Alibaba expands AliExpress footprint

E-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd is allowing businesses from select countries to sell goods on its overseas platforms, as part of its efforts to take on US-based Amazon.com, the world's largest online site hosting third-party vendors.

The move to enable foreign merchants to sell on AliExpress, a business-to-customer site traditionally selling Chinese goods to buyers in 220 countries and regions, is part of Alibaba's broader globalization strategy, according to Dai Shan, president of Alibaba's wholesale marketplaces division.

The company has piloted the initiative by allowing notably small and medium-sized businesses in Russia, Turkey, Italy and Spain to register and sell their products to other countries in the AliExpress network, the company told China Daily on Monday. Expansion to other markets might be in the pipeline.