Alibaba’s Official Move To Target India’s SMEs

Alibaba founder Jack Ma has championed the B2B business model throughout the region, and the eCommerce giant has made no effort to hide its encouragement of the market in India. When Ma visited India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi last March, reports said the executive was clear: The B2B model is the way to go for commerce in India.

While Alibaba has made additional moves in India, including a reported 25 percent acquisition in local mobile commerce platform Paytm and rumored investments in eCommerce portal Snapdeal, the company has finally made its first official partnership in the nation.

Thursday (June 11) reports revealed that Alibaba struck a strategic partnership with advertising agency TDI International. While an ad company may not be the most likely of firms for Alibaba to forge its first Indian collaboration, reports said that the venture will aid Alibaba in reaching out to India’s SME population.

Specifically, reports said, Alibaba will be using TDI’s internal and mobile ad services to sell the Alibaba.com gold membership service to local small businesses interested in selling through the digital platform.

“We believe that this partnership has got a potential of changing the SME scenario in a big way,” said TDI International Managing Director Hiyav Bajaj, “and contribute to the ‘Make in India’ vision of the current government.”

For Alibaba, the company’s channel director in India, Bhusan Patil, said that the partnership is ideal for the company’s online strategy. “TDI’s mobile and internet advertising vertical’s technical expertise, along with the presence across the country, will help Alibaba.com reach to more small businesses across India,” he said.

Earlier reports have surfaced that Alibaba is also working with Indian logistics company MYPACCO to offer India’s SMEs services in logistics and financing, as well as a possible deal with Allcargo Logistics subsidiary ECU Line to strengthen delivery services in the nation.