Fitbit Joins Forces With Alibaba Group

Fitbit will retail its product offerings on Alibaba Tmall.

Fitbit Inc. has finally succeeded in signing a memorandum of understanding with the Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. so that it can increase its presence in the Chinese industry. As per the agreement, the manufacturer of the one of a kind fitness gadget desires to establish its presence on the company’s Tmall.com as a core retailer. It is also said that the platform will become the company’s core brand partners.

The diversified portfolio of Fitbit with its smart devices will assist the users in China to keep track of their fitness regime and sleep along with managing a healthy lifestyle. Tmall will also assist the company in becoming one of the ten global brands on it site in terms of the electronic category assisting them in attaining 10 million fans in the Asian market.

According to Hao Li, the General Manager of 3Cs Business Segment at Alibaba Group, “Alibaba is the gateway to China for international brands seeking to access one of the world’s largest consumer markets, and we are pleased to announce this partnership to provide Chinese consumers greater access to Fitbit products.”

The executive further explained that there has been a substantial interest in the personal health and fitness in the Chinese market. This has eventually led to the need for fitness gadgets like Fitbit. The company is looking forward to make use of the leadership of Fitbit in the fitness and connected health industry so that they can link their users with the increasing fitness and connected health domain since the trend has gained significant popularity.

Fitbit on the other hand is extremely optimistic about the venture as well. By collaborating with Alibaba’s Tmall, the company has the power to reach out to millions of consumers in the Chinese market. The Chinese market itself has immense potential and they are now looking forward to coming up with Alta devices and high end Fitbit Blaze via Tmall.

Tmall.com has also vouched to come up with a Fitbit Super Brand Day on May 18 so that it can generate a promotional campaign and market the aforementioned gadgets in the region. This is the first time in the company’s history that it will come up with a Super Brand Day for a health and fitness trackers allowing the Chinese consumers to get access to the device via Tmall.com mobile app and portal. The event will also allow the company to get a lot of exposure in the Chinese market and will also strengthen its brand image and bolster the awareness of the category in the region.

Hence, the collaboration between the largest E-commerce giant in China and Fitbit is a major breakthrough which will churn out positive outcomes for the company. Apple is struggling with its smart watch and China is a big market to capitalize on. If Fitbit gets successful in China, then Apple might stumble further. Moreover, BABA is assisting the wearable tech manufacture by hosting a grand event which will give them the marketing boost they require now.

Alibaba Plans To Take on Amazon In The Field Of Cloud

Move comes as the Chinese ecommerce giant stakes in a series of partnerships to bolster cloud offerings.

In yet the latest signs of its troubles related to operating in China in the face of continuing economic slowdown, as evidenced from a decline in both exports and imports, Alibaba Group Holding Inc. (NYSE:BABA) has made a strong push of boosting its cloud offerings by entering into partnerships with global companies that are likely to prove great synergies, and also give competitors, such as Amazon, Google, and Microsoft a run for their money.

The deals will see Alibaba Group cloud computing division, Aliyun, utilize the existing data centers built by partners such as Intel, US data center company, Equinox, and  Singapore telecom giant, SingTel, so as to push their own services on the horizon. The move will see the Chinese corporate giant saving money and to localize its services to tap into new markets.

Simon Hu, President of Aliyun, stated that with more storage problems and more clients demanding for data analytics services, it has led to this move. The main clients will be small and medium sized businesses, who will be given advanced infrastructure to harness the power of big data and analytics.

It is not going to be an easy fight though. Amazon, IBM, and Microsoft are already big and dominant players in the $16 billion market, and their growth shows no sign of slowing down. However, this has not stopped Alibaba cloud computing revenue from growing from 213 million yuan to over 390 million yuan, which is more than 80% growth. The revenue earned is a tiny fraction of the amount that the company normally earns from charging a fee for exporters and importers.

Mr. Wu said that Alibaba is not scared about the competition, rather they are willing to learn from their US rivals and to benefit from “technology products and create a better balance and increased efficiency.“ When asked about pricing, he said that it would most likely depend on the locality.

Aliyun’s expansion outside China is not new since Alibaba had opened up a data center in the Silicon Valley, but the move suggests that it intends to utilize economies of scale by going for partnerships with other data centers and not having to go through the trouble of being burdened by building more data centers, even if they have bullish assessments about the analytics market.

 Alibaba’s stock price ended the day at $90.70, a gain of 0.12% from the previous week, after reaching the initial high of $91.5 in the middle of last week.

Alibaba Alipay Reigns Over Mobile Payments In China

Alibaba is winning the game of online mobile payments in China with AliPay.

Alibaba Group Holding is considered as the most disruptive company in the Chinese tech sector. Ever since its inception, it is winning the game in its country with plans to conquer overseas markets as well in the near future. Immense growth has been noticed in recent times; hence, after conquering the Chinese market already, it is tapping on the world’s largest economy, the United States.

As far as China is concerned, the company is not only winning the e-commerce game but mobile payments game as well; the Chinese e-commerce giant introduced AliPay in 2013, which is an online payment service of Alibaba Group that has changed the paradigms of online shopping and made it more convenient for its users.

The world is advancing in technology largely and due to this, online mobile payments are gathering the pace throughout the world. It made a great impact in China, where now people mostly rely on online mobile payments. Hence, Alibaba is all set to take a bold step ahead and aim for the gold with AliPay, which currently has more than 350 million users registered to its platform along with 270 million active users monthly.

Furthermore, the company managed to defeat its United States’ counterparts. Talking about digital wallets and mobile payments, PayPal, who was previously a unit of eBay, now has around 162 million active users monthly. As The Street reports, “Alipay Wallet, which can be used for e-commerce purchases and in physical stores, has grown on the backs of more than 289 million monthly active users, who increasingly use it as opposed to entering in a credit card number.”

According to the Vice President of company’s financial arm, Fan Zhiming, said, “Alipay was established in 2004, initially to support escrow payment for Alibaba's online marketplace transactions. Mobile payment is becoming more important, especially the younger generation, and they make up a great part of Alipay users. So it is important that we develop our mobile payment capabilities via Alipay Wallet.”

So far, credit cards are not that popular or widespread in the Chinese market and not many people have access to these credit cards. Thus, an online mobile payment system, such as AliPay, is a proper solution for the nation to provide a huge relief to customers to avoid the need of big stacks of cash with them all the time.

The Chinese e-commerce giant has ‘disrupted’ the tech industry of the world by providing a great online marketplace platform to its people.