The company acquired USD 56.2 million worth of shares in Zulily, which offers its products through a flash sales model using its desktop and mobile websites, and mobile applications, retail-business-review.com reports.
Zulilys products include mens, womens, and childrens apparel, accessories, and shoes; childrens merchandise, such as infant gear, sports equipment, toys, and books and other merchandise comprising kitchen accessories, home décor, entertainment, electronics, pet accessories, and health and beauty products.
The move comes as Alibaba chairman Jack Ma is planning to have 50% of sales from outside China as the nations economy is anticipated to grow slowly since 1990. Alibaba said that around 80% of the revenues generated in Q1 2015, were from online sales from China, while international ecommerce sales accounted for 9% of the companys total. At the end of March, 2015, Zulily had five million customers who had made at least one purchase in 2014, up 35% from the previous year.
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