Alibaba Subsidiaries Taobao and Tmall Enter Korean Market... Establish Korean Corporation

Establishment of 'Taobaotimol Korea' Early This Year
Support Expected for Domestic Sellers Entering Chinese Platforms

Alibaba Group's domestic platforms in China, Taobao and Tmall, have established a local corporation in South Korea.

According to the distribution industry on the 13th, Alibaba Group established the Korean corporation 'Taobao Tmall Korea LLC' in January. The capital is 1.28 billion KRW, and an office was set up in a building in Jung-gu, Seoul, where AliExpress Korea had previously moved in. The representative is a person in their 40s with Chinese nationality.

Taobao and Tmall are e-commerce platforms for the Chinese domestic market operated by Alibaba Group, with Taobao being regarded as the largest online shopping mall in China. Unlike AliExpress, which provides overseas direct purchase (direct import) services to individual consumers in countries outside China, Taobao and Tmall operate as open markets within the Chinese domestic market.

Taobao Tmall Korea, established by Alibaba in South Korea, is known to serve as the Korean branch of the integrated Taobao and Tmall corporation. Previously, Taobao and Tmall were operated separately, but they merged again in January 2022 after 11 years. In 2011, Alibaba Group split Taobao into three companies, separating Tmall and eTao (a search engine). The combined number of users of Taobao and Tmall is reported to be around 900 million.

Taobao Tmall Korea is expected to support domestic sellers in entering and selling on the Chinese platforms. This will make it easier for individual sellers and small and medium-sized enterprises in Korea to enter Taobao and Tmall. Previously, Alibaba Group announced plans to support Korean companies' overseas expansion through its B2B platform Alibaba.com. Specifically, it is conducting the 'Korea Industry Leader Project' to support Korean companies' exports, providing participating companies with business strategies and operational guidance.

Regarding this, an Alibaba Group official stated, "We are currently verifying the related details."