Alibaba.com seeks expansion with first US acquisition

Alibaba.com, the flagship e-commerce brand under Alibaba Group, will gain access to more than 80 thousand small businesses in the US.

This new addition to the company will benefit US companies sourcing from Alibaba.com and AliExpress (the subsidiary wholesale transaction platform). Customers will be able to access AliExpress products via Vendio, and buy and sell through Vendio around the world.

This marks Alibaba's first acquisition in the US. The development is part of a US$100 million investment plan that Alibaba.com has for AliExpress

"The connection of Vendio with Alibaba.com will completely integrate the e-commerce value chain between the B2B and B2C platforms, fully realising the B2B2C model," said David Wei, CEO of Alibaba.com. The Vendio deal is expected to be completed by next month. Vendio will retain their name and management of the business.

Current chief operation officer of Vendio Mike Effle will assume the role as CEO, and current CEO Rodrigo Sales will take on a strategic advisor position at the company.

Vendio's current clients include eBay, Amazon and their own Vendio supported stores. The platform is based on a cloud-computing model (software as a service) to help businesses increase their sales while managing costs to enhance their profit margin.