Have you been looking for an Amazon shopping alternative? Outside of getting in your car and heading to your local brick-and-mortar establishment (scary, we know), one smartphone and tablet-friendly shopping tool you could take for a spin is Temu. Launched in September 2022, Temu prides itself on its cost-friendly approach to buying stuff online. But … Read more
“Reluctantly, we will bid farewell to many valued members of the Daraz family,” acting chief executive James Dong said in an internal memo published on the company’s website on Tuesday. Alibaba, owner of the South China Morning Post, acquired Daraz in 2018. “Despite our efforts to explore different solutions, our cost structure continues to fall … Read more
Temu spent big at the Super Bowl on Sunday night, airing its advertisement six times and offering US$10 million in giveaways as it hopes to reinvigorate wavering US growth. Observed sales fell 12.5 per cent month-on-month in December and 4.8 per cent in January, a sharp drop from the Chinese e-commerce app’s growth of more … Read more
Chinese internet firms can look to chase growth through international markets and artificial intelligence (AI) in 2024, according to UBS. China’s e-commerce platforms, facing intense domestic competition with new rivals and short-video app operators, are ramping up overseas expansion, Kenneth Fong, head of China internet research at the Swiss investment bank, said in a briefing … Read more
“With advances in AI, we are ushering in the next generation of sourcing and empowering small businesses to succeed with our Smart Assistant at their side,” Chris Lu, general manager at Alibaba.com North America, said in a statement last week. The Alibaba.com booth features the e-commerce platform’s artificial intelligence-powered Smart Assistant, designed to help users … Read more
Gauges of consumer stocks have been the worst performers on the MSCI China Index since the end of September, after the real estate measure. The aggregate market value of companies included in the two consumer indexes has fallen by about US$157 billion since. Consumer stocks have been the worst performers on the MSCI China Index … Read more
TikTok, the global hit short-video platform owned by ByteDance, aims to grow the size of its US e-commerce business tenfold to as much as US$17.5 billion this year, according to people familiar with the matter, posing a bigger threat to Amazon.com. The 2024 merchandise volume goal for the US version of TikTok Shop – which … Read more
Cutthroat competition in China’s vast e-commerce sector is poised to escalate, as leading shopping platforms JD.com and Alibaba Group Holding’s Taobao offer a “refund only” policy so consumers can keep the goods they had bought but complained about – matching an option that budget online retailer Pinduoduo has had in place since 2021. JD.com on … Read more
Alibaba Group Holding’s decision to put its e-commerce and cloud units under a single chief executive is set to make China’s largest online market more technology-driven and consumer-oriented as it seeks to fend off rising competition, according to analysts. Alibaba, owner of the South China Morning Post, on Wednesday named Eddie Wu Yongming, the co-founder … Read more
American e-commerce leader Amazon.com has introduced a slew of initiatives as part of a renewed strategy to help Chinese merchants sell abroad, at a time when China-founded rivals like Shein and Temu are gaining traction. The moves include an innovation centre in the southern tech hub of Shenzhen, the first in the Asia-Pacific region, that … Read more
