The Alibaba Group platforms will be processing payments faster during this year’s 6.18 (18 June) Mid-Year Shopping Festival as it works to improve liquidity for SMEs during the pandemic. Presales for the annual shopping event started on 26 May, kicking off a month-long series of promotional activities from vouchers to discounts across Alibaba’s ecosystem.
As part of the initiative to boost merchants’ liquidity, domestic coffee brand Yongpu Coffee has already received several million renminbi from presale purchases made between 26-30 May 26. This payment process would usually take up to 15 days.
In the May presale period, merchants will receive roughly RMB10 billion (US$1.5 billion) in deposits made by consumers to secure their orders. Once shipping starts between 1 June 1 and 30 June, the remaining balance of up to RMB100 billion will be sent to businesses.
For cross-border merchants, the international B2C marketplace Tmall Global is freeing up to RMB4 billion to their payment accounts as soon as parcels leave warehouses between June 1 and June 30.
Pandemic pivots
Alibaba said in its latest newsletter that is helping businesses thrive despite a host of pandemic-related challenges.
“Ensuring stability of supply chain and logistics amid the uncertainties is the best way to improve consumption sentiment and foster a more positive environment for business operations,” said Daniel Zhang, Alibaba Group chairman and CEO during an earnings call with investors recently.
Alibaba’s logistics arm Cainiao has also offered a choice of five warehouses around China for cross-border merchants to store their inventories to sidestep logistics problems.
As such, Yongpu Coffee’s Huang expects to see at least 80% sales growth for this year’s 6.18. He will get a helping hand from C2C platform Taobao, B2C e-commerce site Tmall and Tmall Global as they roll out support tools from live stream training to platform fee exemptions.
