*By Carlo Versano* Alibaba Group ($BABA) is making its biggest foray into the huge U.S. business to business (B2B) market, announcing Tuesday that it will allow American small businesses to sell their wares to other businesses around the world on the flagship Alibaba platform for the first time. "Our mission is to make it easy for all businesses everywhere to do business anywhere," said John Caplan, head of Alibaba's North American B2B unit in an interview on Cheddar announcing the expansion. Alibaba, which started as a "yellow pages of the best factories in China" and has since grown into a business to consumer (B2C) and B2B e-commerce behemoth, enters the U.S. B2B market at a time of cutthroat competition for small business dollars from the likes of Amazon ($AMZN) and others. Previously, U.S. businesses were only able to purchase goods and services via Alibaba.com. The Alibaba platform gives small businesses "everything \[they\] need to operate or source goods globally," Caplan said. Selling on Alibaba gives businesses a storefront with CRM capability and demand, "all in one place." Alibaba monetizes the platform through a roughly $2,000 membership fee, plus extra for advertising opportunities, Caplan said, rather than taking a cut of each sale. That model could be beneficial to small businesses worried about B2B costs cutting into their margins. (By contrast, Amazon takes a cut of each item a third-party merchant sells). "We are not a retailer," he said. "The value chain in B2B is more complex, but it's also a far bigger business." Bigger by an order of magnitude, in fact. The B2B industry is worth nearly $24 trillion, according to the U.S. International Trade Commission, compared to just under $4 billion for the B2C industry. Though Alibaba dominates e-commerce in China, it is still relatively unknown to many American consumers and small businesses. Caplan acknowledged that there is "marketplace confusion" here with regard to Alibaba's businesses, but noted that the U.S. still makes up a full third of the company's global market of buyers. And with more than 70 percent of American small businesses still without a digital presence, the opportunity for Alibaba to become the one-stop shop for manufacturers, distributors, and wholesalers is massive, Caplan said, opening them up to a global marketplace of buyers who were previously unattainable.

Share:
More In Business
Tech leader who navigated the internet’s 90s crash weighs in on AI
Former Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers learned all about technology’s volatile highs and lows as a veteran of the internet’s early boom days during the late 1990s and the ensuing meltdown that followed the mania. And now he is seeing potential signs of the cycle repeating with another transformative technology in artificial intelligence. Chambers is trying take some of the lessons he learned while riding a wave that turned Cisco into the world's most valuable company in 2000 before a crash hammered its stock price and apply them as an investor in AI startups. He recently discussed AI's promise and perils during an interview with The Associated Press.
Tesla sales jump after months of boycotts
Tesla reported a surprise increase in sales in the third quarter as the electric car maker likely benefited from a rush by consumers to take advantage of a $7,500 credit before it expired on Sept. 30. The company reported Thursday that sales in the three months through September rose 7% compared to the same period a year ago. The gain follows two quarters of steep declines as people turned off by CEO Elon Musk’s foray into right-wing politics avoided buying his company’s cars and even protested at some dealerships. Sales rose to 497,099 vehicles, compared with 462,890 in the same period last year.
Load More