Alibaba signs agreement with Austrade
Alibaba has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade) which will create a dedicated promotional channel for Australian companies on youku.com. In a statement issued yesterday (6 September), Austrade said that the agreement will help introduce new Australian brands to Alibaba’s 434m online shoppers.
Austrade’s Senior Trade Commissioner in China, Michael Clifton, said that the deal would “allow more Chinese consumers to enjoy easy access to a wider variety of Australia’s premium products and fresh produce.””
Clifton continued: “Online delivery of imported fresh food in China is becoming increasingly viable as a result of improvements in last-mile cold chain logistics.
“This partnership also opens the door to future cooperation in some of Australia’s priority industries, including emerging digital service delivery areas such as e-health, financial services, sporting event management and assisting innovative startup companies.”
Australian companies already have a significant presence on Alibaba’s Tmall Global e-commerce platform. Australia currently ranks fourth in sales volume on Tmall Global, behind the United States, Japan and Korea.
Maggie Zhou, Managing Director, Alibaba Group in Australia and New Zealand, added: “Alibaba Group plans to open an office in Melbourne later this year and the agreement signed with Austrade today represents a landmark moment for Australian companies, particularly SMEs looking to global trade for growth.
“Alibaba will be providing a dedicated helpdesk to source Australian products, together with export development programs to be delivered in cooperation with Austrade.”
The deal with Austrade was Alibaba’s second announcement about a major international strategic agreement in the past week. On Saturday (3 September) Alibaba unveiled a new initiative with the Canadian government.
