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Alibaba.com seeks to woo merchants from TikTok after ByteDance ends social commerce activity in Indonesia

  • Indonesia has imposed a ban on e-commerce transactions via social media apps to protect the country’s small businesses
  • Alibaba.com, the B2B platform created in 1999, says it has launched S Plan to help merchants affected by Indonesia rule change

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Alibaba.com targets merchants in Indonesia. Photo: Bloomberg
Tracy Quin Shanghai

Alibaba.com, the international online wholesale arm of Alibaba Group Holding, is trying to woo merchants from ByteDance-owned TikTok who sell in Southeast Asia after the short video app was forced to suspend e-commerce activities in Indonesia.

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Indonesia, the largest economy in Southeast Asia, in late September imposed a ban on e-commerce transactions via social media apps to protect the country’s small businesses. TikTok complied, ceasing sales on its e-commerce platform TikTok Shop.

Alibaba.com, the B2B platform created by Alibaba in 1999, said in a statement on Tuesday that it has launched S Plan, which offers “traffic flow, operations and logistics” support to those merchants affected by the Indonesia rule change. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.

Under the plan, Alibaba.com offers a “one-button relocation” service for merchants to open new stores on Alibaba.com and to move their online presence, including translation and smart-sorting tools. Alibaba.com made no reference to TikTok in its statement.

For newly-opened stores, Alibaba.com promises three to six months of traffic support to give them more exposure to potential buyers. In particular, Alibaba.com will provide tailored export plans for each merchant, enabling them to better target the Southeast Asia market.

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