Alibaba Group's Taobao and Tmall have "successfully" concluded their 15th annual 11.11 Shopping Festival. As reported by the Chinese group, during the campaign, Taobao and Tmall recorded positive year-on-year growth in gross merchandise value (GMV), number of orders, and participating merchants compared to the same period in 2022.

"Taobao and Tmall's strong performance reflects the success of our user-centric strategy, which focuses on competitive pricing, diverse content offerings, and AI-powered technologies that further optimized consumer and merchant experiences during the campaign," said Trudy Dai, chief executive officer of Taobao and Tmall. "Brand membership programs continued to play a pivotal role in this year's 11.11, highlighting our capabilities to support sellers in fostering sustainable consumer loyalty and long-term business opportunities," the director added.

According to the company, competitively priced offerings drove sales growth. Specifically, on November 11, a total of 402 brands exceeded 100 million Chinese renminbi (RMB) on GMV each - over 12 million euros - while 38,000 brands achieved year-on-year growth of more than 100%. The direct discount outlet offering a 15% price reduction recorded 210 million orders during the period, while the outlet with products from value-for-money manufacturers generated nearly 90 million orders.

It is also worth noting that on the same day, 38 online streaming channels operated by sellers generated more than RMB100 million in GMV each, accounting for more than 60% of the channels with more than RMB100 million. Meanwhile, 451 vendor-operated channels recorded more than RMB10 million. 

Aliexpress battle with the EU rages on

Meanwhile, the EU keeps pressuring Alibaba Group, now via Aliexpress. The European Commission has requested clarifications from AliExpress, a subsidiary of Alibaba Group. Brussels is asking AliExpress to provide more information on the measures it has taken to comply with obligations related to risk assessment and mitigation measures to protect online consumers, including for counterfeit medicines. The company will have three weeks to explain.

Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton said, "The Digital Services Act is not limited to issues such as hate speech, disinformation or cyberbullying. It also ensures the removal of illegal or unsafe products sold in the EU through e-commerce platforms, including the growing number of fake and potentially dangerous medicines and pharmaceuticals sold online."

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Alibaba is continuing its international push. Now, according to statements from CEO Michael Evans picked up by CNBC, the company plans to expand Tmall to Europe. 

"You will see something called Tmall that we have in China become Tmall in Europe, which means we will serve local brands and local consumers in the local market," said Evans, who revealed that the company is currently running a pilot project in Spain, which "will expand across Europe."

In China, Tmall strongly focuses on selling foreign brands to Chinese consumers. The launch of Tmall in Europe reflects a significant shift in Alibaba's strategy for its international e-commerce operations. 

As Evans explained, Tmall would focus on selling local brands to local buyers in Europe. "Europe is a priority for all businesses with an international component," Evans asserted.

The announcement comes just over two months after Alibaba announced plans to split its business into six units, a move designed to give each unit more autonomy and faster decision-making powers.

According to the plan, under Alibaba Group, six main business groups and several business companies will be established, including Alibaba Cloud Intelligence, Taobao Tmall Business, International Digital Business, Local Life, Cainiao and Dawen Entertainment, and other companies will also be independently operated and managed accordingly. 

Similarly, Alibaba Group will remain a holding company with Daniel Zhang as chairman and CEO, while its CEO and board of directors will manage each of the six business groups. Each business group will retain the flexibility to raise external capital and conduct an IPO when ready, except Taobao Tmall, which will continue to be owned by Alibaba Group.

Alibaba missing founder

Meanwhile, Alibaba has been trying to cool down the growing rumors about its founder Jack Ma, who seems to have vanished from public view. 

Jack Ma, disappear from public appearances after giving a speech criticizing China's regulatory system in 2020. However, Ma remains Alibaba's biggest shareholder and still holds considerable power in the company.

Ma left mainland China in late 2021 for Japan, Spain, Australia, and Thailand, according to photographs, but returned in March, a day before Alibaba announced its restructuring. He has not made any public comments during that period.

"Jack is alive; he is well; he is happy. He is teaching at a university in Tokyo and spending more time in China," said J. Michael Evans, current Alibaba Group President.

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Amazon

The online giant does not give a reason for the departure, but international media suggests that Amazon was struggling with fierce competition from Alibaba's Tmall and JD.com. According to research agency iResearch Global, those companies have a joint market share of 82%.

Amazon in China claims to have focussed more on cross-border sales during the past couple of years. Chinese customers would frequently purchase products from the US, the UK, Germany and Japan, among others, via the global website. Amazon wants to fix their focus on this.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Amazon is talking to its competitor NetEase about merging their e-commerce businesses for the import of goods in China.

The post Amazon to partially shut down in China during this upcoming summer appeared first on Cross-Border Magazine.

Products ordered from Tmall will be delivered from warehouses of Alibaba’s partners in Russia. Director of Development of AliExpress in Russia, Mark Zavadsky, says that localizing AliExpress in Russia started two years ago with the launch of marketplace “Mall” within the platform. The upgrade to Tmall will provide better quality of services to a more careful selection of goods, a single warehouse and logistics based on courier delivery.

Russia is a logical choice as a first market aside from China, because it has a large population and is reasonably underdeveloped when it comes to e-commerce. Besides that, it has close cultural and geographical ties to China.

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