Jack Ma (Alibaba Billionaire) nails it

[matt621]

“The reason we win in e-commerce in China is because the infrastructure of commerce in China was too bad. Why e-commerce in the U.S. is not that good is because the infrastructure of commerce was so good, that e-commerce is a supplement,” he explained. “In U.S., e-commerce is a dessert. In China, it’s a main course.”

Jack Ma

[wired.com...]

my translation:

In the US we are all about rules and regulation. We spend more time on that then we do actually running our businesses.

This is what I meant when I said "we are busy chasing the train and not the people" when I was posting about Google SEO in another thread. We spend too much time taking Google into consideration rather than considering our customers.

And as I said, I completely ignored Google SEO for the first 12 years of our sites existance. However Google's, changes which do not take into consideration how people actually use a website, have forced me now to kiss the Google ring. But not quite. In fact I'm not going to do it. I'll address the issues that I have found, but I'm going back to making my site the best I can for our customers and to hell with Google. I spend $2500/month on adwords and I think I can do better with my money.

Thank you Jack.

[bill]

I've been using Alibaba for many years now. It's really not that good of a system. In fact, compared to something like Amazon it's downright primitive in terms of the technology of the site.

Alibaba and other inferior technology succeeds in China because the populace has been kept in the dark and doesn't know there are better offerings out there. They're using the best they can access.

[engine]

I don't think it's possible to compare the fruit of apples with oranges in this case. Alibaba's main market is entirely different to much of the rest of the World, and much of the rest of the globe is restricted in that sector.

[matt621]

I agree. Alibaba is for suppliers in china to match up with importers outside china, and for that, I think they do a good job.

[toidi]

IMHO, he was referring to how easy it is for americans to get in one of their cars and drive to any number of retail stores to get a product versus getting it online.

I have been online since 95 and shop online all the time, but if I can drive a couple of miles down a smooth paved road listening to satellite radio in my air conditioned car to the store of my choice and when I get there, I have a choice of products that I can hold in my hand and physically examine, I will drive vs going online.

China doesn't have the road system the us has which holds back brick and mortar stores from opening. A lack of stores and a lack of roads and a lack of cars has got to be a huge boost for ecommerce.

[matt621]

I have been online since 95 and shop online all the time, but if I can drive a couple of miles down a smooth paved road listening to satellite radio in my air conditioned car to the store of my choice and when I get there, I have a choice of products that I can hold in my hand and physically examine, I will drive vs going online.

That may be true for you, but it's not true for the future. If what you said was the mainstay there would be no Ebay, no Amazon, no Overstock, no Dell, no AOL (who bought Time Warner remember), etc.

Let's see, gas at $4/gal or a click of a mouse? Which makes more sense to you? Oh wait I already know your answer, so to anyone else, which makes more sense? Driving from place to place to get your items or clicking from place to place?

(Geez, it looks like I hijacked my own thread. :) )

[RedBar]

gas at $4/gal

You should be so lucky, $9+/gal in the UK:-((

[matt621]

We've got Texas and Alaska, and fracking. That's the difference in price.

[matt621]

To get back on thread,

The reason we win in e-commerce

Ma was specifically talking about e-commerce, not roads and bridges.

[matt621]

Steve Wynn Concurs:

Wynn continues to praise the business climate in China compared to the United States: "The regulatory burden in China is infinitesimal compared to the crap we get in America."

[cnbc.com...]

That's what Ma is talking about.

[EditorialGuy]

Is Webmaster World having a database hiccup, or was this thread posted in the wrong forum on purpose?

[toidi]

Ma was specifically talking about e-commerce, not roads and bridges.

According to this quote he is talking specifically about the infrastructure of commerce. Unless he doesn't know the difference between ecommerce and commerce, he is talking about roads. He even goes on to say that ecommerce in the US is a supplement to commerce because the infrastructure for commerce is so good.

“The reason we win in e-commerce in China is because the infrastructure of commerce in China was too bad. Why e-commerce in the U.S. is not that good is because the infrastructure of commerce was so good, that e-commerce is a supplement,” he explained. “In U.S., e-commerce is a dessert. In China, it’s a main course.”

I am not alone in my shopping habits. I have never seen the parking lots at walmart, lowes, or any of the countless strip malls empty, except when they are closed. Apparently, there are a lot of people (every women I have ever known) who like to physically shop instead of just buying online and it is too easy to go shopping in the us.

I live in a resort town and the #1 entertainment choice for vacationers is shopping. Americans like to shop. Ecommerce will never compete with that regardless of gas prices, which by the way also affect ecommerce delivery costs. When China's physical infrastructure reaches 1st world class, their ecommerce will start to drop off accordingly.

[matt621]

I stand corrected. I am sorry.

But I still do not believe brick and mortars will survive. Big box maybe especially for things that don't ship well, but eventually it'll all be ecommerce.