February 8, 2026, 3:19 pm | Read time: 6 minutes
Do you know the Alibaba Group? No? That was just a test–you’re quite likely already familiar with the company. The name AliExpress might ring a bell. Alibaba is a Chinese technology and commerce group that originally started with the B2B platform Alibaba.com. Today, the corporation encompasses much more. TECHBOOK introduces the Alibaba Group and its key business areas.
Various media outlets and the statistics portal “Statista” describe the Alibaba Group (officially: Alibaba Group Holding Limited) as one of China’s largest IT and technology companies. The corporation is divided into several business areas, each serving its own market segments. Strategically, the focus is now primarily on e-commerce as well as AI and cloud, as indicated in the official annual report of the publicly traded company for 2025. But let’s take it step by step.
Overview
Founding of the Alibaba Group
Alibaba was founded in 1999 in Hangzhou, eastern China. Leading the charge was former English teacher Jack Ma, who started the company with 18 partners. From the beginning, the goal was to facilitate access to international markets via the internet for Chinese companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises.
The first platform, Alibaba.com, was designed as a B2B marketplace where manufacturers, wholesalers, and buyers worldwide could connect. At a time when e-commerce in China was still in its infancy, the concept met a growing need and laid the foundation for the company’s later rise to become one of the country’s most significant tech enterprises.
Today, the Alibaba Group sees itself as an “ecosystem” of commerce, logistics, digital services, media, and more, with tightly interconnected areas. It is less a traditional retailer and more a provider of infrastructure, platforms, and data and IT services on which others conduct their business. Alibaba earns from commissions–for example, transaction fees on individual platforms often represent a percentage of the sales value–and service fees, advertising services, and technological solutions.
Key Brands and Platforms in the Alibaba Ecosystem
Online commerce is the heart of the Alibaba Group. However, the corporation does not operate like Amazon as a traditional retailer with its own inventory. Instead, Alibaba serves as a venue that brings buyers and sellers together and facilitates trade both organizationally and technologically.
Chinese online commerce remains the central business area of the corporation–it is still its most important revenue source. In this segment, two platforms of the Alibaba Group dominate (the first two items in the following list). However, Alibaba is also active internationally. In these markets, the corporation primarily provides the technical and organizational infrastructure, such as for payment processing, logistics integration, marketing solutions, and customer support.
Taobao, one of the largest marketplaces in the national market–essentially the Chinese eBay–with an extremely wide range of products, is especially relevant for private sellers and small retailers.
Tmall, often described as a premium mall within the Alibaba ecosystem, is a B2C marketplace focused on established brands. International companies like Nike, Apple, or Adidas operate official shops for China here. Compared to Taobao, Tmall is significantly more upscale and structured.
AliExpress is the best-known Alibaba platform outside China. It targets international customers and allows them to order directly from Chinese merchants–often at very low prices. However, long delivery times and fluctuating product quality are often to be expected. Additionally, unexpected customs duties or taxes may apply to deliveries. TECHBOOK delves deeper into the pros and cons of AliExpress in this article.
Lazada is Alibaba’s e-commerce platform for countries like Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam. There, it plays a similar role to Amazon in Europe, according to the German trade and investment agency Germany Trade and Invest (GTAI).
Trendyol, the leading e-commerce platform in Turkey, has been majority-owned by the Alibaba Group since 2018. However, the online retailer remains operationally independent.
Daraz, an e-commerce platform active in countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal, has also been part of the Alibaba portfolio since 2018.
Miravia was launched by the corporation in Spain at the end of 2022 to tap into the European market.
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Alibaba’s Infrastructure and Innovation Network
Alibaba operates a broad infrastructure and innovation network that seamlessly connects commerce and digital services.
For the rapid delivery of millions of packages, Alibaba runs the global logistics network Cainiao. It coordinates shipping, warehousing, and delivery both in China and internationally. Unlike traditional parcel services like DHL–with which Alibaba collaborates in Poland, the platform works with numerous logistics partners–many processes at Cainiao are digitally controlled.
On the technology side, Alibaba Cloud is one of the leading providers for businesses, especially in Asia. The platform supports data storage, artificial intelligence, online infrastructure, and big data analytics, as further explained on the Alibaba website.
In retail, Alibaba focuses on integrating online and offline commerce with Freshippo (Hema). The supermarket chain in China represents a “New Retail” concept that combines app-based shopping, fast deliveries within 30 minutes, digital pricing, and mobile payment options. Fully integrated into Alibaba’s ecosystem, Freshippo combines logistics, technology, and innovation into a powerful, modern retail model.
Criticism, Controversies, and Regulatory Pressure
Despite its economic success, Alibaba has faced criticism over the years. International media regularly report on the increasing regulatory pressure the corporation faces in China. Particularly since 2020, Chinese authorities have been cracking down harder on large tech companies. Alibaba came under scrutiny from regulators for allegedly anti-competitive practices. A billion-dollar fine for market abuse and stricter requirements for platform operators temporarily hampered growth and caused uncertainty in the stock markets.
Additionally, there are frequent allegations regarding product piracy, inadequate quality controls, and the handling of merchant data on individual platforms. International offshoots like AliExpress are often criticized for fluctuating product quality, misleading offers, or insufficient consumer protection. Questions about data security and the proximity of Chinese tech companies to the state also frequently spark discussions among Western observers. Alibaba itself emphasizes that it is continuously working on more transparency, stricter controls, and compliance with international standards.