AliExpress is a B2B and B2C online cross-border transaction third-party service platform, open to all legal residents free of charge. Cross-border e-commerce operators can register as members of AliExpress for free as long as they pass Alipay and identity authentication. Therefore, its suppliers are all-encompassing, mainly composed of some foreign trade companies, small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises, etc. These sellers are also likely to be eBay sellers, mainly including five aspects.
(1) Products provided by the AliExpress platform.
The AliExpress platform is an Internet platform that provides online transaction services for Chinese suppliers and international small and medium-sized buyers. By using the services of the AliExpress platform, international buyers can directly purchase the full range of products made in China at the lowest price and enjoy a safe and fast trading process. Through the services of the AliExpress platform, Chinese suppliers can directly sell their products on the platform.
(2) Target customers of the AliExpress platform.
The “target customers” of the AliExpress platform mainly include buyers and sellers, and the AliExpress platform only charges sellers, as follows.
① Buyers on the AliExpress platform.
Buyers mainly include two types of people: online retailers on platforms such as eBay and Amazon.com; offline buyers are mainly small and medium-sized retailers in physical stores.
Currently, buyers on the AliExpress platform are distributed in more than 220 countries and regions around the world, and active buyers are mainly distributed in Russia, the United States and Brazil. In addition to the English website used worldwide, AliExpress also operates two local language websites in Russia and Brazil.
② Sellers on the AliExpress platform
The main sellers on the AliExpress platform are the existing Chinese supplier members on the Alibaba.com platform. This type of seller is mainly composed of foreign trade production enterprises, foreign trade companies, and foreign trade SOHO groups. This group of people is also likely to be sellers doing business on various C2C platforms such as eBay, dhgate.com, tradetang.com and Taobao. Among these types of sellers, small and medium-sized foreign trade companies and foreign trade SOHO groups are the main ones, and the proportion of some powerful foreign trade production enterprises participating is relatively small.
According to the data of 2013, the distribution of sellers on the AliExpress platform in various provinces and cities across the country is as follows: Guangdong sellers account for 40%, nearly half of the total. Zhejiang is second with 24%, and Jiangsu accounts for 8%. It is worth mentioning that Shanghai sellers also account for 4%, which is considerable considering the area and population size of Shanghai Municipality.
③ Ways to expand buyers on the AliExpress platform
Since the AliExpress platform is currently only a sub-channel of Alibaba.com, its buyers mainly come from Alibaba.com. In addition, it also relies on search engine optimization, paid search engine promotion, website alliance, and permission email marketing to attract overseas buyers to the AliExpress platform.
④ Ways to expand sellers on the AliExpress platform
If you want to become a member of the AliExpress platform, you must first become a member of Alibaba China Supplier (currently the annual fee is 19,800 yuan). Alibaba’s existing Chinese supplier members can enter the AliExpress platform for free. Therefore, at present, the main source of sellers on the AliExpress platform is the existing stock customers on the Alibaba.com platform, that is, the existing Chinese suppliers. In addition, the AliExpress platform also attracts domestic sellers to the AliExpress platform by going deep into the internal of its competitors, online methods, and offline expansion.