What It's Like to Shop a Local Main Street Online

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11Main.com, a new U.S.-based e-marketplace owned by Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd., launched yesterday (6/11/14) with hundreds (okay ... possibly a thousand or two) boutiques designed to replicate shopping a local Main Street.  We reported on this March 14, 2014.

What is the key differentiator on 11Main?  You don't sign up on your own.  11Main finds, recruits and approves stores to sell on its site.  What does that protect or ward off?  Dishonest sellers.  Ouch or maybe Cool, depending on who you are and how you look at it.

Read the entire news article:  Alibaba launches 11main.com in the U.S.

We've been reporting on Alibaba since 2005.  Review the history here, especially in view of the upcoming Alibaba IPO.

How to Localize Your Web Marketing Strategy to Enter China

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Are you eager to push your products and services into the Chinese market?  According to Gordon Choi, the first thing to do is to localize your web marketing strategy.  Here are ten ways to do it.

Read:  10 Ways to Localize Digital Marketing in China

Meanwhile, you might want to visit Alibaba's latest foray into helping SMEs do business in China (not quite ready for launch yet but they are working on it):  11Main.com - PDF guide here.