On November 21, alibaba Group CEO Wu Yongming announced in an email to all employees the establishment of the alibaba e-commerce business group, appointing Jiang Fan as its head, reporting to Wu Yongming. The new e-commerce business group will comprehensively integrate Taobao Tmall Group, International Digital Business Group, as well as the e-commerce operations of 1688, Xianyu, etc., forming a business cluster covering the full industry chain at home and abroad.

The establishment of the new e-commerce business group reflects Wu Yongming's new thoughts and actions as CEO of alibaba Group on how to effectively utilize both domestic and international resources to create synergy for development in the e-commerce field. This move demonstrates alibaba's determination to invest in its core e-commerce business and better support merchants in capturing global market opportunities for greater growth through significant synergy.

In September last year, Wu Yongming became the CEO of alibaba Group and subsequently clarified the strategic focus on 'user-first, AI-driven,' making strategic trade-offs and concentrating on core businesses while concurrently serving as the CEO of Taotian Group and Asia Vets Group, promoting the rejuvenation of the management team, and implementing extensive reforms in organizational structure and business strategy.

Over the past year, various business sectors have maintained healthy growth. The latest financial report released by alibaba on November 15 shows that the GMV for the 2024 november 11 shopping festival on Taobao Tmall has seen strong growth, with the number of buyers reaching a historic high, and the 88VIP membership scale expanding to 46 million; alibaba Cloud's revenue growth continues to accelerate, with AI-related revenue showing triple-digit growth for five consecutive quarters; the International Digital Business Group experienced robust growth of 29% in revenue; the Local Life Group and the Big Entertainment Group have significantly reduced their losses.

The times are advancing rapidly, and alibaba, at 25 years old, must maintain an entrepreneurial mindset, continually innovate, fulfill its mission of serving small and medium-sized enterprises, and continually create value for society,' said Wu Yongming in the email to all employees. The e-commerce landscape in china and globally is entering a new era, where global supply chain capabilities, fulfillment abilities, and consumer service capacities will determine the future competitive landscape. The alibaba e-commerce business group will integrate all e-commerce resources within the group to stimulate the capabilities accumulated over the years, effectively serving both domestic and global consumers while helping more small and medium enterprises expand into both domestic and overseas markets.

Over the past year, Taobao Tmall and overseas e-commerce have gradually moved towards integration. In July of this year, Taobao launched the 'Global Free Shipping Plan for Clothing', leading clothing merchants to go overseas first and invested 1 billion to turn Hong Kong, china into a free shipping zone. In September, Taobao also launched an English version in Malaysia and Singapore.

Behind Taobao and 1688 are over ten million small and medium-sized enterprises. The rich and high-quality supply they represent is highly competitive in the global market. The integration of domestic and international e-commerce means that alibaba's e-commerce business will move towards broader incremental markets.

With this round of adjustments, alibaba's focus on the development of its core business has become clearer. Wu Yongming stated that the e-commerce business and AI technology are the most crucial development directions for the group. In terms of AI, we will continue to increase investment, promote a productivity revolution driven by AI, improve AI infrastructure and supporting systems, adhere to open source and openness, and continuously invest in AI product research and development in both the toB and toC sectors, seizing the opportunities of the AI era.