Ali Express,” an overseas direct purchase platform of China’s Alibaba Group, is showing explosive growth in the Korean market. Extensive marketing with actor Ma Dong-seok at the forefront and unconventional prices captured the hearts of men in their 40s, surpassing domestic e-commerce platforms such as Timon and WeMakePrice.
According to Wise App, Retail, and Goods, a domestic application and retail analysis service, on the 8th, Ali Express was selected as the app with the largest increase in the number of users compared to the same month of the previous year among domestic general shopping mall apps in July of this year.
The number of users of Ali Express, which was only 2.61 million in July last year, was counted at 4.76 million in July this year. This is an increase of about 2.15 million in one year.
This ranks fourth in Korea following ▷Coupang (29.08 million people), ▷11th Street (9.04 million people), and ▷G Market (6.36 million people)스포츠토토. It is higher than ▷Tmon (3.87 million) ▷WeMakePrice (3.51 million) ▷Auction (3.22 million).
The explosive growth of AliExpress is thanks to male users in their 40s. The proportion of people in their 40s in AliExpress is 26%. In addition, compared to competing platforms, the proportion of male users is exceptionally high. In the case of Tmon, male users accounted for 41%, WeMakePrice 38%, and Auction 52%, while Ali Express accounted for a whopping 60% male users. As if to support this, most of the community reviews related to AliExpress were about IT devices and golf-related products that men are relatively interested in, such as golf clothes and golf equipment, headsets, and chargers .
Ali Express is a so-called ‘direct purchase mall’ that sells products produced and sold in China to overseas users. It is expanding its influence by providing services not only in Korea but also in Russia and South America.
Users are rapidly increasing in terms of providing products at low prices, but complaints about the products are also continuing. It is known that there are not a few cases where the product description and the actual product condition are too different or defective, to the extent that some online communities even joked that “If you order 10, 7 are a waste of money.” In February of last year, it was designated as a ‘notorious market for counterfeiting and piracy in 2021’ by the US Trade Representative, and was also stigmatized as a ‘fake marketplace’.