Alibaba launches ‘Alibaba Defined’ to help people outside China understand it

On the same day that it opened its second AliCloud data center in Silicon Valley in a $1 billion cloud push that puts it head-to-head with Amazon Web Services, both in the U.S. and globally, Alibaba on Friday launched “Alibaba Defined” to help people outside China better understand what the ecommerce and payments giant is all about.

“Alibaba needs no explanation in China, where consumers interact with our products and services every single day,” said Alibaba’s executive vice chairman Joe Tsai. “But for those outside of China, who have limited access to our ecosystem, it can be difficult to appreciate our vision, our company and what we are working to achieve. Our first annual report was the ideal opportunity to create a comprehensive experience for everyone who wants to better understand us.”

As laid out in the announcement, Alibaba Defined contains the following elements to help illustrate the company’s core tenants:

• Letters from Jack Ma and Daniel Zhang, plus traditional annual report content.
• China Context — In order to understand Alibaba, one has to know a bit about China. You will get a view of modern China with some cultural and economic context, and learn through a series of charts how China’s e-commerce market grew to become the largest in the world in just a few short years — and how massive the future market opportunity is.
• The Alibaba Experience — You will learn how a budding entrepreneur uses our platforms to start, run and grow a business. You will see through their eyes how the Chinese consumer experience is different, and more seamless, than many of their international counterparts.
• Founded in China, Created for the World — Through a series of videos you can see for yourself how Alibaba is building the infrastructure of commerce for the future – starting by connecting all of China, including the 600 million-strong rural population, and expanding its international operations by helping global companies and brands access China’s large and growing middle class.