Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang Yong announced strategic upgrades to the group's cloud computing business Alibaba Cloud with more technical and intelligent network input on Monday, as well as the group's online sales unit Tmall to expand its cross-border e-commerce and new retail business.
Zhang made the announcement in a letter published on Alibaba's official Weibo account on Nov 26, right after Tmall's historical 213.5 billion yuan ($30.77 billion) in sales during this year's Singles Day shopping festival. It is also the biggest move by Alibaba after Jack Ma, co-founder and chairman of the group, announced his retirement plan on Sept 10.
Alibaba chief technology officer Jeff Zhang Jianfeng will replace Simon Hu Xiaoming to serve as president of the renamed Alibaba Cloud Intelligence business group, according to the letter. Alibaba Cloud Intelligent's technical infrastructure based on cloud computing will "serve and be opened to the whole society" after the upgrade, said Zhang.
Alibaba Cloud took 47.6 percent share of China's cloud computing Infrastructure as a Service market, according to China's Public Cloud Market Report for H1 2018 released by research firm IDC this July, much higher than its rival Tencent Cloud, which grabbed a 10 percent share, reported wallsteetcn.com.
Worth noting is Tencent Cloud has also been highlighted in Tencent's restructuring plan this September. Tencent established its Cloud and Smart Industries Group by integrating Tencent Cloud, Internet plus, intelligent retail, education, medical care and security to guarantee the independence of its cloud computing service. And Alibaba's restructuring will further intensify competition between the two rivals.
According to Zhang, the current Tmall business will be upgraded to "Great Tmall", which includes three units: Tmall, Tmall Supermarket and Tmall's import and export business.
The Tmall unit will become a major battlefield of online and offline integration, focusing on digital transformation of brands.
The Tmall Supermarket will promote a new retail sales model by integrating the previous Tmall Supermarket and Taoxianda, the Taobao mobile app's fresh delivery section.
The Tmall import and export unit will realize Alibaba's promise to import $200 billion worth of goods in the next five years, Zhang said in the open letter.
In addition, the CEO announced a series of new arrangements for its logistics arm Cainiao, big data marketing platform Alimama, Alibaba Digital Media & Entertainment Group and the Alibaba AI laboratory.
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