Alibaba.com Launches New Services, Support and Grants Program to Fuel the US Small- and Medium-Sized Business Recovery and Success of “New Digital Entrepreneurs”

By AIT News Desk On Sep 9, 2021

Alibaba.com, one of the world’s largest B2B ecommerce marketplaces and a business unit of Alibaba Group, is launching new Alibaba.com Dropshipping Solutions, alongside new platform tools and a grants program totaling $500,000 in awards to support existing ecommerce businesses and the rise of “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. The new solutions and offerings being announced today by Alibaba.com will further fuel their ambition and support their future success.

“The disruptions of the last 18 months upended the small business sector, forcing entrepreneurs to adopt more digital business models and requiring new skills, services and capital,” said John Caplan, President of North America and Europe of Alibaba.com. “Over the last year, transactions involving US businesses on Alibaba.com were up by over 150% as US businesses rapidly turned to Alibaba.com to get digital and go global. This so-far-overlooked group of entrepreneurs is using platforms like Alibaba.com to become more efficient, spend less, travel for business less and worry less, all while selling and achieving more. Our new services, support and grants program all aim to support a new wave of Digital Entrepreneurs as they set out to reshape their futures.”

New Digital Entrepreneurs have among the lowest startup capital costs with 44% saying they needed $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. Alibaba.com’s new services, supports and grants program are designed to help New Digital Entrepreneurs overcome these challenges.

ALIBABA.COM DROPSHIPPING SOLUTIONS

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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 suppliers 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 in just a few clicks for free, making it easy to add products from Alibaba.com’s vetted dropshipping suppliers to their online stores. For online 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 suppliers, quality products and transparent shipping for more than 10 storefront platforms.

“We are proud to be one of Alibaba.com’s premier partners and are excited to integrate Modalyst, one of the largest networks of digital entrepreneurs globally and our dropshipping platform servicing hundreds of thousands of ecommerce retailers with Alibaba.com,” said Jill Sherman, Founder and CEO of Modalyst. “We see great potential in Alibaba.com and their ever-expanding network of suppliers and inventory to connect retailers to a wide variety of products at wholesale costs. This creates opportunity for retailers to bring the right product assortment to their customers, while earning an attractive profit margin on their ecommerce business.”