A Rural Taobao video host live-streams from a farmer’s home in China’s Jiangxi province. Courtesy of Alibaba GroupCourtesy of Alibaba Group
A digital bridge across China’s rural-urban divide.
The e-commerce giant’s Rural Taobao platform has set up service centers in over 30,000 villages across China to help rural merchants sell online. In 2018, sellers in China’s most impoverished regions sold $8.9 billion worth of goods through Alibaba channels, and in the first half of 2019, the total value of goods sold from those regions surged 80% higher than in the same period last year. Alibaba’s Taobao Live—a booming video-streaming platform on which hosts make sales—has pledged to teach 1,000 rural sellers how to market themselves through video and aims to push an additional $440 million worth of rural produce through the platform this year.
Company Information
| Country | China |
| Headquarters | Hangzhou, China |
| Impact Segment | Economic Opportunity/Financial Inclusion |
| Sector | Retailing |
| Industry | Internet Services and Retailing |
| CEO | Daniel Zhang |
| Website | www.alibabagroup.com |
| Company Type | Public |
| Ticker | BABA |
| Prior Year Rank | 5 |
| Revenues ($M) (Last Fiscal Year) | $56,147 |
| Profits ($M) (Last Fiscal Year) | $13,094 |
| Market Value ($M) as of 8/12/19 | $414,775 |
| Employees | 101,958 |