Jack Ma and Alibaba - Best Blogs Asia
Profile of Alibaba founder and Chairman, Jack Ma.
I think this post was a long time coming, since Alibaba is so huge in Asia (particularly China) and abroad that a mention on Best Blogs Asia was due.
About Alibaba.com
The site conjures up thoughts of bazaars in Iran/Iraq or even the Disney film “Aladdin” but in short the website is publicly traded company in the business-to-business e-commerce marketplace. I first came across them when I saw their adverts on top of Hong Kong taxis and on tv, their logo is memorable also.
Alibaba operates two key online B2B marketplaces, an International Marketplace and a China Marketplace. The company’s English-language International Marketplace serves to bring together international importers and largely China-based suppliers by offering online export marketing services. The China Marketplace (www.alibaba.com.cn) is focused on facilitating domestic B2B trade within China.
There are more than 35 million registered users, as well as 6000+ employees working for Alibaba, mainly based in China. Also the site works in conjunction with Yahoo China in a joint venture.
Other Companies
There are other companies owned such as:
- Taobao.com – online retail marketplace
- Alipay – third-party online payment platform
- Alisoft – Internet-based business management solutions
- Yahoo! Koubei – Chinese regionalized classified listing website
Using Alibaba and the Impact on eBay
Alibaba is a huge site and does a good job in displaying company products, specific regions and displaying seller details. The problem I see is “trust”. The site is aimed at local Chinese businesses selling abroad so the foreign buyer has to have faith in the seller as well as deal with the logistics of purchasing from abroad.
The 2nd problem is using the online payment system supplied by Alibaba. It’s called Alipay and whilst it does work, it doesn’t have the strength or reputation of Paypal…it’s still early days yet. It works in China because relatively few Chinese have credit cards, so e-commerce companies have long struggled to find a way for customers to make payments for online transactions. With Alipay, Ma has come up with a simple solution: Buyers use Alipay to deposit money in a bank account; Alipay keeps the money in escrow; and then, after receiving notice that the buyer has received the purchase, releases the funds to the vendor.
Jack Ma Profile
Jack Ma is known for investing in companies and could even make a bid for Paypal or eBay in the future, but it’s current TaoBao auction site is huge and dominates the Chinese Person to Person selling market.
I read his background with interest. He had no experience of technology, was previously an interpreter and teacher but he found that as search was taking off in the Western world there was a gap in the Chinese market and raised funds with the help of friends and later Goldman Sachs and Softbank.
Funds were raised by charging for China exporters to meet U.S. buyers online for example companies that pay $2,900 a year to become “Gold Suppliers,” can, for instance, post an unlimited number of products online, offer virtual tours to would-be buyers, and (to reassure potential trading partners) receive vetting by a credit reporting agency. In 2007, Alibaba raised $1.5 billion in an initial public offering in Hong Kong. Yahoo owns 39% of Alibaba.
Jack will take the site further by offering localised versions to other countries around the world and expect to tap into these markets soon, helped along with $30 million spend in marketing. The vision of Alibaba is huge and things are looking up!
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