Alibaba to Launch AI-Powered Assistant to Facilitate B2B Sourcing

The Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group plans to launch an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered “conversational sourcing engine” in September.

This new tool will facilitate the global B2B sourcing process for small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) by enabling quicker, easier searches for potential business partners and products, the company said in a Wednesday (July 31) press release.

“Traditional search engines evaluate web page importance through interlinking, credibility and ad spend,” Kuo Zhang, president of Alibaba.com, said in the release. “In this AI era, the B2B sourcing engine offers an intuitive and organic way to query, as well as rapidly and accurately match business buyers and business sellers based on their proven track record.”

The B2B sourcing engine will understand natural language and transform it into professional sourcing requests, according to the release.

It will also reorganize information from multiple suppliers to enable business buyers to make direct, side-by-side comparisons, the release said.

In addition to improving the search, the sourcing engine will use AI and data to enable business deals, per the release.

“By leveraging 25 years of expertise in digitalizing various trade aspects — products, payments, logistics, customs and currency exchanges — AI can now mimic the experience of having a sourcing professional by your side,” the company said in the release. “This technology can level the playing field and significantly reduce costs, enabling [SMBs] to become integral players in the global supply chain.”

It was reported in July that Alibaba Group has been using generative AI to provide translations for sellers on its platform, negotiate refunds and perform other tasks that strengthen the company’s efforts to expand overseas.

The company formed a team of 100 engineers devoted to developing generative AI applications for its overseas eCommerce business in late 2022, spent a year identifying use cases for the technology, and now has about 500,000 sellers using the AI tools it has introduced so far.

In June, Alibaba launched a new B2B-focused marketplace solution called Alibaba Guaranteed that provides a centralized platform where businesses can search for products, compare prices and place orders in a matter of clicks.

This solution aims to make cross-border trade “as simple as purchasing a pair of shoes from your favorite retailer online,” Zhang said at the time.