Tag: AliExpress

South Korea – Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. has partnered with E-Mart Inc. to establish a joint venture, combining their South Korean e-commerce operations in a strategic move to compete more effectively in the country’s growing online retail market.

According to Bloomberg, E-Mart’s stock exchange filing confirmed earlier reports that AliExpress International and Gmarket are forming a 50-50 joint venture. The companies reportedly plan to make additional investments in the venture, which will hold full ownership of Gmarket. 

Sources familiar with the situation told Bloomberg that the new entity might be worth about $4 billion.

The joint venture aims to strengthen the companies’ position against local competitors such as Naver Corp. and Coupang Inc. Additionally, Alibaba has reportedly been focusing on expanding its international footprint to offset slower growth in its core Chinese e-commerce operations.

Alibaba’s domestic e-commerce growth remained sluggish in the September quarter, weighing on financial results despite gains in its cloud and international businesses, including Lazada and AliExpress. Facing fierce competition from PDD Holdings and ByteDance, the company has pivoted under CEO Eddie Wu to streamline core operations and prioritise high-growth areas, Bloomberg reported.

Alibaba, under Jiang Fan’s leadership, is integrating its domestic and international e-commerce operations while shedding non-core assets. Last week, the company sold its Intime department store business to Youngor Fashion for $1b, marking a $1.3b loss on its initial investment.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg also reported that E-Mart shares rose 5.5% in Seoul, boosting its market value to $1.4 billion. Alibaba’s American depositary receipts climbed 2.1% in New York, bringing this year’s gains to over 11% and valuing the company at $206 billion. 

E-Mart has been expanding its e-commerce presence through organic growth and acquisitions, including a 2021 deal to acquire a controlling stake in eBay’s South Korean marketplace for $3 billion.

Singapore – Online retail marketplace AliExpress has a launched a new campaign featuring its latest global brand ambassador David Beckham to help fans score more deals on the e-commerce platform ahead of the upcoming UEFA EURO 2024 sporting event.

It is also worth noting that the campaign follows the news in March this year that AliExpress became the first exclusive global e-commerce partner of said sporting event, which will happen from June 14 to July 14 in 10 host cities across Germany and will see 24 national teams compete.

Through the campaign, AliExpress users will have the chance to take part in a series of interactive games to win exclusive discounts and time-limited prizes, including match tickets. AliExpress is investing millions of Euros in discounts, deals and engagement during the games, as part of its increased investment into global consumer experience. 

In addition, new and eligible AliExpress users will be entered into exclusive lucky draws with prizes to welcome them to the platform.

During the games from June 14 to July 14, AliExpress will run an innovative ‘Shake and Win’ promotion, offering time-limited prizes following each goal of all games. All eligible users just need to log on to the AliExpress app and shake their smartphone once the ball hits the back of the net, for the chance to score great prizes.

Speaking on the campaign, Beckham said, “AliExpress is helping fans get even closer to UEFA EURO 2024 this summer, by offering them great prizes as the action takes place on the pitch.”

Meanwhile, Gary Topp, European commercial director at AliExpress, commented, “AliExpress is excited to welcome David Beckham as our global ambassador ahead of the Summer of Sports that is set to kick off in Europe. Whether you’re a football fan or not, I can think of no-one better to show how easy it is to win with AliExpress during UEFA EURO 2024.”

China – The Olympics has become more than just an event for sports fans – simply by being part of the current generation alone instills the excitement and eagerness to witness this massive and seasonal coming-together, that brings all nations and people of all races to celebrate the human strength and talent. 

AliExpress, Alibaba Group’s e-commerce, is taking an extra step to celebrate the upcoming Tokyo Olympics. After the event has been halted for a year, people around the globe will finally see it to fruition, with just a few days left before its opening on 23 July 2021. 

In the new campaign by AliExpress, everyone will be able to experience the camaraderie and oneness only such global event could bring, at least digitally. Called ‘ONE FLAG’, the campaign is a global one that forefronts a digital flag that absolutely anyone, from any part of the world, can be a “part of.” 

The digital ‘ONE FLAG’ is simply made of strings woven together that bear the trademark non-black colors of the Olympics – Red, Yellow, Green, and Blue. It’s a flag with no fuss until you learn what the strings are “made of.”

The global retail online marketplace has curated an exclusive website made especially for the campaign for people to join. In it, you would only need to upload a photo of yourself, where without any further ado, you’ll see yourself transform into a ‘thread,’ and now interlaced to form the digital flag. 

A screencap from the campaign’s official website

Any photo can be uploaded but AliExpress encourages that it be one showing that you are supporting or cheering for the Olympics. To make things official, and make the experience personalized for the participant, he or she will be informed of the specific count of his or her thread in the entirety of the flag, such as for example, being the 9000th thread. On the website, a certificate can be also downloaded as proof that you are one strand to the flag, something that you can share and boast about on social media. 

“At AliExpress, we’re committed to connecting people through innovative digital experiences, and we are honored to partner with the [International Olympic Committee] to create an engaging and interactive experience that brings people together,” said Christina Lu, the head of marketing at AliExpress. 

She adds, “In many ways, the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 will be a completely new experience for athletes and fans due to the pandemic. With fans unable to cheer from the sidelines during these unprecedented times, our ONE FLAG initiative fosters togetherness among millions of people who will be watching the Olympic Games at home this year to show support to the Olympic Games and athletes.”

Yuto Horigome, a Japanese skateboarder who is currently ranked 2nd on the World Skateboarding Rankings, will be among the first athletes to participate in the ONE FLAG initiative to call for worldwide support for Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 and athletes.

In January 2017, Alibaba Group and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced their long-term partnership that would see them collaborating until 2028. As part of the Olympic Partner (TOP) worldwide sponsorship program, Alibaba has been tapped as its official ‘Cloud Services’ and ‘E-Commerce Platform Services’ Partner. 

Prior to the current campaign, AliExpress has also launched an Olympic-themed campaign for the pre-pandemic Winter Youth Olympics which was held in Lausanne, Switzerland, the home of the IOC, in January 2020. Through the Lausanne 2020 campaign, AliExpress promoted winter sports and encouraged fan engagement, mainly connecting consumers from around the world with thousands of featured winter sports products.

The Tokyo 2020 Olympics will be held from 23 July to 8 August 2021. 

Hangzhou, China – This year’s 11:11 Global Shopping Festival by commerce giant Alibaba has reeled in USD 74.1B in gross merchandise value (GMV), marking a 26% increase in comparison to last year’s event.

The shopping festival, lasting through eleven (11) days from November 1 to 11 across Alibaba and its affiliates like AliExpress and Lazada, has seen 470 brand participations. These brands, in total, amassed USD 15.1M in GMV.

Other notable statistics include:

  • 250,000 brands in total participated in 11.11 this year, of which 31,000 are overseas brands.
  • 2,600 overseas brands participated in 11.11 for the first time.
  • AI customer chatbot handled over 2.1 billion queries during the 11-day period

The United States was the top country selling to China in terms of GMV value. Other key nations include Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, New Zealand and the UK.


“Over the past 12 years, innovation has been at the heart of 11.11 and along the way it became a global consumer festival. 11.11 is defined by our consumers, merchants and our partners across the ecosystem, and also a beneficiary of all the support from society. “We will continue to focus on developing our digital infrastructure in the service of empowering merchants of all sizes to find a path to success in the digital economy,” said Jiang Fan, President of Taobao and Tmall.