Michael Evans, president of Alibaba Group, announced the intention of the Chinese e-commerce giant to launch its Tmall website in Europe.

During a speech at the Viva Tech conference in Paris, the head of the Asian company said that entering the European market reflects making significant adjustments to the strategy of Alibaba’s international e-commerce operations. He said that the appearance of the Tmall version of the website for Europe means that the commerce giant will serve local brands and local consumers. Michael Evans also said that the company is considering the possibility of establishing enterprises in European countries.

The president of Alibaba claims that Europe is the highest priority for all firms with an international component in their business space. He noted that this applies to international trade enterprises, cloud and logistics businesses.

Currently, the e-commerce giant is implementing a pilot project in Spain, which it intends to scale in other European countries. Preliminary forecasts regarding the prospects of this initiative state that the corresponding efforts will accelerate the growth of the company, which, even without Alibaba’s presence in the European market, demonstrates impressive dynamics.

In May, the media reported that Alibaba may be considering an initial public offering (IPO) of its e-commerce division in the United States. The company is currently in the early stages of listing consideration, but the scope of the IPO has not yet been determined. At the same time, there is no official confirmation that the e-commerce giant has these plans yet.

In March, Alibaba announced its intention to split the company’s structure into six separate parts and bring some of the new enterprises to the stock exchange. Five of the six new divisions will have their own CEOs and boards of directors. Also, enterprises will be able to attract external funds and conduct an IPO.

Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang, who is also CEO of Cloud Intelligence Group, says that the main purpose and initial meaning of the structural separation are to make the organization more flexible, reduce decision-making time and increase the speed of reaction to various circumstances.

At the same time, Taobao Tmall Commerce Group, which operates Alibaba’s trading business in China, will remain wholly owned by Alibaba. The e-commerce giant’s plan for structural separation came a month after the company reported a slowdown in growth dynamics due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Currently, there is a more positive situation in the context of this aspect.

As we have reported earlier, Alibaba Vows Historic Investment in Taobao App.