What Is Alibaba Doing In The U.S.?

As President of Alibaba Group, I am often asked, “What is Alibaba doing in the U.S.?”

In fact, most people are not aware we have a business in the U.S. because we are not a U.S. consumer-facing service that people use every day – nor do we want to be. Our consumers – nearly 900 million of them – are located in China.

People are often surprised to learn we have thousands of customers here in America, made up of U.S. brands, retailers, small businesses and even farmers.

Last year, thousands of these U.S. companies sold more than $54 billion worth of their high-quality products directly to Chinese consumers on our e-commerce platforms. These companies include large multinationals like P&G and Estée Lauder, family-owned businesses like BISSELL and Emily’s Chocolates, small businesses like Antica Farmacista and Radha Beauty and agriculture-based companies like Sun-Maid and Califia Farms.

How does it work? Think of Alibaba as a massive digital mall. When a U.S. business opens a digital storefront on our platform in China, they gain access to our almost 900 million active Chinese consumers. But we do much more than provide traffic. We provide all the tools to help U.S. businesses build their brands in China to serve local Chinese consumers. This includes fully customizable online storefronts, marketing tools, inventory and management services, as well as translation and logistics.

We also offer innovations like , AR shopping and gamification to help businesses connect with consumers in highly engaging ways. One of our strengths is the deep insights we have into the Chinese consumer, which can be very valuable to U.S. businesses as they tailor and market their products to fit the demands of new Chinese consumers.

Importantly, what makes us different from other e-commerce platforms is that we are a marketplace, not a retailer. This distinction is critical because it means we connect U.S. businesses and their products directly to the Chinese consumer. The business owns the relationships and consumer insights, and has total control over pricing, marketing and merchandising decisions. It also means we are always a partner, and never a competitor to the businesses on our platforms. We will only succeed if the businesses we work with succeed.

These are the important reasons why so many U.S. brands trust us and work with us in the China consumer market. Even direct-to-consumer brands based in the U.S. like , , and partner with us in China. We give them all the advantages of going direct to consumers – control over branding, consumer relationships and all the data and insights – in addition to access to the nearly 900 million consumers on our marketplaces.

According to the , one million jobs in the U.S. are consistently sustained by helping U.S. businesses sell to China. We are proud to be an important part of that U.S. job creation opportunity.

Until recently, the China consumer opportunity would have been out of reach for most U.S. small businesses. That is why we have invested heavily in our Tmall Global platform, which was specifically designed for businesses without a local presence in China to be able to sell cross-border to the Chinese consumer. Over the past several months, Alibaba has seen a continuing flow of American brands starting to sell to China for the first time. More than 100 U.S. businesses have launched on Tmall Global since January 2021.

Take New Jersey skincare brand as an example. Josh Ghaim founded Nuria Beauty just two years ago before the pandemic hit. Because of his prior experience at Johnson & Johnson, Ghaim was familiar with Alibaba and knew it could be a great solution for Nuria. In just three months, Nuria had a Tmall Global storefront up and running, and was enjoying steady sales growth. Ghaim expects the China market to grow and become his largest market.

This year, of all retail sales in China are predicted to take place online—the first time this milestone has been reached globally. The digital economy and massive consumer market in China present big opportunities for Alibaba’s U.S. customers.

So when people ask me what Alibaba is doing in America, my answer is simple: We give great American brands, retailers, small businesses and farmers direct access to the Chinese consumer opportunity that can power their growth and success for the long term.