China-based e-commerce giant Alibaba Group and the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade) have signed a new strategic collaboration which is set to give Australian products greater international reach.
Alibaba (Australia), a member of the Alibaba Group and Austrade announced on Tuesday the signing of partnership agreement to strengthen trade opportunities by expanding the variety of Australian products sold to some of Alibaba’s Chinese consumers through Alibaba’s e-commerce platforms.
The agreement aims to broaden Alibaba’s existing partnership with Austrade by providing dedicated services for Australian products and leveraging digital content to build brand Australia abroad.
Jack Ma, executive chairman and founder of Alibaba Group, said: “the next chapter of trade between China and Australia will require closer cooperation and this agreement provides a new framework to ensure more businesses, especially small and medium enterprises, can benefit through the partnership between Austrade and Alibaba.”
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, said: “[Alibaba] enables the smallest businesses, the mum and dad businesses, in the regional part of Australia to have access to the biggest part of the world, something that hitherto only a very large company with enormous resources, with enormous representation would be able to do.”
Australia a key market, says Alibaba ANZ MD
On signing the agreement with Austrade, Maggie Zhou, MD of ANZ for Alibaba said Australia is a key market for the Alibaba Group.
“With Alibaba Group’s new Melbourne office opening later this year, our local team will be dedicated to providing businesses the information and tools they need to advance their international growth,” Ms Zhou said.
The businesses to be explored by Alibaba and Austrade under the strategic collaboration are wide-ranging but a key highlight is the introduction of an annual ‘Australian Fresh Food Week’ event on Tmall Fresh, Tmall’s fresh food channel.
Alibaba Group also plans on establishing a channel on Youku.com, a leading provider of video and streaming services in China, to further promote fresh Australian produce.
Michael Clifton, Senior Trade Commissioner said: “Austrade’s collaboration with Alibaba will allow more Chinese consumers to enjoy easy online access to a wider variety of Australia’s premium products and fresh produce. Online delivery of imported fresh food in China is becoming increasingly viable as a result of improvements in last-mile cold chain logistics.”
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