Alibaba's next online stop: the whole world

With growth slowing in China, the internet behemoth unleashes AliExpress for global e-commerce dominance, applying lessons from Tmall

For Carine Danblier, 51, a Belgian housewife based in Brussels, shopping on Chinese online marketplace AliExpress has proved to be nothing short of a treasure hunt.

Every week, she snaps up cooking accessories, shoes and electronic gadgets directly from China via AliExpress, a subsidiary of Alibaba Group Holding. A few taps on her device keypad, followed by a few days in wait - that's all it takes for the tamper-proof parcels to materialize at her doorstep.