Alibaba is investing $15.4 million to introduce flea market in over 100 cities of China.
Alibaba Group Holding is the biggest and largest online retailer in the world. The company was already one of the largest but considering the performance it just put in the current fiscal year, it is set to surpass US Wal-Mart Stores as the biggest retailer in the world.
The Chinese tech giant, however, is now planning to enter a market where it has not already set its foot before. According to the company’s owned South China Morning Post, it will invest almost $15.4 million (100 million Yuan) in order to develop a digital flea market in China this year.
Alibaba Group previously expressed its wish to open a physical store soon that would further help the business. Now the idea of developing a flea market would not surprise many people but it is surely not its strength.
In June 2014, Alibaba came up with a mobile app, which offered used goods and items to the customers. The app was called Xianyu and within a short span of time, it became one of the most used mobile applications in the country. A news website yicai.com reported that Xianyu has almost 100 million registered users.
According to a report, nearly 170 million used-goods have been traded through the mobile app since then. The $15.4 million (100 million Yuan) investment will help Alibaba in introducing flea markets in 100 urban cities of China. This will allow the users of the smartphone app to trade purchase, sell, and trade second hand products physically in local areas.
CBNData – a reputable Shanghai-based data analysis firm – said that with this move, the flea market trading or used-good trade market could easily reach the 400 billion Yuan mark by the end of this year in China.
Alibaba suggests that it will provide convenience for the users. Users of Xianyu app can easily manage their stores in flea market through the mobile app. They can take and upload images of their products, put an impressive caption on the images, and can add promotional voice notes in order to increase the trades.
The company said, “Both buyers and sellers can get a sense of belonging, and recognize and assess each other, which makes the app more akin to a social network than a shopping website.”
The transactions of buyers and sellers will be supported by Alibaba’s online payment service Alipay, which also works like a money remittance service.
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