Chinese eCommerce firm Alibaba has been ramping up its support of the business-to-business model this year. The majority of those efforts, however, have been in India, as well as through partnerships with alternative lenders with a goal of financing foreign businesses’ procurement through Alibaba’s platform.
On Tuesday (Aug. 4), Alibaba revealed a new market to promote the B2B eCommerce model: Brazil. Macau Hub reports announced that Alibaba is “studying” the Brazilian market and a potential launch of its B2B wholesale platform 1688.com in the nation in hopes of strengthening cross-border trade between Brazilian and Chinese businesses.
The news was revealed during a speech made by AliExpress business director Lucas Peng in the South American nation. AliExpress is the small business-focused eCommerce procurement platform run by Alibaba.
“When they enter 1688.com, Brazilian brands will be able to connect to a market compromising more than 40,000 Chinese store operators,” Peng said. He added that Brazilian firms would also have access to Alibaba’s small business financing services and, eventually, its B2B logistics tools. AliExpress already operates in Brazil, and reports said the site is the nation’s fourth-largest electronics retailer.
Alibaba revealed plans to expand 1688.com throughout the globe earlier this year, but this is the first time reports said the company is eyeing Brazil. Last May, the site’s department manager Liu Fei said he was looking at markets in Spain, Portugal, Italy and South Korea to strengthen Chinese buyers’ connections to overseas sellers.
The May announcement coincided with reports that Alibaba would be broadening its financial and logistics services through 1688.com, a strategy that would coincide with a global eCommerce push, as buyers and suppliers would need resources to overcome foreign exchange and regulatory hurdles.
Alibaba founder Jack Ma has pushed the B2B model for online commerce as a more appropriate strategy in certain regions of the world, considering differing regulations. This year, Ma has especially focused that model on Alibaba growth in India.
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