Alibabas and Alipays program for US companies is called ePass and it includes a customs pre-approval process. Under this plan, US businesses would use Alipay, an electronics payment service that is closely affiliated with Alibaba. Alibaba and Alipay would handle payment, shipping and marketing in China. Alibaba will soon begin publicizing the plan to US retailers as it looks for partners. Neiman Marcus Group and Saks have already confirmed the agreement but would not talk about how the pilots are faring, the same source indicates. The Chinese companies will also work with US startup Shoprunner, an online mall for US retailers and retail services provider Borderfree to court Chinese consumers.
Industry insiders point to just USD 15 billion in annual US-China cross-border consumer sales. But Daiwa estimates cross-border purchases, which exclude sales of US products within the country, can grow to CNY 1.8 trillion (USD 291 billion) by 2020.
According to Reuters, Alibabas effort to help foreign retailers set up shop in China, Tmall Global - its business-to-consumer website, has not has significant success. Of 5,000-plus brands and 650 merchants that currently sell on the site, just 30 have accumulated more than CNY 10 million in sales, according to the company.
Every day we send out a free e-mail with the most important headlines of the last 24 hours.
Subscribe now