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Alibaba.com launches new services, support, and grants program to help New Digital Entrepreneurs

In 2020, 600,000 more new businesses started than in 2019 in the US. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, one third of these companies are retailers not tied to a physical store. Many of these 200,000 new online businesses are part of a newly emerging group of entrepreneurs. These “New Digital Entrepreneurs” are building digital businesses enabled by new online infrastructure that allows them to operate their own business-to-consumer (B2C) ecommerce stores on platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, and Wix, or as third-party sellers on retail ecommerce sites like Etsy, Amazon, and Walmart. Many of these New Digital Entrepreneurs already look to Alibaba.com for sourcing options and product demand insights.

New Digital Entrepreneurs have among the lowest startup capital costs with 44% saying they needed US $5,000 or less in the first six months. They come from all walks of life — from those leaving full-time employment to stay-at-home moms to college students and even retirees. Because of their size and level of investment, they face fundamental business challenges including inventory management, logistics, fulfillment, and finding promising products.

To help the New Digital Entrepreneurs overcome these challenges, Alibaba.com is launching new Alibaba.com Dropshipping Solutions, alongside new platform tools and a grants program totaling US $500,000 in awards to further fuel their ambition and support their future success.

Alibaba.com Dropshipping Solutions

Many of the New Digital Entrepreneurs are leveraging dropshipping, which enables these small business owners to eliminate inventory overhead or to test new products before making larger orders. Now they can use new Alibaba.com Dropshipping Solutions to reduce their inventory risk, facilitate testing and bringing new products to market, get shipping transparency, and enhance their customer support.

These new dropshipping services give New Digital Entrepreneurs access to thousands of quality, vetted global sellers and more than one million products at wholesale prices through the Alibaba.com Dropshipping Center. The Dropshipping Center brings additional Ready-to-Ship products to the already vast catalog of production capabilities that can be found on Alibaba.com, which includes flexible customization and full OEM/ODM capabilities.

With a new Alibaba.com app available on the Shopify App Store and a WooCommerce extension, online retailers can add new products to their retail stores within a few clicks for free, making it easy to add products from Alibaba.com’s vetted dropshipping sellers to their online store. For internet retailers, Alibaba.com’s Dropshipping Center automates the dropshipping process from payments and order fulfillment to shipment tracking through to their end customers.

Alibaba.com has also partnered with dropshipping partners, including Modalyst, Spocket, Syncee and others, to provide even more access to pre-vetted sellers, quality products, and transparent shipping for more than 10 storefront platforms.

New Platform Tools

Alibaba.com is continuing to transform and stay true to its core mission of making it easy for businesses to do business anywhere and help US SMBs access the US $23.9 trillion global B2B ecommerce opportunity. To help SMBs overcome challenges posed by travel restrictions and supply chain disruptions, Alibaba.com has created new platform tools to help entrepreneurs better access supply and demand digitally, including:

1. Product research and discovery services with partners, including:

  • Tools for SMBs to easily research pricing trends and new products to resell on Amazon and find Alibaba.com sellers with Helium 10, AMZScout, and Zonguru.

2. Digital exhibition and sourcing technologies and tools to facilitate business buyer and seller communication, interaction, and due diligence without the need for costly and time-consuming in-person visits and travel, including:

  • Alibaba.com LIVE and Alibaba.com True View - live video chats and on-demand trending videos allowing business buyers to hear directly from sellers and manufacturers about their capabilities, qualifications, facilities, products, and insights.
  • Alibaba.com 3D Virtual Reality Showroom - VR showrooms for buyers to experience full-scale showrooms and assembly lines from the comfort of their own homes using immersive 360° virtual reality technology.

3. Upgraded logistics services to ease the current supply chain burdens and shipping delays, including:

  • On-time delivery services* - a selection of more than 19 million ready-to-ship products combined with preferred trade routes based on global logistics big data that ensure on-time arrival and are backed up by immediate compensation for any delivery delays.
  • One-stop door-to-door logistics solutions with DDP cost quoting - a dedicated pavilion of products eligible for one-stop logistics services with end-to-end (Delivered Duty Paid —DDP) costs quoted, from shipping and customs clearance at the destination port, to last-mile delivery at your address, to help SMBs streamline shipping and logistics processes, and avoid any surprise charges.

First-ever US $500,000 Alibaba.com Grants Program

The Alibaba.com Grants Program** kicks off today to support SMB innovation and growth by offering entrepreneurs the opportunity to win hands-on support from ecommerce experts and compete for a total of US $500,000 in cash grants. Alibaba.com is partnering with Hello Alice, a resource platform that aims to help small businesses through every step of the entrepreneurial journey, to host the grant program, which is open to any new or existing Alibaba.com account holder with an innovative product idea or go-to-market strategy.

Interested entrepreneurs can apply now until October 21, 2021 by submitting their product idea or go-to-market strategy through hialice.co/alibaba, where they will be scored based on their demonstration of the market opportunity, their business model/product innovation, and their plan for the funds.

In early December, the top 50 applicants will win US $10,000 each in order to bring their innovative ideas to life. All applicants will be able to join the Alibaba.com Digitization Sprint for Internet Retailers to gain integral know-how on key business topics such as ecommerce basics, marketing and customer engagement, sourcing and supply chain, finance and HR, as well as overall business growth.

The biggest B2B ecommerce sales event of the year

The grants program, new platform tools, and Alibaba.com dropshipping services all come during Alibaba.com’s biggest sale event of the year: Super September. With sellers providing promotions all month long, Super September gives New Digital Entrepreneurs the opportunity to take advantage of Alibaba.com’s new products and services that provide added efficiency and allow SMBs to spend less, travel less, and worry less, while selling more online.

*On-time delivery service applies to select products only and is subject to terms and conditions.
**The Grants Program is subject to terms and conditions, please visit hialice.co/Alibaba for more details.

This week's #B2BTuesday Tip:

Partnering with the right seller is crucial for any business, but even more so for dropshipping. They are fulfilling your orders on your behalf. So your reputation and brand are completely dependent on their ability to deliver.

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