Friday, September 14, 2012

Taobao kicks-off expansion plans in Hong Kong and Taiwan


News this week: Alibaba Group’s consumer-focused e-commerce platform Taobao is looking to expand its operations outside China in the near future. Taobao reportedly announced at a press conference this month that the company has already attracted close to two million users in Greater China - including 1.2 million members in Hong Kong and 500,000 in Taiwan.

Alibaba sees Hong Kong and Taiwan as stepping stones to its internationalisation plans. According to media reports, the most popular product categories for Taobao users from Taiwan and Hong Kong are women’s fashion items, women’s shoes and consumer electronics.

Taobao is targeting a user base of three million in Taiwan and aims to generate some 5% of the company’s gross merchandise volume from outside of mainland China.

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