Alibaba.com Connects Chinese Suppliers With World Leading Retail Giants

Alibaba.com, the world's leading B2B e-commerce company, hosted a private sourcing event in Shanghai last week for 16 major international buyers from Europe, the US, Australia and New Zealand, including Wal-Mart, Sears, Lowe's, Carrefour, H&M, El Corte Inglés and Woolworths Australia. More than 40 Alibaba.com Gold Supplier customers in the Home Textiles industry were pre-selected by the retail giants and given half an hour each to present their products.

This is the first time Alibaba.com has held such a large-scale private sourcing event, which shows the growing trend of big buyers wanting to deal with manufacturers directly rather than going through trading companies. With around 70% of the big buyers coming from outside the US, the event also demonstrates the strength of retail brands from Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

Vincent Wong, Senior Director of Buyer Service and Development, Alibaba.com said, "We are pleased to be able to introduce our suppliers to some of the biggest names in the retail sector. The key thing these buyers are looking for are high-quality products and competitive pricing, but given the recent recalls around the world, quality is definitely the number one priority."

"Alibaba.com has given us an exceptional opportunity to meet with some leading suppliers of home textiles products," said Tony Zhou, Merchandising Manager of The Warehouse, one of New Zealand's largest retailers. "In the past, we built our own relationships with suppliers but Alibaba.com has given us the opportunity to meet firsthand new, up and coming suppliers with a fresh range of products that will sell well in our home market."

Alibaba.com has a large in-house team that provides professional sourcing services to companies worldwide with large procurement needs such as Home Depot, P&G, GE and Toshiba. The team offers a wide range of services and user-friendly tools such as training in online sourcing, supplier matching and online and offline sourcing activities to help big buyers recruit high quality suppliers.