Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Undersecretary for Trade and Investments Promotions Group (TIPG) Nora Terrado headed the recently concluded 60-man Philippine delegation in their technical visit to the headquarters of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba in Hangzhou, China on 4 November 2018.
The visit was conducted on the sidelines of the first China International Import Expo, where the Philippines participated. Known as the “Alibaba Campus,” the headquarters accommodates around 9,000 employees.
Led by Farhad Sami, Senior Director for International Policy and Public Affairs of the company, Alibaba representatives toured the Philippine delegates to the 150,000-sqm open office space that has a campus-style layout.
As the world’s leading e-commerce platform, Alibaba shared with Filipinos its best practices on providing fundamental technology infrastructure and marketing reach that help small and medium businesses grow.
For many, the rise of Alibaba and its recent influence on the global market have ushered a new retail era and changed the consumer behavior of mobile-connected individuals worldwide.
During the visit, Lazada Philippines CEO Ray Alimurung presented how Filipino entrepreneurs could benefit from doing business in the digital economy.
“The Southeast Asian e-commerce market is ready and it’s growing fast,” he said. “Now is the time [for Filipino business owners] to research, test, and learn the e-commerce market,” he added.
Meanwhile, Terrado hoped that the visit to the Alibaba Campus had been insightful for the Filipino exporters. She also encouraged Filipinos to continue to use online platforms such as Alibaba in order to enter the Chinese market—especially now that China’s demand for Philippine agriculture products like fresh fruits is growing rapidly.
“For years, Alibaba has shown how internet can provide small companies with infrastructure and marketing reach, which help merchants and brands grow and compete more effectively in the global market,” she said. “Through this tour, we seek to learn and adapt the company’s ways of doing business within e-commerce and cross-border transactions.”
