AliExpress, owned by Chinese tech group Alibaba, wants to accelerate the pace of expansion in Brazil, according to Yan Di, the e-commerce site’s country manager in Brazil.
With 150 million active users in over 220 countries, AliExpress wants to adapt the Chinese e-commerce model to Brazil, and has increased the number of chartered freight flights from China in order to reduce the delivery time for orders.
The company has also created a customer service center in Portuguese and has been adopting the free return policy on purchases, Yan Di told Época Negócios.
Yan says 90% of Brazilian online shopping consumers know the brand, according to data from a recent survey conducted by the company, and 60% of users of the platform are aged up to 35 years, with price and variety being the main product selection factors.
According to Yan, the variety of items on AliExpress is ten times greater than that of other e-commerce services in Brazil. “We know that the Brazilian adopts the price issue as a decisive factor and, during the pandemic, with unemployment, this factor has become even more essential”, Yan Di told the publication.
“AliExpress’ differential is that we are able to connect the consumer with the majority of Chinese merchants, so it is possible to buy products with factory prices and with much more variety than here in Brazil.”
On Black Friday 2020 alone, the company’s revenue grew 100%, even in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. With the changes brought about by social isolation, the sale of products such as the webcam, mandatory for remote meetings, grew 38%.
However, the executive pointed out that, despite being a market with great potential, Brazil still has obstacles to overcome in order to grow in electronic commerce, currently having a trade volume 30 times smaller than China´s.
“Looking at the Brazilian reality, we still see a precarious physical infrastructure, mainly on highways, railways and other modalities for the delivery of goods”, he said in the interview.
Yan Di says he believes that Brazil needs to adapt to keep up with developments in the post-pandemic e-commerce world, namely towards more optimized and personalized shopping experiences according to the needs of each consumer.
New modalities of online sales, such as live commerce, should also gain momentum with the arrival of 5G, he adds.
“AliExpress is investing in the Brazilian market and this shows Alibaba’s willingness to study local demands and adapt business to help accelerate the pace of national growth”, Yan states.
