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面向企业间贸易的全球最大在线市场阿里巴巴 (Alibaba)已首次开始在中国以外提供在线交易，使其朝着与全球市场领先者Ebay直接竞争又近了一步。
该公司昨日开通了阿里巴巴“全球速卖通”(AliExpress)，这是一个让中国和海外企业能够完成小额订单交易的平台。
过去，该公司仅在其主要网站 (alibaba.com)提供一个平台，企业买家和卖家可在该平台上找到外贸对象，但交易本身须在线下进行。阿里巴巴的零售网站——淘宝网 (Taobao)提供在线交易，但仅面向中国境内用户，而且并不面向企业之间的贸易。
Ebay是全球电子商务领先者，提供交易型服务，但主要面向消费者。
“这将推动阿里巴巴走上两条非常重要的道路：首先，这将有助于其转变营收结构，从依赖年度会员付费，转向基于交易的手续费，让该公司得以承担更大风险，为更高的利润率创造机遇，”北京互联网研究机构易观国际(Analysys)电子商务专家曹飞表示。“其次，做全球消费者的生意，肯定是阿里巴巴最终会做的事，而那将使他们与Ebay 形成直接竞争。随着中国用户开始使用国际电子商务网站，这是他们必须要做的事情。”
自2008年以来，阿里巴巴已采取一些举措，摆脱原先对年度会员费的专注，转而实行一种更复杂灵活的收费菜单。这种模式预期将提高用户忠诚度。
新服务也将首次把该公司的在线支付服务扩张至中国以外。“支付宝”(AliPay)迄今仅在国内使用。这是一种支付平台，相当于Ebay旗下的PayPal。“全球速卖通”允许用户选择不同的第三方支付方法，但也提供一种从“支付宝”衍生而来的信托付款服务。
阿里巴巴表示，它并不把自己看作Ebay的竞争对手。“我们实际上把自己的服务看成是补充性质的，”阿里巴巴美洲业务主管、领导“全球速卖通”项目的高管之一Annie Xu表示。“Ebay是一种B2C [企业对消费者]业务，因此企业可在我们的网站上进行采购，然后销售给那里的消费者。”
就目前而言，“全球速卖通”仅接受中国供应商，但一旦公司有信心该平台能运行无误，就会将其向海外供应商开放。
出于安全原因，该公司初步设定每单交易金额的上限为1万美元。
译者/和风
英文原文：
Alibaba, the world's largest online marketplace for trade between companies, has started offering on-site transactions outside China for the first time, taking a step which brings it closer to head-on competition with global market leader Ebay.
The company yesterday launched AliExpress, a platform where businesses from China and abroad can close transactions for smaller orders.
In the past, it had only offered a platform on its main site, alibaba.com, on which corporate buyers and sellers could find each other for foreign trade, but transactions had to be conducted offline. Taobao, Alibaba's retail site, offers on-site transactions but only inside China and not between businesses.
Ebay, the global e-commerce market leader, offers transaction-based services but mainly for consumers.
“This will push Alibaba down two very important paths: first, it will help transform its revenue structure from reliance on annual membership payments to transaction-based fees, allowing the company to take on greater risk and creating opportunities for bigger profit margins,” said Cao Fei, an e-commerce expert at Analysys, a Beijing-based internet research group. “Second, going for consumers globally is definitely something Alibaba will eventually do – and that's going to bring them into direct competition with Ebay,” Mr Cao said. “As Chinese users are beginning to use international e-commerce sites, this is something they need to do.”
Since 2008, Alibaba has taken steps to move from its original focus on annual membership payments to a more complex, flexible fee menu. This model is expected to increase user loyalty.
The new service will also expand its online payment services beyond Chinese borders for the first time. So far AliPay, the company's equivalent to Ebay's PayPal, had only been used domestically. AliExpress allows users the choice of different third-party payment methods, but offers an escrow service which is derived from AliPay.
Alibaba said it did not see itself as a competitor to Ebay. “We actually view our services as complementary,” said Annie Xu, Alibaba's head of operations for the Americas and one of the executives leading the AliExpress project. “Ebay is a B2C [business-to-consumer] business, so companies can source at our site and then sell to the consumer there.”
For the time being, AliExpress admits only Chinese suppliers, but it plans to open the site to international suppliers as soon as it is confident of operating it without glitches.
It has set an initial $10,000 cap per transaction for security reasons.
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