Alibaba strengthens payment security for third-party merchants to accelerate B2B growth

A year after acquiring Visable, a B2B e-commerce platform publisher, Alibaba (2023 sales US$130.4 billion, up by 8%) launched Trade Assurance on October, 28. On Alibaba.com B2B platform (the equivalent for professional clients of Taobao, Tmall and AliExpress), third-party merchants in France, Germany, Italy and Spain now have access to more secure payments, information on ‘at-risk’ sellers, real-time order tracking and dispute management support. Trade Assurance is already available in the U.S.A. and in Asia. Alibaba did not provide mind Retail with dates for availability in other European countries.

To remember: For Alibaba, B2B represented only 4.4% of sales in 2023 (US$5.7 billion), but growth is accelerating. From 7.3% last year, this rose to 14.3% in the quarter to the end of June (or US$1.59 billion in turnover). In March 2024, Alibaba signed a partnership with Business France to promote French SMEs. In June, it reduced membership costs for German SMEs. “Trade Assurance is another step towards transparency and trust for SMEs”,’ said a spokesperson.