Yahoo Finance Alibaba bets on Taobao, Tmall clothing merchants to compete overseas against Shein, Temu
Alibaba Group Holding aims to supercharge the business of clothing merchants on Chinese shopping platforms Taobao and Tmall with overseas shipment subsidies, as the e-commerce giant intensifies competition against Shein and Temu.
Eligible merchants on Taobao and Tmall can enroll in Alibaba's new pan-clothing global free shipping plan, so they can sell their products directly to consumers in several markets outside the mainland, the Hangzhou-based company said in a statement in response to the South China Morning Post's inquiry. Alibaba owns the Post.
Taobao and Tmall merchants who sell goods in the pan-fashion category - including men's and women's garments, sports and outdoor apparel, shoes, bags and accessories - are eligible to take part in this programme, Alibaba said.
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"In the fast fashion industry, Taobao apparel merchants have a great advantage on a global scale," Alibaba said. "They have leading e-commerce operations experience and are backed by the supply chain capacity of the 'world's factory'."
Taobao and Tmall are the primary Chinese online retail platforms of Alibaba Group Holding. Photo: Shutterstock alt=Taobao and Tmall are the primary Chinese online retail platforms of Alibaba Group Holding. Photo: Shutterstock>
Qualified merchants need only send ordered goods to a designated consolidation warehouse in China, and Alibaba will handle the cross-border logistics. This arrangement currently covers a few markets in Asia, including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea, according to the statement
Alibaba's latest initiative ratchets up its efforts to compete against popular Chinese-founded fast-fashion retailer Shein and international budget-shopping platform Temu, run by Pinduoduo owner PDD Holdings.
The first-mover advantage of Alibaba in online shopping overseas, through platforms such as AliExpress and Lazada, has been eclipsed by the strong performance of Shein, Temu and ByteDance-owned TikTok Shop.
Temu, for example, recently started offering a similar "one-stop service" to lure more Chinese merchants to its platform. Temu takes care of pricing, marketing and consumer services, while the merchants and manufacturers ship their goods to designated warehouses on the mainland.
In March, Alibaba's smart logistics arm Cainiao and international e-commerce unit AliExpress expanded their five-day global delivery service to the United States, after initially launching in Germany, France, Portugal, Saudi Arabia and Mexico last year.
Expedited delivery services have become a crucial factor for cross-border e-commerce operators striving to boost orders on their platforms.
This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2024 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
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