New | Alibaba set to take on Las Vegas by staging rival consumer electronics show in Shenzhen
Alibaba will partner with German group in staging consumer electronics show in April to rival the annual international CES event in Las Vegas
E-commerce giant Alibaba Group is making a big foray into mainland China’s trade exhibition industry this year, with an eye to drum up more business for its online retail operation.
The Hangzhou-based company’s Tmall.com business-to-consumer platform has partnered with the organisers of the Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin, more widely known as the IFA, to stage the inaugural “Consumer Electronics China” show in Shenzhen from April 20 to 22.
Yin Jing, Alibaba’s general manager for 3C products and home appliances, announced that alliance and competitive domestic trade show in his speech last week at the international Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas
He did not provide details on the companies expected to participate in the event, but assured that a number of global brands and start-ups would attend as well as open their stores on Tmall.
The annual IFA show, which is organised by the German Association for Entertainment and Consumer Electronics in cooperation with Messe Berlin, is one of the world’s leading trade shows for consumer electronics and home appliances.
Sandy Shen, an analyst at technology research firm Gartner, yesterday said Alibaba’s efforts to establish a major new trade show will not only help suppliers in Shenzhen, but also Tmall’s competitiveness as an online e-commerce platform for so-called 3C products -- computers, communications and consumer electronics.
“Alibaba wants to grow the consumer electronics business on Tmall, which is still dwarfed by JD.com,” Shen said.