Alibaba.com
CNNMoney.com featured the Alibaba Group, what many have called “China’s eBay,” in an article about the B2B e-commerce company’s growth in the American market. Alibaba.cn, the original Chinese site, is where small- to mid-size businesses can buy products from suppliers and manufacturers. The fact that many small-business owners in China are not internet-savvy has made Alibaba.cn extremely successful, as it eliminates the need for entrepreneurs to have their own online operations, which is much harder to have in China.
The article questions whether Alibaba.com (the English version) will prosper in a market where e-commerce websties, e.g. eBay and PayPal, and the internet is commonplace. You don’t actually buy things through Alibaba, you only find suppliers and then arrange payment and delivery outside of the website. Alibaba’s lack of contractual regulation may be less attractive to a North American audience, where transactions are considered secure when prices are fixed and easily viewed online. Alibaba is somewhat relationship-oriented, not unlike Chinese culture, since buyers and vendors are required to initiate contact with each other to move forward and finalize a deal or to establish a working relationship.
Can anyone offer an experience they’ve had on Alibaba.com?
Click here to read the full article.