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Alibaba to Deploy AI-Powered Sourcing Engine to Boost Online Trading for Global Merchants

Posted on by darion

International arm Alibaba Holding Group increases generative use artificial intelligence (AI) by implementing an application that will help sellers on international wholesale platforms and various third-party marketplaces buy and sell goods online.

Alibaba’s International Digital Commerce Group (AIDC) will make available to merchants an “AI-powered conversational engine” from September to simplify global business-to-business e-commerce, the group said in a statement on Wednesday. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.

The AI-powered acquisition tool will be available via a dedicated mobile app app AND Alibaba.comofficial website, according to the company. A sourcing specialist can simply communicate via voice input with the tool, which would help streamline how a buyer is matched with the right products and suppliers on the platform.
“I believe our AI-powered conversational acquisition engine will further accelerate Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group’s growth, transforming the way tens of millions of global small and medium-sized businesses operate in the $20 trillion B2B marketplace.” e-commerce industry,” Alibaba.com CEO Zhang Kuo said Wednesday. “The sourcing engine will also be used outside Alibaba’s ecosystem for sellers on third-party platforms.”
App icons for Shein, Temu, AliExpress and Lazada are displayed on the smartphone screen alongside icons for Amazon.com, eBay, Walmart, Target and Etsy. Photo: Shutterstock

The AI-powered sourcing engine draws on Alibaba’s decades of expertise in helping to source goods around the world, according to a statement from AIDC. Data collected from a billion product listings was used to train the service, and buyers could even use it to predict future sourcing requirements. That’s a stark contrast to the time-consuming methods of entering specific product needs and manually sifting through seas of information to find suppliers.

Alibaba’s latest initiative shows that the vast international business-to-business e-commerce market remains an important focus for the company, even as Chinese low-cost shopping apps like She in AND You have attracted the attention of many consumers around the world.
In addition to the Alibaba.com business platform, AIDC’s business includes an international online shopping service AliExpressSoutheast Asia Unit LazadaTurkish Retail Platform Trendyol AND Daraz Group in South Asia. AIDC said it has recruited about 100 employees to work in its AI business team, while it is also looking for new recruits.
Implementation generative artificial intelligence-the AIDC platform tool comes after Alibaba executives turned to the technology to boost operational efficiency. At least twice last year, Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu Yongming said the Chinese e-commerce giant sharpen its AI and user focus.