Going Global With Alibaba Group

In this week’s Manufacturing Ecommerce Sales Series, our guest was Kate Anderson. Kate is the Director of Marketing at Alibaba Group. She has an experience of over 10 years in online and offline marketing.  We will be discussing how Alibaba helps manufacturers reach a global customer base.

In this week’s Manufacturing Ecommerce Sales Series, our guest was Kate Anderson. Kate is the Director of Marketing at Alibaba Group. She has an experience of over 10 years in online and offline marketing.  We will be discussing how Alibaba helps manufacturers reach a global customer base by going global with the Alibaba group .

The conversation started with Kate’s introduction. After that, she discussed her work and how Alibaba is helping US Companies sell globally. She also talked about her experience with Trustpilot,  a Danish company well-known in Europe. Her desire was to help businesses in getting into the eCommerce space.

Further, Kate talked about Alibaba Group and how she got into global manufacturing sales. She also said that one of her goals was to support global sales and this company provided her the opportunity. Therefore, Kate said that now the Alibaba group is not just a B2B marketplace where you can buy one thing. It is an entire online wholesale market.

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After this, Kate shared detailed statistical data on the progress of the Alibaba Group over the years and how global manufacturing sales work. According to their survey in 2019, not many small B2B businesses were into online marketing and eCommerce. However, upon a survey done after the Covid-19 pandemic, results showed an 8% increase in online business and sales.

This clearly showed a rise in global manufacturing sales online. Kate also said that after the pandemic most of the manufacturers went global faster than they usually would have.

Towards the middle of the conversation, Kate talked about how global manufacturing sales at Alibaba are helpful for manufacturers. She said that by going online on a joint platform you already have a marketplace where you can set up your store.

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Along with this, the facilities like instant quote let the buyer tell the manufacturer exactly what they need.   They also have a pay per click keyword marketing function , where you can buy a keyword and get traffic related to it.

After this, Kate discussed the benefits of going digital. She said that there is a company named Bednarik Studios which is based in Brooklyn Navy yards. This company works in, in-person retailing and therefore the pandemic hit them badly. However, this led the owner of the company to realize that they need to go digital, and within a week they did so. This increased their global manufacturing sales and they started getting 300 orders per week.

In the end, Kate mentioned that at Alibaba Group, they want to keep new onboarding new US businesses to help increase global manufacturing sales.

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The conversation ended with Damon and Curt thanking the guest for coming on the show.

Check out the entire video by clicking on the link below.

Thanks to Kate for sharing her time and knowledge with the group.

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36:37

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

alibaba, manufacturers, kate, b2b, global manufacturing sales, damon, digitization, platform, business, survey, folks, e commerce, buyers, online, product, website, digital, selling, talking, suppliers, customers

SPEAKERS

Damon Pistulka, Kate Anderson, Curt Anderson

 

Damon Pistulka  00:00

things live here on LinkedIn. waiting for it to go in where to go. It’ll be there Just a second. All right, everyone. Thanks for joining us once again for our weekly manufacturing ecommerce Success Series with me, Damon Pistulka and exit your way Kurt Anderson and b2b tail. And I’ll let you take it away today and introduce our guests. Kurt Damon, thank you so much brother and just daymond it’s our last program of 2020 by 2020. Just how much if so much fun this year just flew right by Oh, yeah.

 

Curt Anderson  00:40

What a wonderful year. So thank you, everybody for joining us. We’ve got a great crowd here. Our buddy Dave. Buffalo, Greg, Gene, Kevin, Steve. We’re on LinkedIn live, Twitter, live Facebook Live. We are all over the place. So for taking time to join us today. My name is Kurt Anderson. And what an honor what a privilege. So Damon don’t tell Kate but I bought for Christmas. I bought her ancestry.com. So because I’m some somewhat we’re related somehow, which I don’t know if she wants to admit that or not. But my dear friend, Kate Anderson, the director, the head of marketing@alibaba.com is with us today.

Kate, thank you so much for joining us. How are you today? I’m great. Thank you so much for having me, Kurt. And if we’re related, there’s going to it’s going to be quite a big Anderson family reunion with all the others Anderson’s out there. Right. So our both of our great grandfather’s came from Sweden. So somewhere, that’d be a connection somewhere. So anyway, Kate, what an honor what a privilege. You and I, we’ve built a wonderful relationship this year have done a bunch of programs together. We’ve had all sorts of fun. And just I want to give everybody just a little background on on UK. And I’ll tell you what an impressive, wonderful career that you’ve built so far.

So you go back. So we have a Georgetown grad. We have a Boston University MBA grad. And then she kicks off her Damon, she kicks off her career rate in e commerce. I mean, right from day one, what you know, great foresight, if you look at I’ve chopped her LinkedIn profile in in the chatbox. Folks, everybody here on Remo, chop in your LinkedIn profile that’s all connect. And Keith has done an incredible job. She’s really built an envious career following high tech companies going from E credit to all sorts of different great companies all the way up to Alibaba. And you’ve been the head of marketing of multiple companies, isn’t that right key?

Yeah, my career has really been in the b2b software as a service space. But with e commerce as well, at LogMeIn, we did a lot of b2b marketing in the e commerce space. So this just seemed like a logical step for me. And it’s been such an adventure and so much fun, building up the alibaba.com brands in the United States, and really helping us small businesses understand the platform, both from a sourcing and selling perspective. I’ll talk a little bit about that today. But you know, my team in New York, we’re about 50, folks, and we are dedicated to helping us small businesses onboard onto the platform and be successful.

So let’s, let’s take a step back. So again, if you follow your career, so I saw that you were with trustpilot. That was pretty cool. And I know Damon Damon, when you do your presentations, you’re very bullish and very pro reviews in reviews that, you know, we’re always talking about here that social proof. That’s, you know, a bunch of us are marketers, and it’s so critical, so important. What’s interesting, Kate, can you just talk before we jump into your Alibaba talk about that a little bit? Because it looks like you helped a company make a footprint here in the United States with us pilot? Is that correct?

 

Kate Anderson  03:46

That is correct. So yeah, in addition to just be to be SAS marketing, I’m very, very interested in global companies and multinational companies, and helping sort of these companies that are headquartered somewhere else get it get a foothold in the United States. So trustpilot is actually a Danish company, very, very well known in Europe. I joined them in 2013, and the New York team to really increase their footprint in the United States and get us small businesses primarily in the e commerce space, to have these reviews on their site and use that as a marketing tool and a trust signal to to the consumers. Absolutely.

And that’s I was thrilled to see that you’ve had that background and your your, your extensive SAS experience. And with that trustpilot again, you know, that’s from for those of you out there, whether your advisor consultant, you’re getting an e commerce, those reviews are just so critical. Just again, that social proof solidifying what you’re doing with your you know, the quality of your product, the quality of your services, and great SEO value. So it was just fascinating to see like how you know, the, you know, trustpilot calls on Kate Anderson, Hey, can you help us open up the doors here in the United States, you blew it out of the you know,

 

Curt Anderson  04:59

just crushed it did an amazing job and and led up to here at Alibaba. So once again, one of the largest companies on the planet, who none other than Kate Anderson is better for the job to help, you know, global giant come to the United States, and try to create that footprint how what what attracted you to Alibaba? And how were those early days when you first started?

 

Kate Anderson  05:22

Um, well, I was attracted by the opportunity that, as I said, like my interests are really in global companies, and the opportunity to sort of take, you know, a job at one of the biggest brands and companies in the world. And, you know, fit the market for the US was really exciting challenge. And I think what we’ve done over the past couple years, I think a lot of folks really understand like Alibaba Group, and you know, it’s jack Ma, it’s the big Chinese company.

And what we’re trying to do is raise awareness of alibaba.com, which is actually the oldest business unit of Alibaba Group, as a b2b marketplace. We’re not just, you know, where you can go buy one thing, you know, it’s a wholesale marketplace, and really raising awareness of the platform itself, as part of the overall Alibaba Group ecosystem.

 

Curt Anderson  06:17

And that’s, so let’s segue, let’s go right into it. So you know, some of the things that we’ve done together this year, so Alibaba is just relentless with content, putting out all sorts of helpful information for manufacturers, small manufacturers, and I know you have a presentation that you want to go and get into and Alibaba did an amazing, incredible survey, do you want to? Is this a good time to jump right into that and share that with us?

 

Kate Anderson  06:41

I’m gonna run through this quickly, I just want to show people the data, because I think they’ll find it pretty interesting.

 

Damon Pistulka  06:51

I think why you’re doing this, it’s interesting that you’re promoting alibaba.com. Because back in 2004, and five is actually the first time that I ever used it to find suppliers for a company that I was helping. And we actually ended up not only finding the supplier with going and visiting the supplier offshore and, and ended up doing business for them. So

 

Kate Anderson  07:11

yeah, it’s really amazing the breadth and the depth of the supplier. Can you guys see my screen, I’m going to start the slides. Great. And so I’m going to talk a little bit about how alibaba.com enables manufacturing ecommerce success. So as I mentioned, we are the oldest business unit as part of the overall Alibaba Group. It was actually jack Maas original vision to have a gateway for folks to find global supply.

And we’re really like an online tradeshow open 20 473 165 days a year, where sellers of the world can connect with buyers both in their own country and globally. We’ve been named the best b2b website in the world by Forbes magazine eight times in row. So we did a survey back in December of 2019 of 5000, US b2b SMBs. And we released those results in January. And then very quickly, the world changed and those results, the sentiment, the sort of digitization results that came out of that survey very quickly became obsolete.

So we launched another survey in October to sort of get a pulse on what the post COVID uS b2b, SMB was really thinking feeling and what they were investing in for their for their future growth. So we did this survey back in October. And we found that the levels of digitization among us b2b SMBs, and globalization is really increasing. So 93% are now conducting some kind of b2b trade through online channels, which is an 8% increase from the last survey that we ran. So a pretty remarkable move towards digitization. And then 80% of these business, businesses either kept the same amount or grew their online b2b transactions.

You know, things when we say digitization, we mean things like e commerce, websites, mobile apps, you know, digital invoicing, so any of these things can kind of signal a move towards digitization. You know, again, compared to nine months ago, they’re doing much more, you know, communication online, attending online trade shows, those sorts of things. So, another thing is a move towards globalization. So again, we’re seeing in December 2019 17%, were buying or selling internationally, and that was up to 25% in the last survey, so again, going digital going global, and the big takeaway from the survey.

When we looked at the different industries, we actually found that manufacturers were digitizing at 20 The range of other industries during the pandemic in 2020, which is really interesting, because I think manufacturers have traditionally been more analog and more slow to digitize. So we were really interested in this particular data point. You know, these are the details about what they’re investing in online trade, actually having their own websites, moving to marketplaces and then just introducing new products and services that they wouldn’t have introduced without the move towards digital.

 

Curt Anderson  10:34

Again, I’m sorry, you know, what, the the slides aren’t changing on us? Yeah, so I don’t know if there’s, you

 

Damon Pistulka  10:43

see that? Yeah, cuz you can, it must be in the screen share settings. Okay. There it did. We’re good. Now we got it.

 

Kate Anderson  10:52

Okay. So you can see my screen.

 

Curt Anderson  10:54

Yeah, we can see the PowerPoint screen. Yeah. Not the presentation screen now. Greg, Miss you just shout it out. Go into presentation mode. And that my Um,

 

Damon Pistulka  11:06

so? Was that? Please? sylars even I think you’re gonna have to share a different screen to do it. Or share a different window. Excuse me?

 

11:21

Or again, this, like, your talking points on it?

 

Damon Pistulka  11:27

Yeah, we got

 

Kate Anderson  11:28

okay. We’re good. Okay. So just it’s not in presentation mode, but you can still see the slides. So

 

Damon Pistulka  11:33

yeah, we’re seeing I’m moving now. Yeah. Okay.

 

Kate Anderson  11:36

Um, so again, this is just some of the survey data that I went through. In my talking points, again, manufacturers digitizing at twice the rate of other industries, which was the big takeaway from the survey. As I said, they’ve been traditionally slow to digitize. So that was really interesting. So in response to that, and the team and alibaba.com developed a digitization sprint for us manufacturers. And we developed an eight course curriculum really designed to help these businesses get online, start selling, being successful, getting a lot of traffic to their sites, making sales online, getting customers from around the world.

And finally, like, growing their customer base, and keeping their customers happy. So our first course was November 22, or 24th. And Kurt was our speaker, we found a really awesome lineup of speakers, each one has been unique and brought something new to the table. And we’ve had a lot of positive response, people really excited about it. So we’ll be wrapping that up next week. And we’ll definitely be putting out the content and syndicating the content. So more and more folks can benefit from it. Hey, Kate.

 

Curt Anderson  12:49

Yeah. On a digital sprint, were there certain like, was there a trend that you were starting to hear from, you know, multiple attendees or at each? Or is it different across each course? or What were you hearing from attendees?

 

Kate Anderson  13:01

So a couple different things. So we had a few folks that were more on the, you know, traditional b2c side of things. So selling on Amazon, I too, wish Walmart Etsy, were more interested in how can they sell wholesale. So folks like that, and then a lot that have been in business a long time and are manual, traditional manufacturers that are going to trade shows are driving around shaking hands, issuing paper invoices, that are really seeing the need to go digital, and wanting to know where to get started. So I would say those people fell into those two camps.

 

Curt Anderson  13:43

And I know we’ve so there’s a lot of mutual friends here on the program. So we had like Alison to Ford was weird. Because Ray’s a guy No, just spoke yesterday, Who’s there? They both have their great podcasts MFG out loud. You had IRA Bowman, a dear friend of ours and works with Damon. So you know, a lot of our dear friends, Jeff long, Josh crucio. So with each of those programs, you know, tailored something different, which would i would I’m so bullish about with Alibaba.

And we’re, you know, we’ve had a great time working together is how you really tailor for the custom manufacturer. And that’s a lot of times what we preach about and like Greg, Miss, you were talking about that last week in his program, and we had Brian back two weeks ago, you know, we’re talking about that port, not as user report, but the custom manufacturer feels a little bit left out of that e commerce party, where they don’t have that finished good, the proprietary product that they can easily put on for e commerce.

What I love about Alibaba is it opens a door for that custom manufacturer. Can you just talk about that for a little bit about, you know, if I’m a custom manufacturer, and in your survey, you know, this is this is pretty powerful. 75% of all manufacturers are 20 employees or less. Yeah, they typically don’t have a marketer on staff. They didn’t have ecommerce didn’t really have a need for it. How do you talk to that 20 Personal last custom manufacturer on how Alibaba is a solution for them to get into this e commerce party?

 

Kate Anderson  15:06

Well, I think the thing about joining a marketplace is that the traffic is already there. And people can join the marketplace and set up their storefront. And, you know, whatever it is you’re selling, there’s someone looking for something like that.

And then we have tools like request for quotation, where so where a buyer can be very specific about what they’re looking for. And then sellers can actually respond to that. So, you know, people have prototypes, and you know, they are wanting to invent something, we sort of can connect the inventor with the with the person that can actually make it a reality and build those products.

 

Curt Anderson  15:48

So you play, it’s a perfect matchmaking opportunity. So again, so that manufacturer out there, again, we’re talking to that custom manufacturer that doesn’t have that finished good or proprietary product, if they they can promote. So they’re say, if they’re not familiar with, you know, how the Alibaba platform works, you can be promoting your proprietary process your services. So in our SEO language, they can be using their their capabilities, which to us are, you know, their key words. So there’s a lot of opportunities within that the Alibaba platform that they can take advantage of.

 

Kate Anderson  16:21

Yeah, absolutely. And in addition to that organic, there’s, we have tools for buying keywords. So if there’s a specific keyword you want to target on the platform, you can actually buy those that buy that traffic.

 

Damon Pistulka  16:35

Yeah. And that’s one thing

 

Kate Anderson  16:38

shall keywords that fit, you know, that are very close to what you’re selling, you can, you know, make some progress there in terms of getting in front of the rate. More, right audience buyers with the intent thing you’re looking for.

 

Damon Pistulka  16:52

Yeah, and you mentioned a K two and I don’t think that enough, manufacturers understand that it’s not a week you build it, and they will come I mean, getting traffic is, is you went over pretty click quickly. But I think that’s the true benefit of an Alibaba kind of platform, just because the traffic is there. And the traffic looking for specific custom manufactured products, as Kurt was alluding to.

 

Kate Anderson  17:19

Yes. And we have 16 million active buyers on the platform.

 

Curt Anderson  17:27

Wait, can you say that, again, I didn’t hear

 

Kate Anderson  17:29

16 million active buyers on the platform,

 

Curt Anderson  17:33

by looking for anything and everything. And again, for the manufacturer out there, odds are they’re looking for either a product or a service that that you provide. And what’s great, Kate, so um, you know, Steven Leto is with us today. So Steve and I were working with a phenomenal company called voice Express. And they have a great technology product. And they’re an active user with Alibaba. And so what they’re doing is they’re taking their their marketing strategy where they’ve put the Alibaba button under eat on their website, driving traffic from their website to Alibaba.

And you’re like, Well, wait a minute, if I’m on the website, why would I do that? Well, if somebody is versed and more comfortable on Alibaba, it’s that opportunity again, Greg Michoud likes to preach that know, like and trust. So if somebody feels more comfortable in Alibaba, we’re driving traffic from the website to Alibaba. And vice versa. They’ve done a really nice job building out their webstore, on Alibaba, to pull traffic into their website. So we’re kind of making it a two way street, which again, I think that’s new to a lot of people. Are you are you hearing the same thing?

 

Kate Anderson  18:37

Yeah, a lot of folks will have had their own e commerce site and beyond the marketplace. But yes, we do have sellers that will just you come to their website, and they just direct you directly to their own storefront on alibaba.com. They want to focus all the traffic there.

 

Curt Anderson  18:53

Perfect. So well. Great. I wanted to I wanted to touch on that. That custom manufacturer, I just feel so important. such an important part of our program. So if you want to get back now I see. I sit Damon, I have to give a little shameless, shameless shout out here. I see. Kate has the Forbes article. And just so everybody knows the president of Alibaba gave our little program here a little shout out in Forbes. So even though we’re brand new program, we got a shout out in Forbes Damon, how’s that?

 

Damon Pistulka  19:19

Yeah, yeah.

 

Kate Anderson  19:20

Yeah, yeah, you’re quoted in this article. I just wanted to highlight it. to sort of give everyone an example of a business that went digital during COVID bednarik Studios, they’re based in Brooklyn Navy Yard, and you know, they make custom installations for in person events and retail. So obviously, they were hit very hard by the shutdowns. And then they quickly pivoted to actually got a contract from the city to make face shields and dividers for taxicabs.

But what this did was it made Michael bednarik here, the founder of bednarek. Studios realized like he needed to go digital. So he quickly set up a new website, he set up all his social media accounts and a scheduling app didn’t have these before, before COVID. And then literally within eight days, he was getting 300 orders a week, online. So just, you know, an example of how digitization can really benefit manufacturers.

 

Curt Anderson  20:20

And I had the privilege of I met Michael back in October, and Damon is 70% down, is what his business was hit. And he did amazing. If you go to his website, he did amazing work around the city around Manhattan, Brooklyn, all sorts of event fixtures and what have you, cutting edge business, super exciting.

Also in COVID hits and just you know, he runs right into a wall. And what an incredible, relentless, inspiring entrepreneur, he is, he just said, turns a ship around, punches into, you know, the safety products, is she said in the cabs, and just you know, just kept moving forward, kept moving forward, didn’t feel sorry for himself just kept, you know, just incredibly inspiring story. Great. Thanks for sharing that with Kate.

 

Kate Anderson  21:07

Yeah, and like I said, going digital, you know, can be a lot of things, it can be setting up your social media accounts to reach new customers like a scheduling app. These are the sort of different technologies that that manufacturers are starting to adopt. And just really quickly, and we focus a lot on like selling on alibaba.com and reaching a global audience. But we have lots of tools for sourcing as well. online payment protection, financing logistics, we can get you end to end order something and then have it delivered to your business.

And these are just some of the numbers I was talking about before. So huge amount of supply on the platform 160,000 Global suppliers. It’s not just Chinese supply, it’s from all over the place. We have 60 million active buyers across multiple industries in these buyers are in 190 different countries. And this is really interesting. These 16 million buyers and 300,000 inquiries every day to suppliers. So they’re not visiting the site. They’re interacting with the suppliers.

 

Curt Anderson  22:14

I’m sorry, how many

 

Kate Anderson  22:16

300,000 a day.

 

Curt Anderson  22:19

That is crazy. That’s and I want to back up one second. You mentioned financing for folks that might be new to a lot of people. Can you just touch base on the Alibaba financing? What is that?

 

Kate Anderson  22:30

Well, we have a tool called payment. payment terms will prove assurance is our purchase protection. So this is sort of, for you know, I’m transacting online, I don’t know this supplier, you know, I haven’t been I can’t go drive down the street and check, check them out, check out the factory trade assurance helps protect the purchase between the buyer and the seller. So that’s one piece that we have on the in the finance area. We have payment terms, which certain suppliers will offer 60 day invoicing.

So once you receive the invoice, you’ll have 60 days to pay, which is really a boon for cash flow for small business. Absolutely, absolutely. And as I mentioned, we have freight solutions. So we have sort of, you can instantly compare quotes from 12 different providers when you’re sourcing on the platform, which is amazing. So we’re not just a you know, we’re not just listing suppliers, we’re actually giving you the tools to transact with them in the digital space.

 

Damon Pistulka  23:32

Now, Kate, is this. Is this just for us to companies outside the US? Or is this also for us to us customers?

 

Kate Anderson  23:42

This is this is on for us customers from overseas. Okay, us to global okay. Or to outside of us? Okay. Yeah, and these are just some of the like selling tools on the platform. As I mentioned, you get a storefront if you’re selling on the platform, with, you know, product listings, and you can optimize these, we actually did one of our digitization sprint classes on this, how to get the best photography, the best copy descriptions to really make your product shine online. And you know, the more people click on it, the more you’re going to go to the top of the search rankings.

So very detailed product listings, which is really important for manufacturer when these things are highly customized, and not off the shelf, you want to really be able to describe your products in depth. As I mentioned, we have the keyword advertising tools like so marketing tools are built right into the platform. You can buy keywords for the buyers that are they’re most likely to convert, and again, get to the top of those search rankings on the platform. We have detailed company profiles, so you know if you can’t meet in person, you don’t have a storefront. You can really go into detail about your business and how long how long you’ve been in business.

 

Curt Anderson  24:57

So Kate again, so that custom manufacturer out there They’re that, you know, maybe they have a poor web presence or, you know, website from, you know, way back, it just wasn’t a priority this in so it gets a little daunting where I need to put up a website, the hosting, I want to get e commerce, the SSL certificate, all that whole rigmarole. This is an opportunity that Alibaba offers that one stop shop, that that you can create that web presence that will website the web experience. And and they can actually be marketing this to their customers to go to our Alibaba store to check out what we have going on.

 

Kate Anderson  25:32

correct? That is correct. Yep. Perfect, very turnkey.

 

Curt Anderson  25:36

Very turnkey. And one last thing I just want to touch on that you mentioned, pay per click. So we have marketers that are with us, you know. So you know, they’re probably well versed on, you know, Google Ads pay per click, can you just touch on? So if it’s new for any of the manufacturers or somebody that that’s new to what I just explained what that pay per click model? Or how do they bid? What does that mean bidding on those keywords.

 

Kate Anderson  25:58

So if you’re selling this, for example, karmic seed is selling bamboo plates, disposable plates, so you might buy a keyword for eco friendly dining were. So you know, just tying those specific search terms to what you’re selling is a capability that we offer on the platform.

 

Curt Anderson  26:23

And so it’s twofold. So when someone’s doing a search on Alibaba, because basically, you know, Alibaba is a giant, you know, as a trade show is a, you know, virtual trade show. And like Damon was talking about, I remember back in the day, you know, going overseas and trying to hit a bunch of different vendors or different trade shows where now you’re going to send the comfort of your home and find the same vendors.

So this is a great opportunity to create that. So those key words, they can do a search within Alibaba, in secondly, Alibaba been, you know, one of the largest websites in the planet. You’re attacking searches, you know, Google, what have you. So those same niche products could be coming up on a Google search in their, their Alibaba store would be found? Correct? Correct. Awesome. Yeah, that’s great. So there’s multiple benefits there.

 

Kate Anderson  27:08

Yeah. And as I talked about, sort of these communication tools, we do have real time translation and messaging. So if you want to get more details from a supplier, you want to negotiate the tools are there to message right on the platform. And I think I mentioned the request for quotation, which I think is really valuable for these custom manufacturers, they can actually respond to specific buyers requests, and have access to those real time translation, I think it’s up to 17 languages.

So you know, global by global by global cell, making it easier for you to transact online, even if there’s a language barrier. Finally, I encourage everyone to visit alibaba.com slash build up. This is where we host all of our b2b today content, which is resources for us small businesses, case studies, tips, new product rollouts, profiles of our successful buyers and sellers and what they’ve gotten from the platform. So definitely check it out and subscribe to our newsletter, you’ll get all the up to date news of what we’re doing@alibaba.com in North America.

 

Damon Pistulka  28:23

Very cool.

 

Curt Anderson  28:24

That’s phenomenal. One last thing that I want to cover real quick as you touch on that RF Q. And again, as you can tell, we’re just really singing loud and clear to the custom manufacturer, right? So again, that that’s a great opportunity where, you know, they don’t have that proprietary product, a customer that ideal customer can land on the Alibaba store, and they can engage because they see the keywords, they see the processes, those so there’s a you can basically create your own little website on Alibaba.

And when they land there, there is an opportunity I’m not it’s not a transaction where I’m making a purchase, but I can gauge with you with that RF Q. Come in the RFU goes directly to the customer. Right. Yes. In and that’s phenomenal. There’s no and there’s no your pricing model, there’s no commission taken out there’s no it’s just it’s part of your pain for those personal and it’s 100 so that that sales 100% yours and I think again, as I’ve been talking a lot of different manufacturers, they’re getting really excited when they hear about the benefits that Alibaba offers in that capacity.

 

Kate Anderson  29:31

Kurt i think you know more than I do.

 

Curt Anderson  29:34

Kick That’s impossible. So, Kate, last question for you. We’re coming we’re right at time. We want to be respectful of everybody’s Friday here and it again is our last for our last program of 2020. I might get a little choked up in my wrote my dear cousin are nice. I’m not sure Kate Anderson is here with us. Kate if you’re talking to that small business owner, did you know this digital footprint is brand new 2020 has been a little You know, rough on them, trade shows are gone, you know, in person trade shows their sales reps can’t go on the road. What advice? Do you tell those manufacturers to kind of help get through for 20? You know, what are you telling them for 2021?

 

Kate Anderson  30:14

I think I mean, I’m going to keep beating the drum of go digital, and start dipping a toe in it, whether it’s just setting up your social media accounts to connect with your customers that way. You know, coming to marketplaces, virtual trade shows, I think there’s lots of ways that businesses can accelerate their growth in 2021, despite, despite the ongoing COVID shut down.

And hopefully, there’s light at the end of the tunnel and 2021. But one thing I have to say, of all the businesses that I’ve talked to this year, is the incredible, like Michael Bednarz, just one example of dozens that I’ve talked to this year, they’re incredibly resilient, they’re incredibly positive, they’re incredibly creative. And, yeah, you know, we’re just one tool in the toolbox of the things these folks are doing to, to forge forward and grow their business no matter what.

 

Curt Anderson  31:16

Absolutely not, you know, Dave and I, we talked to a lot of different companies around the country, or I do work with like the manufacturing, extension partnerships and talk to a lot of different folks there. And you’re hitting that spot on that resiliency of the US manufacturers, the entrepreneurs is just so inspiring.

And again, like Michael, that was a man, like, I was on the panel with the president of Alibaba, john Kaplan, and in Michael that day, and like, it was like, it was like, how did not get choked up to hear his story, down 70%, you know, just came to a screeching halt, I have a client that I’m working with up near Damon’s way, you know, 60% down, you know, just came out of nowhere, they, you know, no fault of their own, they had everything in place, they have just a killer 2020 in life change, world change, and nobody stopped.

He just kept plowing forward. And you know, that’s what the great thing about Alibaba is just going out getting these stories, working with these entrepreneurs to turn the ship around.

And you know, what a great platform and a great solution that you offer Kate, and I, and again, I can’t think of anybody better than Kate Anderson, for Alibaba, to have recruited to get this whole initiative. And a lot of folks didn’t realize that Alibaba was available here in the States. And it’s so you know, relatively new, and just started in 2019. And also in 2020 happens. And so you and your team have done an amazing job of getting that message out there. So what’s a highlight for Alibaba for 21. I know probably more the same, but anything that you want to share with the folks that we’re going to expect from Alibaba for next year.

 

Kate Anderson  32:49

We want to keep onboarding new US businesses onto the platform like both from out of selling and a sourcing perspective. And, you know, I think we’ll be doing more online, sort of feature category features, we did our online trade shows in the fall, featuring like us food and beverage manufacturers, featuring us, health and beauty. We did one, supplements and nutrition. So I think we’ll be having more of those categories, specific big events, to drive traffic and to mentally do the matching with the buyers and the sellers. Now, that’s

 

Damon Pistulka  33:28

great. Because as hard as it’s been for manufacturers this year, with the digitization, as you said, inevitably, though, really, this is something that’s been happening, it just was the it was accelerated so much by COVID. And I think as painful as it is, manufacturers are gonna come out of it better because of it. Yeah, you know, they did have to dig down deep and figure out different ways. But just like the examples you’ve shown, that is going to carry on in the future that not only be a matter of survival today, but a matter of how they’re going to thrive tomorrow. Yeah.

 

Curt Anderson  34:04

Absolutely. And then Steven Leto from the New York fuse hub, MEP, he just asked, Is there a calendar of the virtual events on Alibaba? So, Steve, so I know I let me chop. There’s a link right there. So there’s a link to Kate’s LinkedIn profile, there’s a link to the digital sprint. So there’s, there’s one left, it’s this Tuesday. And that wraps up it was an eight course event. And if you go to Alibaba b2b tuesdays@alibaba.com,

 

Kate Anderson  34:34

slash build up, or the play have information on there, as we roll out these virtual events, you can subscribe to our newsletter there and we’ll be making announcements as soon as we finalize the dates. Perfect. And I know you do a great job on b2b Tuesdays. I

 

Curt Anderson  34:52

think Allison just did a spot for you last week or week before she did

 

Kate Anderson  34:56

wrote an article. Yeah, it’s a Tod Of course. As well, really awesome.

 

Curt Anderson  35:02

Yep, she is. She is phenomenal night. And from what I hear everybody just absolutely adored it. Everybody loves Allison. So that was that was phenomenal.

 

Kate Anderson  35:11

So we definitely are taking submissions from people that have something to say to the US, b2b SMB audience, so definitely contact me love to collaborate and partner on that kind of stuff. Awesome.

 

Curt Anderson  35:25

Perfect. So what we’re going to do kind of breaks my heart, Damon, it’s our last one of the year. So, Kate, thank you. Thank

 

Damon Pistulka  35:33

you. Thank

 

Curt Anderson  35:33

you What an honor and privilege it’s been working with you this year. I’m looking forward to a great 2021 and Damon, brother, my hearts out to you. My hat’s off to you. Thank you for making this trip through this show. It’s been a great, great run. And so I just want to wish everybody an incredible, amazing, safe, wonderful holiday season. Happy New Year. Let’s keep in touch on LinkedIn. And

e have a great series coming up for you. Right after the holidays. We are hooked up with incredible speakers right up through March. So we’re gonna keep this rolling. So everybody, we’re gonna head over to the tables, please come over and introduce yourselves to Kate. She would love to meet you and hear what you have going on. Everybody on LinkedIn live and out there. Thank you, Damon. Thank you, Kate. Thank you and happy holidays. Thanks. Like,

 

Kate Anderson  36:22

this is a lot of fun.

 

Damon Pistulka  36:23

Thank you. Awesome, Kate. We’re gonna go off on LinkedIn live for those people listening there. And back to the tables on Remo. All right.

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