Today in Lahore, Alibaba.com, a major B2B marketplace, held its inaugural seller conference to showcase export potential for regional companies operating in the e-commerce sector. More than 250 attendees, including more than 200 online viewers, showed up for the event.
The event, titled “Go Export with Alibaba.com,” brought together current and aspiring exporters in Lahore to provide suggestions and guidance on how to launch and develop an online export business. It is the first event of its kind that Alibaba.com has staged in Lahore, demonstrating the platform’s increased efforts to help local suppliers and raise awareness of the city as an online supplier base.
Speaking at the event were a number of experts in the export and e-commerce fields, including Mr. Sheharyar Tahir, Head of External Relations of SMEDA, Mr. Mian Rehman Aziz, Senior Vice President of Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industries, who discussed the government support and infrastructure available to help exporters in Lahore, Mr. Md. Ammar Khan, CEO of Raaziq International Logistics, Mr. Tariq Mahmood, Seniorrepresentatives including Mr Song Song, Head of Alibaba.com Pakistan, and Mr Ethan Wang, Product Operation Manager, who shared about products and services offered by Alibaba.com that can help suppliers digitalise their export business.
Mr Song Song, Business Head of Alibaba.com Pakistan, said,
“Pakistan is one of Alibaba.com’s most important supplier markets. Lahore, in particular, shows a high potential of e-commerce growth as it already contributed US$4.7 billion in export volume or 17% of the country’s total export volume in fiscal year 2021-22. As the global pandemic has sped up B2B buyers’ adoption of online sourcing channels, we feel that now is the time for more high-quality suppliers here in Lahore to go online and be discovered by the 34 million-strong global online buyer community on Alibaba.com,” said.
“Pakistan’s economy is comprised of almost 5.2 million small and medium enterprises. With an established e-commerce platform like Alibaba.com and an enabling environment and business development services provided by SMEDA, we encourage small and medium enterprises here to take action and grow beyond their home market,” said Mr Sheharyar Tahir, Head of External Relations of SMEDA.
Alibaba.com is now more intent on developing Pakistan’s e-commerce sector, particularly in Lahore, and making B2B trade as simple and accessible as possible for buyers and sellers. Since 1999, Alibaba.com has used technologies made expressly for business-to-business trading to support the expansion of small and medium-sized firms. On the platform, supplier members have access to a variety of products and services, such as a personalised digital shop, buyer analytics, targeted advertising, and support in the form of live support and training sessions, among others.
