In this post, we will focus on comparing Alibaba vs Aliexpress to find out the best platform for a Dropshipper to use! After all, most sellers in such popular web stores engage in reselling business.
It is nothing wrong to say Alibaba Aliexpress, the leading e-commerce platform in 2022! Buyers can have many options to buy their favorite item at a discounted price, yet even the sellers can benefit much!
Alibaba has more than 55% of the market share among the allover Chinese e-retail sales. As a B2B platform, Alibaba helps businesses ease wholesale purchasing. It is mainly from Asian suppliers and manufacturers, especially from China.
On the contrary, AliExpress is simply a B2C platform. It helps consumers to search for a variety of products at affordable prices. Amazon is very popular in Europe and America, whereas Aliexpress and Alibaba are more prevalent in Asia!
Many people from various nations engage in selling/buying different types of e-commerce items on these platforms. However, not all of them know that they belong to the same company that is Alibaba Group of China!
It is one of the largest e-commerce brands on the globe. This group is known to control the largest retail and wholesale market worldwide. Their headquarters are in Hangzhou, China.
The father of the group is Jack Ma or Ma Yun! Both Aliexpress and Alibaba have their own identities and personalities. They are for different purposes, target different audiences, and operate differently.
Alibaba Group also owns Alipay, Alibaba Cloud, Lazada Group, Tmall, Taobao, and Alibaba Pictures Group. It is doing well in cross-border B2B eCommerce. One of the largest B2B wholesale platforms for eCommerce products.
It spreads in more than 190 countries, with more than 10 million buyers, and 150k suppliers. More than 300k inquiries are posted on Alibaba.com to its sellers by buyers every day.
An Outlook on Alibaba
The main purpose of Alibaba is to help businesses get wholesale products from suppliers and producers all over Asia. The main reason behind its popularity is that the cheap labor in Asia and China makes the production of products a big industry. Businesses can get affordable suppliers on Alibaba.
You can find almost all kinds of products on this e-commerce platform ranging from machinery parts to custom products. The user interface design of the platform is friendly enough.
Hence, suppliers of different backgrounds can’t feel trouble using it! It has a huge customer base due to the helpful features it provides to its users. Here are some highlights;
- A buyer can get custom printing on the products.
- There are chances of negotiation or bargaining on the price of items.
- Facility to order products in bulk amounts.
- A vendor can set the minimum order number.
- Many options of payments for the businesses buyers.
A Quick Glance on AliExpress
It is best for the consumers of the products to get a variety of e-commerce products at affordable prices. Aliexpress offers many payment processes with the easy shipment of their products. A user can navigate the preform with much ease. These days, AliExpress is in the top 2 among the most popular e-commerce sites in the world. It consists of sellers from different regions, most of which belong to Asia and China. There is no minimum limit on the order requirement, and this marketplace also has a large client base of product vendors and listings.
What's the difference between Alibaba and Aliexpress?
Let us point out the fundamental differences between the two giant online shopping platforms;
1) No least number of orders in AliExpress. The primary purpose of Alibaba is to serve its business clients. Hence, there is a minimum quantity of items to order from here to support large orders.
2) You need to pay a fixed amount in the form of an annual fee for selling the products on Alibaba.com. AliExpress would not charge such fees from its sellers. Instead, it takes about 5-8% of the commission per sale of the sellers.
3) AliExpress is for online shopping for the end consumers of the products. Alibaba is for wholesale transactions among businesses.
4) A customer can ask for the custom products like the specific brand label on Alibaba. The same facility is not available in AliExpress.
5) Product shipment time is lesser in AliExpress since sellers here deal with the manufactured items. But, on Alibaba, almost all sellers are manufacturers of the product. So as per order, it will take time to produce and ship them.
6) Alibaba supports sellers from more than 200 countries to take advantage of its platform. AliExpress only allows sellers from 6 territories and countries.
7) If you are into Dropshipping, you can do it directly on AliExpress. Alibaba is not a reselling platform, but you can get bulk items for your business on any other web store from this platform.
8) You can only find ready-made products on AliExpress. Alibaba allows listings of customizable items and raw materials as well.
9) A buyer can negotiate the price of an order from the seller on Alibaba. You cannot alter the rate of items on Aliexpress.
10) Alibaba offers financing options to its buyers, whereas AliExpress does not have such a facility.
11) The shipment on Alibaba is via freight or couriers, but AliExpress ship the products using dropshipping and couriers.
12) Buyers can directly deal with the suppliers on Alibaba. So they need to check for good customer service of a supplier by looking at its reviews and ratings. No direct communication of a buyer with the seller in AliExpress.
13) Alibaba offers client support via live chat, forums, help centers, formal disputes, and complaints. AliExpress offers customer support using dispute requests and lives chat.
Is Alibaba and Aliexpress the same? What are the Similarities?
Now we are well aware of the variations in the business models of AliExpress and Alibaba. We should also know about the common facts between them so that we can come to the right decision about choosing one from them;
- A buyer can find high-quality products on both e-commerce platforms at affordable prices.
- You can also call them siblings of the same parent Alibaba Group!
- There are no limits on the options of payment methods available on both.
- Both the e-commerce platforms offer buyer protection services for payment-related services.
- It is easy to join, search for the products, and buy an item on their customer-friendly user interfaces.
- Options of Auto translation and Custom storefronts
- Both the platforms offer dispute resolution and order protection services.
Alibaba vs Aliexpress: How to Choose the Best?
Both the sites function differently, so they possess different kinds of sellers. After going through - What is the difference between Alibaba and Aliexpress? Following are some helpful tips to choose one;
- The price of a product is higher in AliExpress and fixed compared to Alibaba. A buyer can request quotes from the different sellers on Alibaba to find the right price for an item.
- If you do not want to deal with bulk orders, prefer AliExpress. So, a good choice for new resellers or small dropshipping businesses that do not want to invest more. Alibaba is one of the wholesale platforms for bulk orders.
- Alibaba is an e-commerce platform for distributors and wholesalers. AliExpress is a retail web store, so allow the dropshippers to use it to do their business.
- The price of shipping is fixed on AliExpress. In the case of Alibaba, a buyer can negotiate the shipping charges of an order from the supplier or seller. After all, the buyer needs to deal with taxes and customs.
- If you desire to build your brand for Dropshipping, you can get products with your private brand labels. It is possible in the form of custom products from Alibaba. AliExpress does not offer such facilities to its buyers!
- Alibaba offers all the business tools for the sellers with different goals for growth! One can join this platform to expand the wholesale business. By using it, you can analyze the performance of a product in the market or try luck in the international e-commerce market.
- Almost businesses of all sizes can sell on Alibaba. It is due to its user-friendly navigation platform and helpful professional features.
- AliExpress has many valuable direct integrations making it convenient for the newer merchants. It includes the businesses that would like to start as fresh with Shopify and AliExpress dropshipping.
- For newbies, Alibaba-Shopify integration can be confusing and tough to do it. One needs to learn how to use its different functions like imports and payments. In the case of AliExpress, it allows apps to integrate with Shopify for dropshipping. It is easy to set up a reselling platform using AliExpress.
- The lowest number of order requirements for buyers in Alibaba is approximately 50 pieces.
Alibaba fits well for brands looking for custom items, bigger businesses, and expert retailers. AliExpress is best for Dropshippers, Smaller-businesses, and new merchants.
The Best Alternative for Dropshippers
The best alternative to Aliexpress or Alibaba Dropshipping platforms is SaleYee! If you do not want to leave your reselling business either on Alibaba or Aliexpress, you can buy items wholesale from SaleYee. You can get products at discounted prices and resell them on such e-commerce sites or any of your web stores.
Let us have a look at some of the notable points about SaleYee behind the reason for its recommendation;
- It is a wholesale cum dropshipping platform with a worldwide presence.
- More than 14 years of experience in this field.
- Products are updated with changing trends.
- Presence of its retailers on many popular platforms like eBay and Amazon.
- Offer Free & Fast Delivery to the end customers.
- Their local warehouses are spread over more than 6.30+ k sq.m area.
- A reseller can benefit from their after-sales period service for about three months.
- They regularly organize attractive discounts and offers on various items.
- The service offers all the popular categories of e-commerce products.
- The customer support experts respond fairly fast.
- It possesses more than 30k profitable SKUs to optimize its business offerings.
Wrapping up
AliExpress and Alibaba can help one Sell with convenience and earn on a Global level. Many eCommerce businesses are successfully running because of them. They are sister brands under Alibaba group!
The buyers on Alibaba are businesses who search for the products for their business operations. They can buy finished goods to resell or order the source parts to make the final products.
AliExpress is the retail division of the Alibaba group. A cross-border B2C online eCommerce marketplace. Independent sellers can create their accounts. They can start selling their products in front of millions of worldwide buyers.
Dropshippers need to choose suitable products on AliExpress for their web store. They cannot buy them from a supplier till anyone places an order on their website. Resellers need to forward the order details to the supplier. So that, in return, the product will reach the end consumer. AliExpress is span more than 200 nations around the globe.
The ultimate choice to choose between Alibaba vs Aliexpress is totally on you!
What do you want to do?
The customer support of both the eCommerce platforms is also good! They both help you in ease of handling your Dropshipping business, but;
Why do you need to think twice before joining any of them?
- They both are one among the reliable web stores, but a user needs to take precautions every time to avoid any chances of scams or fraud.
- There is no guarantee of legitimacy of a supplier on both the e-commerce sites. So the risk is always there! A user should do thorough research before engaging with any as a security for the business. A buyer can solve the issues from the supplier with the support and guidance of AliExpress and Alibaba. They act as intermediaries between both parties.
So to avoid any hassles, you can take the help of a reliable dropshipping platform and wholesale supplier like SaleYee!
