German Retailer Opens X-Border Alibaba eShop

Growing its marketplace customer base beyond China and bringing in cross-border retailers into China have been major initiatives for Alibaba. To help scale those ambitions, Alibaba has brought in major retailers who have the same cross-border goals.

Yesterday (Sept. 8), Alibaba formed another major partnership to continue its mission in expanding its footprint abroad. METRO GROUP and Alibaba announced that the international retailing company is launching a flagship store to be exclusively offered on Alibaba’s Tmall marketplace. The German-based retailing company will offer its products into the Chinese market.

“This partnership will encompass collaboration in areas including cross-border eCommerce, logistics, rural eCommerce, online supermarket and online-offline initiatives. Insights provided by Alibaba Group’s Big Data will help METRO GROUP effectively capture the demand for quality imported products among Chinese consumers. Additionally, Alibaba Group and METRO GROUP will work together to help more European consumer brands establish fast-track solutions for expanding into the Chinese market,” remarked Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang.

[bctt tweet=”German international retailer opens cross-border Alibaba eShop.”]

METRO GROUP operates under the name METRO Cash & Carry in China and is available in more than 80 wholesale markets. By joining the Tmall Global innovative cross-border eShop platform, the online retailer will be able to offer private labels, as well as supplier brands from Germany. The retailer will offer a wide variety of products, including over 100 products ranging from the categories of dairy, canned foods, coffee, and chocolate to cosmetics and more. More non-food items will also be added to the eShop eventually.

“We are pleased to enter into this remarkable partnership with Alibaba Group. ECommerce is one of our strategic growth drivers in China. Opening the flagship store on Tmall Global again shows our clear confidence in the Chinese market, where we possess a solid commercial position and proven track record for high quality and broad assortment,” said Olaf Koch, chairman of the management board of METRO AG. “This latest innovative platform enables us to deliver more quality imported goods and German brands to the Chinese customers through our competence in global sourcing and supply chain.”

Outside of the cross-border eShop, the companies have also agreed to delve into more omnichannel opportunities that might help scale its global sourcing of products in more categories. This includes looking into more options for supply chain optimization and market insights leveraging on Big Data.

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For more on cross-border payments, click here to take a look at our PYMNTS.com X-Border Payments Optimization Tracker, a monthly update on the trends and players driving cross-border payments.

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