Office Depot partners with Alibaba to gain e-commerce leverage

Time：2019-03-05 14:30:22    Share：

U.S.-based Office Depot has announced a strategic partnership with the Alibaba group, a Chinese company specializing in e-commerce, retail, Internet and technology.

The collaboration offers Alibaba access to Office Depot’s more than 10 million U.S. business customers, while giving Office Depot access to Alibaba’s global network of more 150,000 suppliers, its catalog of product listings and manufacturing capabilities, and an end-to-end technology platform.

“Leveraging Office Depot’s trusted brand, local presence, and national supply chain distribution network with Alibaba’s global supplier network and well-known capabilities, U.S. businesses can now access a wide array of products and services through Office Depot and Alibaba.com’s collaboration,” said John Caplan, head of North America B2B at Alibaba Group.

The two companies are launching a co-branded online store, as well as collaborating on revamped customer support, distribution and fulfillment options. American businesses will have access to a new sales channel to sell products globally through Alibaba.com.

The companies say the goal of this collaboration is to empower U.S. small- and medium-sized businesses to grow by tapping into the global B2B e-commerce marketplace, valued at $23.9 trillion by the U.S. International Trade Commission.

Analysts say the partnership could help Office Depot to better compete with Amazon , which also has been targeting small business customers.