An information session on Alibaba, one of the world’s largest digital marketplaces, was hosted at the Lae Golf Club on Monday morning.
Representatives from the Lae business community, including those from the Small and Medium Enterprises sector, had the opportunity to hear about the advantages provided to businesses on Alibaba, one of the world’s biggest platforms of e-commerce for business-to-business and business-to-consumer.
The Lae Chamber of Commerce and Industry facilitated the event, where Alibaba Group’s General Manager for Australia & New Zealand, Pier Smulders, told attendees that their platform, which serves over 1.3 billion consumers and businesses worldwide, connects exporters with business buyers across the globe.
“It’s really important for us that, when we’re coming to a new country – learning about a new country – that we take the time to understand it,” said Smulders. “We are simply here to try to support businesses – and potentially government objectives – to help the economy grow, to help SMEs and to support and diversify exports.
“We can offer, effectively, a window to the world. It’s very similar to a tradeshow; a company that goes to a tradeshow does the same thing except you have to travel to many countries, it’s expensive.
“We provide an opportunity to showcase what Papua New Guinea produces to buyers around the world. Those buyers might be distributors, they might be retailers, they might be manufacturers, they could even be specialty e-commerce sites. We are just a way to connect the amazing products that are already produced here to buyers around the world who may not be aware of the variety, quality and bounty that’s coming out of PNG.”
Attending the session was a Lae resident who had successfully exported taro to the United States in 2023. Using her as an example, Smulders said fundamentally, Alibaba can provide more visibility and connections to more potential buyers around the world.
Smulders also gave the assurance that Alibaba.com is safe as numerous features have been installed to protect users, including trade assurances, secure payment and buyer verification.
Local businesses interested in marketing their products on Alibaba have been encouraged to reach out to the Lae Chamber of Commerce for more information.