Alibaba Case Study
Alibaba case study - E-commerce marketplace in China
Alibaba.com is one of the leading B2B e-commerce companies in China. It provides a marketplace connecting small and medium-sized buyers and suppliers from China and around the world.
Tags (view related articles): Case studies, Business-to-Business (B2B)
Alibaba's web presence includes an international marketplace (www.alibaba.com) focuses on global importers and exporters and a China marketplace (www.alibaba.com.cn) which focuses on suppliers and buyers trading domestically in China.
From a launch in 1999 the marketplaces have a community of more than 24 million registered users and over 255,000 paying members In November 2007, Alibaba launched on the Hong Kong stock exchange and raised HK$13.1 billion (US$1.7 billion) in gross proceeds before offering expenses making it the largest Internet IPO in Asia and the second largest globally.
Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, first saw the Internet in 1995 and when he went to Seattle as an interpreter for a trade delegation and a friend showed him the Internet. They searched for the word “beer” on Yahoo and discovered that there was no data about China. We decided to launch a website and registered the name China Pages.
He borrowed $2,000 to set up his first company and at the time knew nothing about personal computers or e-mails or had never touched a keyboard before. He described the experience as "blind man riding on the back of a blind tiger."
Initially, the business did not fare well, since it was a part of China Telecom and Jack Ma reflects that: “everything we suggested, they turned us down , it was like an elephant and an ant.
He resigned, but in 1999, he gathered 18 people in his apartment and spoke to them for two hours about his vision. Everyone put their money on the table, and he got $60,000 to start Alibaba.
He chose Alibaba as the name since the name was easy to spell and associated with "Open, Sesame," the command that Ali Baba used to open
Alibaba.com is one of the leading B2B e-commerce companies in China. It provides a marketplace connecting small and medium-sized buyers and suppliers from China and around the world.
Tags (view related articles): Case studies, Business-to-Business (B2B)
Alibaba's web presence includes an international marketplace (www.alibaba.com) focuses on global importers and exporters and a China marketplace (www.alibaba.com.cn) which focuses on suppliers and buyers trading domestically in China.
From a launch in 1999 the marketplaces have a community of more than 24 million registered users and over 255,000 paying members In November 2007, Alibaba launched on the Hong Kong stock exchange and raised HK$13.1 billion (US$1.7 billion) in gross proceeds before offering expenses making it the largest Internet IPO in Asia and the second largest globally.
Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, first saw the Internet in 1995 and when he went to Seattle as an interpreter for a trade delegation and a friend showed him the Internet. They searched for the word “beer” on Yahoo and discovered that there was no data about China. We decided to launch a website and registered the name China Pages.
He borrowed $2,000 to set up his first company and at the time knew nothing about personal computers or e-mails or had never touched a keyboard before. He described the experience as "blind man riding on the back of a blind tiger."
Initially, the business did not fare well, since it was a part of China Telecom and Jack Ma reflects that: “everything we suggested, they turned us down , it was like an elephant and an ant.
He resigned, but in 1999, he gathered 18 people in his apartment and spoke to them for two hours about his vision. Everyone put their money on the table, and he got $60,000 to start Alibaba.
He chose Alibaba as the name since the name was easy to spell and associated with "Open, Sesame," the command that Ali Baba used to open