Alibaba

The end of the year is a busy time for shoppers in two of the largest consumer markets in the world.  In China, consumers snap up billions of dollars of purchases on what is known as the Singles’ Day festival – effectively the country’s “Black Friday” – every year, feeding a seemingly insatiable appetite for online shopping.  They spent a record-breaking $38.4 billion on Singles’ Day, November 11, this year.  The same month, consumers in the US embarked on the yearly Black Friday shopping frenzy, the day after Thanksgiving. American shoppers have been known to elbow each other and even get into fights in their attempts to grab heavily discounted flat-screen televisions or Xbox gaming console

“You might not have to make that trip to the bank after all,” Rob, a friend, messaged me over WeChat the other day. He attached a press release saying Alipay had launched an international version of its mobile payments platform for visitors to China. Named “Tour Pass,” the app can be used for up to 90 days and could prove handy for me, as I had moved from Hong Kong to Beijing for three months just over a month ago. The last time I lived in Beijing, five years ago while studying at Peking University, cash was still currency, shared bikes did not exist and people did not have their morning Starbucks delivered via an app. Since then China has transformed into an almost cashless society at an ex

Last week, China’s main payment apps, Tencent’s WeChat Pay and Ant Financial’s Alipay, opened their mobile payment systems to a demographic that had previously been left out: international tourists.  In China, mobile payments are used to pay for almost everything from $0.25 steamed buns at a takeout joint to sending prisoners money, highlighting the huge gap that exists between this system and the payment habits of 140 million annual tourists from overseas, who may be more used to cash or credit cards. Inkstone is owned by Alibaba, whose affiliate Ant Financial operates Alipay.  But will providing access be enough to convert tourists to start scanning QR codes?  How does mobile payments work

Chinese internet giant Alibaba has gained approval to raise as much as $15 billion dollars in a November share sale in Hong Kong, several sources told the South China Morning Post. Alibaba, which owns Inkstone, is already listed in New York. This secondary listing in Hong Kong would bolster the company’s capitalization and finally give investors in mainland China the chance to participate in the growth of one of the country’s most profitable technology giants. Investors in mainland China are expected to be able to trade Alibaba shares in Hong Kong through the Stock Connect program upon regulatory approval. The program allows investors to trade stocks listed on each other's markets through br

Kim Kardashian West didn’t manage to break the Chinese internet in her first attempt to connect with online consumers in the country. Kardashian West showed up for about an hour from New York during a live stream hosted by marketplace Tmall on Wednesday night to promote her perfume line KKW Fragrance. (Tmall is owned by Alibaba, which also owns Inkstone.) The live stream got about 30,000 views on KKW Fragrance’s channel and 189,000 views on an official channel of Tmall.  By comparison, Kardashian West’s live-streaming partner of the night, a Chinese influencer called Viya, got 12.6 million views, though she was streaming for six hours.  The comparatively lukewarm response to the reality TV

Kim Kardashian may be an internet-breaking reality TV mogul with a net worth of $350 million. But in China, she is still struggling to connect with fans. To crack the Chinese market, which has the world’s biggest base of internet users, Kardashian will personally pitch her perfumes on an online shopping channel.  The US reality TV star will appear live on the online marketplace Taobao on Wednesday night to promote her KKW Fragrance line. (Taobao is owned by Alibaba, which also owns Inkstone.) She won’t be selling on her own. Kardashian will be a guest on the channel of a top Chinese shopping influencer, as part of KKW’s sales campaign for the upcoming November 11 “Singles’ Day,” China’s ann

Known for his showmanship, Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma sang a pop ballad at the company’s 20th-anniversary party on September 10. Alibaba owns Inkstone. The event was part of Ma’s goodbye to the company as he stepped down as executive chairman. His successor, Daniel Zhang, joined the performance.  

An American woman who ordered a shirt online for her three-year-old daughter found a startling addition. Kelsey Dawn Williamson, a mother in Illinois, bought a shirt featuring two frogs riding a bicycle from a Chinese retailer. At least, that’s what she saw in a product photo. But when she received the shirt earlier this month, she was surprised to find three extra words printed beneath the frogs: “FUCK THE POLICE.” “I couldn’t believe, of all the mistakes that could have happened it was that and it happened to me,” Williamson told Inkstone. “I texted my husband, who was at work, to call me ASAP. He FaceTimed and all he could say was ‘oh shit’ before we both started laughing hysterically,”

Singles’ Day has become a force of nature in China. It is the single biggest shopping day in the world in terms of sales. Millions of orders are made in a single day. Last year, e-commerce giant Alibaba smashed its all-time Singles’ Day sales record with $25.3 billion in sales. (By comparison, American shoppers spent $5 billion on Black Friday last year.) And the Singles’ Day is predicted to be even bigger this year. Inkstone is owned by Alibaba. But this Black Friday on steroids was not always about money. It actually started as an anti-Valentine’s holiday, created in 1993 for people to celebrate singlehood. In 2009, Alibaba turned Singles’ Day into a shopping festival. Now other e-commerce

Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma says that humans shouldn't fear AI – they just need to understand it. The tech billionaire, who is hailed by many as a visionary in China, was speaking on Monday at the 2018 World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai. He discussed the ways that artificial intelligence and machine learning will change the way humans work – and the responsibilities governments have toward the development of AI tech. Alibaba also owns Inkstone.