KUALA LUMPUR, June 18 — Digital commerce titan, Jack Ma’s Alibaba Group opened its South-east Asian headquarters here with a bang today.
It also announced it will be holding “Malaysia Week” on its website from July 6 to 12 to promote Malaysian products in China.
The initiative will feature over 50 Malaysian brands.
“President Xi announced again and again, that in the next five years, China is going to import US$8 trillion (RM31.9 trillion) worth of imports to China, which will change the global trade map,” Ma said, in his speech at the launch of his first Southeast Asian office, here in Bangsar South.
“China has 300 million middle class people, and in next 50 years, China will go for half a billion middle class people. Where in this world do you find such a huge market?” he said, adding that China is therefore, in need of more imports.
“The Malaysia Week symbolises that we would like to introduce more Malaysian products to (China) consumers, and this is the first time we spent one week to promote one country,” Ma said, adding that Alibaba wants Chinese consumers to understand more about Malaysian products, including its movies and technology, and not limit their exposure to just durians and other notable fruit varieties.
Ma also drew attention to his company’s famous ‘11-11’ Single’s Day sale last year, which earned the group US$25 billion in just one day, adding that he intends to do the same for Malaysian products.
“You know, the first November ‘11 -11’ was timely. Last year, November 11, was our nine-year anniversary. We sold US$25 billion (worth of goods) on one night. So we hope we can continue to do Malaysia Week for 10 years,” he said, adding that the campaign ‘means a lot’ to China, and small and medium enterprises in Malaysia.
Ma also said that the campaign aims to bring a lot of Chinese tourists to Malaysia.
“Which is a good thing or bad thing, I don’t know,” he said to laughter from the floor.
