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What is Alibaba?

By Tiago Moraes 3 minutes reading
What is Alibaba?
What is Alibaba: a group of companies and services founded by Jack Ma dedicated to online and physical wholesale and retail in China and other countries around the world. photo: hipwee
What is Alibaba: a group of companies and services founded by Jack Ma dedicated to online and physical wholesale and retail in China and other countries around the world. photo: hipwee

Do you know what is Alibaba? Most people who hear or read this term soon remember the tale of the same name, which is part of the popular storybook “A thousand and one nights”. But in e-commerce, Alibaba is a company, one of the largest in the world, by the way.

In fact, Alibaba is more than just a company; it's a group. This group brings together resources such as e-commerce websites, cloud computing services, and a mobile payment platform, among others. According to an article on the Exame portal , the Alibaba Group was valued at US$850 billion in 2020.

But it was not always so. The group started operating in a room in an apartment in the city of Hangzou in 1999. Its founder, entrepreneur Jack Ma, had the idea of ​​creating a B2B business, which connects Chinese factories to buyers from other countries.

WHAT IS ALIBABA: GET TO KNOW THE KEY COMPANY RESOURCES

As said, the group brings together several brands and different resources, especially these:

  • Alibaba: B2B marketplace focused on international wholesale;
  • AliExpress: B2B and B2C online for consumers and businesses outside of China;
  • Taobao: B2B and B2C online for Chinese consumers and businesses;
  • Tmall: retail site for Chinese consumers;
  • AliPay: digital wallet, ie a mobile payment platform;
  • alimama: Digital Marketing tool for Alibaba's e-commerces;
  • Alibaba Cloud: China's leading cloud computing service;
  • Ant Financial: financial services company;
  • shipping: ultra high-tech supermarket chain.
Video: Learn more about Alibaba (turn on English subtitles and Portuguese translation in the YouTube player controls)

As can be seen, the group has branches in different sectors, ranging from online to physical commerce, including financial services. However, due to the numerous acquisitions in more than 20 years of operation, it is difficult to know exactly how many and what features Alibaba may have.

In fact, the group has a large business ecosystem, being in this regard one of the main models ever seen on the planet today. In short, it is for these and other reasons that, alongside Amazon, and in many cases ahead, the Alibaba Group dominates world commerce.

As soon as you can, click on " What is eBay? " and learn about a B2C and C2C marketplace!

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