It’s okay if you don’t quite understand what Alibaba does. Even its European manager, Terry Von Bibra, wasn’t quite sure when he started at the company a few years ago.
Alibaba was founded in 1999 in Hangzhou, China with the intention of helping out other entrepreneurs and using the internet to level the playing field. In 2013, it sought an IPO, receiving $25 billion - the largest IPO ever. Suffice to say, the company has come a long way.
According to Von Bibra, it was all to do with that original ethos. “They were obsessed that a certain technology could be used by them to make the world a better place.” Originally a b2b business, Alibaba now has 18 different platforms, from a hugely popular online sales platform like Amazon, to mobile media and entertainment, local services and a cloud business. “The only way we felt we could bring our businesses to scale was by building our own cloud business.”
Although almost all of the platforms are in China, and for the Chinese, there’s one ethos that binds the companies. “We have one common theme that ties all the platforms together: ‘making it easy to do business anywhere’.”
Alibaba is monetising the online market in China. Right now, there are 1.4 billion Chinese people, with around 434 million mobile users. This is where Alibaba is building platforms - for the Chinese to use on their mobiles.
But what of the large rural areas throughout the country? “We think there’s still room to grow,” Bibra said at WIRED Retail 2016. “We want to find the Chinese people who do not have access to online retail or mobiles. This is a long-term project."
New platforms are always coming to the Chinese company. Omnichannel, another leg of Alibaba, is hoping to start improving customer experience. “Using every marketing channel and every customer touch point, we want to create the best possible shopping experience for your customers” explained Von Bibra. “We enable other brands and products to sell on our platform. We also work with many stores offline, where we have found ways to sync the inventory online with in store.”
You may not fully understand what Alibaba does - but it’s one of the biggest companies in China, so watch this space.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
