AliExpress Korea is gearing up to support Korean sellers in reaching a global market, leveraging the growing demand for K-beauty, fashion, and other popular Korean products.
Ray Zhang, CEO of AliExpress Korea, shared plans during a press meeting on the 3rd at Alibaba’s headquarters in Hangzhou, China, to assist Korean sellers in selling their products globally through AliExpress within the year.
With the rising international popularity of K-beauty, fashion, and other Korean products, Zhang expressed his intention to make AliExpress a key player in South Korea’s global e-commerce market.
While Alibaba has been selling some Korean products to regions like Southeast Asia through its other e-commerce platforms such as Lazada and Taobao, this is the first time the company has revealed plans to support the global sale of Korean products via AliExpress.
Zhang explained that AliExpress will soon introduce a detailed plan to leverage its extensive network to promote the global sale of Korean products through both B2B (business-to-business) and B2C (business-to-consumer) channels.
He emphasized that this initiative would provide substantial benefits to sellers, with full implementation set to begin later this month. The specific details of the plan will be revealed at a seller meeting scheduled for the 25 of this month.
AliExpress is a B2C platform that allows Chinese sellers to offer products to global customers. The platform has 150 million users across 200 countries. As the e-commerce market grew during the COVID-19 pandemic, AliExpress began expanding to sellers outside of China, including those from S. Korea.
Since last year, AliExpress has been selling Korean products through its dedicated K-Venue section, which offers a range of items from fresh produce to cosmetics and electronics.
AliExpress’s focus on supporting South Korean cross-border e-commerce is driven by the surge in global demand for K-beauty, K-fashion, and K-pop products. According to the Korea International Trade Association (KITA), the value of Korea’s cross-border e-commerce exports more than doubled from 679.1 billion won ($505.4 million) in 2014 to $1.2 billion last year.
Alibaba also noted that over 7,000 Korean brands are already selling their products to China through platforms like Taobao and Tmall, with exports last year reaching $96.7 million.
Earlier this year, Alibaba announced plans to build an integrated logistics center in South Korea with an investment of $200 million. This move comes six years after the company’s initial entry into the S. Korean market in 2018.
Once the logistics center is established in S. Korea, it could strengthen AliExpress’s position in the local e-commerce market by combining cost competitiveness with faster shipping. Not only will this reduce delivery times for international products, but it will also serve as a strong foundation for Korean sellers looking to expand globally through cross-border e-commerce.
