Alibaba vows $200B in international orders

ALIBABA Group pledged on Tuesday to help import $200 billion worth of goods from more than 120 countries and regions over the next five years, as the country’s top e-commerce player boosts its efforts to meet rising demand in China for high-quality international products.

Between next year and 2023, the company will help import international goods from businesses of all sizes in countries and regions including Germa- ny, Japan, Australia, the US and South Korea, it said during the ongoing China International Import Expo in Shanghai.

“Globalisation is one of Alibaba’s most critical long-term growth strategies,” the company’s CEO Daniel Zhang said.

“We are building the future infrastructure of commerce to realise a globalised digital economy where trade is possible for every country around the world.”

Top global brands, from Procter & Gamble to Nestle, touted their holistic partner- ships within the entire Alibaba ecosystem, through which they can effectively engage with China’s massive middleincome earners, a primary engine fuelling China’s consumption growth.

“We just entered into a partnership with Alibaba to further tap the Chinese market by leveraging the firm’s consumer insights, big data analytics, and new retail initiatives to spur our growth,” said Charles Kao, China president of South Korea’s Amorepacific.

Amine Haddad, chief execu- tive officer of Australia’s Freedom Food Group, said his company is developing cereal products tailored to Chinese consumers, who are becoming “much more sophisticated”.

“Ch i nese c u stomers a re much more dema nd i ng of qua l it y, of making sure t he product lives up to expectat ions,” he said.

“T hat ’s why we look for good partnerships in China l i ke A l ibaba to ma ke ou r products available and relevant to them.”

China’s cross-border e-com- merce market has grown remarkably, with the proportion of imports to total e-commerce sales surging from 1.6 per cent in 2014 to 10.2 per cent last year, according to a report released by Deloitte China, the China Chamber of International Commerce and AliResearch last week.

On t he sa me day, a not her c r os s-bor der e - c om merc e p l a t f or m Ne t E a s e K a o l a sig ned proc u rement dea l s wor t h ¥ 20 bi l l ion ($ 2.9 bi llion) wit h 110 companies at t he expo.