Taobao and Ali Mama merge and develop

September 4th news: Alibaba Group announced the official launch of the first step in the "Grand Taobao Strategy" - its subsidiary Taobao and Ali Mama will merge and develop together to build the world's largest e-commerce ecosystem.

Alibaba Group stated that Taobao must seize the tremendous opportunities for the future development of global e-commerce, bringing better shopping experiences to online consumers.

The "Grand Taobao Strategy" will surpass itself on the basis of Taobao through an "unconventional" development route, creating a unique business model worldwide, with the goal of achieving "a trading volume exceeding Walmart's global trading volume within ten years."

After five years of development, Taobao has become Asia's largest comprehensive shopping website, with 80 million users and daily transactions exceeding 3 billion RMB. In the first quarter of 2008, Taobao's transaction volume broke 18.8 billion RMB, increasing by 170% year-on-year. According to iResearch data, as of the first quarter of 2008, Taobao accounted for 79% of China's online shopping market share and 84% of the C2C market share.

Ali Mama, after one year of establishment, has also become one of the fastest-growing companies in the Alibaba Group. It now aggregates 400,000 websites with a daily traffic of 3 billion high-quality visits, covering more than 80 million people per day, with an average daily coverage rate of nearly 80%, becoming China's largest online advertising trading platform.

This powerful alliance will leverage the integrated advantages of both teams. The most direct manifestation is that the 3 billion high-quality traffic currently covered by Ali Mama will provide the most precise, simple, and efficient online promotion services for Taobao's millions of sellers, solving the promotion bottlenecks for Taobao merchants while bringing them tremendous business opportunities and enriching Taobao's user base. Meanwhile, Taobao's current daily transaction volume of nearly 3 billion RMB, combined with Ali Mama, will further explore its traffic value, helping millions of small and medium-sized website operators survive and develop. Moreover, in the future, more internet users will access Taobao through Ali Mama, and Taobao will provide more secure, comfortable, and considerate services to Chinese online shopping consumers.

Taobao has built a vast commercial ecosystem, including buyers, sellers, payment, logistics, finance, search, and other systems. This open and fully competitive ecosystem has changed the way traditional enterprises conduct business and altered the consumption behavior patterns of a large number of consumers. After Ali Mama integrates into Taobao, it fills a gap in this business ecosystem - marketing - forming complementary advantages with these systems within the Taobao system, releasing the brand marketing needs of enterprises and individual users, fully exploring the potential of internet carriers, and helping merchants, small and medium-sized websites, and consumers achieve overall interest maximization. In the next five years, guided by the four beliefs of "openness, sharing, responsibility, globalization," we will strive to advance the retail industry from the industrial age to the internet age, making online retail the mainstream retail method.

Today, Taobao also expressed that it will continue to support individual entrepreneurs who open stores on Taobao and help countless small and medium-sized enterprises that need e-commerce to expand their markets under the current economic situation. Industry insiders also commented that with the full launch of this strategy, Alibaba Group will take on more social responsibilities in the future. Taobao will become China's largest "marketing + sales" platform, further promoting the development of e-commerce in China. Through the vigorous development of online retail, it will solve issues of entrepreneurship and employment, helping countless small and medium-sized enterprises and individual consumers better cope with the current macroeconomic downturn, thereby boosting domestic social consumption. It will also closely align its future strategy with the government's advocated plan to boost domestic demand.

It is worth noting that regarding the profitability issue of Taobao that the industry has been paying attention to, Alibaba Group announced that after five years of free operation, relying solely on advertising revenue, Taobao has achieved monthly revenue and expenditure balance.

Below is the full text of Jack Ma's email:

Dear fellow Alibabans,

Today, I am very pleased to announce to everyone: starting today, Alibaba Group officially launches the first step in the "Grand Taobao Strategy" - from today, Taobao and Ali Mama will merge and develop together to create the world's largest e-commerce ecosystem!

After nearly five years of effort, Taobao has developed into Asia's largest shopping website, with daily transactions exceeding 3 billion RMB and over 80 million users. Thanks to the efforts of all netizens, web merchants, and colleagues in the e-commerce industry, Taobao has already demonstrated significant advantages and vitality in online shopping, entrepreneurship, and employment, becoming an important part of the social economy.

Since its establishment a year ago, Ali Mama has also become one of the fastest-growing companies in the group, shouldering the mission of helping countless small and medium-sized websites survive, grow, and develop. With its innovative precise, simple, and efficient online promotion service model, Ali Mama has not only established an excellent network technology and service team in just one year but also covered 400,000 small and medium-sized websites, with a daily traffic of 3 billion and reaching 80 million internet users.

Facing the enormous opportunities for the future development of global e-commerce, to give online consumers a better shopping experience, the "Grand Taobao Strategy" will surpass itself on the current foundation of Taobao. Only by taking an "unconventional" development route and creating a unique business model worldwide can we possibly achieve our set goal of "Taobao's transaction volume exceeding Walmart's global transaction volume within ten years."

We will continue to support all entrepreneurs who open C2C stores on Taobao and help countless small and medium-sized enterprises that need e-commerce to expand their markets under the current economic situation. We will always place job creation as Taobao's top priority!

I believe that the merger of Taobao and Ali Mama will bring new vitality to the development of China's e-commerce and even global e-commerce. But this is just the first step in our "Grand Taobao Strategy." There will be second, third steps... Let's embrace all changes with a mindset of "embracing change"!!

Dear fellow Alibabans, I would also like to proudly announce here: after five years of free operation, relying solely on advertising revenue, last week we have already achieved monthly revenue and expenditure balance for Taobao!!!!!

Dear fellow Alibabans, this era needs e-commerce, and e-commerce needs the passion, innovation, and dreams of us young people...

If not now, when?! If not me, who?!!!!

GO!! Alibabans!!

Jack Ma

Source: Sohu IT