Taobao Marketplace Enters Southeast Asia Market Through its New Office in Singapore

Sept 25, 2013 (Wed): The Chinese leading e-commerce giant Alibaba Group opened its corporate office in Singapore yesterday. The launch has marked its Taobao marketplace’s official entry into Singapore, which would act as a hub for its Southeast Asia operations.

Taobao has created a regional landing page in Chinese language to entice Southeast Asian shoppers and the English-language registration page will be available next month. Currently the marketplace has 1 million registered shoppers in the region and 280,000 of them are from Singapore.

For Singapore customers, Taobao is offering a telephone hotline to assist them. Besides, Taobao has extended its international parcel-forwarding service which launched in July this year to Singapore customers and they can also benefit from periodic free-shipping promotions organized by sellers on Taobao Marketplace.

The new will also expand the regional presence of Alibaba’s e-payment affiliate, Alipay top-up cards are already available for purchase through electronic payment kiosks in Singapore, the official said.

The official launch of Alibaba's regional office in Singapore. Credit: Alibaba.