The Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba has been fast-tracking its global expansion by launching its "Alibaba Guaranteed" service that targets small businesses in the United States and Europe, despite what analysts and pundits see as a trade war between China and the West.
CNBC reported that the company announced Thursday (June 6) that it would launch the service to provide greater certainty on delivery, payments, and dispute settlement, especially when selling products from China-based suppliers to European, American, and other small businesses worldwide.
Alibaba president Kuo Zhang was additionally quoted by CNBC saying that the service was "in line with current global trends," noting that there was an increasing trend of fragmentation in its supply chains because local businesses needed to buy globally so that it could protect profit margins.
Attracting Small Businesses
The platform was said to be part of Alibaba's international business, which also directly sells to consumers overseas through sites like AliExpress.
Chinese consumers have been enjoying Alibaba's delivery tracking and favorable return policies, but small businesses elsewhere have not due to complex issues in international trade.
Zhang claimed that the number of buyers on Alibaba has at least tripled, with an online gross merchandise value of about $50 billion.
VCPost reported late last month that the company named English football legend David Beckham as AliExpress's global ambassador.
The move was considered as it was facing competition with Temu, another Chinese e-commerce platform.
CNBC also reported last November that it has invested in Visable, a German business-to-business firm, and europage, the company's European marketplace.
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