Alibaba launches Korea Pavilion on Tmall.com

News this week: China’s largest e-commerce company, Alibaba Group, has announced the launch of a Korea Pavilion on its Tmall.com platform. Tmall.com’s Korea Pavilion opened on 18^th May and allows any Korean retail goods to be listed.

Tmall.com’s Korea Pavilion was introduced in a ceremony at the aT Center by Jack Ma, founder and executive chairman of Alibaba Group, and Choi Kyunghwan, Deputy Prime Minister of Korea. The Korean Pavilion has partnered with Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation (aT) and Korea International Trade Association (KITA). According to Alibaba, a Korean herbal cosmetics brand was among their best-selling item during China’s Singles’ Day in November last year.

Jack Ma was quoted saying, “The Korea Pavilion is Alibaba Group’s first official country pavilion and we will continue to work with governments of other countries to launch similar pavilions in the future in order to satisfy the needs of our Chinese consumers. Korean made products have always been popular in China and we are excited to bring these products onto Tmall.com.”

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Alibaba reports jump in mobile transactions

News this week: According to the latest statistics published by the Alibaba Group, online purchases made on the company’s consumer-focused e-commerce platforms, Taobao Marketplace and Tmall.com, jumped 600% in 2012.

The number of visits to the platforms via mobile devices reached 300 million last year. Of this total, 19% or 57 million users reached the checkout to finalise their purchase. Overall purchases through mobile phones made up close to 7% of all transactions on Taobao and Tmall.com in 2012, compared with just 1.8% in 2011.

Earlier this year, third-party vendors began offering custom mobile app services to build storefronts for private merchants on Taobao. This is similar to services which are currently available on U.S.-based Amazon.com where mobile sales are estimated to be approximately 5% to 8% of total sales in 2012.

This post is excerpted from BSG's weekly e-newsletter which is part of our subscription research service, BSG Tracker. Visit our website to find out more about this service. You can also follow us on Twitter for all the latest updates.

Tmall plans platform for international brands

News this week: The B2C e-commerce subsidiary of Alibaba Group, Tmall.com, is planning to build a global procurement system for foreign-made products to serve the Chinese consumer market and promote international brands in the next one to two years. Tmall will compile a database of international suppliers to help consumers make group purchases at lower prices, with early products to focus on milk powder and fine wine.

According to Tmall.com’s Vice President Ma Xuejun, the development of the system will involve a partnership with the International Brand Management Center of the China Association of International Trade, a trade research association under the Ministry of Commerce of China.

Tmall revealed in March this year that the company reached sales of more than US$16 billion (RMB100 billion) in 2011 and is forecast to total US$32 billion (RMB200 billion) this year.

This post is excerpted from BSG's weekly e-newsletter which is part of our subscription research service, BSG Tracker. Visit our website to find out more about this service. You can also follow us on Twitter for all the latest updates.