E-commerce giant Alibaba courts Canadian sellers to its platform
TORONTO — E-commerce giant Alibaba is increasing its drive to enlist Canadian businesses to sell into China’s US$5 trillion retail market.
The Chinese online marketplace and its billionaire founder Jack Ma will host a ‘Gateway Canada’ business summit in Toronto on Sept. 25, aiming to encourage small-to medium sized businesses in areas such as consumer products, seafood, agriculture and tourism to offer their wares to Alibaba’s more than half a billion Chinese customers.
The move follows the Amazon rival’s launch of a Canadian “pavilion” on its T-mall e-commerce platform during Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s G20 visit to China last September, and a growing demand in China for products such as Canadian lobster and cherries.
“The demand for foreign products is growing every year because of the quality of the products, the price of the products and the safety of the products,” Alibaba president said Michael Evans said in an interview Wednesday.
