Alibaba Makes a Play for North American Small-Business Sellers

Alibaba is already the world’s largest e-commerce and retailing company. But it’s looking to make an even bigger splash in North America, with a new initiative aimed at small business-to-business sellers. Alibaba oversees huge business-to-consumer (B2C) and consumer-to-consumer (C2C) platforms in China, but has mostly stayed out of those markets in North America. Not so in the B2B sector, where the company is making a big play for American business sellers. Alibaba.com is inviting U.S. manufacturers, wholesalers and brands to join its platform “to sell to the world,” says John Caplan, head of North American B2B with Alibaba Group. It’s offering a number of tools that enable “full functionality,” including customer relationship management (CRM), an enhanced request for quotation (RFQ) feature, and expanded transaction capabilities. In addition, a real-time translation feature allows buyers and sellers to communicate in their own language. In the process, Caplan says, sellers gain access to some 5 million daily online business buyers around the world.