Alibaba delegation meets Faisalabad’s businessmen

Company’s reps urge SMEs to use online portal to save warehousing costs

FAISALABAD: E-commerce is the future mode of conducting business, and will provide an opportunity to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to directly supply their products to the end-consumers in any part of the world, Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) President Shabbir Hussain Chawla said on Tuesday.

Talking to a delegation of Alibaba.com in the meeting room of FCCI today, he said that there is no doubt that Alibaba is an e-commerce giant, and a pioneer in supplying products online.



“Pakistan should also enter the e-commerce market in collaboration with Alibaba to get maximum dividends from its portal in addition to launching its own companies,” Chawla said.

He suggested that Alibaba should establish its warehouses in different countries to ensure speedy supply to customers in addition to having effective logistical services and reliable banking systems to repay the amount if the delivered products are found to be defective or damaged.



Jason Jia and Patrik Wang of Alibaba gave a briefing on the operational activities of the e-commerce giant and said that it will provide a ‘unique opportunity’ for Faisalabad’s SMEs to gain direct access to buyers without establishing their own warehouses and involving middlemen.

Jason further said that in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2017, Alibaba recorded revenue of 119.8 billion Yuan in Chinese online sales.



“This translates to approximately $17.4 billion,” he said, adding that China is catching up with the United States in the battle for e-commerce supremacy since 2015.

He said increased internet penetration and ever-growing spending power of the international consumers are contributing significantly to the rapid growth in e-commerce sales.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 29^th, 2017.

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