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Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding is taking more steps to expand its overseas business as it jostles with fast-growing platforms such as Shein and Temu to become the bridge between Chinese merchants and overseas consumers.
Alibaba.com, a cross-border wholesale platform with more than 150 million registered members, has launched its first "digital trade service base" in Shanghai to provide a "one-stop comprehensive service" for local merchants, according to the company.
Alibaba, which also owns the South China Morning Post, has revamped the Alibaba.com site with its artificial intelligence (AI) tool to automate item listing and customer service.
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An internal test showed that the AI feature has helped sellers improve their exposure with end users by roughly 19 per cent, according to the company.
The move comes after Alibaba launched a cargo flight dedicated to transporting parcels between China and Mexico via its logistics unit Cainiao and cross-border retail platform AliExpress.
The flight between Shenzhen in southern Guangdong province, and Mexico City, capital of the Latin American country, will allow Mexican buyers to receive items as soon as 10 days after placing an order, according to a statement on Alibaba's official WeChat account earlier this month.
Alibaba is also expanding its presence in Southeast Asia, injecting US$634 million on Thursday into Lazada, one of the largest online marketplaces which the company acquired in 2016, taking the total amount of cash injections to around US$7.4 billion since then.
In the third quarter, Alibaba's international operations recorded 53 per cent growth in revenues, the fastest among all its units, as overseas growth outstrips sluggish demand at home.
Competition to woo Chinese merchants is rising. Amazon.com earlier this week introduced a slew of initiatives, including an innovation centre in Shenzhen, to help sellers "build brands, promote products and digitalise operations". It also added Brazil to its list of destinations for Chinese merchants.
Meanwhile, ByteDance's short video hit TikTok, which has rolled out e-commerce operations in various markets including the US, plans to pour billions of dollars into Southeast Asia in the coming years, company chief executive Chew Shou Zi said in June.