Alibaba’s Tmall expands in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia to non-Chinese speaking consumers

Alibaba Group, the world’s largest e-commerce operator, is beefing up its presence in online shopping by further expanding in Hong Kong and tapping more English and non-Chinese speaking consumers in Southeast Asia.

The group has officially launched its Tmall online supermarket in Hong Kong this week, and teamed up since March with Southeast Asian e-commerce operator Lazada – which it acquired last year – to sell selected Taobao products under the “Taobao Collection” direct to shoppers in Singapore.

The English-language Lazada site also operates local sites in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, where some of them are in local languages.

The Malaysian platform will be launched on June 13, where shoppers will be able to take advantage of lower prices from Chinese sellers, said Elaine Hu, director of Tmall World on Monday.

In Hong Kong, Tmall sells daily necessities from food to household products imported from the mainland to local Hong Kong consumers. With its warehouse in Shenzhen – the group’s largest in South China region – consumers will be able to receive the products within the next day after placing the order on the Hong Kong supermarket, Hu said.