Alibaba targets 30 million US SMEs

Alibaba has opened its platform to enable US businesses to sell their products to millions of Alibaba.com buyers in the US and around the globe.

The nearly 30 million small and medium-sized businesses in the US – especially manufacturers, wholesalers, and distributors – can now better access the US$23.9 trillion global B2B e-commerce market, an opportunity that is six times larger than the global B2C e-commerce market.

Alibaba is also co-producing a series of “Build Up” workshops and webinars with local chambers of commerce and B2B organizations across the country – including Score, one of the nation’s largest non-profit networks of volunteer, expert business mentors.

“Alibaba aims to empower entrepreneurs and help them succeed on their own terms,” said Alibaba Group’s head of North America B2B John Caplan. “With 10 million active business buyers in over 190 countries and regions, we are reshaping B2B commerce by providing the tools and services needed for US SMB companies to compete and succeed in today’s global marketplace.”

“Alibaba’s announcement to welcome US sellers onto its B2B marketplace shows the Chinese retail giant’s desire to diversify its product offering,” said Emarketer principal analyst Jillian Ryan.

“Currently, about 90 percent of the goods sold on the marketplace are from factories in China that are often manufacturing custom goods-to-order for buyers across the globe. Buyers on the platform are from developed nations like the US, Canada, India, Australia, Brazil, and the UK, and these buyers want to be able to source goods from the US.”

As part of its extended services, Alibaba has streamlined the ability to build and manage a single digital store on the global Alibaba.com platform; added valuable transaction capabilities, including online payment; built CRM and communications tools to facilitate the direct ownership of customer relationships; enhanced digital marketing tools to target any appropriate B2B demand; and provided an option to work with Alibaba.com’s US-based Seller Success team.