Alibaba Australia and NZ head Maggie Zhou on the tech giant’s growth since setting up an Australian presence, the future of retail and demand in China for Aussie products.
Since setting up an Australian presence in Melbourne in early 2017, Alibaba has grown the number of local brands on its Tmall and Tmall Global online retail platforms to more than 2000.
And there’s a further 700-odd from New Zealand, according to Alibaba Australia and NZ managing director Maggie Zhou.
In an interview on the sidelines of the recent Austcham Westpac Australia-China Business Awards in Hong Kong, Ms Zhou said Australian products are continuing to be very popular with Chinese consumers, assisted by the perception of high quality.
Ms Zhou, a near 20-year veteran of the Chinese tech giant who was also previously executive assistant to co-founder Jack Ma, also discussed the future of retail, Alipay’s rollout in Australia and innovation.
Michael Bennet is Editor of Westpac Wire. He joined Westpac in 2017 after more than 12 years in journalism, most recently at The Australian as the national newspaper’s banking reporter based in Sydney. Michael has worked at various News Corp publications and other media companies covering industries including financial services, resources, industrials, markets and economics. He is originally from Perth, Western Australia, where he also wrote across magazines covering the arts with a focus on music.
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