(ThePennyWatcher.com) – Alibaba has been a powerhouse in the online world for years, and encompasses so many services and platforms it’s a bit overwhelming.
Many of us know it for it’s online marketplace, where buyers can be connected with sellers overseas in China.
While this is a significant aspect of what they provide, there is far much more there once you take a look under the hood!
E-Commerce
Back in 1999, an entrepreneur named Jack Ma started Alibaba as an online marketplace. While Alibaba was connecting manufacturers with buyers worldwide, Alibaba grew into covering e-commerce, cloud computing, digital media, and entertainment.
Alibaba is very popular among Amazon sellers especially, as domestic buyers can choose from a variety of certified manufactuers to work with on creating or buying a custom product where they can in turn make it their own back here in the states.
The other platforms include:
- Taobao: Think of Alibaba, but for China direct buyers and sellers.
- Tmall: Think of almost an Amazon of sorts for China.
- In addition to E-comm, Alibaba has one of the largest cloud computing entities in the world. Rivaling Microsoft and Amazon Web Services, “Alibaba Cloud” is a big player in handling massive amounts of data.
It’s almost too much to get into!
Payment Solutions & Logistics
Alibaba is also in the payments system game, so think PayPal for China.
Alipay is China’s largest online payment platform, and boasts over 1.3 billion active users.
And of course they would have a wide array of financial advice services! Ant Financial provides a range of financial services, including loans, investments, and insurance for those in need.
Logistics and Fulfillment:
Alibaba’s logistics arm, Cainiao, streamlines delivery process and increase shipping efficiency with transportation companies everywhere, many of which include the transport needed for all those sales going on via Alibaba.
Global Impact
While Alibaba is a massive entity, they are like another other company that has faced it’s challenges. Regulatory concerns and counterfeit goods on its platforms are a pretty large problem.
Alibaba remains a go to platform for the United States small to medium sized businesses. And even the few companies operating strictly in China are still utilized by US companies, it just depends on their requirements.
