Taobao.com, the Chinese Internet shopping website owned by Alibaba Group, and Yahoo Japan, which is held by Japan's Softbank Group, have reached a strategic cooperation deal.
Based on the strategic cooperation, the two parties will connect online shopping platforms in the two countries by providing data access to increase e-commerce options for consumers. In June 2010, a transnational online shopping platform based on both Taobao.com and Yahoo Japan will be launched to provide eight million Japanese products to Chinese consumers as well as various Chinese-made goods to Japanese consumers.
Jack Ma, chairman and CEO of Alibaba, said that they are glad to help Japanese small- and medium-sized enterprises sell products to Chinese consumers via Taobao.com. This measure will also offer more options to consumers, allowing them to select from hundreds of millions of Chinese and Japanese products.
Masayoshi Son, president and chairman of Softbank, told local media that they believe the Asian economy, with Chinese and Japanese economies as representatives, will continue to grow and the e-commerce will be the major promoter. At the same time, offering equal trading opportunities to SMEs is very important to their development. The new platform that is scheduled to be launched in June will become a perfect platform for cross-border trade of SMEs. With the cooperation, the two companies will build a bridge between the two countries and make contributions to the economic growth of Asia.
