Alibaba soon to arrive in the UK, France, Italy and Germany

By

Matthieu Guinebault

Published
Oct 20, 2015

As Chinese President Xi Jinping makes a state visit to the UK, Alibaba announced the decision to make its London offices the hub of its European expansion, while the coming openings of offices in Italy, France and Germany are now official.

Amee Chande, a former director at Tesco, Staples and Walmart, will take charge of this deployment as UK and Europe Managing Director. Alibaba's objective is to attract European brands to China, through its powerful portals Tmall and Taobao.

In 2014, the Alibaba group accounted for 57% of online sales and 85% of mobile sales in China alone, and is now turning to international markets. To convince foreign brands, Tmall has lately featured 'national pavilions' grouping together brands by nation of origin.

Alibaba already made its move on the US market in 2014. But the American Apparel & Footwear Association is trying to have the Taobao portal once again classified as a proven counterfeit goods outlet.

The opening of offices in France, Italy and Germany was anticipated by Bloomberg, stating that Alibaba's President Michael Evans mentioned this intention in a speech at the group's headquarters in Hangzhou, China.

In the fiscal year closed at the end of March, Alibaba recorded revenues for €11.2 billion (CNY76.2 billion), with a spectacular 45% yearly growth. Mobile sales amounted to €2.61 billion (CNY17.8 billion), skyrocketing by 514%.