Buyers who visit Alibaba.com are looking to purchase wholesale from thousands of product categories. Alibaba.com later became the world's largest online B2B trading platform for small businesses as of 2014. According to Alibaba.com's own website, there are 150,000 verified sellers located in more than 200 countries around the world. It also indicates that there are more than 10 million buyers around the world. In 2019, Alibaba.com allowed small and medium-sized U.S. businesses to sell on the site, and the company was actively looking to tap into the B2B e-commerce market in the US. The opportunity provided US business-to-business companies with the ability to also sell to other US retailers and smaller commercial outfits. In 2019, one-third of buyers on the site were US-based, while more than 95% of sellers were from China. Alibaba.com has three main services: the English language portal Alibaba.com, which handles sales between importers and exporters from nearly all countries, the Chinese portal 1688.com, which originally manages domestic B2B trade in China, and AliExpress.com, a global consumer B2C marketplace. In 2025, 1688.com has started marketing its platform globally. Alibaba.com went public at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2007, and was delisted again in 2012. Two years later in 2014, Alibaba.com was privately held again following a $2.5 billion buyback. In 2013, 1688.com launched a direct channel that was responsible for $30 million in daily transaction value.
In 2003, Alibaba launched Taobao Marketplace (淘宝网), offering a variety of products for retail sales. Taobao grew to become China's largest C2C online shopping platform and later became the second most visited website in China, according to Alexa Internet. Taobao's growth was attributed to offering free registration and commission-free transactions using a free third-party payment platform. Advertising made up 75 percent of the company's total revenue, allowing it to break even in 2009. In 2010, Taobao's profit was estimated to be ¥1.5 billion (US$235.7 million), which was only about 0.4 percent of their total sales figure of ¥400 billion (US$62.9 billion) that year, way below the industry average of 2 percent, according to iResearch estimates. According to Zhang Yu, the director of Taobao, between 2011 and 2013, the number of stores on Taobao with annual sales under ¥100 thousand increased by 60%; the number of stores with sales between ¥10 thousand and ¥1 million increased by 30%, and the number of stores with sales over ¥1 million increased by 33%.
In April 2008, Taobao introduced a spin-off, Taobao Mall (淘宝商城, later Tmall.com), an online retail platform to complement the Taobao C2C portal, offering global brands to an increasingly affluent Chinese consumer base. It became the eighth most visited web site in China as of 2013. In 2012, Tmall.com later changed its Chinese name to Tianmao (天猫, "sky cat"), reflecting Tmall's Chinese pronunciation. In March 2010, Taobao launched the group shopping website Juhuasuan (聚划算), offering "flash sales", which are products that are available at a discount for only a fixed time period. In October 2010, Taobao beta-launched eTao, a comparison shopping website that offers search results from mostly Chinese online shopping platforms, including product searches, sales and coupon searches. According to the Alibaba Group web site, eTao offers products from Amazon China, Dangdang, Gome, Yihaodian, Nike China, and Vancl, as well as Taobao and Tmall. As part of a restructuring of Taobao by Alibaba, these spin-offs became separate companies in 2011, with Tmall and eTao becoming separate businesses in June and Juhuasuan becoming a separate business later in October.
In 2010, Alibaba launched AliExpress.com, an online retail service made up of mostly small Chinese businesses offering products to international online buyers. It is the most visited e-commerce platform in Russia. It allows small businesses in China to sell to customers all over the world, resulting in a wide variety of products. It might be more accurate to compare AliExpress to eBay, though, as sellers are independent; it simply serves as a host for other businesses to sell to consumers. Similar to eBay, sellers on Aliexpress can be either companies or individuals. It connects Chinese businesses directly with buyers. The main difference from Taobao is that it's aimed primarily at international buyers, mainly the US, Russia, Brazil and Spain.
Read the full text
In 2012, Alibaba instituted its Public Dispute Resolution Center, which crowdsources buyers and sellers to vote on transactional rules and decide the outcome of disputes on the platform. This decentralized approach was popular and similar mechanisms were adopted or experimented with by other e-commerce platforms in China.
On 11 June 2014, Alibaba launched US shopping site 11 Main. The 11 Main marketplace hosts merchants in categories such as clothing, fashion accessories and jewelry as well as interior goods and arts and crafts and it plans to keep adding more, said the company. On 23 June 2015, Alibaba announced that it is selling 11 Main to OpenSky, an online-marketplace operator based in New York.
In February 2015, Alibaba invests US$590 million in Meizu, acquiring an undisclosed minority stake.
In 2016, Alibaba acquired control of Singapore-based e-commerce platform Lazada. Lazada is the largest e-commerce platform in southeast Asia, with a major presence in Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. This acquisition increased integration on Alibaba between Chinese merchants and their customers in southeast Asia.
In October 2016, Alibaba launched Alitrip, later named Fliggy, an online travel platform that is designed as an online mall for brands such as airline companies and agencies. Fliggy set the target audience as the younger generation and it strives to become a one-stop service when they plan their trips, particularly in overseas travel. On 7 August 2017, Alibaba Group and Marriott International hotel group announced a comprehensive strategic co-operation. Two companies will set up a joint venture company. Through the docking technology system and the superiority resources, Fliggy has Marriott hotel flagship store. It has the same function with Marriott Chinese website and Marriott mobile app to create the best global travel experience for consumers.
In 2016, the Office of the United States Trade Representative added Taobao back onto a list of notorious counterfeit platforms that includes the likes of torrent site The Pirate Bay. Alibaba denied wrongdoing and filed two lawsuits against the counterfeiters as of 4 January 2017, but brands whose sales have been affected by the counterfeit products accused Alibaba of not doing enough.
In 2017, Alibaba started opening a chain of supermarkets, named Freshippo (or Hema; 盒马), as part of the company's "new retail strategy," where customers can either order in the store or online for delivery in under 30 minutes. It offers a mobile app that recommends customers products based on data analytics. In addition, customers can have their groceries cooked to eat in the food court of the supermarket.
In October 2018, it was reported that Alibaba's Koubei have merged with online food delivery service platform Ele.me into a new local life service subsidiary. However, the newly formed Alibaba Local Life Service entity experienced major competition from local service giant Meituan, which is backed by Tencent, leading to rumours of planned layoffs in 2022.
In September 2019, Alibaba announced it would acquire Chinese e-commerce platform Kaola from NetEase for around US$2 billion. In October 2020, Alibaba agreed to pay US$3.6 billion to take control of China's biggest hypermarket operator Sun Art (SEHK: 6808) from French billionaire Mulliez family. The deal doubled the group's stake in the hypermarket chain with a total ownership of 72%.
Gold Supplier membership
Alibaba.com offers a paid Gold Supplier membership to try to ensure that each seller is genuine; sellers' Gold Supplier status and the number of years it has been held are displayed. The supplier verification types and checks are listed on Alibaba.com's website, with more stringent checks for sellers outside China. While the majority of suppliers are reported to be genuine, there have been many cases of sellers, some with Gold Supplier status, seeking to defraud unsuspecting buyers. In February 2011, controversy ensued when Alibaba's corporate office admitted that it had granted the mark of integrity of its "China Gold Supplier" program to at least 2,000 dealers that had subsequently defrauded buyers; the firm's share price dropped "abruptly" after the announcement. A statement from the firm reported that Yan Limin, the general manager of Alibaba.com at the time, had been dismissed in March for "misconduct"; Phil Muncaster of UK's The Register additionally reported that "a further 28 employees had been involved in dodgy dealings".
As The Economist noted, the company's response has conflicting components: Alibaba's promulgated view that its corrective actions indicate its commitment to quality and integrity (where it contrasts itself with other scandal-associated Chinese business sectors), versus a damage control view suggesting that the subscription-driven, third-party verified "China Gold Supplier" program was endangered by diminished trust in its endorsement system, removing the incentive for global buyers to choose Alibaba as their business-to-business service, thus more broadly endangering Alibaba through impact on its brand and capabilities (the latter via the "defenestration of senior people"). The scandal was said to have placed the head of Alibaba Group, Jack Ma—who was described as having been furious over the scandal—in a position to personally fight to win back trust.
Cloud computing and artificial intelligence technology
In conjunction with the company's 10th anniversary, Alibaba launched Alibaba Cloud in September 2009, aiming to build a cloud computing service platform, including e-commerce data mining, e-commerce data processing, and data customization. It has R&D centres and operators in Hangzhou, Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore, Silicon Valley and Dubai. In July 2014, Alibaba Cloud entered into a partnership deal with Inspur. Alibaba Cloud is the largest high-end cloud computing company in China. In 2009, Alibaba acquired HiChina, the largest domain registration service and web hosting service company in China, and built it into Alibaba Cloud. On 28 July 2011, Alibaba Cloud released AliOS (formerly Yun OS and Aliyun OS), a Linux distribution designed for mobile devices. In the 2017 Computing Conference in Hangzhou, Alibaba launched AliGenie, a China-based open-platform intelligent personal assistant. It is currently used in the Tmall Genie smart speaker.
In 2018, Alibaba's Wanli Min presented City Brain, a technology geared towards urban solutions such as streamlining traffic, detecting accidents and improving transport efficiency.
China's government designated Alibaba as one of its "AI champions" in 2018.
On 27 July 2019, Alibaba unveiled a 64-bit RISC-V processor called the XuanTie-910 (Black Iron 910). It is a 12 nm 16-core with a clockrate of 2.5 GHz, and was designed by Alibaba's subsidiary T-Head (also known as Pingtouge). Alibaba claim the Xuantie-910 is faster than the ARM Cortex-A73 and is capable of 7.1 Coremark/MHz.
On 25 September 2019, Alibaba announced an AI accelerator called the Hanguang 800. The Hanguang 800 contains 17 billion transistors built with a 12 nm process and was designed by T-Head and DAMO Academy (Alibaba's research institute). Alibaba claim it is capable of 78,563 images per second (IPS) inference and 500 IPS/W in ResNet-50. Alibaba plans to lease Hanguang 800 cloud usage.
In April 2023, Alibaba revealed its plans to release Tongyi Qianwen, a ChatGPT-like chatbot. Its name means "seeking an answer by asking a thousand questions". The company plans use Qwen in various business operations through existing services like DingTalk and Tmall Genie. The company received at least 200,000 requests from various businesses to join its beta testing program. Alibaba is also integrating Tongyi Qianwen into a digital assistant called Tingwu. Tongyi Tingwu, the AI-powered assistant, can analyze multimedia content and generate a text summary from video and audio files.
In November 2024, QwQ-32B-Preview, a model focusing on reasoning similar to OpenAI's o1, was released under the Apache 2.0 License, although only the weights were released, not the dataset or training method. This model, developed by Alibaba's Qwen team, can process prompts up to 32,000 words long and features a unique self-fact-checking mechanism that allows it to solve complex logic puzzles and mathematical problems. The model is not without limitations, as it may unexpectedly switch languages, get stuck in reasoning loops, and struggle with common sense reasoning. Notably, the model is available under an Apache 2.0 license on Hugging Face, making it commercially accessible, though only certain components have been released. Its development comes amid growing skepticism about traditional AI scaling laws and represents a new approach to AI reasoning that involves giving models more processing time to complete tasks.
In April 2025, Alibaba Cloud release Wan 2.1-FLF2V-14B Artificial Intelligence Video Generation Model under Apache license.
Surveillance of Uyghurs
In December 2020, The New York Times reported that Alibaba had developed and marketed facial recognition and surveillance software configured to detect Uyghur faces and those of other ethnic minorities in China. Alibaba responded that they "do not and will not permit our technology to be used to target or identify specific ethnic groups" and that it was "dismayed to learn" that its Alibaba Cloud subsidiary had developed this feature, defending that the technology was developed "in a testing environment" and that it "was not deployed by any customer." However, IPVM reported in December 2020 that Alibaba refused to provide any proof the Uyghur recognition feature was just a "test" or "trial" and that Alibaba's own website showed Uyghur recognition as a live feature.
Entertainment services
In September 2017, Alibaba created a new live entertainment business unit under its Digital Media and Entertainment Group which focuses on ticketing, content creation and live experiences, bringing its entertainment ticketing platform Damai and its content creation and technology units MaiLive and Maizuo under one roof. It aims to provide a platform for live events (e.g. concerts, plays, esports and sports events), as well as supporting content partners and leveraging Alibaba's data capability for offline shows. It also provides the online digital distribution service 9Apps, which hosts downloadable content and applications.
In March 2014, Alibaba agreed to acquire a controlling stake in ChinaVision Media Group for $804 million. The two firms announced they would establish a strategic committee for potential future opportunities in online entertainment and other media areas. The company was renamed Alibaba Pictures Group (SEHK: 1060). In March 2015, Alibaba Group launched AliMusic as its music division. Xiami Music and Tiantian Music are two of music streaming APP owned by AliMusic. AliMusic named Gao Xiaosong as the chairman and Song Ke as chief executive officer in July 2015. In 2017, Tencent Music has expected $10bn IPO by signing a rights deal with Alibaba, strengthening its position within the important Chinese market. Under the terms of the deal Alibaba will gain the right to stream music from international labels such as Sony Music, Universal Music Group and YG Entertainment, which already have exclusive deals with Tencent, in return for offering to its catalogue from Rock Records, HIM International Music and so on. In April 2014, Alibaba and Yunfeng Capital, a private equity company controlled by Alibaba's founder, Jack Ma, agreed to acquire a combined 18.5 percent stake in Youku Tudou, which broadcasts a series of popular television programs and other videos over the Internet. Alibaba acquired a stake in Youku Tudou for $1.22 billion in 2014. In its 2023 financial report, Alibaba disclosed a $1.2 billion impairment charge related to losses incurred by Youku.
Since restructuring in March 2023, the Digital Media and Entertainment Group has been led by Fan Luyuan as CEO.
In June 2025, Alibaba Pictures Group officially changed its name to Damai Entertainment Holdings Limited. Its business has expanded from film to a diversified ecosystem including performances, IP commercial derivatives, TV series, artist management, and ticketing platforms.
In April 2026, Alibaba launched an artificial intelligence model for game development and video generation, part of its broader efforts to expand its AI offerings and compete with rivals such as Tencent.
Internet services
In 2004, the Alibaba Group released Aliwangwang, an instant messaging software service for interactions between customer and online sellers. By 2014, there are 50 million Aliwangwang users, making it the second-largest instant messaging tool in China. In October 2013, the Alibaba's chairman Jack Ma announced that the Alibaba Group would no longer use Tencent's messaging application WeChat, and would henceforth promote its own messaging application and service, Laiwang. In April 2014, Alibaba Group and UCWeb, a Chinese provider of mobile internet software technology and services, launched Shenma (神马), a mobile-only search engine, as part of a joint venture. Later in June, the Alibaba Group acquired UCWeb, with an international product portfolio that includes a mobile browsing service (UC Browser), app and game distribution platforms (9Apps and 9Game), a mobile traffic platform (UC Union) and UC News that primarily caters to all types of news in the India market (as an aggregator) among others. Alibaba's Y Projects Business Unit developed the Xuexi Qiangguo app, which is used to teach Xi Jinping Thought and other aspects of the history and ideology of the Chinese Communist Party.
In 2014, Alibaba Group founded DingTalk, an enterprise communication and collaboration platform. Also known as Ding Ding, the app was developed as part of efforts to compete with rival Tencent's WeChat. DingTalk is managed by Alibaba's cloud computing division.
Yahoo! China
In October 2005, Alibaba Group formed a strategic partnership with Yahoo! and acquired Yahoo! China, a Chinese portal previously launched on 24 September 1999 that focuses on Internet services like news, email, and search. In 2005, Yahoo Inc. entered into a contract with Alibaba.com for $1 billion cash and gained 35% voting rights as the largest strategic investor. Alibaba also got rights to Yahoo's brand in China and together the entity was managed by Alibaba's chairman at the time Jack Ma. In April 2013, Alibaba Group announced that, as part of the agreement to buy back the Yahoo! Mail stake, that it would suspend technological support for China Yahoo! Mail service and begin migration of Yahoo! China Mail accounts. Several options were offered to users to make the transition as smooth as possible, and Yahoo! China users had four months to migrate their accounts to the Aliyun mail service, the Yahoo! Mail service in the United States, or to another third-party e-mail provider of the user's choice. In August 2013 when users were asked to transfer accounts to Alilbaba's Alimail through a note on their login page. In April it was clear that the closure was part of Yahoo's gradual exit from China since its 2005 stake acquisition in Alibaba. Users with @yahoo.com.cn or @yahoo.cn could migrate all of their data to Alimail and continue receiving emails forwarded to their Yahoo addresses until 31 December 2014. The music service that Yahoo China was offering had already shut down in January 2013. Yahoo! China closed its mail service on 19 August 2013. E-mails sent to Yahoo! China accounts could be forwarded to an Alimail box until 31 December 2014. Users were also allowed to transfer e-mail accounts to yahoo.com or any other e-mail service. It is estimated there are no more than a million users with Yahoo! Mail for China and chances are they also own other e-mail accounts.
FinTech and online payment platforms
In 2004, the Alibaba Group launched Alipay, a third-party online payment platform. It also provides an escrow service, in which buyers can verify whether they are happy with goods they have bought before releasing money to the seller. Prior to Alipay, third-party payment was a legal grey area in China. As Alipay's popularity increased, it became accepted by Chinese regulators. In 2010, the People's Bank of China issued administrative measures regarding non-financial payment services. These measures retroactively recognized the legal status of online third-party payment platforms like Alipay.
Alibaba Group spun off Alipay in 2010 in a controversial move. In 2011, Alipay obtained a license to become one of the first licensed non-financial institutions to conduct payment operations.
According to analyst research report, Alipay has the biggest market share in China with 300 million users and control of just under half of China's online payment market in February 2014.
In 2013, Alipay launched a financial product platform called Yu'ebao (余额宝). Alipay partnered with the Tianhong Asset Management to launch it to the general public. Yu'ebao offers an online money market account in which Alipay customers can deposit money and receive a higher interest rate than that available from banks. It soon became China's largest online money market fund and prompted competitors like Baidu and Tencent to introduce alternatives. The People's Bank of China supported the growth of such funds with a permissive regulatory environment initially but began increasing regulation of such funds in 2017.
On 16 October 2014, the Alipay company was re-branded as Ant Financial Services (now Ant Group).
One of the factors for Alibaba's success in this platform is the company's payment system, which can handle simultaneous transactions with credit card, debit card, Alipay, Quick-pay, and online banking. Ant Financial was ranked sixth in Fortune's Change the World list, recognized for the environmental impact of its Ant Forest, the world's largest platform for tracking individuals' carbon footprints. In 2018, Ant Financial was the highest valued fintech company in the world, and the world's most valuable unicorn (start-up) company, with a valuation of US$150 billion.
In August 2020, Ant Financial, a subsidiary of Alibaba, launched the IPO program, valued at US$200 billion.
In November 2025, Alibaba.com president Kuo Zhang declared publicly the company's plan to explore tokenized deposits denominated in US dollars and Euros for cross-border business payments. The new initiative would use JPMorgan's blockchain-based payment infrastructure to facilitate the movement of digital representations of commercial bank deposits between participating businesses. Unlike privately issued stablecoins, which are backed by reserves held by the issuer, tokenized deposits represent claims on regulated banks and remain linked to existing banking relationships.This was presented to the public as a way to streamline international settlement, reduce reliance on intermediaries, and support faster transactions across Alibaba.com's global marketplace. It would be more like a separate payment method for international trade than cryptocurrency or digital renminbi.
.jpg){kind=link}