Lessons Learned from Online Shopping Growth Online Shopping Trend | Page 14

Who is Jack Ma?

Jack Ma was born in China in 1964. He grew up with a strong interest to learn English and would eventually become an English teacher earning a US$12 a month salary.

In 1995 he travelled to the United States. During that trip, he had his first encounter with a computer and the internet. Of course, the internet was still a nascent technology in 1995 with both Amazon and eBay only launching during that year. Broadband didn’t exist and for those who remember the only way to connect to the internet was via a noisy

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Alibaba, China’s Online Shopping Mall Giant

If you believe in China’s online shopping industry growth, then you must learn about Alibaba. This e-commerce giant had very humble beginnings but is set to dominate the online shopping industry in China for many years to come. The best way to understand how Alibaba operates is to understand how a former English teacher in China called Jack Ma founded the company.

dial up modem. Legend has it Jack Ma tried to search for “beer” on the internet which yielded no results for Chinese beer. He saw an opportunity and returned to China to start an online directory service which failed miserably.

Undeterred, he tried again in 1999. He started Alibaba with a group of 17 friends from his apartment to help small Chinese exporters reach global buyers.

Jack Ma’s vision has always been to “make it easy to do business anywhere”. It is this vision which now drives Alibaba’s success.