Alibaba to buy 50% stake in Reliance Retail
Walmart, Amazon and Alibaba may have different strategies to outplay each other, but all roads it would seem lead to India.
Check Out These Resources
- Do you need a business bank account for your online business? Take a look at our review of the five best bank accounts for sellers, some of which are free with no minimum balance or deposits. [sponsored]
- Boost your social media engagement with Publer. Learn how you can save time writing engaging content faster with AI. [sponsored]
- Could your online business use capital for growth? Here is a primer on revenue-based loans, and how they work.
For Alibaba Co-founder Jack Ma, teaming up with Reliance Retail, India’s largest retail company, is the key to building a mega Indian retail joint venture and getting an edge on major players, including India’s Flipkart.
We covered just a few days ago that eBay India was re-assessing their Indian marketplace strategy as well as how Flipkart are rebranding to target the refurbished market which is huge in India.
Source: Alibaba GroupThe Alibaba Group is investing $5 billion in the Indian behemoth to create a digital marketplace and expand its retail business in the country.
Ma is said to be in talks with Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Retail, regarding Alibaba’s intent to acquire a 50% stake in the latter.
Both eCommerce titans see opportunities in the partnership
Although Alibaba and Reliance Retail have yet to issue an official statement about their partnership plans, reports have surfaced that Ma and Ambani have already met and discussed it back in July.
According to sources privy to what transpired during the meeting, both of them agreed that the joint venture will enable them to create a large omnichannel retail entity.
If the deal pushes through, it’s going to be Alibaba’s largest investment in an Indian company.
With Walmart looking to get involved in India, it looks like the new battleground where the giants of Eastern and Western eCommerce are colliding to start having more influence and control over Middle Eastern eCommerce.
With Amazon acquiring Souq last year they have their stake in the Middle East already, now it appears Alibaba is set to get involved in the region too.
Do you think this brewing partnership is bound to give Amazon, Walmart, Flipkart and other big eCommerce firms a run for their money? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below or over in our Facebook Group.
Subscribe to Our Newsletter
We do not sell your information.
You can unsubscribe at any time.
Head over to our Facebook Group for Small Business Marketplace Sellers and interact with us and other small business owners. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn to stay up to date with relevant news and business insights for your online business.
Dave Furness
Dave is a Co-Founder of eSeller365. For over 10 years he has been involved with eCommerce with a particular interest in the marketplaces and the huge opportunities available for sellers when utilizing a multi-channel strategy. After a year of being the UK’s youngest eCommerce consultant, he built an education platform called UnderstandingE that showed the world how to utilize Magento as the “Third Generation of Multi-Channel software”.
Dave has also created a YouTube channel dedicated to entrepreneurship and eCommerce as well as a podcast dedicated to mental health awareness. When Dave isn’t working his main interests include learning and playing Chess, researching the Crypto and NFT space, and trying to find the nearest beach.