Alibaba launches online shop for US
FT | June 11, 2014 By Sarah Mishkin in San Francisco
▻http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/99b7ddf8-f0f7-11e3-8f3d-00144feabdc0.html
#Alibaba launched its first direct-to-consumer online shop in the US on Wednesday, as part of a move to expand more aggressively outside its home market.
Development of the new website, called 11 Main, has been led by two of Alibaba’s wholly owned US subsidiaries, with financial and operational support from the parent group, according to the site’s general manager Mike Effle.
It will operate as an online marketplace similar to Alibaba’s China-based TMall, which offers virtual store fronts to merchants who set their own prices and manage every aspect of their sales apart from payment.
“11 Main was really inspired by the ‘Main Street’ experience,” said Mr Effle. “We are hand selecting . . . and really telling the story of these shops.”
The shop represents Alibaba’s highest-profile foray into the US, but is only one part of the group’s wider strategy there.
In advance of its potential $20bn initial public offering in New York later this summer, Alibaba has made a string of investments in US technology companies, with the help of a newly formed team in #Silicon_Valley.
