Alibaba has announced it is furthering its international expansion with the launch of its Tmall e-commerce site in Europe.
Formerly Taobao Mall, Tmall has been operating as a business-to-consumer online retail site in China since 2008. It launched an English-language website in 2019 to streamline the onboarding process for international brands looking to sell on the platform. The portal also enabled brands to apply to open a flagship store on the site,
Speaking at the Viva Tech conference in Paris, Michael Evans, president of Alibaba said the concept of Tmall is based on serving “local brands and local consumers in the local market.”
As reported by CNBC, Evans added that the company has already started a pilot project in Spain prior to its wider European rollout.
“Europe is a top priority for all of the businesses that have an international component. So by that, I mean, the international commerce businesses, the cloud business, the logistics business in particular,” he said.
The move follows Alibaba’s decision in March to carry out a major overhaul and reorganise the company into six business groups. It was also revealed, earlier this year, that it planned to offer a Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) service to its customers in Germany, Spain, and France before expanding to other international markets.
