Alibaba makes unconventional strides in Korea

Alibaba Group is raising its profile here in a slow, yet unconventional way, as its business strategy is far from that of other companies whose primary goal is to maximize profit.

China’s largest e-commerce company was not well known to Korean customers before it surprised the world in 2014 with its record-breaking initial public offering at the New York Stock Exchange.

In the same year, the company made its first noteworthy appearance here, with Chairman Jack Ma visiting Seoul to meet President Park Geun-hye to discuss business collaboration with Korean companies.

Alibaba and its key affiliates have since formed partnerships with local companies in what critics say is a move to diversify its revenue streams, as other overseas information and communication technology (ICT) giants have done.

But revenue generation has not been the core of its business and partnerships, given its two-year operations here. The company, instead, has focused on building an environment in which small Korean companies can sell things abroad.

This is in line with its corporate vision: Making transactions easier anywhere. The Alibaba founder identified the need to build such an environment in China when he established the firm in 1999. He said he wants to apply the same philosophy to other countries, including Korea.

“Alibaba does not have any plans to directly open an online shopping platform in Korea, as our ultimate goal is to become a company helping other firms to benefit from e-commerce,” he said last year when celebrating the launch of the Korea Pavilion on its business-to-customer (B2C) retail site, Tmall.

The Korea Pavilion was Alibaba’s first official country pavilion on its website, selling genuine Korean products to Chinese customers.