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121901042
ALIBABA E-COMMERCE WEBSITE
INTRODUCTION:

Alibaba Group Holding Limited (also known as Alibaba Group and as Alibaba.com) is a
Chinese multinational technology company specializing in e-commerce, retail, Internet, and
technology. Founded on 4 April 1999 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, the company provides consumer-
to-consumer (C2C), business-to-consumer (B2C), and business-to-business (B2B) sales services
via web portals, as well as electronic payment services, shopping search engines and cloud
computing services. It owns and operates a diverse array of businesses around the world in
numerous sectors.

Alibaba is the world's largest retailer and e-commerce company, is on the list of largest
Internet companies and artificial intelligence companies, is one of the biggest venture capital
firms, and one of the biggest investment corporations in the world. The company hosts the
largest B2B (Alibaba.com), C2C (Taobao), and B2C (Tmall) marketplaces in the world. Its
online sales and profits surpassed all US retailers (including Walmart, Amazon, and eBay)
combined since 2015.It has been expanding into the media industry, with revenues rising by
triple percentage points year after year. It also sets the record on the 2018 edition of China's
Singles' Day, the world's biggest online and offline shopping day.

HISTORY:

On 4 April 1999, Jack Ma and his team of 17 friends and students founded Alibaba.com, a
China-based B2B marketplace site, in his Hangzhou apartment. In October 1999, Alibaba
received a US$25 million investment from Goldman Sachs and SoftBank. Alibaba.com was
expected to improve the domestic e-commerce market and perfect an E-Commerce platform for
Chinese enterprises, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), to help export
Chinese products to the global market as well as address World Trade Organization (WTO)
challenges. In 2002, Alibaba.com became profitable three years after launch. Ma wanted to
improve the global e-commerce system, so from 2003 onward, Alibaba launched Taobao
Marketplace, Alipay, Alimama.com, and Lynx.

In January 2017, Alibaba and the International Olympic Committee jointly announced an
$800 million deal that would last till 2028 in where the company would sponsor the Olympic
Games. In September 2018, Jack Ma, the main founder of Alibaba, announced that he would step
down as chairman in a year's time so he could focus on philanthropy. In response to the
announcement, The Economist stated that Ma had a significant impact in China and worldwide
via contributions and dedication to various businesses.

In May 2019, Bloomberg cited sources familiar with the matter as saying that Alibaba was
considering raising $20 billion through a second listing in Hong Kong. On Tuesday, 10
September 2019, Jack Ma officially stepped down as the chairman of Alibaba, Daniel Zhang
succeeded him at the head of the company. In September 2019, the municipal government of
Hangzhou announced that it was boosting its monitoring of the private sector by embedding
government officials in Alibaba and other companies.
ALIBABA’S TOP SELLING PRODUCTS:

Given that Alibaba is a B2B website, their best-sellers are

generally items that can be mass-produced and sold
wholesale to replenish inventory for companies. Apparel
and electronics are huge. Consistently popular items
range from synthetic bracelets and underwear to
Bluetooth music systems. Private labelers would be wise
to focus on products that are small and light to reduce shipping costs–items that sell for between
$15 and $200 are ideal. A higher price point is risky because such items require higher capital to
begin with and selling lower-valued products is generally untenable because most markets lack
the volume to create a worthwhile revenue.

SELLING ON ALIBABA:

While sellers can join for free, basic membership on

Alibaba severely limits the number of products displayed
as well as access to promotional tools, rendering it
functionally useless to most companies hoping to expand.
For vendors, then, it is important to examine the market
to make sure there is an audience for said goods. Alibaba
is readily used to export items from China. This,
however, may change. Alibaba has announced an initiative to invite American small business
owners and entrepreneurs to focus on products targeting Chinese consumers. As it stands, selling
on Alibaba can be cost-prohibitive to smaller retailers. Tmall, the division that targets foreign
companies, requires that verified Gold members provide a security deposit of up to $25,000, pay
annual seller fees totaling up to $10,000, and give Alibaba a 2-5% commission on each sale.
These seller fees are in addition to the 1% charge associated with Alipay, the company’s Paypal-
like payment processor. Alibaba is an excellent marketing engine for suppliers, but new vendors
should keep in mind that it can take years rise to the top of Alibaba’s search results and account
for this expense.
RISKS OF USING ALIBABA:

The language barrier isn’t the only issue buyers will face when using Alibaba. While there are
many security protocols in place to avoid scams on Alibaba’s marketplace, they still happen on
occasion. This is why it’s important to perform due diligence not with just Alibaba’s credentials
but using the Supplier Database to check up on the supplier. The more business a supplier has
done in the U.S. (if you’re a U.S. buyer, of course), the more likely they are to be trusted.
Furthermore, the Supplier Database shows you the other businesses that the supplier has worked
with in the past, including large brands like Target, Walmart, and Amazon itself.

SUGGESTION FOR THE WEBSITE:

As Alibaba website is one of the best ecommerce website in all over the world. In India if we use
Alibaba website for purchasing the product, the price tag will be mentioned in dollar. So it finds
difficulties for the buyer to find the exact Indian rupees to be paid. My suggestion is for our
country they can use the product price as Indian rupees.