The signing of the agreement was witnessed at a ceremony at Alibaba’s corporate headquarters in Hangzhou by Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, and Alibaba Group’s Founder and Executive Chairman, Jack Ma. It’s a liberating force for small business.
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Australia ranks fourth in sales volume on Tmall Global, Alibaba’s worldwide online platform that allows direct sales to Chinese consumers, behind the US, Japan and Korea.
Alibaba Group also plans on establishing a channel on Youku.com, a leading provider of video and streaming services in China with over 500 million monthly active users, to further promote fresh Australian produce and advance the perception of Australian products in the eyes of Chinese consumers.
Global wine and drinks brands are expected to boost their presence in China this week when Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce giant, hosts its inaugural 9.9 wine and spirits festival through to 9th September.
“The next chapter of trade between China and Australia will require closer cooperation and this agreement provides a new framework to ensure more businesses, especially SMEs, can benefit through the partnership between Austrade and Alibaba”.
Alibaba’s managing director for Australia and New Zealand, Maggie Zhou, said Australian wines are considered world-class, and come at different price points, so the opportunity to sell to China’s growing middle class was significantly high. Health supplements and beauty products, in addition to food and beverage and baby and maternity items, are the most popular Australian goods among Chinese consumers.
“This partnership also opens the door to future cooperation in some of Australia’s priority industries, including emerging digital service delivery areas such as e-health, financial services, sporting event management and assisting innovative startup companies”, Clifton said. “With the opening of Alibaba’s Australian office in late 2016, our local team will be helping winemakers of all sizes effectively market their products, navigate distribution channels and align to overseas preferences”.
The initiative, seen as evidence of Alibaba’s wish to mirror the success of the 11.11 “Single’s Day” online shopping event and bring it to a segment market, has been supported by a marketing campaign to generate buzz and the company expects 100m shoppers to take part, Decanter China reported. The deal allowed Australia Post to set up a store on Tmall Global that would help Australian SMEs sell their products to China.
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Australian prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, with Alibaba Group’s executive chairman, Jack Ma, in his first visit to the company’s headquarters in Hangzhou, host city of this year’s G20 meetings.
