China e-commerce platform Alibaba to double Vietnam investment

Alibaba.com, China’s major business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce platform founded by Jack Ma, plans to double its investment in Vietnam’s emerging production hubs and recruit hundreds of new staff.

Roger Luo, Alibaba’s Asia Pacific director, said at a press conference Wednesday that the platform would expand its presence from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to the southern provinces of Binh Duong and Long An, the central city of Danang, and the northern localities of Bac Ninh and Hai Phong.

He said Alibaba.com will recruit and train staff to support Vietnamese exporters in the new areas.

The latest move aimed to attract more businesses, especially small and medium ones, to join the cross-border e-commerce platform, Luo said. He said many firms were willing to spend like Alibaba.com on market expansion.

Luo lauded Vietnam’s advantages in attracting investment, including affordable, high-quality workforce; abundance of local specialties like coffee, fruits, handmade handicraft items; and participation in various free trade agreements.

Alibaba.com has over 47 million business buyers from 190 nations, which can act as a foundation for Vietnamese businesses to join the global market, Luo said.

The number of Vietnamese goods and their buyers on Alibaba.com in March increased 24% and 55% year-on-year, he noted.

In the first half of this year, sales revenue from Vietnamese goods on Alibaba.com reached over $164 billion, down 12% year-on-year. Luo said he expected the situation to improve in the latter half of this year as inventory in the U.S. was going down, leading to new orders.