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Subject: Chinese ecommerce company Alibabawill open offices across Europe in an effort to attract more sellers to the platform, in the first big initiative…
Excerpt: English text from the archived bilingual edition · Chinese edition
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Chinese ecommerce company Alibabawill open offices across Europe in an effort to attract more sellers to the platform, in the first big initiative since the company appointed Michael Evans as president
Alibaba will open so-called “embassies” in Italy, France and Germany, with a view to positioning the company as the “gateway to China” for European merchants
“In the past, it was really only multinationals that could afford to sell their products internationally. But in the last 10 years, much has changed,” Mr Evans said, describing the mission as enabling “the world to sell to China, and to help China to sell to the world”. “
Mr Evans pointed to projections that China’s middle class would grow from 300m to 500m in the next decade. “This middle class consumer wants authentic, high-quality international products,” he said
Companies ranging from clothing group Zara to luxury brand Burberry have opened stores on Tmall, Alibaba’s eBay-like platform aimed at attracting brand-name sellers
However, Alibaba’s reputation for being unable to fight fakes and counterfeit goods has kept some sellers away. Jack Ma, chairman and co-founder, admitted in an interview on Tuesday that the issue of fakes “leaves visible wounds on Alibaba”
“I don’t believe success can be built on dishonesty,” he told China’s official news service Xinhua, dismissing some comments that Alibaba took advantage of counterfeits which boost sales and take rate totals for the group. “
Daniel Zhang, chief executive, said that Alibaba would promote the sale of products from other countries to Chinese consumers as part of its Singles Day sales festival on November 11. The shopping day is known as singles day for its “double eleven” date, and billed as the “anti-Valentine’s day” where customers buy something for themselves rather than for a partner
Singles Day is China’s largest online shopping day. Last year, Alibaba set a record as its marketplaces hosted $9.3bn in sales
This year the company has been hit by China’s slowing economy, which have pushed down sales to their lowest growth rates in over three years last quarter
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