The number of brands and merchants on the Tmall Global platform as of December 31, 2020 grew over 60% year-over-year, according to its announced financial results.
In order to better connect international brands with Chinese consumers, Tmall Global continued to innovate in its cross-border logistics solutions. Brands that do not have a physical presence in China can now store inventory in Alibaba’s warehouses located in their home markets, and Tmall Global facilitates export to China when orders are placed.
This service leverages the capabilities and economies of scale of Alibaba’s logistics infrastructure to enable brands to quickly enter the China market while reducing sales uncertainty and controlling costs.
Purchases of products warehoused and shipped from overseas by Tmall Global grew rapidly, achieving triple-digit year-over-year growth in GMV, excluding unpaid orders, during the December quarter.
Read Alibaba’s quarterly e-commerce highlights here.
Alibaba ramps up support for sellers entering China via Tmall Global
Alibaba Group’s cross-border e-commerce platform Tmall Global announced a new suite of solutions for 2021 to help global brands capture growing consumption opportunities in China.
Brands, particularly small- and medium-sized players that have been hard-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, are trying their best to enter new markets and find fresh channels for growth. In China, e-commerce platforms such as Tmall Global have become consumers’ preferred avenues for purchasing overseas products. Tmall Global is committed to providing a suite of solutions to help new overseas sellers capture these opportunities and assisting brands to bring quality products into China market,
said Maggie Liu, General Manager of Tmall Global.
The registration for Tmall Global can be completed using the platform’s new self-service portal and getting started to open an online store will take as little as 30 days.
With its new Official Operating Service, merchants of all sizes, including those with zero Chinese e-commerce operational experience, can launch their brands smoothly on Tmall Global.
In addition to a streamlined onboarding process, overseas brands and retailers will receive tailored consultation, operations, and content support as well as other value-added services through Tmall Global and its extensive partner network worldwide.
Tmall Global will also roll out region-specific programs to further support merchants who plan to establish a presence in China.
China’s consumption of imported goods has seen compounded annual growth of 76%. This trend indicates the market is set to attract an increasing number of foreign brands looking to establish their footprint via online channels.
According to Tmall Global, more than 29,000 brands across 5,800 categories had come onto the platform at the end of December 2020, over 80% of them are entering China for the first time.
Tmall Global will provide sellers with access to a variety of content marketing resources to help them deliver a more robust value proposition. The resources include, influencer pitches, short-video, and live streaming vendor collaboration opportunities to effectively engage with the Chinese audience and to deliver greater brand value.
Other value-added services that new sellers can enjoy include first-mile storage and shipping, all-round insurance, and supply chain finance.
Currently, Tmall Global offers a range of operational solutions aimed at helping overseas merchants find the most suitable business model for reaching Chinese consumers.
Those who want to test the sales potential of their products in China can start by utilizing Tmall Overseas Warehouses solution, or Tmall Overseas Fulfillment (TOF), set up for direct fulfillment to consumers.
This model helps brands to maintain inventory flexibility and lower logistics and storage costs. The year-to-date growth of TOF’s GMV saw a nearly 200% increase for the nine months ended December 2020.
With its comprehensive and high-quality offerings, Tmall Global has been successful at meeting new consumer demand as appetite for imports and new, personalized or limited-edition products continued to grow.
The number of brands and merchants on Tmall Global as of September 30, 2020 grew at a double-digit rate year-over-year.
China e-commerce to grow 21% in 2021; cross-border up 33% in 2020
Tmall Hong Kong: New B2C Platform
Alibaba also announced the plan to launch “Tmall Hong Kong” (Tmall Hong Kong). A new local Business-to-consumer (B2C) platform, Tmall Hong Kong is fully committed to supporting merchants and brands to better serve local consumers through e-commerce.
Tmall Hong Kong is expected to be available in the coming months. Leveraging on the robust e-commerce experience provided by Taobao Hong Kong, Tmall Hong Kong aims to help merchants swiftly and efficiently set up stores and provide customer and logistics services directly to consumers in the market.
Taobao Hong Kong, which has been mainly adopting a consumer-to-consumer (C2C) model, will continue to serve Hong Kong consumers with products from small- and medium-sized merchants from mainland.
Tmall Hong Kong will be presenting a series of local and foreign brands that have been gaining prominence in the city, fully enhancing the product offerings to local consumers.
Tmall Hong Kong will be available through the Taobao mobile APP. In the very near future, when consumers open the Taobao mobile APP and select the Hong Kong region, they will not only see the current interface of Taobao Hong Kong, but can also switch it to Tmall Hong Kong and browse the wide range of products available and enter brands’ Tmall Hong Kong stores to shop.
Tmall Hey Box: Alibaba’s best seller incubator for top brands
