On Jan. 5, Shinsegae Group and Alibaba are signing an MOU as part of the Korea-China Business Forum in Beijing, China, with Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Kim Jung-kwan in attendance. (From left: Park Jong-hoon, Head of Shinsegae Group E-Mart Division Planning Strategy Division; Kim Jung-kwan, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy; James Dong, President of Alibaba International Marketplace)
Shinsegae Group and Alibaba International announced on Jan. 5 that they signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) regarding the expansion of the reverse cross-border e-commerce market in Beijing, China. This MOU was conducted as part of the Korea-China Business Forum organized by Korea’s Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry and China’s China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT).
Previously, Shinsegae Group and Alibaba International completed approval for their joint venture (JV) in September of last year. They have been proceeding with collaboration, including completing the formation of the JV board of directors in November and holding the first board meeting. Until last year, both companies strengthened institutional and legal infrastructure for cooperation, and G-Market sellers began selling products to five Southeast Asian countries through Alibaba’s Lazada platform.
As of December last year, approximately 1.2 million products from about 7,000 G-Market sellers were linked to Lazada. Their transaction volume increased approximately 5-fold compared to October, and the number of orders increased approximately 4-fold. This year, they plan to expand the reverse cross-border e-commerce market to South Asia through Alibaba’s Daraz platform and to Southern Europe (Spain and Portugal) through Miravia. They plan to ultimately expand the market to approximately 200 countries and regions where Alibaba operates by broadening into markets including China.
Both groups plan to achieve annual reverse cross-border e-commerce transaction volume of more than 1 trillion won (approximately $694 million) within five years by expanding markets globally through Alibaba’s proprietary platforms for excellent domestic products discovered by Shinsegae Group. To this end, Shinsegae Group plans to discover domestic products that can be loved by consumers worldwide and recruit sellers and manufacturers to provide products, offering insights and know-how for products that can succeed in the global market.
Alibaba International will provide platforms so that domestic products discovered by Shinsegae can be delivered to global consumers, and will support sellers with artificial intelligence (AI)-based translation and image editing services that convert words and units in product images to the language and units of respective countries, as well as logistics services including overseas shipping.
James Dong, President of AIDC International Marketplace, said, “Cooperation with Shinsegae will serve as an opportunity to create new global expansion opportunities and is particularly meaningful for Korean small and medium-sized enterprises,” adding, “By combining excellent products carefully selected by Shinsegae with Alibaba’s global platform and AI-based tools, we expect that even small-scale sellers will be able to meet customers worldwide, including Asia and Europe.”
Park Jong-hoon, Head of E-Mart Division Planning Strategy Division, said, “The innovative e-commerce that both groups have prepared together with combined efforts is now ready to begin full-scale implementation,” adding, “G-Market, which serves as one pillar of Shinsegae Group’s e-commerce business, will expand its market beyond Korea to the entire world through cooperation with Alibaba International.”
