Alibaba to emphasize domestic business
4 August 2008
China's biggest e-commerce firm, Alibaba.com, will place more emphasis on its domestic business in the next few years, Reuters reported. The firm's Chairman Jack Ma said the change in focus is due to a weak global economy and slowing growth in Chinese exports. "Domestic trade is growing very fast, while imports and exports have started to decline," Ma said. Alibaba.com's business-to-business site serves thousands of small and medium-sized exporters and importers in China. While Ma did not specify the scale of the company's shift in focus, he said that Alibaba mainly serves small firms - not labor-intensive manufacturers that are more affected by the slowdown. China's exports grew by 17.6% year-on-year in June, compared with 28.1% in May.