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  • Singles' Day in China is the world's biggest shopping event.

  • Think of Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Amazon Prime Day on loop for days.

  • And now, Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce giant that created Singles' Day, wants to use its international platform, AliExpress, to help the event go global.

  • From Poland to France and Brazil.

  • Alibaba is competing with other e-commerce platforms like Amazon to capture a larger share of the global market, which is expected to grow by $1.4 trillion by 2025.

  • So, to promote Singles' Day, Alibaba has hired an army of influencers around the world...

  • I love this color.

  • ... and beefed up its logistics.

  • But it has to tackle some challenges if it wants to take a bite off a bigger piece of the global e-commerce pie.

  • One of the first things Alibaba is doing to win over new Singles' Day consumers abroad?

  • Massive sales.

  • Discounts of up to, you know, 50 or even 70 percent are being offered, so, it's a very big event.

  • Vinci Zhang is an e-commerce analyst based in Shanghai who's been watching Alibaba for the past 7 years.

  • So, the way it is doing that right now is basically competing on pricing, by offering cheaper prices as well as charging less fees for the merchants.

  • When foreign customers use AliExpress, they get direct access to Chinese factories and merchants.

  • The company is also speeding up global delivery during the international 2-day shopping event this year.

  • It said it's increasing charter flights from China to cities like Seoul and Paris to 100 a week, up from 80 flights.

  • Alibaba said it's also installed 5,000 automated self-pickup lockers across Russia, Poland, Spain, and France to help cut delivery costs that would go to hiring fleets of delivery trucks and drivers.

  • Daniela Sena is one of the 400 influencers Alibaba has hired to promote Singles' Day abroad.

  • In China, live streaming is one of the most popular ways to shop.

  • And Sena is doing the same, but for a Brazilian audience.

  • She says the Chinese company is offering something better than other shopping platforms.

  • I think the fact that people can see us, we touch the product, we have the feedback of other people that already purchased the... the products as well,

  • it gives the audience a very personal communication.

  • But attracting buyers won't be enough.

  • If it wants to compete with Amazon, then I think, fundamentally, it needs to own more inventory.

  • And the bigger bulk items could become an issue.

  • Right now, the company lacks the infrastructure outside China to support those kinds of sales.

  • If we're talking about big air-conditioner or refrigerator purchase shipped from China, I imagine it will be very challenging for big u⏤home appliance manufacturers.

  • They are not going to, you know, sell directly in Europe and build a warehouse.

  • So, it's up to Alibaba if they want to, kinda, undertake that initiative.

  • Alibaba said it has opened up its platform to merchants in several markets already outside of China, and will continue to expand while also developing warehouses overseas to improve capacity.

  • It said AliExpress is at the forefront of its global strategy.

  • And according to brokerage China Merchant Securities, China's outbound e-commerce market is expected to grow around 26 percent every year until 2025.

  • Amazon did not respond to a request for a comment.

  • So, Zhang says Alibaba should stick to what they're good at, using automated warehouses, innovative ways to live stream and deliver packages to keep prices low.

  • I think that's where Alibaba's strength lies.

  • It's in its technology and logistics management.

  • If they are able to replicate that success to Europe, then maybe they can, you know, compete against Amazon from a different angle,

  • and, you know, and attract more people to ultimately switch to using Alibaba.

Singles' Day in China is the world's biggest shopping event.

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