Alibaba is a Chinese e-commerce company and ecosystem that includes platforms such as Alibaba.com, Taobao, and Tmall. It has over 300 million customers and controls over 80% of the Chinese online retail market. Founded in 1999 by Jack Ma, Alibaba has experienced rapid growth, with annual revenues increasing from $3.2 billion in 2014 to over $11 billion in 2016 while employing around 36,000 people. Alibaba has expanded beyond its original B2B focus to include B2C and C2C platforms, online payments processing, and cloud computing services.

1. Alibaba
BUSINESS REVIEW AND CASE STUDY
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Submitted by REZA HAMOULEH
School of industrial engineering
Iran University of Science and Technology
2016

2. A brief introduction
 Alibaba Group is an e-commerce company (not only a website)
 Alibaba Group is an e-commerce Ecosystem, like a mix of Amazon, eBay and
PayPal!
 Alibaba.com is the flagship company of Alibaba Group, Is the world’s largest online
B2B trading platform.
 Act as a middleman (unlike amazon)
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Global Rank
66
Alibaba.com
Global Rank
12
Taobao.com
Global Rank
33
Tmall.com
Global Rank
50
Aliexpress.com
According to Alexa.com

3. Income
 Annual net income (March 31 2015 - March 31 2016)
11.06billion U.S. dollars
 Annual net income (March 31 2014 - March 31 2015): 3.9 billion $
 Annual net income (March 31 2013 - March 31 2014): 3.2 billion $
 Number of employees at Alibaba: 36,450 (Amazon: 230,000)
 Alibaba Group Brand Value: 49.3 billion U.S dollars
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World Rank
18
Brand value
According to
Statista.com

4. History
 Founded in Dec 1999
By
Jack Ma and 17 other founders
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5. History
 Founded in Dec 1999
in
Hangzhou, China
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6. History
 In Dec 2001, Alibaba.com achieved profitability
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7. Some interesting facts about Alibaba
 It has 300m customers - just short of the entire US population.
 Alibaba boasts 81% of online business in China
 In 2014, Jim Tompkins estimates that U.S. e-commerce with reach $475B, China
will be at $540B, and Alibaba will be at $450B. Alibaba alone will nearly equal all e-
commerce in the U.S. in 2014.
 Alibaba is the fastest growing e-commerce company in the world in the fastest
growing market. The company’s growth rate since 2003 has approached
120%/year and has grown at a rate of 70% between 2009 and 2013.
 Jack Ma was an English teacher when he started the site from his one-bedroom
apartment in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, in 1999.
 He set up Alibaba with $60,000 borrowed from 17 people.
 His shareholding in Alibaba is 8.9%.
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8. Expand to new markets
E-commerce Markets
 Alibaba.com (B2B)
 AliExpress.com (B2B & B2C, international small businesses)
 taobao.com (C2C)
 1688.com (B2B, domestic small businesses)
 Tmall.com (B2C)
 Juhuasuan.com (Group buying)
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buying

9. Expand to new markets
E-commerce Markets
 Alibaba.com (B2B)
 AliExpress.com (B2B & B2C, international small businesses)
 taobao.com (C2C)
 1688.com (B2B, domestic small businesses)
 Tmall.com (B2C)
 Juhuasuan.com (Group buying)
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buying

10. Expand to new markets
E-Commerce Services
 Alipay.com (online payment platform)
 Etac.com (shopping search engine)
other businesses
 Aliyun.com
 Alitrip.com
 …
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11. Products of Alibaba.com 11

12. Products of Alibaba.com 12

13. Products of Alibaba.com 13

14. Products of Alibaba.com 14

15. Search & Discovery 15
1-Type in a product name and you’ll get anything from 500 to 500 000 results. That’s a lot
of products, but it doesn’t really say anything about the suppliers behind these products.
2- You still type in a product name, but instead of a list of products you’ll get a list of
suppliers that make your product.

16. Discovery 16

17. Discovery 17

18. Discovery
They trying to convince you to Trust them!
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19. Discovery 19

20. Discovery 20

21. Trust: verification business in Alibaba
 A&V Check
 Third-party verification company
 Required for all Global Gold Suppliers
 Onsite Check
 Alibaba.com personnel & third-party verification company
 Required for all Gold Suppliers in Mainland China, Taiwan Gold Suppliers and Hong Kong Gold Suppliers
 Assessed Supplier
 A third-party company, such as Bureau Veritas or TÜV Rheinland, carries out the inspection and
verification.
 Optional for all Gold Suppliers in Mainland China, Taiwan Gold Suppliers and Hong Kong Gold Suppliers
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22. TRUST! 22

23. Business cycle 23

24. Business cycle 24

25. Business cycle 25
 Western Union
Risk Level For Buyer: Very Risky
 PayPal
Risk Level For Buyer: Fairly Safe
 Upfront TT (Bank Transfer)
Risk Level For Buyer: Risky
 Letter of Credit
Risk Level For Buyer: Fairly Safe

26. Business cycle 26

27. Thank you :)
hamouleh_r@ind.iust.ac.ir
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