2016年CRI Alibaba's Success Sparks Debate over Chinese Online Business Model

 

CRI's Luo Bin¹ explains.

More than a hundred of sellers and buyers on Alibaba's Tmall and Taobao platforms were on-hand at Alibaba's headquarters in the city of Hangzhou in Zhejiang to share the announcement that Alibaba has already processed 3-trillion yuan worth of sales through its current fiscal² year.

This represents almost 10 percent all retail³ spending China this past year.

Chinese home appliance giant Haier jumped on to Tmall.com 4-years ago.

Vice⁴ chair Li Huagang says the move has worked well for the company.

"This platform can test both your production and after-sale capabilities⁵. Before, we could hardly get aware of whether our customers satisfied with our products, but it became easy as song as we got online. Cooperation with the online platform helps improve our overall capability⁶."

Figures from Alibaba show there are more than one billion products being sold on its online marketplaces, along with more than 10 million active vendors⁷ and over 400 million regular buyers.

Home appliances, clothes, electronic devices and baby products are some of the most popular goods bought on the Alibaba platform.

Young people are its major customers.

More than half of all Taobao users are women.

When it comes to the advantage of its online business, Alibaba Vice Chair Gao Hongbing says online platforms have brought sellers and buyers closer together than ever.

"The reason behind the 3 trillion and the unprecedented⁸ expansion is the platform that has enabled business more free online than offline transactions. Manufacturers used to think their work was complete as soon as the goods reached the wholesalers, but when they went online, they realized they had to figure out how to better communicate with customers, manage inventories⁹ and improve their products. All of these indeed helped with the development with the manufacturing industry."

Zhang Yong, Alibaba CEO, suggests the company's internet-based business model might also play a role in the country's current economic restructuring move.

"Today, we can't talk about the supply-side reform and the economy upgrading without mentioning the internet and online platforms that can help product makers¹⁰ better understand their customers so as to make the economic reform targeted."

With Alibaba eyeing the target of hitting 6 trillion yuan in revenues by 2020, Zhang Yong says priorities are going to be given to improving logistics and cloud-based facilities in the coming years.

1 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

2 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

3 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

4 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

5 capabilities   

n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力

参考例句：

• He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities. 他有点自大，自视甚高。 来自辞典例句
• Some programmers use tabs to break complex product capabilities into smaller chunks. 一些程序员认为，标签可以将复杂的功能分为每个窗格一组简单的功能。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

6 capability   

n.能力；才能；(pl)可发展的能力或特性等

参考例句：

• She has the capability to become a very fine actress.她有潜力成为杰出演员。
• Organizing a whole department is beyond his capability.组织整个部门是他能力以外的事。

7 vendors   

n.摊贩( vendor的名词复数 )；小贩；（房屋等的）卖主；卖方

参考例句：

• The vendors were gazundered at the last minute. 卖主在最后一刻被要求降低房价。
• At the same time, interface standards also benefIt'software vendors. 同时，界面标准也有利于软件开发商。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

8 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

9 inventories   

n.总结( inventory的名词复数 )；细账；存货清单（或财产目录）的编制

参考例句：

• In other cases, such as inventories, inputs and outputs are both continuous. 在另一些情况下，比如存货，其投入和产出都是持续不断的。
• The store must clear its winter inventories by April 1st. 该店必须在4月1日前售清冬季存货。

10 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》