Alibaba unveils relief measures for online merchants affected by coronavirus outbreak
- Measures range from service fee exemptions for online merchants on Tmall to discounted loans offered through MYBank
- Alibaba to subsidise chain restaurants forced to shut, as well as its supply chain and courier businesses
Alibaba Group Holding, China’s biggest e-commerce company, said on Monday it was rolling out relief packages for online merchants affected by the coronavirus outbreak.
All online stores operating on its flagship Tmall will be exempt from service fees for the first half of the year, while all stores on Tmall and Taobao.com will be able to use an essential online tool kit to revamp their online storefronts free of charge, the company said in a statement. Alibaba, which owns the South China Morning Post, will also waive two months’ rent for new users of its Cainiao logistics networks.
“We must make sure the services sector is ready to re-enter the race, and that funds get into the hands of the enterprises that need them,” the company said.
Alibaba is among technology companies that are pouring billions into philanthropy, to endear themselves to the tens of millions of bored, homebound Chinese consumers, hunkered down for the world’s largest quarantine exercise.
New-economy companies – whether it is online shopping on Taobao.com and Tmall, food deliveries on Meituan Dianping’s platform or Tencent Holdings’ online games – will benefit from the lockdown, analysts have said.
Ant Financial Services Group, Alibaba’s financial technology affiliate, will offer 10 billion yuan (US$1.43 billion) in loans to online merchants from Hubei, the epicentre of the outbreak, through its virtual lender, MYBank, with no interest charged for the first three months and a 20 per cent discount for the remaining nine months, it said. The bank will also provide another 10 billion yuan in 12-month loans at favourable interest rates to merchants from other parts of China.