Since 1999, the Alibaba Group’s international trade site has served more than 3.6 million registered users from around the globe.
Alibaba.com is the world's largest marketplace for importers and exporters. Buyers and sellers visit the site to find trade opportunities and promote their businesses online.
Alibaba is not a trading company. Rather, their site is an online business platform where users post leads and search for worldwide business trade partners.
Headquartered in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, the Alibaba Group has sales offices in 30 other cities throughout China. The company also operates offices in Hong Kong, Switzerland and the U.S.
In addition to Alibaba’s international site, the Alibaba Group runs Alibaba China which serves some 21 million registered users who trade strictly within China. The company also owns: Asia’s largest consumer e-commerce site; China’s leading online payment service; Yahoo!China (since 2005); and web-based business software provider Alisoft.
Chinese Excellence in Website Design
FORTUNE Small Business magazine recently recognized Alibaba.com as one of the 6 best online resources for helping entrepreneurs to do business in international markets. Of the 6 site winners, Alibaba is the only Chinese-operated or B2B company.
Each of Alibaba.com’s 5 topic page tabs features a custom search bar. By clicking on the appropriate topic page tab, exporters in any country can quickly find:
- Products by country or region
- Suppliers by country or region.
Importers around the world can retrieve:
- Selling leads by country or region
- Buyers by country or region.
Alibaba.com also has a tab for Tradeshows, that highlights 18,000 conventions across 31 global industries by location and time period.
Another useful website feature is the fact that the 9 most popular search words are shown immediately below the search bar, each hyperlinked to real-time search results. Additional search options are available for more advanced users.
Joining Alibaba.com
Becoming an online member of Alibaba’s international trade community is easy, regardless if a user lives in Canada, Nigeria or Brazil. While some premium services involve a charge, Alibaba’s core online buying and selling features are free.
For example, all Alibaba members can download free TradeManager software that enables visitors to the Alibaba site to:
- Receive trade alerts with selling leads, quotations and customized product notifications
- Communicate with prospective buyers or suppliers online
- Participate in live product presentations.
Exporting Wine to China on Alibaba.com: An Example
Last year, one of International Trade's most acclaimed articles was China's Wine Treasure. Chinese demand for wine - particularly ice wine - is booming as incomes continue to rise.
Once on Alibaba.com, anyone can quickly find potential buyers in hundreds of countries including mainland China. There are 7 easy steps.
- Using the Buyers tab, click on the More search options link on the right side of the Search bar.
- Type the text wine into the first field of the Search bar.
- Leave in all categories in the second field.
- Click on China (mainland) in the Refine by region list, then click the Add button.
- Click on the radial button beside Buying Leads.
- Click on a time period from the drop-down list (e.g. Last 6 months).
- Click the Search button.
The search result lists companies in China with a brief blurb that identifies what type of wine the Chinese importer wants to buy. Alibaba Gold Suppliers are identified with a gold icon. Gold Suppliers are export-oriented companies from China who have paid fees for premium Alibaba membership. Available on the website is background information on Gold Suppliers including company profiles, product listings, contact information, management, certificates and video introductions.
Below is an example of a potential buyer listing on Alibaba.com:
Sep 18, 2007 - Buy Sparkling Wine - We are an international trade corporation in China and have been importers and exporters for many years. We are looking for sparkling wine at medium or low price. If you can provide that kind of product, please contact us. Tianjin Wide Career International Trade Co. Ltd.
To leave a message for the Chinese wine distributor, registered members simply click on a link in the right column of the buyer listing.
Daniel Workman - A senior business and finance writer who also does French translations, notably international trade and insurance materials.
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