Alibaba is betting on Taobao, Tmall, clothing retailers to compete overseas with Shein and Temu

Alibaba Group Holding plans to significantly expand the clothing retailer’s business on Chinese shopping platforms Taobao and Tmall by offering surcharges on overseas shipping, as the e-commerce giant steps up competition with Shein and Temu.

Eligible sellers on Taobao and Tmall can sign up for Alibaba’s new global pan-clothing free shipping plan, allowing them to sell their products directly to consumers in several markets outside the mainland, the Hangzhou-based company said in a statement in response to an inquiry from the South China Morning Post. Alibaba owns Post.

Alibaba said the program is open to sellers from Taobao and Tmall platforms who sell goods from various fashion categories, including men’s and women’s clothing, sports and outdoor clothing, footwear, bags and accessories.

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“In the fast fashion industry, Taobao apparel retailers have a huge advantage on a global scale,” Alibaba said. “They have leading experience in e-commerce operations and are supported by the supply chain capabilities of the ‘world factory.’”

Taobao and Tmall are major Chinese online retail platforms owned by Alibaba Group Holding. Photo: Shutterstock alt=Taobao and Tmall are major Chinese online retail platforms owned by Alibaba Group Holding. Photo: Shutterstock>

Qualified sellers only need to ship the ordered goods to a designated consolidation warehouse in China, and Alibaba will handle the cross-border logistics. According to the statement, this agreement currently covers several markets in Asia, including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea

Alibaba’s latest initiative aims to step up efforts to compete with popular Chinese fast-fashion chain Shein and international budget shopping platform Temu, operated by PDD Holdings, the owner of Pinduoduo.

Alibaba’s lead as a pioneer in the overseas online shopping market, through platforms such as AliExpress and Lazada, was overshadowed by strong performances by Shein, Temu and ByteDance-owned TikTok.

Temu, for example, recently began offering a similar “one-stop service” to attract more Chinese sellers to its platform. Temu handles pricing, marketing, and customer service, while sellers and manufacturers ship their goods to designated warehouses on the mainland.

In March, Cainiao, Alibaba’s smart logistics arm, and AliExpress’s international e-commerce unit expanded their five-day global delivery service to the United States after launching it in Germany, France, Portugal, Saudi Arabia and Mexico last year.

Expedited delivery services have become a key factor for e-commerce operators operating abroad as they seek to increase the number of orders on their platforms.

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative daily covering China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP articles, visit the SCMP app or the SCMP Facebook page and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2024 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.