Summary of Duncan Clark's Alibaba EPUB

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

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#1 On November 11, 2015, in Beijing, the venue for the aquatics events in the Beijing Olympics, a huge digital screen displayed maps, charts, and news crawls reporting in real time the purchases of millions of consumers across China on Alibaba’s websites.

#2 In China, November 11 is Singles’ Day, a special annual promotion. From just twenty-seven merchants in 2009, over forty thousand merchants and thirty thousand brands now participate in Singles’ Day. Total sales in 2015 were up 60 percent from the $9 billion of the previous year.

#3 Alibaba was successful because it offered consumers in China an unparalleled variety of goods, delivered quickly and reliably. Its finance subsidiary ensured that buying on Alibaba was easy and worry free.

#4 Alibaba’s consumer websites, Taobao and Tmall, serve as platforms for other merchants to sell their wares. They charge no fees, but make money from advertising space and promoting those merchants who want to stand out from the crowd.