Alibaba jumps on community group-buying bandwagon in new recruitment drive
- Alibaba joins Pinduoduo, Meituan, Didi Chuxing, JD.com and other internet giants in investing in China’s latest online shopping trend
- The e-commerce giant’s community group buying business is hiring for dozens of positions
Alibaba Group Holding, the owner of China’s largest e-commerce platform, has started a recruitment drive for its community group-buying business amid heated competition in the burgeoning sector.
Between Sunday and Wednesday, the Hangzhou-based tech giant and owner of the South China Morning Post, posted 57 vacancies on its recruitment website under a team called MMC. The positions are based in 19 first- to third-tier Chinese cities, including Wuhan, Nanchang, Changsha, Chengdu and Guangzhou, and cover a variety of job functions from warehouse operations and fresh food purchasing to back-end programming.
On DingTalk, Alibaba’s internal communication app, some MMC staff posted on their profiles what appears to be the business slogan in Chinese: “Guaranteeing supply without raising prices, one store to warm the whole community.”
Dai Shan, Alibaba’s head of business-to-business (B2B) transactions, will lead the newly-formed MMC, according to Chinese media outlet LatePost. She reportedly told staff at an internal meeting earlier this month that the company will spare no expense in developing community group buying.
Alibaba declined to comment.
The move comes as Chinese internet juggernauts jostle for market share in the emerging business model, which lets residents in a community buy groceries and other daily essentials in bulk at cheaper prices than they would normally pay when buying individually.