Hello, dear consumers.
Ready to go shopping?
We won’t do traditional go-to-the-mall shopping.
Instead, we’ll do some cross-border online shopping.
Sounds fun, right?
Today we won’t shop at Amazon, though. No, sir, not today.
We’ll take a look at Amazon’s Chinese competitor – AliExpress.
Ladies and gents – today we’ll check out the AliExpress market share and some other useful information about the Chinese retailer.
Ready?
Impressive AliExpress Market Share Statistics
- AliExpress had 150+ million buyers as of December 2020.
- Alibaba (BABA) Singles Day’s volume for merchandise was $74.1 billion in 2020.
- AliExpress Spain brought in a revenue of $31.73 in 2020.
- Alibaba accounted for 53.3% of China’s eCommerce retail market in 2020.
- AliExpress plans to increase its cross-border clientele to 30 million by 2030.
- The new store opening rate on AliExpress increased by 132% in 2020.
- There were 528 million visitors on AliExpress as of January 2021.
- Direct traffic on AliExpress was 60% as of January 2021.
These facts look unbelievable!
Only one company in the world achieves better results in the e-commerce sector.
Care to guess?
Amazon, of course.
Well, today we’ll visit the second largest e-commerce giant – the Alibaba group. We’ll look at AliExpress in particular.
In case you haven’t heard of AliExpress – it’s an e-commerce retailer, run by Alibaba, a Chinese multinational conglomerate specializing in e-commerce, retail, internet, and technology. You can buy almost everything there – from an $0.31 phone case to an $86,000 forklift.
As one of the most prominent e-commerce players worldwide, AliExpress is a major retailer. So allow me to explain its inner workings.
First off, let’s start with some:
Intriguing AliExpress Statistics
You probably know about Amazon’s Prime Day. The Alibaba group takes advantage of another holiday – Singles’ Day. It occurs every year on November 11.
Why does it matter?
Because it’s the biggest shopping holiday in the world!
Check this out:
1. 2020’s Single’s Day sales volume for AliExpress was worth $74.1 billion.
(Source: Statista)
As you may know, Single’s Day, a.k.a. Bachelor’s Day, is a holiday that Chinese students started in 1993 to celebrate being single. It became so major that Alibaba turned it into a 24-hour sales day in 2009.
I bet the youngsters would have never in their wildest dreams imagined that decades later, a big company like AliExpress would use it for one of its biggest sales campaigns.
AliExpress sales statistics show that as of November 2020, the Asian ecommerce giant made almost $75 billion in consumer spending.
Now, that’s way more than what shopping campaigns like Black Friday or Cyber Monday make in a day. So that makes the Chinese sales day the most profitable in the world!
2. As of the last quarter of 2020, AliExpress had more than 150 million buyers.
(Source: Alibaba)
It has managed to position itself as a leading B2C platform. Since its inception in 2020, its customer base has grown steadily. As of Q4 of 2020, the company had over 150 million buyers.
3. 528 million is the number of visitors on AliExpress in January 2021.
(Source: Similarweb)
As of the first month of 2021, 500+ million people visited the AliExpress website. The traffic has remained relatively the same since December 2020, both on mobile web and desktop.
On average, potential shoppers visited about seven pages. The average duration per visit was six minutes.
Kudos to the Chinese online mall because the median benchmark for most website visits is two to three minutes.
4. 53% of all Chinese digital retail sales came from BABA in 2020.
(Source: Investopedia)
For comparison – Amazon’s global market share was 13.7%.
When it comes to this AliExpress vs. Amazon war, Amazon was also the undisputed champion in the US.
5. By 2030, AliExpress will have increased its international clientele to 30 million.
(Source: Beijing Review)
The Chinese international ecommerce trader is growing by the day. Predictions show that by 2030, AliExpress will increase its cross-border customer base to 30 million.
Expanding to South America, Europe, and the Middle East will play a massive role in bringing the online mall in front of more buyers’ eyes on an international level. The company also plans to amplify its localization in Poland, France, Spain, South America, the Middle East, and the Netherlands to attract more buyers.
6. In 2020, new stores on AliExpress’s cross-border platform increased by 132%.
(Source: Beijing Review)
March 2020 saw a 132% rise in the number of new stores in the international ecommerce arena, according to AliExpress statistics. Most investors were foreigners, which came as a huge surprise considering that the whole world was grappling with the effects of COVID-19.
7. In 2020, the AliExpress Spanish version earned the company $31 billion.
(Source: eMarketer)
The European branch of AliExpress brought the organization some serious money in 2020. As a matter of money, it’s been giving Amazon a run for its money the last few years.
Now in 2020, the Spanish division brought in over $30 billion. Due to its outstanding performance in the country, AliExpress is well on its way to boosting its ecommerce growth to be one of the highest in the region.
What Do People Buy on Aliexpress?
First of all, let’s check out the most frequent visitors on AliExpress.
8. Russia contributes about 9% of the traffic on AliExpress in 2021.
(Source: Similar Web)
According to AliExpress statistics by country, Russia is the company’s number one traffic source with about 9%. Other notable nations in this area are Spain with 8% and France with 7%.
9. AliExpress has 13 product categories as of 2021.
(Source: AliExpress)
If you’re looking for an online superstore with various product options, AliExpress has got you covered. It has over 10 classifications, each of which has its own subdivisions.
Examples include:
- Women and men’s fashion
- Jewelry and watches
- Home improvement and tools
- Computer, office, and security
- Beauty, health, and hair
10. The iPhone Tempered glass was the product with the most purchases in 2020.
(Source: China Brands)
In 2020, the site sold more than 89,000 units, according to AliExpress sales statistics. Most of AliExpress’s trending products were phone and fashion accessories, followed by different kinds of jewelry.
The reason for this overwhelming number of sales is simple; the website has some of the most affordable prices.
11. AliExpress’s traffic to Europe increased by 20% in 2020.
(Source: Financial Times)
As you may know, there was a massive shortage of protective gear when the pandemic first hit. Even major ecommerce sites like Amazon or eBay couldn’t handle the demand.
AliExpress.com managed to bridge the gap between the factories and consumers by making the products readily available. The company also did some heavy advertising in Southern Europe to attract more clientele. Its efforts totally paid off.
Compared to previous years, visitors flocking the site rose by 20% compared to earlier years.
12. AliExpress Spain will make $40 billion by 2023.
(Source: eMarketer)
According to AliExpress statistics, Spain’s sales revenue will grow by $8 billion by 2023, compared to 2020’s figure. Ever since it entered the Spanish market in 2019, it has continued to do well compared to its biggest competitor, Amazon.
The company’s retail sales grew by 12% in 2020, and by 2023, its income in the region will increase by eight billion dollars. Industry experts attribute the growth to its pocket-friendly prices, which the Spaniards welcomed with open arms as they are conscious about their spending.
The AliExpress App
AliExpress’s experts know that people view 4.2x more products within apps. And they took advantage of that fact.
13. The AliExpress App attracted 104% new users.
(Source: Google)
In addition to attracting more people, the AliExpress mobile app increased the conversion rate of iOS users by 82%. According to AliExpress statistics, people visited twice more pages via the app.
14. The AliExpress mobile app is the number one Android shopping app in Russia.
(Source: Similar Web)
Russian iOS users have other favorite shopping apps. The AliExpress app is the fourth choice for iPhone users.
As we already saw, AliExpress isn’t America’s most popular shopping site, and the app’s ranking confirms it. It doesn’t make the top 5 for either Android or iOS.
However:
The app is just one of the tools you can use to bring financial benefits to your business. So, a reasonable question arises:
How Much Money Does Aliexpress/Alibaba Make?
“We are never in lack of money. We lack people with dreams, who can die for those dreams.” – Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba.
15. In 2020, Alibaba’s revenue was 509 billion Yuan (About $72 billion).
(Source: Statista)
The consolidated income from Alibaba group subsidiaries was worth over $72 billion as of 2020’s fiscal year. That’s $45 billion more compared to 2010’s proceeds.
16. Alibaba Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) reached $1 trillion in 2020.
(Source: Business Wire)
In the fiscal year ending March 2020, AliExpress revenue for GMV reached a historic $1 trillion. According to the company’s Chief Executive Officer Daniel Zhang, its 960 million customer base worldwide made it possible for digital sales to continue to rise amidst the pandemic.
Makes a lot of sense bearing in mind that ordering online was the way to go during the 2020 shutdowns.
17. China experienced a 145% price appreciation between 2019 and 2020.
(Source: Trefis)
China’s commerce has been growing in the last decade thanks to its homegrown factories. By 2020, Alibaba was reaping the benefits, and its price appreciation grew by almost 150%.
18. AliExpress is worth $3.63 billion as of February 2021.
(Source: µStat)
According to µStat and Mustat, the company earns over $18,511 daily from advertisements. The CPC banner ads make the website a total of $6.75 million a year.
I could almost imagine the marketers in their office chairs with a broad smile on their faces.
19. Alibaba was worth around $484 billion in 2020.
(Sources: YCharts, Macrotrends, Yahoo Finance)
According to various sources, Alibaba’s valuation was over $480 billion in market capitalization in 2020. That’s almost twice as low as Amazon’s. Although the two companies have a different approach towards their customers, their goal is the same – more significant market share.
Here’s the thing:
If Alibaba manages to hold its first place in China, things will change because:
20. China’s retail market will grow by double digits by the last quarter of 2021.
(Source: Global Times)
Due to the pandemic, the overall retail sales dropped by 3.9% YOY in 2020. However, industry experts predict that things will improve in 2021 with more than 10% positive growth.
21. As of 2021, AliExpress’s direct traffic was 60%.
(Source: Similar Web)
Direct traffic is an important metric because it helps you determine the legitimacy of your visitors. Almost ¾ of visitors on AliExpress were from the avenue.
Searches accounted for almost 20%, while referrals contributed to 8% of the website’s traffic.
22. YouTube brought in 53% of AliExpress’s social network traffic as of January 2021.
(Source: SimilarWeb)
A January 2020 AliExpress analysis revealed that the website got 4.49% of its traffic from social media. Of the figure, Facebook brought in about 26% of visitors, while Vkontakte contributed around 25% of Alibaba’s social networking site traffic.
Alibaba vs. Amazon
Alibaba is the most prominent Chinese Amazon competitor, but what are the differences between the two?
Let’s begin:
Let’s compare the number of employees who work for each of the tech giants:
23. Alibaba had 117,000 employees by 2020.
(Source: Statista)
The Chinese Amazon competitor has come a long way since 2012 when it only had 21,000 employees. As of March 2020, the company had 177,600 full time-staff on the payroll. Most of the workers are in the research and development, customer service, and operations departments.
The Chinese ecommerce giant is doing exceptionally well in offering employment opportunities. As a matter of fact, Alibaba’s personnel was way more than Facebook and Yahoo totals.
24. Amazon had 1M+ employees in 2020.
(Source: Washington Post)
The number of online shoppers increased in 2020, forcing Amazon to create 400K+ jobs. The new positions were in the delivery and warehouse departments.
Wanna know why the company decided to get more workers when everyone else was downsizing?
The company’s online orders went through the roof during the pandemic. Therefore, it had to hire more staff to cope with the high influx of digital orders
25. Alibaba’s TMall sold 16M+ products on Single’s Day alone in 2020.
(Source: Practical eCommerce)
During 2020’s Single’s Day, BABA sold around 16 million items in 24 hours. That’s about 500K purchases per second. The goods were from 250K brands and were mostly for domestic use.
26. Alibaba owned an 8.4% market share of global retail e-commerce in 2020.
(Source: Investopedia)
For comparison – Amazon’s global market share is 13.7%.
And Amazon is also the undisputed champion in the US.
27. Amazon got 4 billion more visits per month than AliExpress in 2020.
(Source: Web Retailer)
It looks like Amazon got more hits when it comes to the general product category in 2020. As of February 2020, Amazon garnered 5B+ visitors while AliExpress got around 600K visits.
28. AliExpress ranked number 38 globally as of mid-February 2021.
(Source: Alexa)
As of February 2021, AliExpress analysis shows that the site ranks number 38 in traffic and engagement. That’s a significant improvement compared to its position in the last quarter of 2020, which was #40.
China’s Most Significant Online Retail Marketplaces
While Alibaba has some great competitors worldwide, the company is the dominant power in China.
29. Alibaba took 69% of the 2020 online retail profits.
(Source: Goldman Sachs)
One of Alibaba’s main competitors in China is JD.com. According to Goldman Sachs, Alibaba took the lion’s share of the market in China in 2020. As a result, the two companies owned a collective 81% of the total e-commerce retail market.
To break down the figure further:
Alibaba’s market share was 69%, while JD was a distant second with 12%.
30. Alibaba had 807 million customers in 2020, in China alone.
(Source: Alibaba Group)
In 2018, BABA’s customer base was about 600,000. Two years later, the number of its consumers in China almost hit the one billion mark. According to Alibaba’s international market, the site had about 190 million customers in 2020.
31. Alibaba was the most valuable Chinese internet company in 2020.
(Source: Statista)
China’s Fortune 500 listed Alibaba as the number one online company in China as of 2020. At the time, Alibaba’s valuation was worth 489 billion Yuan (about $75 billion).
Second place went to Tencent with 377 billion Yuan (around $58 billion), while Xiaomi took the third position with 205 billion Yuan ($31+ billion).
Jack Ma must be very proud of his 1999’s initiative!
32. Alibaba made 65% of China’s eCommerce sales in 2020.
(Source: Statista)
More than half of China’s ecommerce sales came from Alibaba in 2020. All the income didn’t come from Chinese clients only, as Alibaba’s international market also brought about 23 billion Yuan which translates to around three billion dollars.
Facts About Alibaba You Probably Didn’t Know
Alibaba was founded in 1999 by Jack Ma, a former English teacher.
33. Jack Ma is the richest man in China.
(Source: Forbes)
With a net worth of $39.6 billion, the founder of Alibaba is the richest man in the most populated country in the world. His wealth places him at #21 in the world.
34. Alibaba employed farmers as sellers.
Back in the day, when the company started, they didn’t have enough money to hire professionals. Instead, Jack Ma hired farmers as salesmen, which was still an upgrade from their current jobs. An ideal win-win situation.
35. Jack Ma saw a computer for the first time in 1995.
(Source: Techtimes)
As of today, Jack Ma still uses his computer as an everyday user. Basically, he browses the internet and sends emails. So, the founder of a massive tech giant is famous for… not being a techie!
This is crazy:
He first saw a computer in Seattle in 1995.
And his first Yahoo search?
“Beer.”
Cheers.
36. Jack Ma founded AliExpress with a capital of $60,000.
(Source: The Guardian)
He borrowed that money from 17 of his friends, ex-students, and colleagues. Needless to say, most of them are extremely rich in 2020.
37. Jack Ma was unqualified to work at KFC.
(Source: Techtimes)
When he ended his teaching career, Jack Ma tried to get a job at a Chinese KFC branch. He failed.
The funny thing is:
He was the only rejected candidate. Out of 24 candidates, 23 were hired.
That’s everyone except for the future billionaire! Maybe he should thank the manager. We can all agree things turned out alright for him in the end.
Funniest Products on Aliexpress
There is a great variety of amazing stuff on the website, but let’s see just a few of them.
38. A lightsaber umbrella.
(Source: AliExpress)
For about $15 the Force will be with you, even when it rains.
39. Donald Trump toilet brush.
(Source: AliExpress)
According to AliExpress product statistics, 296 retailers would gladly sell you such a toilet brush. Some of them would even throw in toilet paper with Trump’s face to sweeten the deal.
Just a special treat if your friends are Democrats. Or if you are. Cleaning the toilet with Trump’s head could be… relaxing.
40. Crying Kim Kardashian accessories.
(Source: AliExpress)
From a hoodie with a crying Kim print to a phone case – you can get a crying Kim Kardashian all over you. I wonder if Kanye secretly ordered some.
Wrapping Up
Well, boys and girls, we are done for the day.
The online retail industry’s growing at a fast pace. And Alibaba is one of the best examples.
We looked at one of its subsidiaries – AliExpress, and its market share. I’m sure you’ll all agree that things are looking great for the Chinese giant.
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