Alibaba Group is seeing strong momentum in lower-tier cities, high-frequency  shopping and international markets as the company continues to invest in future  growth, said company executives on the first day of Alibaba's 2021 Investor Day.  

Less-developed Areas 

Alibaba launched Taobao Deals and Taocaicai two years ago to serve value-conscious  consumers, leveraging the group's robust supply chain network to source high-quality  products at competitive prices. 

The two platforms have a combined consumer base of 270 million, representing a  200% year-over-year increase. At the same time, average daily orders have  increased more than 400% year-over-year, according to Trudy Dai, President of  Industrial E-commerce and Community E-commerce. Dai will take on the role of  Group President overseeing China Digital Commerce in January. 

"Going forward, we will continue to build and upgrade commerce infrastructure and  forge a healthy, sustainable, and digitalized M2C business," said Dai.  

Multi-App Strategy 

Alibaba's platforms serve nearly 900 million annual active consumers (AACs) in China with diverse needs. Optimizing a multi-app strategy to address different consumer  segments — from young consumers to elderly users — is an area of opportunity for  the company, shared Jiang Fan, President of Taobao, Tmall and Alimama. Jiang  will assume his new role of Group President leading International Digital Commerce in January.  

"We are seeing that the more apps a user uses, the higher the user's stickiness will be  on the Taobao App," said Jiang.  

Local Services 

The local services sector is still in its early stage and Alibaba's strategy is focused on  serving consumers at home and on trips. "Digitalization is driving innovation and  enhanced consumer experience in both scenarios: 'to-home' and 'to-destination,'" said  Yu Yongfu, President of Lifestyle Services Business, on the company's two-

pronged strategy.  

According to Yu, Ele.me has benefitted from increased purchase frequency per user  and accelerated year-over-year growth of 79% in non-restaurant orders in the  September quarter. "To-destination" services underpinned by Amap have generated  synergies with Alibaba's online travel platform Fliggy, which saw its Amap-driven GMV  grow by more than 50% in October. 

Globalization  

Alibaba is making strides towards its long-term goal of serving two billion consumers  worldwide, as it continues to build on its existing 1.24 billion global AACs. According to  company executives, the company is expanding across Southeast Asia and building a  solid global logistics infrastructure.  

Lazada grew across six Southeast Asian markets, driving the number of its annual  active consumers up by 80% in the last 18 months to 130 million. "We are devoted to  serving more than 300 million consumers and achieving a GMV of $100 billion per  year," said Li Chun, CEO of Lazada Group. 

Despite the pandemic's impact on the global logistics industry, Cainiao continued to  build up its infrastructure to ensure fast and cost-effective cross-border delivery. In the  first half of the fiscal year, its international revenue grew by over 40%. 

"We see globalization as a critical part of Alibaba's strategy and Cainiao's strategy  alike," said Wan Lin, CEO of Cainiao Smart Logistics Network, noting that Cainiao's revenue from cross-border-related services now accounts for the majority of total  revenue.  

For more detailed information, please visit Alibaba’s Investor Day: Key Takeaways  on Taobao Deals, Taocaicai, Local Services and More. 

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