A visit to Alibaba Group headquarters
HANGZHOU CITY, ZHEJIANG PROVINCE, CHINA: Since its inception in 1999, China’s ecommerce giant Alibaba Group has grown to become a force to be reckoned with.
Last year, Alibaba Group crossed the RMB3 trillion milestone in Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) over a span of 13 years. To put that into context, it took US-based Walmart 54 years to achieve that figure.
By 2020, Alibaba is targeting to double its GMV to an astounding RMB6 trillion.
Alibaba Group was established by 18 people led by Jack Ma, a former English teacher at his apartment in Hangzhou. Its first website was the English-language Alibaba.com, a global wholesale marketplace.
Today, Alibaba has more than 50,000 full-time employees.
From the outset, the company’s founders shared a belief that the Internet would level the playing field by enabling small enterprises to leverage innovation and technology to grow and compete more effectively in the domestic and global economies.
Alibaba’s mission is to make it easy to do business anywhere by providing the fundamental technology infrastructure and marketing reach to help merchants, brands and other businesses that provide products, services and digital content to leverage the power of the Internet to engage with their users and customers. Its culture, business models and systems are built in line with Alibaba’s vision for the organization to last for at least 102 years.
Alibaba’s businesses comprise core commerce, cloud computing, digital media and entertainment, innovation initiatives and others. Through investee affiliates, the Group also participates in the logistics and local services sectors.
In the recent media trip to China organized by the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in Kota Kinabalu, reporters from Sabah had the opportunity to visit Alibaba headquarters at Xixi campus, located about 40 minutes away from Hangzhou CBD. The media delegation was briefed on the history, businesses, achievements and progress of the company.
Last year, Alibaba smashed its Singles’ Day shopping record with a whopping RMB120.7 billion in GMV and 657 million delivery orders generated on that day. More than 235 countries and regions were involved in the shopping festival. Also known as ‘Double 11’ as Singles’ Day falls on November 11, some 175,000 orders per second and 120,000 payment transactions per second were processed at its peak.
The Alibaba ecosystem has created 30.83 million total job opportunities, 14.89 million related service job opportunities, 11.76 million transaction service job opportunities and 4.18 million supporting service job opportunities ranging from individual sellers, brand owners, service providers, logistics providers, online celebrities, shopping advisors and bargain seekers.
Alibaba also strives for 24hour delivery in China and 72hour delivery worldwide for its products.
The Group’s businesses are not just limited to e-marketing platforms such as Taobao.com, Tmall.com, AliExpress, juhuasuan. com, Alibaba.com and Alimama. com. Alibaba has also established its cloud computing arm Alibaba Cloud, which offers financial services to small and micro enterprises as well as consumers via Ant Financial Services Group, and operates a logistics data platform through its affiliate Cainiao Network.
On March 22 this year, Alibaba Group announced the establishment of an e-hub under the Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP) initiative together with the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), the country’s digital economy development agency, and other parties. This marks a key milestone in the realization of the eWTP’s vision to lower trade barriers and provide more equitable access to global markets for small and medium enterprises and young people around the world.
Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak and Alibaba Group’s Executive Chairman Jack Ma, attended the launch ceremony in Kuala Lumpur and witnessed the exchange of four Memoranda of Understanding covering a host of areas. These include the establishment of an e-fulfilment hub near the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, a onestop online cross-border trading services platform, cooperation in e-payment and financing, and development of e-talent training that will fit into Malaysia’s roadmap of transformation into a digital economy.
On May 12 this year, Alibaba Cloud announced that it will establish a data center in Malaysia later this year to provide enterprises in Malaysia and the region with powerful, scalable and cost-effective cloud capabilities to support their global expansion. The planned data center will become the first global public cloud platform in the country.
The planned new data center in Malaysia will add to Alibaba Cloud’s data centers in 14 locations worldwide, covering mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Australia, the Middle East, Europe, and the U.S. (East and West Coast). It will empower local entrepreneurs of various industries and scales to migrate their IT infrastructure to a powerful, reliable and secure platform.
Alibaba Cloud unveiled the plan in conjunction with the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Alibaba Group, the Hangzhou Municipal Government and MDEC. The MoU signifies a significant milestone in realizing the vision of the eWTP, as it represents the first connection between a China e-hub and an international e-hub in Malaysia.
Cloud computing and big data analytics will play a crucial role as the computing infrastructure of eWTP, offering SMEs support and helping to transform Malaysia into a digital economy.
Alibaba Cloud has made significant progress since Alibaba Group established the first overseas e-hub under eWTP with MDEC in March this year. In addition to the planned data center, it has been granted MSC status to participate in the Malaysia Multimedia Super Corridor initiatives and has conducted training for industry players in collaboration with MDEC.
Alibaba Cloud will also build a cloud platform in Malaysia to help local SMEs to succeed in the digital age through technology such as big data and Internet of Things (IoT). In order to provide support for startups, Alibaba Cloud will provide the Alibaba Cloud Certified Professional (ACP) certification program to train local technology talent and support the internet-related ecosystem in Malaysia.
Alibaba Cloud’s presence in Malaysia dates back to early 2016, when the company dedicated its team to empowering Malaysian enterprises. In early 2017, Alibaba Cloud entered an MoU with Conversant Solutions and Prestariang Berhad to collaborate on building an integrated education platform known as EduCloud to deliver a range of cloud-based education and related services, including campus management, teaching and learning, entertainment, digital payment, and many other services and online applications.