Cross-border e-commerce wing of Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd., AliExpress is targeting to bring onboard more than 100,000 online influencers from world over this year in order to create original content attracting and engaging more consumers to its online platform.
The firm has been the pioneer in using live-streaming hosts to sell all kinds of products ranging from lipsticks to smartphones in China and is now trying to replicate the move outside China via AliExpress Connect with the help of a million influencers on forums like TikTok and Instagram.
AliExpress Connect is a new part of Alibaba’s English-language global business-to-consumer marketplace.
Through this, the firm will give social media influencers an opportunity to meet and then work with the brands and merchants interested in selling their products.
The technique has already helped Alibaba to achieve success in driving sales on Taobao.
AliExpress’ General Manager Wang Mingqiang said, “As e-commerce continues to grow and ‘shoppertainment’ reshapes the landscape and changes the way people shop online, influencers and content creators are playing a more important role in driving retail transformation and e-commerce success.”
Livestreaming sales have become a great source of income and job creation in China during this time when offline businesses are not operational for majority of retailers.
In order to sign up to connect, influencers can use TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and other social media accounts to solicit projects from merchants at AliExpress and the commission fees will be basis the sales generated by the influencer.
According to the company, this programme is expected to take the number of influencers to more than 1 million.
Also, it is expected to promote at least 100 key opinion leaders (KOLs) who will earn approximately more than US $ 1 million on a yearly basis within the same time frame.
Initially, the campaign will focus on Europe where the maximum users are located in Russia, France, Spain and Poland.
