Ali Baba, did not have 40 thieves , as he was not the bad guy, the thieves were,however, Alibaba (as in China’s huge on line platform) is looking to pinch some of the European market, from the likes of eBay and Amazon.

They are opening offices in Italy, Germany and France. There have been offices in the UK for some time . They have also appointed an ex TESCO executive, and they have also appointed a President, an ex Goldman Sachs executive to develop their international markets.

Currently they have a bit of a reputation for selling ‘hookey goods’ , but the other platforms haven’t  exactly got a clean bill of health, so it is probably not that bigger deal . Now they are investing heavily to develop and consequently ‘knick’ some market share.

The other side of the coin is that they are offering opportunities to European operators to sell into China.

Is there anything to worry about? Probably, but the problems will be focused on the online players in our market. Though, there is some good news and that is a third major player in the market place , which may mean they others maybe forced to look at their terms to platform users. 

Should retailers be concerned? Everyone needs to be aware of what their competitors are doing. Initially, I cannot see it have any immediate effect. It’s a bit like have one giant market effecting the local grocer, the second one will probably take the majority of the business from the first one. If you get my drift.