Thailand is in the first phase of the process. The membership fee for 1688.com is about US$600 (Bt20,900) per year.
"We believe the market and opportunities are there. We found huge opportunities to reach out to SMEs overseas. This time we are approaching Thai SMEs to bring products on to 1688.com to sell to Chinese businesses. We aim to help SMEs in Thailand easily use 1688.com to export products to China efficiently," Mang said.
In Thailand, it will start with a few categories such as food and beverages, jewellery and healthcare products.
"At first, we will focus on tangible products, start from consumer products, manufactured products, raw materials and finally services," he said.
Thailand has 2.7 million registered small and medium-sized enterprises, only 15,000 of which are registered as exporters. With a platform that can help SMEs leverage their products for export, the number of exporters will be far more than this, Mang said.
He said the advantages of Alibaba’s service were its 15 years of experience both in and outside China, the fact that it puts customers first, and that it understands what the customers’ key challenges are, such as trust and safety and logistical solutions.
The company says it is very competitive in providing platforms that save costs and ensure safe trading. It also works through partners to help SMEs access funding for undertaking exports. "We aim to make cross-border trading easier, to empower SMEs to engage in global trading. We also introduce financial suppliers to make their cash flow easier," Mang said.
"We actually work with different partners to help make this happen. We need government agencies and associations to work with [us] closely since we need their endorsement power, and they have power to reach out to SMEs. We have contacted several organisations but cannot disclose their names."
Alibaba.com, the first business of Alibaba Group, is a platform for global wholesale trade serving millions of buyers and suppliers around the world.
Through Alibaba.com, small businesses can sell their products to companies in 240 countries.
