Seven in ten European businesses expect their exports to grow next year, a welcome boost to revenues at a time of rising costs, according to a new survey.

At a time of economic uncertainty and rampant inflation, just under four in five survey respondents said exports have relieved pressure on their businesses by diversifying revenues.

Four in five European businesses are already exporting, and 70% expect their exports to increase next year, e-commerce giant Alibaba Group’s latest research revealed. The report was based on a survey of over 9,000 European businesses across nine markets between 21 February and 2 March 2023.

Over a quarter of respondents export to other countries in the European Union, 21% to North America and 19% to China, the survey showed. Italy has the highest proportion of businesses that export at a whopping 91%. Belgium and Denmark follow closely behind both at 90%.

On average, business owners surveyed said they had derived just over half of their annual revenue from exports during the past 12 months, highlighting the importance of open trade. Business owners also reported exporting had fueled innovation across their operations, increased headcount and encouraged broader product ranges.

The briefing, called the Export Opportunity Report, showed 79% of companies found that exporting had strengthened businesses in several meaningful ways.

“These findings reveal that businesses that export are more resilient, innovative, can attract and retain top talent and, critically, they are achieving growth in the currently challenging business climate,” said Michael Evans, Director and President of Alibaba Group, which supports thousands of European businesses to export globally with technology, expertise and logistics infrastructure.

Exporters face challenges

While larger businesses are forging ahead with exports, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are lagging behind. Currently, 23% of SMEs do not export at all. For policymakers, this is both a challenge and an opportunity, as SMEs are the backbone of economies globally.

World Bank data shows SMEs represent about 90% of businesses and more than half of employment worldwide. Formal SMEs contribute up to 40% of national income in emerging economies. These numbers are significantly higher when informal SMEs are included.

Alibaba commissioned Censuswide to poll businesses with two or more employees and a revenue of over £1 million ($1.24 million) or over €1 million ($1.1 million) based in the UK, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium and France.

Businesses that export are more resilient, innovative, can attract and retain top talent and, critically, they are achieving growth in the currently challenging business climate – Michael Evans, Director and President of Alibaba Group

Despite the clear benefits of exporting, there remain hurdles, particularly for SMEs trading internationally.

Supply chain and logistics challenges are cited as the biggest barriers to export (20%), followed by a lack of cultural awareness/familiarity with overseas markets (19%), increased paperwork and red tape (18%), price competition (18%) and inadequacies in production capacity (18%).

Businesses in the UK and France list supply chain and logistics challenges as their biggest barriers to export (22%). In comparison, German companies ranked a lack of cultural awareness/familiarity with the overseas market as their greatest challenge (22%). For businesses in Sweden, increased paperwork and red tape were one of the main hurdles to exporting (22%).

Alibaba said it sees a business opportunity in helping more SMEs export. A small Spanish jewellery brand called PDPAOLA launched on Tmall Global, China’s largest cross-border online marketplace, in August last year. Today, it has about 130,000 customers in China.

The role of online marketplaces

Globally, commerce, marketing and trade shows are migrating online, increasing efficiencies but also potentially involving a hefty investment in time and resources. Finding a trusted export partner also ranked high on the list of barriers to international trade.

Enter online marketplaces.

Digitalisation and online marketplaces are seen by businesses as a key way to expand into new markets. Overall, 61% of companies work with online marketplaces to boost exports and minimise the upfront investment of building out a footprint overseas.

“This report underscores the vital importance for small businesses of having an export strategy and a digital strategy. Both are essential for businesses to support long-term, sustainable growth,” said Alibaba’s Evans. Around a quarter of the businesses surveyed had started working with online marketplaces during the pandemic, with the highest proportion in Belgium (38%) and the UK (30%).

When French ballet shoe brand Repetto opened an online flagship store on Tmall in February last year, the platform provided them with immediate access to a billion consumers, many of whom weren’t covered by its physical stores in China’s first and second tier cities. Repetto also leveraged Tmall’s customer engagement tools to boost consumer interaction and build their brand.

Overall, 80% of businesses agree that exporting has driven their digital transformation, and 76% agree that digital transformation has accelerated their business since the pandemic.

Nearly a third of businesses working with online marketplaces say they supported expansion into new markets worldwide with improved inventory planning, had better access to technology and communication tools, and enhanced competitor and market insights.

Cosnova, a German cosmetics company, launched on Tmall Global in April 2019 and reached a wider audience in China by leveraging Alibaba’s engagement tools.

Of the companies that have digitalised, 76% said it has helped make their business more efficient and reduced costs. Companies also said investments in digital processes have yielded insights that have increased the quality of products and/or customer service (77%).

Digital tools that businesses are most aware of are social media (25%), smart marketing (24%), digital advertising (23%), data analytics (23%) and digital custom clearance (22%).

China Consumer 2023

This article was produced as part of a series for China Consumer 2023.

Learn more about CBBC’s flagship consumer event of 2023 here.

This article was originally published by our content partner Alizila as “European businesses see exports rising next year; challenges remain: Alibaba survey”

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Singles’ Day (aka Double 11 or 11.11) has wrapped up another year of sales. The festival – always a focal point for consumer brands and analysts alike – was under increased scrutiny this year in the face of troubled economic waters. Read on to find out what happened at the world’s biggest shopping festival this year.

Alibaba conceals sales figures for the first time

For the first time since Singles’ Day started in 2009, Alibaba did not disclose the gross merchandise value (GMV) made from the event, saying only that sales were in line with 2021 “despite economic and Covid-related headwinds”.  JD also didn’t publish any sales data.

This is, of course, being read by many as a sign that sales are way below expectations. But according to digital retail analysts Syntun, the GMV of traditional e-commerce platforms like Taobao between 31 October and 11 November was RMB 934 billion. With live streaming e-commerce added in, this figure broke RMB 1 trillion.

Any drop in Singles’ Day sales will naturally attract a lot of attention, but the number of products being sold is still astronomical. Furthermore, for the past few years, many consumer analysts have been recommending that brands switch the focus of their Singles’ Day efforts from GMV to customer loyalty and customer acquisition.

Chinese brands increase in popularity

More than half of the top 100 brands (ranked by sales) during the first few hours of Singles’ Day this year were Chinese brands according to Xinhua. Top-selling Chinese brands included down jacket brand Bosideng and Nike-challenger Anta. However, foreign brands do still perform well in categories where product safety or quality of materials is a concern, such as skincare, pet food and childcare-related appliances.

Chinese brands have been experiencing a surge of popularity in recent years, a trend known as ‘guochao’ (literally ‘national wave’), driven by both an increasing nationalist sentiment and a significant increase in quality. Traditional Chinese handicrafts or products that incorporate Chinese design elements are also surging in popularity, with JD reporting that sales of traditional cloth shoes and embroidered shoes were up 400%.

Niches become mainstream

The most popular product categories during Singles’ Day are still beauty and household appliances. However, niche categories such as glamping and skateboarding have seen massive growth driven in part by Chinese consumers looking for activities to replace the overseas travel opportunities lost to Covid. According to Alibaba, the GMV of camping and fishing products sold on Tmall within the first hour of Singles Day doubled compared to 2021.

Technology-enabled solutions and sustainability are top of mind

Even the metaverse got involved in Singles’ Day this year, with digital influencers helping to promote products from all manner of brands. Tmall Luxury Pavilion, a luxury shopping platform home to brands like Burberry, even launched its own virtual influencer, Timo, to promote luxury brands. Tmall also created a virtual shopping mall where users could try a wide range of products on a virtual avatar. Brands should consider exploring how to incorporate these digital innovations into their marketing to stay top of mind, especially among young Chinese consumers.

Sustainability has also become a watchword for Singles’ Day, with major platforms launching initiatives to cut down on carbon emissions and packaging waste. For example, Tmall partnered with major brands like Proctor & Gamble to reward consumers with free reusable shopping bags made from recycled plastic bottles when they bought products with low carbon labels.

Call +44 (0)20 7802 2000 or email enquiries@cbbc.org now to find out how CBBC’s market research and analysis services can provide you with the information you need to succeed in China.

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When the pandemic hit and retail stores closed, British activewear brand Sweaty Betty had to ramp up its online offering overnight. Luckily, the brand has always taken a “digital first” approach, which also stood them in good stead when they launched on Tmall Global in February 2021. Since then, Alibaba’s consumer insights have helped them build a loyal community of shoppers in China.

In this video, Stacey Widlitz, retail and consumer expert and founder of SW Retail Advisors, talks to Sweaty Betty CEO Julia Straus about how Alibaba supported the brand’s entry into the China market and where their China journey will take them next.

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Hawkins & Brimble started in 2016 after founder Stephen Shortt noticed a gap in the market for high quality and diverse men’s skincare and grooming products. Building the brand around the concept of the ‘British gentleman,’ Hawkins & Brimble created a product that embodied style, quality and heritage.

Since joining Tmall Global in early 2020, China now accounts for 25% of Hawkins & Brimble’s business, which Shortt attributes to the image and style-conscious young male Chinese consumer. He believes that demand for Brand Britain will remain and will in fact increase once Chinese consumers can travel and will be able to discover new brands in person.

In the video below, Shortt talks to retail and consumer expert and founder of SW Retail Advisors, Stacey Widlitz, about how insights from Alibaba’s platform have allowed the brand to adapt its strategy as well as manage supply.

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One of the many things that British and Chinese consumers share is a love of tea. That meant that for British brand Teapigs, China was a natural stepping stone in their international expansion. But how could the brand compete with long-established traditional tea producers and varieties?

A partnership with Alibaba offered the insights Teapigs needed to grow in the China market without going head to head with traditional Chinese teas, including forecasting popular flavours and advising clear brand positioning. For example, Teapigs found that sweet and indulgent flavours like their chocolate flake tea and rooibos creme caramel, which are not top sellers in the UK, perform particularly well in China. Another key learning has been the need to provide lots of interesting, engaging information for consumers to browse, especially when introducing new and inventive product lines.

Hear more about Teapigs’s China journey and their partnership with Alibaba in the video below as co-founder of Teapigs Louise Cheadle speaks to retail and consumer expert and founder of SW Retail Advisors, Stacey Widlitz.

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In early April Chinese tech juggernaut Alibaba was dealt a regulatory double whammy. On 10 April, China’s market regulator, the State Administration of Market Regulation (SAMR), fined the company a record-breaking RMB 18.2 billion (£2 billion) for ‘serious anti-trust violations.’ The fine was equivalent to 4% of Alibaba’s revenue in 2019.

Two days later, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) – China’s central bank – also ordered Ant Group to separate its lending business from its mobile payment platform Alipay. The PBOC further asked the company to apply for a credit reporting certificate. The resulting restructuring will probably reduce Ant to a payment services platform, depriving it of its lucrative digital finance business which last year contributed nearly two-thirds of its revenue.

The Western media has portrayed Alibaba’s woes mostly as a dramatic clash of egos at the top of Chinese politics and business. Both the Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal have published pieces attributing the recent crackdown to the conflict between Alibaba founder Jack Ma’s pugnacious personality and Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s focus on loyalty.

Yet while personal animosities might have played a role in recent developments, they provide an incomplete explanation for the regulatory activism that has been underway for some time regarding China’s major tech companies. More dangerously, this narrative of warring egos suggests that political connections, and not regulatory compliance, remain the most important factor in deciding a company’s fortunes in China.

A more accurate picture instead points towards the importance of an evolving regulatory environment in which an increasingly modern legal framework, a more efficient bureaucracy and political concerns over the health of the Chinese economy, are all contributing to a far more active policing of China’s major tech companies.

Background

The dramatic halt to Ant Group’s IPO last year and the prolonged disappearance of Alibaba’s founder Jack Ma from public life has put the Chinese tech giant firmly into the global spotlight. It is therefore hardly surprising that the recent regulatory moves against Alibaba and Ant have been seen as part of a large-scale clampdown on Ma’s business empire, and more specifically, as politically motivated retribution against an outspoken critic of the current state of Chinese business regulations.

This perception has been further fuelled by Jack Ma’s defiant speech at last year’s Bund Finance Summit, in which he called China’s bank regulators ‘a club of old men’, and Xi Jinping’s praise for Zhang Jian, a patriotic entrepreneur of the late Qing era.

A closer look at these events suggests that pressure for government action has been a long time in the making. As Caixin, a business weekly, reported earlier this year, Chinese anti-trust regulators have in recent times grown increasingly wary of the dominance of the country’s tech giants – and not just Alibaba.

Click here to read the original analysis in full.

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Millions of people have been forced into confinement during the recent period so it is no wonder that online shopping platforms are booming. E-commerce giant Alibaba is no exception. The Coronavirus outbreak has offered a chance for the company to give back.

Two days after the city of Wuhan was quarantined, Alibaba created a 1 billion RMB fund to help fight the outbreak. The company pooled their resources in e-commerce, e-banking and finance, to ease the difficulties faced by businesses, hospitals, schools and the general public.

Alibaba’s first offered its cloud platforms to government departments in 20 provinces and counties. This helps track and share information on the developments of the viral outbreak, including features such as case reporting, real-time updates and Q&A chatbots that offer information on virus prevention.

Alibaba is also supporting local enterprises. It has launched 20 measures to support SMEs in areas hit by the outbreak. Hubei-based companies, for example, will see their fees on Tmall waived, or get free warehouse rentals for two months if using Cainiao. They will also receive low-interest and interest-free loans from MYBank or Taobao.

Brands that do not have an offline presence in China, and that sell through Tmall Global, will benefit, too. Alibaba promised to waive their annual service fee for six months, and let companies use its online shop setup tool for free. Warehouse rental fees and logistics costs will be reduced, too.

More than 600,000 teachers spent their first day back at school teaching via the app’s live stream feature

As the quarantine period has kept many workers from offices and students from schools, Alibaba’s conference called app Dingtak has been made available for free to businesses and schools allowing businesses to keep going with their staff, safely working from home. More than 600,000 teachers spent their first day back at school after Chinese New Year teaching via the app’s live stream feature to an estimated 50 million students in 300 Chinese cities.

For workers in some sectors, such as retail and hospitality though, cannot work remotely and many are seeing their incomes slashed as their employers struggle with cash flow. These workers are being given the chance to supplement their incomes working temporary jobs at Alibaba’s offline stores, as temporary couriers or at online supermarkets Freshippo, Ele.me and Koubei’s Blue Ocean.

Alibaba has also created a business to business platform that allows hospitals and local authorities to order medical supplies directly from providers with many providers offering discounted or free products.

“The battle against the virus is at a crucial stage. Our goal is to connect the global supply chain with those in need of supplies in a more expedited and efficient way. With your trust and effort, together, we will overcome this crisis,” said an Alibaba representative.

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E-commerce is thriving globally with sales figures sky high and revenues growing fast; standing at US$1.86 trillion (£1.35 trillion) in 2016, the total value of online retail sales is expected to reach a staggering US$4.5 trillion (£3.25 trillion) by 2021. China’s e-commerce market in particular is seen as a potential goldmine, its total size roughly equal to that of the USA, Canada, UK, Germany, France and Japan put together. Even better news for UK companies is that a recent survey found that 87 percent of Chinese online consumers would like to buy from British brands. Such incredible growth of e-commerce brings with it a flood of opportunities. However, as the number of online sellers grows rapidly some fear these opportunities are being swept away in a sea of counterfeit goods.

Online marketplaces have been a boon to the counterfeiters since their earliest days. Criminals, like other entrepreneurs, were quick in capitalising on the internet’s potential for making tremendous profits. Counterfeits are an incredibly lucrative market; in 2016 the OECD estimated that trade related counterfeiting accounted for 2.5 percent of world trade or around $461 billion (£328 billion). Costs to legitimate business are difficult to measure, but they are certainly substantial. Away from the traditional e-commerce markets, sellers of counterfeit goods are increasingly utilising the massive potential of social media to hawk their products, most notably in China this is through WeChat.

Criticism of platforms

These concerns about Chinese e-commerce contributed to the recent decision of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) – a government body that works to advise and assist the President on trade policy – to put Taobao on the notorious markets list for the second year running. The USTR report criticised Alibaba for failing to establish independently verifiable metrics able to conclusively prove their anti-counterfeiting efforts were resulting in a decrease in the volume or prevalence of counterfeit goods. The USTR also perceived a disparity in the quality of enforcement provided to large companies and SMEs.

The listing provoked a fierce response from the e-commerce platform’s owner Alibaba, who asserted the decision was the result of a “deeply flawed, biased and politicized process.” China’s Ministry of Commerce also issued a condemnation of the USTR decision suggesting that their judgement “lacked conclusive proof and relevant supporting data.” Alibaba published a point-by-point rebuttal to the criticisms levied at them in the report, arguing that they have been an industry leader in brand protection efforts and have undertaken all the reforms that USTR requested of them in the previous year’s report.

Alibaba’s frustration is likely compounded by the fact that they are by no means unique in suffering from this problem, none of the e-commerce goliaths are immune from the scourge of counterfeits, and yet they are almost the only e-commerce site to appear on the list. Both Amazon and eBay have faced lawsuits for their perceived failure in preventing the sale of counterfeits, while Birkenstock chose to remove their goods from Amazon entirely. Social media companies have also come under scrutiny. WeChat has acknowledged there is “huge room for improvement” in this area. Meanwhile, UK Trading Standards have been highly critical of Facebook’s anti-counterfeiting efforts.

The OECD estimated that trade-related counterfeiting accounted for $461 billion of world trade

However, as noted in the USTR report, more complaints were received about Taobao than any other company, suggesting that their counterfeit problem is more serious than their competitors’. The number of sales on the site are astounding; in 2016 Taobao’s gross merchandise volume (GMV) – a measure of the value of goods sold through a marketplace – stood at $547 billion, compared to just $147 billion dollars for Amazon. Thus, the number of fakes found on Taobao and the subsequent damage done to businesses across the world is likely to greatly exceed that of any other platform.

The gloves are off: e-commerce platforms including Taobao are fighting back against counterfeiters

Fighting Back

Large platforms such as Alibaba employ a number of enforcement measures, both reactive and proactive. Reactive measures include takedown systems that allow rights holders and consumers to flag suspected counterfeit goods, which may result in the removal of listings as well as the blocking of the seller. Proactive measures, including the use of advanced text, price and image filters, are employed to obtain removals before counterfeiters are able to make a sale.

In addition to these measures, e-commerce companies have also taken actions offline to track and prosecute the counterfeiters. Both Alibaba and Amazon have pursued legal action against some of the worst offenders, while Alibaba has provided information to authorities that has resulted in arrests and closure of illicit manufacturing facilities. Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, has lobbied the government, writing an open letter to the National People’s Congress demanding tougher action against counterfeiters.

Moving Forward

Since 2014 CBBC have provided a platform for rights holders to work more effectively with big platforms like Alibaba, JD.com, WeChat and others. “Collaboration is key.” Says Mick Ryan, Head of Business Environment and IP at CBBC. “Rights holders know their IP and when it’s infringed better than anyone, meanwhile the platforms hold all the data which shows who’s selling what to whom. Where all sides work to help each other, we’ve seen very positive outcomes from that approach.” Collaboration with Chinese law enforcement is also important, but only when very good information is provided will they take cases forward.

A further step in the right direction would be to establish industry-wide best practice, setting a benchmark that all legitimate e-commerce companies should aspire to meet. Given that all the major online retailers still receive numerous complaints about the inefficiency and usability of their takedown systems, perfecting these basic measures should be a priority. USTR’s suggestion to establish an independently verifiable metric so as to be able to clearly measure progress should also be a requirement of all online retail platforms.

Ultimately, there needs to be significant changes in the approach e-commerce companies take, moving away from shifting responsibility for chasing counterfeiters onto the rights holders, and instead, stepping up their own enforcement efforts. For many SMEs, the amount of resources required to constantly patrol these platforms is prohibitive, while e-commerce companies continue to profit from the sale of counterfeit goods. In the meantime, UK companies hope to see improved IP outcomes online, both in China and elsewhere, so that they may successfully ride the e-commerce wave.

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The raid in the city of Yangzhou, an hour outside of Shanghai, has led to 24 arrests so far and took place in the run up to China’s ‘Singles’ Day’ shopping bonanza on 11^th November. The Singles’ Day event was created by Alibaba – China’s largest online shopping platform – and is now the biggest single sales day globally. Alibaba took in excess of £19 billion on Singles’ Day this year, and celebrities including Pharrell Williams and Nicole Kidman performed at the launch ceremony hosted by Alibaba founder Jack Ma.

“We timed the raid to be just before Singles’ Day as we knew they would be stockpiling and preparing for a busy day,” said Niall Trainor, in-house counsel of Entertainment One, the company that owns the Peppa Pig brand. “We’ve done raids before but to seize so many goods in one morning is exceptionally rare.”

The counterfeiters were stockpiling fake products in the run-up to Singles Day

Counterfeits products are estimated to cost British brands over £17 billion pounds a year and many of these fakes originate from China. Alibaba have come under criticism for not doing enough to stop the sale of counterfeit goods on its site and this year, the US added Alibaba’s consumer to consumer website Taobao to its ‘Notorious Markets’ list – a list that identifies companies known to sell fake goods.

Counterfeits products are estimated to cost British brands over £17 billion pounds a year

In 2014, Alibaba signed an intellectual property protection agreement with CBBC to help combat the sale of fakes online and offline.

“CBBC and Alibaba have dedicated contact points, and have been able to communicate on particular problems, for British businesses, large and small,” said CBBC’s Executive Director Jeff Astle. “This has solved issues for dozens of rights owners, and very importantly, there have been a series of large-scale cooperation projects on offline criminal enforcement,” he said.

In 2014, Alibaba signed an intellectual property protection agreement with CBBC to help combat the sale of fakes online and offline.

The day before the raid Tim Moss, Chief Executive of the UK Intellectual Property Office, was at Alibaba’s head office in Hangzhou to witness the signing of an extension of the agreement.

“People are really concerned about IP protection and in particular about IP protection online,” said Moss. “This means that a lot of responsibilities falls on big platforms like Alibaba, and that’s understandable. Globalisation and the digitisation of the retail and commerce sector has had a profound impact of companies, their employees and their customers,” he said. “It is critical that users of online platforms are confident that their IP is protected and it is great to hear of the good work that Alibaba are doing in this space.”

Moss said that the development of big data and artificial intelligence will help identify where things go wrong and also emphasised the importance of targeting illegal offline activity. “For every illegitimate online sale there will be a physical transaction at some point, either as a payment or as a distribution of goods.  They shouldn’t be able to hide behind internet platforms,” he said.

It was the sharing of intelligence between the CBBC, Alibaba and Entertainment One, alongside the involvement of law enforcement agencies that led to the successful Peppa Pig raid.

Over 600,000 fake Peppa Pig products were captured in the raid

Increased cooperation and communication between both government organisations, trade bodies and online platforms will help create better practise and policy, Moss argues. “We’ve moved from looking at individual issues to more of a holistic approach and looking at the whole industry,” said Moss.

“Collaboration has come into its own, we’ve achieved synergy and see eye to eye,” said Richard Sun of Alibaba. “I see the MOU [Memorandum of Understanding] as a tangible expression of a meeting of the minds and the sharing of values”.

The partnership with the CBBC has seen Alibaba actively stepping up their counterfeiting operations with automated systems that sweep their sales sites in order to flag dubious posting. They are also now working with companies to not only remove counterfeit products from their site but to utilise users’ registered data in order to locate and target factories and warehouses and the individuals responsible for them. Earlier this year Alibaba successfully sued sellers of fake Swarovski watches and their partnership with the CBBC saw them take down an illegal organisation selling fake Castrol and Shell lubricants last summer.

However, the demand for cheap goods still outweighs the demand for authentic merchandise among China’s rapidly growing middle class. “We not only want to disrupt the supply but we want to stop the demand. If we could remove the demand that would be ideal,” said Moss. “We are on a journey. The more you do the more you realise what you have to do.”

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I understand that each country or region, has its preferred set of local apps but as the world becomes more homogenised, it becomes smaller. We all communicate, share, and work on the same platforms, making businesses, faster, smarter and more efficient. Except for in China. Which feels like it is more distant and increasingly cut off from the rest of the world, due to these technical boundaries that keep emerging.

The few global apps that were working in China are being shut down for reasons that are not entirely clear. Didi Chuxing, who recently bought Uber China, have essentially locked out international users, by removing the English language app and blocking foreign payment methods.

I have used Uber across four continents, with the same interface, the same card and the same levels of service in each country I visit. But now in China, I am using Didi – something I am able to use but many of my non-Chinese speaking friends (and those without a Chinese bank account) can’t.

The American chat app, Whatsapp, is not blocked, however. It is used by over a billion people globally and in the majority of Africa, Latin and North America, Europe and Asia more than half of all mobile internet users have it. In Hong Kong for example, 71 percent of mobile internet users have the app. In mainland China, however, it is just 4 percent.

‘But yes’, I hear you say. ‘That’s because there are local alternatives available so why should the Chinese users have to use foreign apps?’ Well for me, I don’t really care where the app originates from. In fact, I would rather use Wechat – the more advanced, one-stop-shop Chinese alternative to Whatsapp – everywhere.

With 700 million users it has almost as many users as Whatsapp but barely anyone outside China knows Wechat even exists. Yes, there are an estimated 70 million WeChat users outside China but they are thought to be mainly made up of overseas Chinese and other diaspora. And people like me, who use it in China but not out.

So why is it ‘one app for here, and one app for there?’ It makes sense that restrictions on foreign sites mean that companies in China create local alternatives but with such momentum (and funds) why are these Chinese companies not going global?

Perhaps the size of the China market is enough. Alibaba once again stole the headlines last month as sales on the companies B2C platforms Tmall and Taobao reached $17.79 billion during singles’ day sale, on November 11^th

That’s huge. That nearly a fifth of what Amazon did in the entire year but Taobao and Tmall don’t even have an English language website. In the 12 months ending March 2016 only 8.5 percent of Alibaba’s group revenue was made from outside of China. With 6.2 percent of that coming from the wholesale site Alibaba, leaving just 2.3 percent of revenue coming from international retail.

American e-commerce company Amazon, on the other hand, does 8.4 percent of its total revenue in the UK alone. And we’re not even its biggest market in Europe.

Amazon may have struggled in China but Alibaba doesn’t look like they are even trying to make an international push. Maybe the China market – which is still growing at a good pace – is simply big enough. Alibaba is starting to buy up some local e-commerce sites, so there must be a desire to expand beyond their borders. But it is buying in South East Asian countries where e-commerce penetration currently sits at only 1 percent of the total retail market. Hardly a major global expansion plan.

Since going public, Alibaba’s public perception has suffered somewhat. An investigation by the SEC for bad financial reporting, and some bad press after it was found that it wasn’t doing enough to stop counterfeit goods being sold on their sites. Perhaps the unwanted scrutiny and added headaches are simply not worth the risk of going too global.

Competing internationally is tough. Especially in unfamiliar and often hostile markets. So for many of these companies it might be just a question of sticking to what (and where) you know best. But it is a shame that as China becomes increasingly influential, the ‘one rule for them, and another for us’ doesn’t help to give the impression that they are joining in with the rest of the world. Nor are they leading us down a better path. Let’s hope one side or ideally both can help end this digital impasse.

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