Aliexpress was started in 2010, and it is an online shop or store that deals with products that are cheaper than other competitor shops like Amazon. People buy online products at this store at quite affordable prices. Aliexpress is an online marketplace where manufactures and resellers market their products.
Alibaba is the parent company of Aliexpress. Alibaba mostly deals with wholesales, which has a restriction on the orders made. Aliexpress, on the other, has is quite similar to Alibaba but more flexible and cost-friendly. Compared to the other online markets, Aliexpress is one of the cheapest, and that’s why it attracts a lot of drop shippers.
Who owns Aliexpress
Aliexpress is one of the four subsidiary websites of Alibaba, and the other three are; Tmall.com, Alibaba.com, and Taobao.com. It is majorly made of small Chinese businesses who offer their products to as many buyers focusing on international buyers.
The ownership of Aliexpress is accredited to its parent company which is Alibaba Group Holding Limited. That means the owners of Alibaba own Aliexpress as well. The online e-commerce business, which is Alibaba, was founded by Ma Yun, widely known as Jack Ma.
Founders of Aliexpress
Jack Ma is one of the cofounders of together with other 18 individuals. These people founded Alibaba, which owns Aliexpress, and for that, they have accredited the founding position.
1. Jack Ma
Jack Ma was born on September 10, 1964, in Hangzhou, China. He attended Hangzhou Teacher’s Institute, where he got a degree in English. He worked as a lecturer at Hangzhou Dianzi University, teaching English and International Trade. In addition to teaching, Ma also ventured into a business where he founded China Yellow Pages and managed an IT company.
In 1999, that’s when Ma held a meeting with his 17 cofounders, and from there, Alibaba was born. Alibaba became famous and worldly used; for example, over 240 countries use the e-commerce platform. Jack Ma became its CEO until at the age of 54 when he retired.
2. Jin Jianhang
Jin was a business journalist before he met Jack Ma; both met in China Yellow Pages when Jin interviewed for a job. Jack Ma got him hired by recommending Jin to become the editor-in-chief of China Yellow Pages. When Alibaba was being started, Jin was among the 18 people who founded it.
3. Joseph Tsai
Tsai pursued a degree in Economics and law at the East African Studies and later became an investment banker. He earned a salary of US$700,000 per year, but when he learned of Alibaba’s idea, he quit his high-paying job to go start Alibaba in 1999 to later earn US$50 monthly. He became successful in Alibaba and became the vice executive chairman as well as the second-largest shareholder after Jack Ma.
4. Lucy Peng
Lucy started as a teacher at Zhejiang University of Economics and Finance. In 1997, she married Sun Tongyu, and both quit their jobs to join the team of 18 that founded Alibaba. She has done well over the years, and for that, she became the CEO of Lazada.
5. Cathy Zhang
Cathy is Jack Ma’s wife, and the two met at the Hangzhou Teacher’s Institute, where they got married right after their graduation. When Jack told her about the Alibaba idea, she embraced it, and they both worked on it. For some time, Cathy dealt with the management of Alibaba, but eventually, she decided to take care of her family.
6. Eddie Wu
Eddie pursued Computer Science at the University of Zhejiang in 1996, and later, he worked at China Yellow pages, where he met Jack Ma. Like the rest of the cofounders of Alibaba, Eddie followed Jack Ma and worked as the programmer.
7. James Sheng
James is a designer by profession, he designed the Chin Yellow page website, and like the rest of the Alibaba founding members, he joined Jack Ma at his apartment. He later designed the Alibaba smile logo and got the senior vice president position of the Alibaba group.
8. Lou Wensheng
Luo attended the same university as Ma and worked at Chinese Yellow pages, and finally followed Ma at Alibaba.
9. Simon Xie
Like the rest of the cofounders, Simon left his high paying finance job to work with Ma at MOFTEC and later followed him to start Alibaba. He pursued a degree in financial management at the University of Shenyang.
10. Jin Yuanying
Jin was a student of Ma at Hangzhou Dianzi University; two of his friends encouraged him to join Alibaba, and that how he became a cofounder.
11. Zhou Yeung
Zhou met Jack Ma at Hangzhou Dianzi University, and he is a Java architect and technology expertise.
12. Shi Yufeng
She was introduced to Ma through Eddie Wu; her good work with technology on the internet put her on the map. Once she was told of the Alibaba idea, she was interested and joined.
Shareholders of Aliexpress
- Softbank Group
- Joseph Tsai
- Altaba
- Blackrock Inc.
- T. Rowe Price Associates
Types of products that can be bought from Aliexpress
Aliexpress is different from Alibaba, and for that, it has no minimum requirement for sales or purchasing. Products sold at Aliexpress are diverse; they include; books, toys, accessories, furniture, and fashion, among others.
Differences between Alibaba and Aliexpress
- The difference between the two comes in the business model. To begin with, both are designed to cater to different people and needs. Alibaba was created as a business to business model while Aliexpress was designed as a business to consumer model.
- Alibaba deals with large orders and has a minimum order than one can have. For express, however, one may order as little or as many products they need.
- Alibaba deals with wholesale that is business to business, while Aliexpress deals with both businesses and consumers.
- At Alibaba, prices can be negotiated, while at Aliexpress, the prices are fixed.
- Dropshipping is offered at Aliexpress, while at Alibaba, it is not.
- Products at Aliexpress are sold when they have been manufactured; at Alibaba, products have to be manufactured after order, and that’s why they take longer to be delivered.
- Alibaba makes it possible for people to get products with personalized labels since they are manufactured after an order. At Aliexpress, that is not possible.
