Alibaba`s `New Retail`: Integrating Online, Offline, Logistics, and Data across a Single Value Chain

Based in Hangzhou, China, Alibaba was founded in 1999 by Jack Ma and Peng Lei. Alibaba owned and operated a diverse array of businesses around the world in numerous sectors, specializing in e-commerce, retail, the Internet, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and technology. Alibaba’s initial public offering in September 2014, was the largest IPO ever on US markets, raising US$25 billion. The company’s vision, outlined on its website, “from the outset, the company’s founders shared a belief that the Internet would level the playing field by enabling small enterprises to leverage innovation and technology to grow and compete more effectively in the domestic and global economies,” clearly indicated the power and potential of the Internet as a medium for trade and business. ..