Found on 4th April of the year 1999, Alibaba is a Chinese multinational organization with its hold on various areas such as retail, e-commerce, technology, AI, and internet. If seen as per the revenue, the company ranks number five among the various largest internet companies. The founders who made this organization a successful one are Jack Ma, Lou Wensheng, Tony Yiu, Jane Jiang, Ma Chengwei, Joseph C. Tsai, Simon Xie, Cathy Zhang, James Sheng, Shi Yufeng, Peng Lei, Trudy Dai, Eddie Wu, Zhou Yuehong, Jianhang Jin, Han Min, Jin Yuanying, and Toto Sun. The Success Story of Alibaba marked a change in the online e-commerce industry.
Where it All Started: Alibaba
When the company started, the operations started from the apartment of Jack Ma located in Hangzhou. The first website launched by the company is Alibaba.com. The website is in the language English and has turned out to be a global marketplace by now. Afterward, in the same year, a domestic marketplace started in China, currently known by the name 1688.com.
The Success Story of Alibaba – China’s E-Commerce Giant
Success Story of Alibaba: Detailed RoadMap
Source: Alibaba History
- 2000 – The group got an investment of about US$20 million from SoftBank’s investor group. The same year in the month of September, Alibaba organized a Summit with leaders of thoughts and internet business together. Soon by December 2001, the company crossed 1 million users.
Jack Ma and Masayoshi Son, CEO of SoftBank
- 2002 – In the month of December, the company started getting positive in their cash flow.
Management and staff celebrated the company’s first financial milestone.
- 2003 – The country was suffering from the SARS epidemic this time. But despite the fact, Jack Ma motivated the employees well and this led them to stand strong against the crisis. Also, in this situation, Taobao marketplace, another shopping website started up again in the apartment of Jack Ma.
Jack Ma motivated the Alibaba team to stand firm in the face of SARS
- 2004 – The year 2004 brought a number of success stories for the company. In February, the company raised an amount of about US$82 from various first-tier investors in the Internet sector. A Summit was organized in the month of June for the Internet entrepreneurs. In this summit, 10 first entrepreneurs were honored for the year.
The first Entrepreneur Summit
This was the year when the company took two major steps. It introduced Aliwangwang, an instant messaging tool, for the website of Taobao Marketplace. Also, Alipay, a third-party payment solution associated with Alibaba came up. Finally, this year the company celebrated its fifth year anniversary in a festive way.
- 2005 – After the group celebrated its fifth year anniversary, Alibaba came up in a partnership with Yahoo in August 2005, and finally in the month of October in the same year the group took control of the China Yahoo operations.
Alibaba-Yahoo! Partnership announcement
Soon, the group launched the program for Taobao University and started providing education and training related to e-commerce for sellers and buyers.
- 2006 – November 2006 was another milestone in the history of the company. The setup for the public offering of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange Main Board was complete. Also, Alimama was launched which is an online platform for marketing technology.
CEO of Alibaba celebrates at his company listing ceremony at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
- 2008 – It was this year when Alibaba group introduced the Taobao Mall or better known as Tmall now. This was done to offer a platform dedicated to third-party retailers and brands and was support by the Taobao Marketplace.
The celebration of Taobao Mall’s launch
After the introduction of the Tmall in the month of April, Alibaba came up with an R&D institute in the month of September. In the same month by next year, the group came up with Alibaba Cloud as a part of their 10th-anniversary celebration. In the same month, the group got the acquisition of the leading internet service provider of China, HiChina.
- 2010 – By this year, Alibaba came up with a number of new additions. In the month of March, the China Marketplace’s name was changed to 1688.com, and the Taobao Marketplace launched a marketing platform named Juhuasuan, for various flash sales.
Same year by the month of April, AliExpress started that helped various Chinese exporters to deal with the worldwide consumers directly. In May’2010, Alibaba stated that it will spend about 0.3% of its total revenue on environmental awareness and also its conservation across the world.
During the months of July and August, Auctiva and Vendio became the e-commerce solutions for the small businesses of the U.S. By this time itself, the mobile application of the Taobao Marketplace is launched. Again in the month of November, One-Touch is acquired for the Chinese exporters.
- 2011 – This was the year when Tmall came up as an independent platform in the month of June and again Juhuasuan came up as an independent platform in the month of October. In the month of December, the Alibaba Foundation started to contribute to the social causes also.
Juhuasuan homepage
- 2012 – Soon, by the year 2012, the group repurchased the shares from Yahoo.
- 2013 – By the month of May, the Taobao Marketplace celebrated its 10th anniversary with a gathering of employees in Hangzhou. In the same year, during the month of May, many other logistic companies set up Cainiao Network. By July 2013, Alibaba group came up with the Alibaba Smart TV Operating System. Soon in the month of August 2013, the campus of the group got relocated to the Xixi District of Hangzhou. The group launched Laiwang or now known as DianDianChong, a social networking site by September 2013.
- 2014 – It was after the year 2013 when the Alibaba group started taking huge leaps and tasted some of the major developments in its field. It started the international brand sections with the help of Tmall Global extended from Tmall in February 2014. Again it was by June 2014 when the group came up with the integration of UCWeb, the mobile browser company.
The Alibaba Sports Group came up with Yunfeng Capital and Sina Corporation.
The very next month Alibaba Group came up with Suning to work on e-commerce, O2O initiatives, and logistics. Also, this month, Alibaba Cloud planned for the setup of an international headquarters for the same in Singapore. The next month, The Alibaba Sports Group came up with Yunfeng Capital and Sina Corporation. Youku Tudou entered a merger acquisition with the Alibaba Group in the month of November of 2015. Also, in the same month, the group launched the Alibaba Entrepreneurs Funds in both Taiwan and Hong Kong. By the end of the year, in the month of December, the group came up with an agreement for South China Morning Post.
- 2016 – The year 2016 started with the shopping festival of Ali Chinese New Year for the Alibaba group. Soon, the month of March brought some great news for the group. Alibaba became the world’s largest economy with a merchandise volume of about RMB3 trillion in the retail marketplace of China. The following month, the group also got a stake in the Southeast Asian e-commerce platform Lazada. In the month of May, the group started the AGLA program for training future leaders.
The Success Story of Alibaba – China’s E-Commerce Giant- Jack Ma
The month of July brought in a number of events and activities for the group. Alibaba introduced OS’Car, an internet car, along with the SAIC Motor Corporation. Also, the Alibaba Foundation organized the conference for Inaugural Xin Philanthropy. Also, in the same month, the group showcased various creative designs and ideas from Taobao merchants for the world through Taobao Maker Festival.
Jack Ma envisioned the idea of the Electronic World Trade Platform in the month of September Roberto Azevedo, the Director-General of the World Trade Organization supported it. In the month of September, the Alibaba Digital Media & Entertainment Group is planned. The opening of new data centers was announced by the Alibaba Cloud at four different places and these are Tokyo, Sydney, Frankfurt, and Dubai.
The Future Of Alibaba Group
Reference: Quantumrun
The Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund launched Jumpstarted 2017 soon. In collaboration with HKSTP and Cyberport, the launch gave way to the largest competition for a start-up. Tmall World, in the same year, started to serve the Chinese market across the world. The stake in Lazada increased from 51% to about 83%. Hema supermarket came up in the month of July. During the month of August, a joint venture started with Marriott International for Chinese consumers. Also, the group upgraded the loyalty programs for both Tmall as well as Taobao. Alibaba DAMO academy launched along with a new data center in Malaysia in the month of October.
Hong Kong's #entrepreneur search. Alibaba’s $1 billion startup fund launched.https://t.co/2K5ynC4jMW pic.twitter.com/5x1yqJAPMg
— EMIS (@EMIS_News) November 20, 2015
By 2017, the Alibaba Group came up with some of the major future plans. Alibaba Group collaborated with the International Olympic Committee and announced a partnership that will go till the year 2028. Also, the group collaborated with Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation to have plans for the establishment of the first e-hub overseas.
The CEO of #Monspace Multinational Corp, Dato Sri Jessy Lai attended the launch of Malaysia’s Digital Free Trade Zone. A joint effort by the Alibaba Group and the Malaysia #Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), it is the first of its kind outside of #China pic.twitter.com/QwXC7vas2R
— Monspace international (@monspaceglobal) December 26, 2017
From The Desk Of Jack Ma
Reference: China Daily
Jack Ma did put all of his efforts into the success story of the group. The group started from the apartment of the founder Jack Ma and it continued soon to become the largest retail platform in the world at the moment.
Recently, Jack Ma has shown a lot of confidence in the successful and profitable future of the group. He joked in a conference that he does not wish to get retired in the next 10 years and he sees a lot of success of the group in the next 20 years. As per Jack, when someone loves a company, it is important to let it go with the flow and this is the best way how it can achieve great success.
Don't miss Alibaba founder Jack Ma's advice for job-hopping millennials pic.twitter.com/dQ1ksFxr7h
— Bloomberg Originals (@bbgoriginals) February 2, 2019
.@alibaba_cloud Opens Second Data Center in Japan. https://t.co/7c99pvcXLv pic.twitter.com/bmfHJi5mnn
— Alibaba Group (@AlibabaGroup) January 29, 2019
Who does not know about the Alibaba Group today?
Jack Ma along with many other founders did a lot of hard work to make the group renowned and successful not only in China but also throughout the world. The fame of the group is still continuing and Jack Ma has also spoken about it and hopes that there is a long way to go and they have a great success plan for the future ahead.
Media Releases:
Joe Tsai: Alibaba’s active role in digitizing the retail sector expands our total addressable market to the entire US$5 trillion retail economy in China. $BABA https://t.co/LqfOgHlS8Q
— Alibaba Group (@AlibabaGroup) January 30, 2019
Alibaba Group has been named to the @FortuneMagazine list of "Blue Ribbon Companies" for 2018! The Chinese e-commerce and technology giant is the only Chinese company out of 56 firms to make the list. You can check out the full list here: https://t.co/unFghjL6E6 pic.twitter.com/vQMsrKpqes
— Alibaba Group (@AlibabaGroup) January 31, 2019
⚡️ “Alibaba Group December Quarter 2018 Earnings Report”https://t.co/JgG1KYtWvz
— Alibaba Group (@AlibabaGroup) January 30, 2019
