Alibaba has revealed that its AI tools for global suppliers have been adopted by approximately 30,000 smaller businesses on its platform, including many in developing countries. According to the global ecommerce giant, among the top 20 countries making the most frequent use of these tools approximately half are developing countries, and about 300 of the 500 events and seminars Alibaba is rolling out for global suppliers this fiscal year will be held in developing nations.
In conjunction with Micro-, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise (MSME) Day on June 27, 2024, Alibaba.com President Kuo Zhang said in a statement: “As a member of the private sector, we are honored to have worked alongside international agencies such as ITC [United Nations International Trade Centre] and supported MSMEs worldwide over the past 25 years. As we promote wider adoption of our AI tools amongst MSMEs, we also hope to expand our global supplier base to cover 100,000 suppliers in the next three years. In a nutshell, we are building a global supply chain by and for MSMEs leveraging AI.”
According to a recent survey conducted by Alibaba, MSMEs leveraging these AI tools saw a 37% increase in product exposure, and they have collectively accepted 70% of the optimization suggestions offered by the tools.
Additionally, Alibaba has created digital supply chain clusters with specific industry and product focuses, including:
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- Northeast Asia: natural ingredient skincare suppliers from Korea and home furniture, camera and photo accessory manufacturers in Japan;
- Southeast Asia: seasonings, condiments, home and outdoor furniture from Vietnam, and expert suppliers of loose gemstones and horse racing gear from India and Pakistan; and
- West Asia and Europe: carpets, men’s clothing and construction and building machinery suppliers in Turkey; industrial machinery in Germany; and wine, textile machinery and women’s apparel from Italy.
Alibaba currently serves more than 48 million buyers and over 200,000 suppliers on its platform.
