Alibaba pushes China’s social commerce model to the world, with influencer campaign on cross-border platform AliExpress
- The cross-border retail platform of Alibaba aims to build an army of influencers numbering more than 1 million in three years
- That will help the Chinese e-commerce giant reach its goal of serving 2 billion consumers worldwide by the next decade
AliExpress, the cross-border e-commerce business of Alibaba Group Holding, aims to enlist more than 100,000 online influencers from around the world this year, helping create original content designed to attract and engage more users to the platform.
This social commerce strategy, which has proven successful in China, is being introduced overseas via AliExpress Connect, a new part of Alibaba’s English-language global business-to-consumer marketplace, according to a statement from AliExpress on Thursday. Alibaba is the parent company of the South China Morning Post.
People who want to launch an influencer career can use AliExpress Connect to collaborate with the platform and the brands on the site, where they can get paid by commission for their original content, the statement said.
In three years, this programme is expected to build an army of influencers numbering more than 1 million, according to AliExpress. It is also expected to foster at least 100 key opinion leaders (KOLs), who will each earn more than US$1 million annually within the same time frame.
“As e-commerce continues to grow and ‘shoppertainment’ reshapes the landscape and changes the way people shop online, influencers and content creators are playing a more important role in driving retail transformation and e-commerce success,” said Wang Mingqiang, general manager of AliExpress.
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The new influencer campaign will initially focus on Europe, where most AliExpress users are found in Russia, France, Spain and Poland. Alibaba’s international retail platform operates in more than 200 countries and regions, where about 60 per cent of users are under 35 years of age, according to the company.