TOKYO: Japan’s third largest online retailer Yahoo Japan Co jumped the most in two months in Tokyo trading here the other day after the company said it will team up with Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding to expand in the world’s second largest economy.
Yahoo Japan’s share surged 11.7 percent to 556 yen (US$4.5) yesterday, the highest closing price since March 31, lifting its market value to 3.2 trillion yen.
Daniel Zhang, Alibaba’s chief executive officer, said the two companies will launch a “Japanese Pavilion” on the Tmall website boasting 350 million users. They will sell 100 brands including premium cosmetics, baby products and other household items, and aim to lift the number to 600 in three years.
“The rising popularity of Japanese goods in China is creating an opportunity to expand for domestic merchants. We see the cross-border e-commerce as a growing market,” Yahoo Japan said in a statement.
The tie-up is set to start in the summer, and Japanese companies will enjoy a preferential policy of paying only one-fifth the usual initial costs for selling products on Tmall under the cooperation, the Nikkei newspaper reported.
China’s e-commerce market is estimated at 2.5 trillion yuan (US$403 billion), five times the size of the Japanese market, said iResearch, a market research firm.
Alibaba controls more than 60 percent of the market, according to iResearch.
