Taobao, Yahoo! JAPAN open e-commerce platforms

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Taobao, the largest online shopping website in China and a subsidiary of global e-commerce leader Alibaba Group, and Yahoo! JAPAN Corp on Tuesday began operating complementary online shopping services that connect Japanese consumers with Chinese merchants and Chinese consumers with Japanese merchants.

Japanese consumers can now buy goods from Taobao merchants in China through Yahoo! JAPAN China Mall (chinamall.yahoo.co.jp), a new website opened within Yahoo! JAPAN. Chinese consumers can buy Yahoo! JAPAN Shopping goods through the new TaoJapan (taojapan.com) website opened as part of Taobao. Consumers of both countries will be able to buy products available in the other country exactly in the same way as they normally shop from e-commerce platforms in their own country, bypassing the usual barriers such as language, laws, delivery logistics, and payment issues.

The initial service includes tens of millions of items on Yahoo! JAPAN China Mall and about 8 million on Taobao’s TaoJapan. Both companies intend to expand the number of products over time.

Taobao and Alibaba.com Japan Co Ltd will jointly operate TaoJapan. Alibaba.com Japan will serve as fulfillment service provider for Yahoo! JAPAN China Mall.

Alibaba.com Japan is a joint venture between Alibaba.com, the world’s largest business-to-business e-commerce platform, and SoftBank Corp. Alibaba Cloud Computing, a subsidiary of Alibaba Group and developer of an advanced data-centric cloud computing service platform, will provide support to both parties in this new initiative. Alibaba Cloud Computing serves an important role in the e-commerce ecosystem by providing a comprehensive suite of Internet-based computing services, which include e-commerce data mining, high-speed massive e-commerce data processing, and data customization. Alipay, an e-commerce payment platform and subsidiary of Alibaba Group, will underpin the cross-border payment system for merchants on both sides of the border.