Alibaba.com Pairs With Office Depot in First Major U.S. Tie-Up
(Bloomberg) -- Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s business-to-business trading platform has forged its first U.S. partnership with a large company as it teams up with Office Depot Inc.
Alibaba.com will create a new online destination to access the business supplies distributor's network and build out its offering to small businesses in the U.S.
The partnership gives the Chinese online retailer access to 10 million business customers and 1,800 sales agents, according to a statement. The new partnership will allow the small businesses to link with Alibaba.com's global network of over 150,000 suppliers, offering next-day delivery.
“It connects businesses together for products and services,” Gerry Smith, chief executive officer of Boca Raton, Florida-based Office Depot, said in an interview. “We are really bringing the world capabilities back to the U.S.”
The collaboration will give U.S. entrepreneurs and small business owners access to a single online destination through which they can access one of the world's largest catalogs of goods and services. Another target is to improve cross-border distribution and fulfillment for U.S. small and medium-sized businesses, and eventually help them sell in the U.S. and around the world through Alibaba.com.
“We have a common mission to be a catalyst for growth for small businesses,” John Caplan, head of North America B2B at Alibaba Group, said in an interview. “If you are a bicycle manufacturer, you buy office supplies from Office Depot. Now, Office Depot can introduce you to Alibaba.com, where you can get access to the manufacturers of bicycle parts that you need.”
Smith estimates the market opportunity is six times the size of the market for sales to just consumers.
“When we talk to our small and medium-sized business customers today, their two biggest challenges are cash and time,” said Smith. “They want one-stop shopping. They can come to one person to do all their shopping needs. They save time and they save money. We're providing this with this collaboration.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Anousha Sakoui in Los Angeles at asakoui@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net, Linus Chua
©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
-
Talking Points This Week: Tech Nerves, FII Buying, And A Faraway Banking Shock
The global markets are not shining this Diwali. The exception in the large markets is, India.
-
Midterm Rally Lasted A Day. The Hard Reality Of A Divided US May Last Two Years | Opinion
Between a contested AI boom, a debt ceiling that arrives in 2027 and a president with every incentive to act alone, the next two years may prove more volatile than the first day's rally suggests.
-
Blue Wave Will Derail the AI Trade but Won't Dismantle the AI Era | Unhedged Position
The Democrats' sweep of the US Congress will see politics collide with economic forces both over the long and short term.
-
It's Time To Take The GST Council's Bet On Trust Global
Payment records can prove India's services exports, and clear, proportionate rules can bring foreign digital sellers into the tax net.
-
Opinion | India at 38: From Innovation Overperformer to Innovation Powerhouse
India now has 453 VC-backed deep science startups, 18 of them late-stage, after 117 percent growth since 2020. Laurus Labs, at USD 9.3 billion, is the most valuable deep science company in any middle-income economy outside China.
-
Navigating Energy Crossroads: S Jaishankar's Call For Diversified Supply Chains At G20 Ministerial Meeting
As geopolitical fault lines continue to test maritime trade routes and commodity flows, Jaishankar's message remains pertinent: true economic resilience requires open markets, protected transit lines, and a genuine commitment to multilateral cooperation rather than coercion.
-
Indians Are Travelling, But Not Every Journey Is A Holiday | The Week In Whys
Pilgrims, patients and working women are the real travellers, and the system hasn't quite caught up with them.
-
Getting To Work Costs Women More | The Reason Why
It is not just about women paying more than men. It is about women paying much more in cities than in villages.
-
AI Bias In Investing Cannot Be Eliminated, But It Can Be Governed
Framing is a particularly important example as identical financial information presented in terms of gains rather than losses can lead an LLM to reach a different assessment.
