Key Success Factor of Alibaba via E-commerce Platform in China

This dissertation explores the major success factor of Alibaba through e-commerce platform in the context of China. It covers the history and background of e-commerce, the growth of e-commerce in China, and the annual report 2018 of Alibaba talking about the plan in the future.

Running head: DISSERTATION INTRODUCTION
Key success factor of Alibaba via e-commerce platform in China
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Authors Note
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DISSERTATION INTRODUCTION
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Research Questions....................................................................................................................2
History & background................................................................................................................2
The growth of e-commerce in China.........................................................................................3
Annual report 2018 of Alibaba talking about the plan in the future..........................................4
References..................................................................................................................................6

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DISSERTATION INTRODUCTION
Introduction
E- Commerce is also known as the electronic commerce is an act of purchasing and selling
the product or the item through the service of the internet or through other online services.
Electronic commerce or e-commerce gives attention to such technologies like internet
marketing, electronic data interchange, mobile commerce, inventory management systems,
online transaction processing, electronic fund transfer and the system of automated data
collection (Leong et al., 2016). This research deals with the major success factor of Alibaba
through e-commerce platform in the context of China.
Research Questions
1. What factor make Alibaba success in past?
2. Based on the annual report objective 2018, it will succeed or not?
History & background
. The history of e-commerce reminds of the old motion of the selling and buying of
the computers cables modems electricity and internet. The possibility of e-commerce had
been scene in the year 1991 when the internet was used for the commercial purpose and from
that date onwards several businesses have taken the website of their own name. In the
beginning e-commerce meant the execution process of the transaction of the commercial
product electronically by using the Technologies like the electronic funds transfer and the
electronic data interchange that also helps the users to exchange their business information
and do the transactions electronically. It has been said that the popularity of the internet took
place in the year 1994 and it took around four years to get the security protocols that allowed
the access and the continuous connection to the internet. From the Year 2000 the meaning of
e-commerce got changed. Several people define this term to be the process of buying the
services and the goods through the internet and paying for those goods and services

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DISSERTATION INTRODUCTION
electronically. By the year 2007, there was a huge growth of e-commerce sale. It is said that
the companies like eBay and Amazon what the first internet company that allowed the
electronic transactions. The history of e-commerce has become the history of the latest virtual
world that is coming out as per the advantage of the customer. It is that building that is being
built to secure the future of the coming generation (Du and Tang 2014).
The growth of e-commerce in China
China is said to be the world leader in the field of e-commerce. It has the most
number of online shoppers than any other nation in this whole wide world. It is claimed that
china has 730 million users of the internet. It is said that of someone is the winner in china it
means he is the winner in the whole world. The growth of the e-commerce market of china is
of double digit every year. According to the National Bureau of Statistics of china, it has been
claimed that the economy of china has grown with GDP at 6.8% at the end of the year 2017
((Stats.gov.cn 2018). There are several shopping festivals in china that leads to the growth of
the e-commerce. The Double 11 means on the 11th of November, China celebrates ‘Single’s
Day’ and there are other shopping festivals similar to this, which brings opportunity for the
local brands to sell their items. People in China are keen to try out the new things and
purchase some new products and it is also a great opportunity of the new brands to get
noticed by the consumers during this festival. The most famous online payment is the Wechat
pay and Alipay and they are the most important part of the e-commerce platforms like
Alibaba and JD.com. The social media is also responsible for the growth of the e-commerce
in China. It helps the people to interact and connect with the products online. As the users of
the mobile are increasing, the importance of the social media is also increasing. Therefore,
social media has become the integral part for marketing specifically when it is needed to
connect with the consumers. In China, both the online and offline retailers are merging to

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fulfil the demands of the customers and it has gradually helped in the growth of the e-
commerce in China (Daily 2015).
Annual report 2018 of Alibaba talking about the plan in the future
A Chinese multinational e-commerce company named Alibaba Group Holding
Limited is a retail company that was founded in the year 1999 that gives services from
consumer to consumer, consumer to business and business to consumer. It provides services
through web portals; cloud computing, shopping search engines, services of electronic
payments and many more. It is the world’s most renowned company that operates in different
types of businesses around the world. Alibaba is the world’s biggest retailer and one of the
largest investment corporations in the whole world. Its revenue increases by the triple
percentage every year (Giuffrida 2017).
The financial report 2018 of Alibaba has been published by the Alibaba Group
Holding Limited. The report states that annual revenue of the company Alibaba has grown by
58%. The revenue of e-commerce has grown by 60%. The annual profit of Alibaba has
grown over 40% and the annual free cash has reached 15.8 billion US dollars
(Alibabagroup.com 2018). It can be clearly seen that the only revenue of Alibaba group has
achieved the highest growth since its production. Tmall is the e-commerce platform of
Alibaba that has gained it market share. Alibaba cloud has grown double continuously. The
revenue of the Alibaba Group has reached 39.9 billion US dollars in the fiscal year of 2018
It can be highly predicted that in the year 2019, Alibaba Group will grow
tremendously with the double investment in the field of technology. It is expected that the
growth rate will reach to 60% in the year 2019. The CEO of the Alibaba Group has marked a
statement that the company had an excellent fiscal year because of the tremendous growth in

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the commercial business and also because of the long term investment that was made over
several years in the past. The e-commerce platform of Alibaba Group has been developing
because it is leading in the retail infrastructure of the state China. It has been claimed that in
the past years they have doubled the investments on the technological field for its
development, logistics, computing, local services and digital entertainment so that they can
gain the growth of consumption in China and other markets as well (Kwak Zhang and Yu
2018).

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References
Alibabagroup.com. (2018). Alibaba Group. [online] Available at:
https://www.alibabagroup.com/en/ir/home [Accessed 12 Aug. 2018].
Cao, K. and Yang, Z., 2016. A study of e-commerce adoption by tourism websites in China.
Journal of Destination Marketing & Management, 5(3), pp.283-289.
Daily, C., 2015. China must restrict e-commerce firms breaking counterfeit rules: regulator,
China Daily.
Du, Y. and Tang, Y., 2014. Study on the Development of O2O E-commerce Platform of
China from the Perspective of Offline Service Quality. International Journal of Business and
Social Science, 5(4).
Giuffrida, M., Mangiaracina, R., Perego, A. and Tumino, A., 2017. Cross-border B2C e-
commerce to Greater China and the role of logistics: a literature review. International Journal
of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, 47(9), pp.772-795.
Kwak, J., Zhang, Y. and Yu, J., 2018. Legitimacy building and e-commerce platform
development in China: The experience of Alibaba. Technological Forecasting and Social
Change.
Leong, C.M.L., Pan, S.L., Newell, S. and Cui, L., 2016. The Emergence of Self-Organizing
E-Commerce Ecosystems in Remote Villages of China: A Tale of Digital Empowerment for
Rural Development. Mis Quarterly, 40(2), pp.475-484.
Stats.gov.cn. (2018). National Bureau of Statistics of China. [online] Available at:
http://www.stats.gov.cn/english/ [Accessed 12 Aug. 2018].
Turban, E., Outland, J., King, D., Lee, J.K., Liang, T.P. and Turban, D.C., 2017. Electronic
commerce 2018: a managerial and social networks perspective. Springer.

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Zan, L.I., Peng, Y.G. and Shi, X.M., 20177. Discussion on the development of rural e-
commerce in China. Heilongjiang Science.