Summary of Duncan Clark's Alibaba

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

Book Preview:

#1 On November 11, 2015, in Beijing, the venue for the aquatics events in the Beijing Olympics, a huge digital screen displayed maps, charts, and news crawls reporting in real time the purchases of millions of consumers across China on Alibaba’s websites.

#2 In China, November 11 is Singles’ Day, a special annual promotion. From just twenty-seven merchants in 2009, over forty thousand merchants and thirty thousand brands now participate in Singles’ Day. Total sales in 2015 were up 60 percent from the $9 billion of the previous year.

#3 Alibaba was successful because it offered consumers in China an unparalleled variety of goods, delivered quickly and reliably. Its finance subsidiary ensured that buying on Alibaba was easy and worry free.

#4 Alibaba’s consumer websites, Taobao and Tmall, serve as platforms for other merchants to sell their wares. They charge no fees, but make money from advertising space and promoting those merchants who want to stand out from the crowd.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Mar 23, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669369165

IRB Media

With IRB books, you can get the key takeaways and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, identify the key takeaways and analyze them for your convenience.

Book preview

Insights on Duncan Clark's Alibaba

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 9

Insights from Chapter 10

Insights from Chapter 11

Insights from Chapter 12

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

On November 11, 2015, in Beijing, the venue for the aquatics events in the Beijing Olympics, a huge digital screen displayed maps, charts, and news crawls reporting in real time the purchases of millions of consumers across China on Alibaba’s websites.

#2

In China, November 11 is Singles’ Day, a special annual promotion. From just twenty-seven merchants in 2009, over forty thousand merchants and thirty thousand brands now participate in Singles’ Day. Total sales in 2015 were up 60 percent from the $9 billion of the previous year.

#3

Alibaba was successful because it offered consumers in China an unparalleled variety of goods, delivered quickly and reliably. Its finance subsidiary ensured that buying on Alibaba was easy and worry free.

#4

Alibaba’s consumer websites, Taobao and Tmall, serve as platforms for other merchants to sell their wares. They charge no fees, but make money from advertising space and promoting those merchants who want to stand out from the crowd.

#5

Alibaba’s websites are popular in part because, as in the United States, shopping online from home can save time and money. More than 10 percent of retail purchases in China are made online, higher than the 7 percent in the United States.

#6

In China, the burden of real estate on traditional retailers is a key factor in the success of e-commerce. Because of the way the Chinese economy is structured, the government has a lot of resources. The government decides the price of land and how resources are spent. This has severely limited the retail business in China, and pushed demand online.

#7

Taobao, the website, opened the door to online shopping in China, and Tmall has widened it even further. The most popular items on Alibaba’s sites are shoes and clothing, ranging from socks and T-shirts to dresses costing tens