Companies
27/05/2024

Alibaba's Global Subsidiary Arm Appoints David Beckham As Global Brand Ambassador For e-Commerce Business




The commercial subsidiary of Alibaba said on Monday that football player David Beckham will serve as a brand ambassador for AliExpress, the company's worldwide e-commerce platform, in the largest global relationship to date.
 
The agreement is made against the backdrop of the fast worldwide development of online fashion startup Shein and competitor China-based PDD Holdings' Temu, the latter of which also ran ads during the Super Bowl to attract American consumers.
 
The UEFA European football tournament, which begins in mid-June, will be sponsored by AliExpress and numerous other Chinese corporations. The amount that AliExpress paid Beckham to serve as its worldwide brand ambassador was not disclosed.
 
The firm released a statement saying, "AliExpress is investing millions of Euros in discounts, deals, and engagement during the games." It also mentioned that one of the planned promotions would be giving AliExpress app users the opportunity to win game tickets.
 
In his lone remark in the press release, Beckham said, "AliExpress is helping fans get even closer to UEFA EURO 2024TM this summer, by offering them great prizes as the action takes place on the pitch."
 
In its most recent report, DRJB Holdings, Beckham's firm, stated that its revenue for 2022 was 72.6 million pounds, or $92.5 million.
 
Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group is the name of Alibaba's global e-commerce division, which encompasses AliExpress.
 
In the first three months of 2024, the foreign unit's revenues increased by 45% year over year to 27.45 billion yuan ($3.79 billion). This is in contrast to Taobao and Tmall Group, which focus on China, which had a 4% increase in income during that period to 93.22 billion yuan, according to Alibaba.
 
The foreign business segment did, however, post higher losses than the previous year—4.1 billion yuan as opposed to 2.2 billion yuan.
 
Jiang Fan, co-chairman and CEO of the international unit, stated during an earnings call earlier this month that the company "made aggressive investments" in the Middle East and other emerging regions in the first three months of the year.
 
According to AliExpress, it spent over $7 million in South Korea in 2022 to entice local customers with cheaper product pricing. Actor Don Lee became AliExpress's first brand ambassador in South Korea last year.
 
Amidst slowing growth at home, several Chinese corporations have also stepped up their efforts to expand abroad.
 
Chinese companies that are sponsors of UEFA Euro 2024 are electric vehicle manufacturer BYD, home appliance brand Hisense, smartphone maker Vivo, and Alibaba affiliate Alipay.
 
In 2016, Hisense ended up being the first Chinese sponsor of the European championship. Following that, three more Chinese companies formed alliances to participate in the 2020 games.
 
(Source:www.deccanherald.com)

Christopher J. Mitchell
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