Alibaba’s Fall from Grace: Navigating the Evolving Landscape of Chinese E-Commerce
Alibaba, once a symbol of Chinese e-commerce success, now faces a series of challenges. In 2021, the company was fined $2.8 billion for engaging in monopolistic practices that were deemed harmful to customers and merchants. Additionally, co-founder Jack Ma retreated from the spotlight, sparking concerns about the company’s future.
As Alibaba struggled to navigate the changing landscape of e-commerce, competitors such as PDD and ByteDance emerged as formidable adversaries. These companies proved to be more adept at catering to cost-conscious consumers and adapting to new trends like “social commerce.” As a result, Alibaba’s market value plummeted from over $800 billion to below $170 billion in just two years.
In an effort to stem the tide of its declining fortunes, Alibaba made the decision to split into six separate entities in March of the following year. These new entities included a logistics business, a cloud-computing division, an international e-commerce operation, a digital-services arm, and a media group. The core Alibaba entity retained its focus on domestic retail operations primarily through its Taobao and Tmall marketplaces which generate the majority of the group’s revenue.
