Alibaba Launches E-Commerce Platform Miravia in Spain
Earlier this month, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba was reported to be officially launching Miravia, a new e-commerce platform for the Spanish market. A source close to the company confirmed this news in a report by Jiemian News on November 30.
The individual added that Miravia, which will be unveiled in Spain on December 1, is operated independently, and that the platform features mainly Spanish and European brands. Miravia, AliExpress and Lazada are three independent e-commerce platforms under Alibaba. Lazada focuses on Southeast Asia, while AliExpress focuses on global cross-border e-commerce.
As early as October, some merchants received invitations to join the new platform. In communication with merchants, Alibaba said that it would be a brand-new independent e-commerce platform for the European market, mainly targeting opportunities in the business-to-consumer sector. In the early stages, major brands from various industries on AliExpress have been invited to join the new platform, and in the short term, only invited merchants can join.
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According to information from Singapore’s Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA), the registered address of Arise Operating E-Commerce Private Limited, the operating entity of Miravia, is in the Lazada One headquarters building in the center of Bras Basah, Singapore. In other words, Lazada is supporting the new platform.
Miravia aims at the middle and high-end local market. The platform now displays a series of brands on its digital shelves, including Lego, OPPO, CUPSHE and other well-known brands in China and abroad, covering women’s clothing, beauty, home, food, healthcare, cleaning and other categories, and most of the products are marked as “official stores.” The platform is still in the initial stages of rollout, and is providing new users with promotional activities such as first order discounts, free delivery of goods exceeding 10 euros ($10.36), free returns within 30 days, and other services.
On November 17, Alibaba released its financial report for the third quarter of 2022, showing that its commercial revenue in China was 135.4 billion yuan ($18.9 billion), a year-on-year decrease of 1%. In addition, the company posted a net loss of 22.5 billion yuan including share-based compensation, investment losses, and asset impairments.
However, Alibaba‘s international retail revenue in the third quarter reached 15.7 billion yuan, up 4% year-on-year. Under the current market situation, this performance exceeded expectations. Overseas markets are becoming increasingly important to the company at present.
It is no wonder that Alibaba has made frequent overseas moves in recent years. According to media reports, Lazada is expanding in Europe, which will challenge local and US competitors such as Amazon and Zalando. James Dong, CEO of Lazada Group, confirmed the news in a media interview, but said the specific plan will depend on macroeconomic and market conditions.
Chinese companies are now facing fierce competition in the field of overseas e-commerce. Fast fashion unicorn SHEIN won a valuation of $100 billion, while ByteDance’s TikTok disclosed that its e-commerce gross merchandise volume exceeded $1 billion in the first half of 2022. Finally, Temu, a North American e-commerce platform launched by Pinduoduo in September, has frequently topped app download lists.
