Alibaba Tries To Take Over Amazon In Europe

Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd. BABA is offering lucrative deals to local sellers in Europe in a bid to take over rival Amazon.com Inc. AMZN as the most prominent e-commerce platform in the continent, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

What Happened

The Chinese e-commerce giant is particularly interested in Spain and Italy sellers to sign up on its online retail platform AliExpress, according to Reuters.

The two countries make a prominent market for Amazon in the continent, alongside the U.K., France, and Germany.

To encourage more sellers to sign up, AliExpress has reduced the commissions it charges for goods sold on the platform to between 5% and 8%, Reuters reported, citing six people familiar with the matter. Amazon's commission is between 7% to 15%.

In addition, AliExpress has also waived the monthly seller rates, Reuters noted. Amazon charges the sellers about $43.49 (EUR 30) plus taxes each month to be able to sell on the platform.

AliExpress representatives are also approaching major brands directly to get them on to the platform, according to Reuters. Some of the brands approached by AliExpress include Spanish clothing retailers Punto Fa S.L. (or Mango) and Tendam Retail S.A., and Italian fashion brand Benetton Group S.r.l.

Some of the leading brands have turned down AliExpress, a platform most associated with selling low-cost made in China products, the people close to the matter told Reuters.

Price Action

Alibaba's shares closed 0.46% higher at $217.63 on Tuesday.

Amazon's shares closed 0.21% higher at $1,906.86. The shares traded 2.30% lower in the after-hours market.