Alibaba Goes From a 1 Million Goal to 2,000 Small U.S. Businesses Per Year

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Alibaba is going through a major transformation – transformation these days means cutting budgets, firing people and running a much leaner ship.  Also with the transformation comes a more realistic goal on their future performance.

History:  Alibaba launched its B2B eCommerce site, Alibaba.com, in the U.S. three years ago and set a goal of adding 1 million local businesses and global reach, but the company has fallen short of those targets in the ensuing years, the report said, citing three people familiar with the operations.

The majority of U.S. sellers cancel their subscriptions after a year, past and current employees said in the report. One person said Alibaba.com is now looking to sign up 2,000 small U.S. businesses per year rather than the 1 million goal.

Read on to see how the efforts of Alibaba to rival Amazon are falling a bit short.

What's the True Cost of An eCommerce Shipment (Landed Cost) Once It Reaches a Customer's Doorstep?

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Are you running a global business?  Have questions about the global supply chain?  Run an e-commerce business and wonder how duties and taxes affect you or your customers?  

Find the answers to these questions plus more along with what the true cost of an e-commerce shipment is (landed cost) once it reaches a customer's doorstep.  

Join our wegginar® on Wednesday, May 5th at 11AM CT to hear Kat Sun, Head of Operations at Passport Shipping and Kaitlin Mogentale, Founder of Pulp Pantry talk about "What to Expect When You're Expecting (To Go International).

All business owners operating in the B2B and B2C space who run an e-commerce business should attend.

To learn more and to register (no charge thanks to our generous sponsors), visit:  Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global®.

Startup in Shanghai Poised to Solve Cross-border Payment Problems and Boost International Trade

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XTransfer, based in Shanghai, China, aims to solve cross-border payment problems for over 100,000 of China’s smaller importers and exporters playing important roles in the national economy in spite of challenges posed by the pandemic and trade disputes.

XTransfer was founded in 2017 by several Alibaba employees and works with banks to set up a globally unified B2B (business to business) financial network and intelligent risk management system. 

Learn more here.

TradeDepot: eCommerce Platform for Consumer Goods in Africa

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Since its launch in 2016, TradeDepot, the B2B eCommerce platform for consumer goods in Africa,  has built a network of more than 40,000 micro retailers in Nigeria. Working with global distributors and manufacturers including Nestlé, Unilever, GB Foods and Danone, TradeDepot makes household supplies, such as milk, soap, detergent and other essentials more accessible and affordable for the informal urban retail networks it operates in.

Cooler than all that is this:  TradeDepot has raised a further $10 million in a pre-Series B equity round co-led by Partech, International Finance Corporation, Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi) and MSA Capital.

Learn more about how a new investment will enable access to credit for retailers and Africa expansion.

The Belles of the Ball: E-Commerce SMEs

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U.S.-based small to midsize enterprises (SMEs), especially those in the business-to-business (B2B) realm, have been left behind in the rush to meet growing e-commerce demands of consumers. Digital marketplaces catering to small businesses in the B2B world have been mostly non-existent, despite global B2B e-commerce estimated to be a $24 trillion industry.  Alibaba and UPS are not the only ones clamoring to get in front of 30 million American sellers for SME action.

FedEx Corp. has made SME penetration a top priority, and has already announced seven-day-a-week service, extended pick-up times and expanded access points targeted at that market. Amazon.com, Inc. considers SMEs the lifeblood of its business, with its “Fulfillment by Amazon” service, in which smaller merchants use the company as its marketing, fulfillment and delivery partner, representing more than half of its total sales.

Learn how long e-commerce wallflowers, small and midsize enterprises have become the belles of the ball.

Today in Global Small Business: How to Stay True to Your Craft

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What's affecting me, my clients, my colleagues and other global small business owners:

• Five trends worth watching in B2B e-commerce.
• Is UPS well positioned to benefit from e-commerce?
• Need a second line to your cell phone?  We've got you covered (and it's FREE).
• Digital globalization:  the new era of global flows | McKinsey & Company.
• Seven trends small businesses need to watch.
• Five lessons on how to stay small (even when you are big) and true to your craft.

One World Yellow Pages

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Let your fingers do the clicking at One World Yellow Pages (in beta stage).