Today is the biggest shopping day in the world. But do you know that it would not be celebrated if not for the efforts and creativity of Alibaba? The thing is that 11.11 is the Singles Day celebrated annually in China. It is like an anti-Valentine holiday that with time transformed into the biggest shopping event. Here is how it happened – Alibaba decided to organize huge sales on this day on TaoBao (which belongs to it) and since that time other companies caught the strategy and the International Shopping Day was founded.
Needless to say that companies earn billions of dollars just on this day thanks to the new holiday. Aliexpress is struggling to process thousands of orders and it earns hundreds of dollars each hour. Massive sales encourage people to visit the marketplaces and spend money even if they were not planning to do so. And Alibaba should be thanked for that. So we have decided to highlight what makes this e-commerce giant so great and revolutionary, and why it is so hard to beat it in terms of customer services and technical advancement.
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Customer-oriented features of Alibaba
Today Alibaba is included in the top 10 most profitable and successful companies in the world. It outperforms sales giants such as Walmart, and that is very impressive. But why did that happen? What exactly makes Alibaba such a demanding online commerce company?
The answer is on the surface – it offers the most convenient and advanced online shopping experience one could only imagine. So let’s take a closer look at the main features that are appreciated by Alibaba customers:
You may be wondering why we mentioned all those features, because actually now almost every e-commerce platform offers them. And that is true, however Alibaba was the first to do this and introduce online shopping changes step-by-step.
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Smart Ecosystem that Alibaba created
What really defines a unique business model of Alibaba is its approach to technology. Thanks to the usage of the latest technologies this e-commerce platform reached the top and turned customer and seller experience to a whole new level. Here is what top-notch tools are used to make selling and buying a pleasant experience:
Big Data
E-commerce is dealing with huge loads of data on a daily basis. So it is impossible to make a giant platform like Alibaba productive without using a technology for data collection, analysis, and processing. And the best technology suitable for those purposes is Big Data. Alibaba uses it to gather a huge client base and discover their preferences which helps to identify the demand and offer targeted ads.
Alimama
Since we’ve touched the topic of advertising for B2B, it is impossible not to mention that Alibaba has its own advertising platform called Alimama. All users of this platform can add available ads positions and all people interested in placing their ads on a platform can buy them.
Own network project
Alibaba came really far and even launched its own China Smart Network (CSN) project for better logistics management and 24 hours delivery after the purchase was made. This was a huge collaboration with the most influential Chinese logistic companies which united to form one network for better customer deliveries.
So basically data analysis technology lets Alibaba find the most suitable logistics provider for a certain client within the network. Clients can also define their delivery preferences for better match (i.e. select the most affordable, fast or highly rated team).
Hadoop and Apsara
While these words may seem gibberish to you, they actually have a meaning for Alibaba, especially Hadoop. These are high level technologies responsible for work with business data, databases and search engines. And Apsara is a reliable cloud-based platform Alibaba runs. The data centers are located in China and Hong Kong, so the quality of the platform is top-notch. Apsara offers large data processing, database storage, and web-based API. Apsara can be scaled up to 5,000+ servers.
Ali OS and Tmall Genie
In late 2012 Alibaba noticed that more and more customers tend to make purchases using mobile devices. So what did Alibaba owners decide to do? They launched their own mobile operating system caled Aliyun or just Yun OS. It was not an operating system built from scratch, it is rather a customized version of well-known Linux. Was that OS used? Yes, more than one million smartphones got it.
Alibaba is not going to stop at what its already achieved, it aims to create the future! It has an AI lans that not so long ago developed and launched smart assistant called Tmall Genie. All devices that support AI powered smart assistants will be able to monitor and control their smart home devices right from the cars on the go. What can be more convenient? This is totally the next level of customers care. And if you ask us with which companies Alibaba partnered to provide car-to-home smart environment, you’d hear such loud names as Volvo, Audi, and German Daimler. And Ford even got equipped with Ali OS.
To conclude
Alibaba is a unique e-commerce platform that really cares for its users and customers. And that is exactly why it became an example that inspires many e-commerce owners all over the world. Although it is hard to recreate its success story and build something as advanced as Alibaba, it is really possible to improve your own marketplace and make it no worse.
The main thing that all customers appreciate is convenience and speed. We want to have not only a wide selection of goods, but also numerous options on how to look for those goods, how to pay for them and receive them. Technology is an inseparable part of shopping, so all companies involved in retail should take care of the smart environment and contemporary technologies like Albaba did to ensure the best customer experience ever.
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