[Altes Shock] "Embrace China" Ali吸引 Talent... What About Job Creation Effects?

③Talent Absorption 'Soksok'... Job Creation through Alliman
Alli Invests in Korea... "50,000 Jobs in 10 Years"
Active Hiring of Experienced MDs, Marketing, Sales
Recruiting Talent from Coupang, Tmon, 11st
Expecting Job Creation through Youth Hiring Including Riders

Will the C-commerce (Chinese e-commerce) boom led by ultra-low prices from Ali, Temu, and Shein bring a breeze or a backlash to the domestic employment market?

AliExpress (Ali) is shaking up the domestic distribution industry's employment market. There is great expectation that Ali's massive investment will lead to direct and indirect employment expansion. This contrasts with other domestic distributors who are tightening their belts through voluntary retirement and restructuring.

According to the business plan recently submitted by Alibaba Group to the government, Ali expects to create 5,000 jobs over three years and 50,000 jobs over ten years through its investment in Korea. This figure includes not only employees directly hired by Ali but also indirect employment at domestic partner companies responsible for logistics and customer service.

Ali is currently recruiting experienced professionals in various fields such as merchandise planning (MD), marketing, sales, public relations, and customer service until the end of next month. The company is actively proposing job transfers not only to executives and employees of domestic large corporations but also to those working at competitors like Coupang, Tmon, and 11st.

To accommodate more personnel, Ali is also expanding and relocating its office. Until now, Ali and Alibaba have been using JustCo shared office in Samseong-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, and State Tower Namsan in Hoehyeon-dong, Jung-gu as temporary offices. With the increase in employees due to ongoing recruitment, it is reported that the office will move to Parnas Tower near Samsung Station in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, within the first half of this year.

This is in stark contrast to the domestic distribution industry, where a workforce reduction is underway due to economic recession and poor performance. E-Mart, the number one large supermarket in Korea under Shinsegae Group, is conducting company-wide voluntary retirement targeting managers and senior managers with more than 15 years of service for the first time in its 31-year history. 11st, whose sale fell through, accepted a second round of voluntary retirement applications just three months after the end of last year.

There are also increasing signs that executives and employees who have retired or changed jobs in the domestic distribution industry are moving en masse to C-commerce companies like Ali. In January, a former Tmon employee was recruited as Ali's head of public relations, and a person in charge of external affairs at 11st was hired as Ali's vice president, establishing a government relations line.

Industry insiders analyze that Ali's agile internal organization building will enable it to dominate the domestic market faster than expected. An industry official said, "If experts with extensive experience in domestic distribution companies join Ali and pass on the know-how they have accumulated, Ali's competitiveness will significantly increase," adding, "In the past, Coupang also stabilized its organization rapidly by aggressively recruiting experienced employees from domestic large corporations while expanding its size."

The increase in short-term jobs like those of existing Coupang and Baemin riders is also viewed positively in the domestic employment market. The number of direct and indirect employees responsible for Coupang's delivery is around 10,000. Industry experts predict that as Ali and other C-commerce companies increase delivery volume in the Korean market, the number of delivery workers will naturally increase, leading to youth employment.

Professor Seo Yong-gu of the Department of Business Administration at Sookmyung Women's University said, "There will definitely be an employment creation effect due to the increase in logistics workers," and analyzed, "Rather than seeing Ali as taking jobs away in the Korean market, it should be seen as creating new customer value and opening a blue ocean."

Series Overview

① Ultra-low price strategy that swallowed Korea... Fathers face job loss risk
② Ali's 'zero commission' policy saves entrepreneurs
③ "Embrace China" Ali attracts talent... What about employment creation effects?
④ Even if Chinese-made, if cheap, consumers buy... Consumption trends changed
⑤ Busy preparing countermeasures only after losing the home ground to China