Unveiling the New Playbook for Digital Marketing & Gen Z: Learnings from AliExpress
S5E2 Influencers, Gen Z, & Beyond Social Commerce: Lessons from AliExpress with Chris Carl
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The New Playbook for Digital Marketing
Welcome to the Retail Razor Show's latest exploration into the dynamic world of digital marketing. This issue delves into the insightful conversation from the second episode of Season Five, where your podcast hosts, Ricardo Belmar and Casey Golden, engage with Christopher Carl, the US Head of Marketing for AliExpress (Alibaba Group), to discuss their groundbreaking strategies targeting Gen Z consumers and the evolution of e-commerce marketplaces.
Setting the Stage
We decided to call this episode the ‘New Playbook for Digital Marketing’ based on the amazing success Chris has delivered with AliExpress, especially in capturing Gen Z's attention, building a robust social media presence, leveraging influencers like David Beckham, and exploring the future of cross-border shopping with a full-funnel marketing strategy.
Here are a few of the successes Chris and AliExpress have achieved in just under 2 years time:
Grew order volume by 60% YOY since May 2023
Grew the US brand share of voice by more than 75% in year one
Bolstered US headcount by 400%
Increased cross-platform social media following by 500% in the US
Increased brand awareness by 100%
Intrigued yet? 🤩
We certainly were, and we are incredibly grateful to friends of the show at eTail West for making this session possible shortly after Chris’ panel session at the conference on marketing to Gen Z. Thank you, eTail!
Understanding the Gen Z Consumer
Chris shares his journey from his earliest career days in the ad industry in Germany to becoming the US Head of Marketing for AliExpress. He sheds light on the unique attributes of Gen Z consumers, particularly their openness to switching brands for better value.
According to a recent Censuswide study, more than 70% of Gen Z consumers are willing to switch brands to save money, highlighting the waning influence of brand loyalty.
Chris emphasizes the opportunity this presents for retailers to connect with Gen Z through authentic and robust marketing strategies that align with their value-driven mindset. He explains how AliExpress has successfully tapped into this demographic by focusing on diversity of product and affordability.
Innovative Marketing Strategies
Chris shares an exemplary campaign involving the UEFA soccer cup, highlighting how AliExpress capitalized on soccer's growing popularity in the US—a sport with a predominantly young fan base. By sponsoring the cup and leveraging cultural icons like David Beckham, the campaign generated half a billion impressions and significantly increased brand awareness among Gen Z audiences.
AliExpress's approach integrates a full funnel marketing strategy, utilizing social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram to reach their audience authentically. The collaborative effort with influencers, allowing them to choose the products they wish to feature, reinforces authenticity and engagement with their target demographic.
Harnessing Social Media and Influencers
The discussion pivots to social media's critical role in AliExpress's US strategy. With over 95% of Gen Z using social media for purchase inspiration, Chris explains how the company employs a channel-specific strategy to engage audiences effectively. By adopting a native channel approach, AliExpress crafts content tailored for each platform, emphasizing humor and engagement to humans brand interactions.
Chris highlights the importance of unique user-generated content and community management, fostering conversations that drive millions of impressions. He discusses the potential of live shopping as the next iteration of social commerce and how influencers play a crucial role in its success.
The Future of E-Commerce and Cross-Border Commerce
Chris elaborates on the ongoing evolution of e-commerce, with cross-border commerce continuing to thrive as a fundamental aspect of AliExpress's mission. With the launch of the AliExpress local marketplace platform and programs supporting US sellers, the company aims to provide seamless opportunities for businesses of all sizes to tap into their vast consumer base.
He foresees a continued reduction in friction through technology, enhancing the cross-border shopping experience and opening the ecosystem to global and local sellers alike.
…and there’s so much more…
As the discussion wraps up, Chris, Ricardo, and Casey reflect on the exciting potential for even greater growth with emerging technologies marketers can yet leverage to expand share with Gen Z and other demographics. They underscore the importance of innovation, authenticity, and the humanizing of brands to resonate with today's consumers.
Whether you're a product junkie, retail marketing leader, or commerce technologist, this episode of The Retail Razor Show is packed with amazing insights you won't want to miss!
Until next time, keep cutting through the clutter and stay sharp!
Sincerely,
Ricardo Belmar & Casey Golden
Co-hosts of The Retail Razor Show
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Follow along with a full episode transcript available below…
Full Episode Transcript
S5E2 The New Playbook for Digital Marketing
[00:00:00] Show Intro
[00:00:20] Ricardo Belmar: Hello, and welcome to the second episode of Season five of the Retail Razor Show. One of many podcasts in the growing Retail Razor Podcast Network where we bring you the practical knowledge you need to stay ahead in the retail world. I'm Ricardo Belmar.
[00:00:34] Casey Golden: And I am Casey Golden. Welcome to the Retail Razor, fans and followers, to retail's favorite podcast where we cut through the clutter to give you sharp insights on what's happening in retail today, and tomorrow. It's a show for product junkies, commerce technologists, retail leaders, and everyone else in retail and retail tech alike.
[00:00:53] Ricardo Belmar: Well, Casey, we are off to a fantastic start to season five just coming away from our opening episode on [00:01:00] the evolution of Retail Media with Drew Cashmore. And this week we're really squeezing the maximum amount of juice out of our podcasting fruit for our listeners and viewers on a topic we haven't circled back around to in a while.
[00:01:12] Casey Golden: Okay, like, first of all, you didn't really think I'd let you get away with that terrible fruit juicing comment in there. Did you,
[00:01:19] Ricardo Belmar: I was hopeful. I
[00:01:20] Casey Golden: are you cleansing? I'm pretty sure you said in the last episode and it's been banned.
[00:01:28] Ricardo Belmar: All right. Yeah. All right. All right.
[00:01:30] Well, I thought that one was pretty good though. I mean, you have to admit, it's better than my pop culture references from last season right?
[00:01:35] Casey Golden: I know we really gotta get you up or I don't think you're doom scrolling enough on like TikTok. ,
[00:01:41] We'll get you
[00:01:44] Ricardo Belmar: more time in my feed.
[00:01:45] Casey Golden: yeah, we gotta get you some new material here. But I will give you that. I'm not sure that's setting a high enough bar for it. So getting back on topic with for this week,
[00:01:56] Ricardo Belmar: yeah. I guess we've squeezed that one as far as it'll go.
[00:01:59] Casey Golden: oh God.[00:02:00]
[00:02:01] Ricardo Belmar: I had to try. Okay. But really we're coming back to e-commerce and marketplaces in our overall theme, this episode with a sprinkle of Gen Z marketing tactics thrown into the mix. How does that sound?
[00:02:14] Casey Golden: Yeah, I mean, and thinking about how some of our most downloaded episodes have been about the future of e-commerce and developing new strategies for digital marketing, it was about time we focused on marketing for the, for a bit.
[00:02:30] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, a hundred percent. In past episodes, we've talked about social commerce too. And social media as a tactic or strategy you should say, in general, and how Facebook, Instagram, they're probably just not cutting it like they used to in the glory days of DTC. Are they?
[00:02:42] Casey Golden: Let's just say your marketing spend doesn't go quite as far as it used to on those platforms, and now you toss in TikTok Shops, the impact of Gen AI on how consumers shop. And let's not forget about Gen Z. I mean, [00:03:00] what is it with Gen Z shoppers anyway?
[00:03:03] Ricardo Belmar: That's right. Yeah, that's right. That's right.
[00:03:04] Introducing Christopher Carl from AliExpress & His Background
[00:03:05] Ricardo Belmar: So, fortunately for us, working with our good friends over in the team at eTail West, they were kind enough to help us out here and connected us with today's guest, Christopher Carl, the US Head of Marketing for AliExpress. Now tell me Casey, have you shopped at AliExpress before?
[00:03:20] Casey Golden: No, but I have shopped with Alibaba before.
[00:03:23] Ricardo Belmar: Ah, okay. Okay. Very good. Very good. So, I have to admit, I've, I've browsed with some things there before too, and I haven't really shopped enough to, make a purchase yet. I haven't been tempted. So I think this is gonna be a really interesting conversation where we're probably both gonna learn a lot about AliExpress and some of the really interesting things they're doing there that we might've missed.
[00:03:41] Casey Golden: Yes, I think we're all going to learn quite a few interesting things about AliExpress this episode from Chris. I mean, if you just look at his background for a minute to set the stage for the conversation. Let's just read a little bit from his official bio from the eTail show. It's quite impressive. Chris [00:04:00] Carl is a strategy, operations, and marketing executive with an established track record of building multimillion dollar businesses, leading and growing cross-functional teams and developing and executing go-to market plans for agencies and brands within the retail, beauty, spirits, lifestyle, hospitality, and luxury good space. I'm already a fan. You know, you get me at Luxury Goods.
[00:04:25] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. Now a, as the first US head of marketing for AliExpress, Chris's primary goal has been to develop and deploy robust business strategies to not only help promote the brand, but also empower the American consumer. So, yeah, that's a pretty lofty, aspirational goal there. I think that's quite a, a challenge I would say for a brand like AliExpress.
[00:04:45] Casey Golden: And part of what makes this conver this, this show, this, this episode. Is gonna be so compelling. Since joining the team in May of 23, Chris has contributed to growing AliExpress order volume by [00:05:00] 60% year over year, helped grow the US brand share of voice by more than 75% in one year, and bolstered the US headcount by 400%.
[00:05:10] Ricardo Belmar: Wow.
[00:05:11] Casey Golden: The brands cross border social media following by 500% in the US and increased brand awareness by a hundred percent.
[00:05:19] Ricardo Belmar: Wow.
[00:05:19] Casey Golden: This is totally our kind of people.
[00:05:22] Ricardo Belmar: Serious, some serious accomplishments. I cannot wait to hear more from Chris and get all the juicy details on how he's done this. So what do you say we jump on into the conversation?
[00:05:33] Casey Golden: Absolutely. Let's just go. Here's our conversation with Chris Carl, US head of marketing for AliExpress on what we're calling The New Playbook for Digital Marketing.
[00:05:43] Conversation with Chris Carl, Head of US Marketing for AliExpress
[00:05:48] Ricardo Belmar: Welcome to the Retail Razor Show, Chris. We are incredibly excited to have you here today.
[00:05:53] Casey Golden: This is a real treat to have you on the show and share your knowledge and experience on what we like to call the New Playbook [00:06:00] for Digital Marketing.
[00:06:01] Ricardo Belmar: So, Chris, in our intro, we highlighted a number of tidbits from your background experience , which we picked up from the great session you participated in at eTail West ranging from some of your previous experience as well, with your current role at Ali Express now and really include some, i, I think really astounding achievements in there around increasing the brand's cross platform social media following, growing order volume by, I think it was 60% year over year. Growing US brand share of voice more than 75% in year one. I mean, these are great results. And I believe you were speaking about how to reach Gen Z consumers and how that might require some differences or nuances and different tactics and things.
[00:06:39] So obviously things are definitely going right. To be able to get results like that. So we're gonna get into that in a minute. But maybe the best way for us to start off is give us a little bit of your, your background and how you got to your current role at Ali Express.
[00:06:51] Chris Carl: Yeah. Awesome. Thank you so much for, for having me. I'm really excited to be here. Yeah, a quick background. I'm originally from, from Germany. I'm from an ad and [00:07:00]marketing family. We always talked about marketing ad campaigns. My grandfather actually worked on Madison Avenue in the sixties for jay Walter Thompson, and he always talked about his his favorite account at the time, which was Pan Am.
[00:07:13] Ricardo Belmar: Hmm. Wow.
[00:07:14] Chris Carl: worked for them, did their campaigns. He was a creative director, so he always talks about these very crazy trips that he took with them shooting ads on remote beaches in Brazil. So, that always very much, got me excited about this space.
[00:07:26] And so after graduating, I, uh, joined BBDO in, in Munich and, got to work on some really, really cool campaigns. But what really stuck with me was one project in particular where it was really, it was a go to market project for a European hospitality brand, and they were looking to enter the Swiss market. And I got to lead that, which was super fascinating. The, the whole go to market concept of bringing commercial strategy together with marketing strategy and local adaptations to a specific environment, really, really captivated me, and that kind of became the the common [00:08:00]denominator of my, of my career.
[00:08:01] So after that stint at BBDO, I was hired by a leading European influencer marketing agency. They hired me to open their US offices. So I moved to New York, brought that agency here, scaled them up over, over the course of a little over three years before I then launched my own brand in the men's grooming space.
[00:08:20] So, did the full entrepreneurial thing. Grew that brand over the course of about four years. Exited and then was tapped by Alibaba to build out the US marketing team for the consumer brand Ali Express. And so that's what the team and I have been doing over the past two years. We're growing the team, building out our, our US focused strategies and it's been an amazing ride.
[00:08:43] Casey Golden: It's a very rich history there. Thank you for sharing. I'm excited to jump into the topic and hearing more, especially after your eTail West session.
[00:08:52] Cracking the Code with Gen Z
[00:09:00] Casey Golden: So let's talk about cracking the code with Gen Z. And some marketing strategies that work. AliExpress has seen massive growth in brand awareness and engagement in the US.
[00:09:05] What marketing strategies have been like the most effective in capturing Gen Z's attention and how are they, how do they differ from traditional retail marketing approaches that many of our audience listeners are familiar with?
[00:09:20] Chris Carl: Yeah. Great. First question. So we actually did a little bit of a pulse check on the Gen Z consumer last year. We did a consumer insights report with Census Wide research company based out of the UK. And what we found out is that Gen Z customers are extremely willing to switch brands if it means that they can save some money.
[00:09:41] I think more, more than 70% of Gen Z customers are willing to switch brands. And we mentioned the eTail, the eTail panel that I was on a few weeks ago. I was on the panel with a bunch of Gen Z participants, and they all fully agreed. We talked about that point. And in particular, they were all like, yeah, I'm totally going to switch brands if it means I can [00:10:00] save some money.
[00:10:00] Right? Uh, and so, that's obviously huge, right? What does that mean for players in the retail and e-commerce space?
[00:10:07] Number one, I think it means that brand loyalty is waning. But number two, it's also a huge opportunity, right? If you have a strong value proposition and if you have a really robust marketing strategy that authentically speaks to that audience, there's a tremendous opportunity there to tap into those consumers.
[00:10:24] And that's I think something that we have done really, really well, especially over the past two years, is really stepping into that moment.
[00:10:31] Number one, our value proposition really meets the, the moment. Diversity of product and affordability is of course paramount right now. In actually a very recent Census Wide study that we did, just a couple of weeks ago, we found out that more than 60% of consumers in 2025 will focus on saving money. And they're seven times more likely to shop very intentional versus impulsive. And so that's a huge shift in consumer mindset. Obviously we've seen since the [00:11:00] pandemic a huge shift in terms of, purchasing behavior. More towards, towards saving, towards prioritizing value.
[00:11:06] But this is still getting stronger as we speak. We're in very uncertain times as we, as we all know. And so our value proposition really really meets the moment there.
[00:11:16] And then number two, in terms of marketing strategies, we have really developed a very, very integrated full funnel approach in how we engage with Gen Z.
[00:11:25] I thikn a great example of that is for instance last year, we sponsored the UEFA soccer cup.
[00:11:31] Ricardo Belmar: Hmm. Mm-hmm.
[00:11:32] Chris Carl: might ask why soccer in the US, it's a European soccer cup. But if you look at MLS and soccer in the US it's one of the fastest growing spectator sports. It's also one of the youngest, so 60% of viewers are under 35. And so when we looked at the numbers, YouGov came out with a study last year that
[00:11:50] that indicated that more than half of Gen Z consumers in the US were planning on watching the cup in the US. So that's, that's quite staggering [00:12:00] and we saw it in the, in the numbers. So if you look at the Fox ratings, they actually went up 30% compared to the 2020 cup. And soccer is now the fourth most popular sport in terms of viewership in the US.
[00:12:11] And if you drill down an age category lower, if you look teenagers, it's actually tied with baseball for number three.
[00:12:18] So you can really see that, soccer, is a phenomenal opportunity, and that is something that we wanted to leverage for these reasons. Because it's also something that we could get at a, at a price premium, at a price discount. Those media assets were, were very attractive for us.
[00:12:32] And so the campaign that we built around UEFA was really through the line, it incorporated obviously a focus on Fox, being present with our ad campaign during the pregame, during, during the halftime. But then there was a dedicated social media approach where we really focused on Instagram and TikTok which had a completely different set of hero assets, where we really wanted to speak to, to our Gen Z audience, including high intent moments like CTV that we, that we used, quite significantly.
[00:12:58] And then, I think where, where the [00:13:00] real magic happens, our ambassador was David Beckham. So we, we signed him for, uh, for that campaign. Um, obviously superstar, massive reach more than a hundred million followers across social, gave us instant credibility, instant trust, instant reach. But he was also a cultural connector, right? He, he, he embodies the, the sport of soccer.
[00:13:22] So using him to appeal to not just the European audience, but the US as well. He played for LA Galaxy. He is part owner of the of the Miami, Inter Miami. So, he has, he carries a lot of weight here in the US as well. And so that worked phenomenally in terms of assets that we created with him. And then last one not least, we added a really cool feature, which at the time was very, very novel, we call itShake and Win. So, what that means is we during this, during the soccer tournament, you were literally able to shake your Ali Express app for a chance to win millions of prizes. So every time a goal was scored
[00:13:56] Ricardo Belmar: Mm-hmm.
[00:13:57] Chris Carl: You were prompted to shake the app [00:14:00] and with a little bit of luck, you could win smartphones, computers, coffee makers, coupons and that happened every day throughout the tournament.
[00:14:07] And so that really, that, physicality of bringing the game and the shopping experience together especially something that's very rare in the digital shopping realm, is something that went absolutely viral. Word of mouth.
[00:14:21] It really boosted downloads, monthly active users shot up. So, yeah, the campaign was hugely successful.
[00:14:28] We generated close to half a billion impressions, which is really Super Bowl caliber. We shot to the number three position in terms of purchase intent among Gen Z audiences, so right after Walmart and Amazon which was huge for us, double digit
[00:14:43] Ricardo Belmar: that's impressive. Yeah.
[00:14:45] Chris Carl: brand awareness and yeah, so, if you, if you do these things right, if you do it all encompassing and everything kind of connects it can have tremendous impact. And we Ricardo, we actually just talked about it. We're currently running our March campaign
[00:14:57] Ricardo Belmar: Mm-hmm. Right. Yeah. The
[00:14:58] Chris Carl: Our express is celebrating [00:15:00] 15 years
[00:15:00] anniversary. we actually just topped the number threee most downloaded eCommerce app in the US in Google Play Store. So, clearly what we're, what we're doing now we're resonating with our audience is working for us.
[00:15:13] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, no, absolutely. I, and I, I can attest to this approach with soccer. So my, my 18-year-old, he and his friends, if you engage him in any kind of a conversation, it will always lead to something about soccer player stats, especially for all of the European soccer leagues. I mean, you could probably name any team and they'll rattle off 20 minutes worth of stats on all the top players. Definitely a moment there with appealing to soccer in it, in that, in Gen Z.
[00:15:39] Chris Carl: Who's his favorite team?
[00:15:40] Ricardo Belmar: So he has been a Barcelona fan for many, many years. And although interestingly, it was mostly because he was a Messi fan, he's sort of, followed to Inter Miami now. A little bit, but still a Barcelona fan, but, but if you ask him what his favorite league is, it would be the English Premier League.
[00:15:55] Chris Carl: Okay, cool. So he seen the Ali Express
[00:15:58] Ricardo Belmar: I probably, yeah, he probably did. [00:16:00] Yeah, no doubt.
[00:16:00] AliExpress's Social Media and Influencer Strategy
[00:16:00] Casey Golden: Is Ali Express working with a lot of influencers in the US and how do you find the right ones in such a crowded space?
[00:16:08] Chris Carl: Yeah, absolutely. Influencers are really key for us. And I think I mean obviously every brand works with influencers. It's super important. It's come a long way since, I mean, I, I, I told you earlier, 10 years ago, I brought this agency to the US and influencer marketing was the absolute wild west.
[00:16:23] You could, you could pay somebody 20 bucks and it would absolutely blow up and reach millions of people. Very different now. And I think, cutting through the clutter, Casey, to your point, like, how do you reach audiences How do you do it effectively, is a big challenge. But it's something we, we've, we've mastered quite well and it's something we've been working on over the past couple of months. For us, I think the key is really to make it not a transactional collaboration, but really a partnership.
[00:16:47] And so we've been building an internal system of how to work with influencers through our, through our own team. And at this point, we're working with thousands of influencers on a monthly basis across all different kinds [00:17:00] of product categories, whether that's tech, fashion, beauty. The interesting part for us is we let influencers sign up voluntarily onto our platform. So there's no scripted campaigns that we send their way. It's usually rooted in, they sign up on our platform and then they get to choose the products that they wanna feature.
[00:17:19] And so there are a bunch of different campaigns that they can sign up for. It's very, very geared towards what they authentically wanna talk about. And keyword being authenticity, of course, this freedom of choice to, to, Hey, I wanna, I wanna feature hair extensions, or I wanna show this scooter that really makes influencer marketing very, very successful. And that has worked extremely well for us.
[00:17:43] Secondly, I think what, what we tried to do with this platform is to make it very scalable and accessible. So whether you're a nano influencer or macro influencer, micro influencer, it's very easy to sign up. It's a very streamlined process and because of the insane [00:18:00] product depth that we have at Ali Express, there's literally something for everybody in there.
[00:18:03] So, like I said, if you're a, if you're a hair extension expert or if you're a tech geek, you're probably gonna find exactly what you're looking for and what your audience is looking for, and really meeting the creators where they are and letting them tell their story through this approach and this platform has had really significant effect on of course our GMV, but also on the influencer, they, they love it as well and so that's, that's how we approach it. And besides the GMV aspect, it's of course also a fantastic source of content for our social channels, right? I mean, UGC is of course, for the most part, the most successful type of content. And so working with these thousands of creators that authentically talk about our brand and how excited they are, that of course works very well in our organic social approach.
[00:18:49] Ricardo Belmar: That's impressive. Let's keep digging a little more into your whole social media, so maybe social commerce approach and obviously the UGC is must be a big component of that, and especially with this influencer program. One of the, [00:19:00] stats I saw as we were coming into this discussion, was how you've grown across platform social following by 500% in the US. It sounds like the influencer piece must have played a big part of that.
[00:19:12] Especially around UGC content in your overall strategy, but what, how do you look at your social strategy in general and turning that engagement into conversions after you built all of this community, particularly around Gen Z
[00:19:26] Chris Carl: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, social media is. As, as we already talked about, it's absolutely paramount for, for our strategy in the US. Over 95% of Gen Z use social media for purchase inspiration. So it's a no-brainer that social has to be on point and it has to be relevant for that audience. And so there are two main components that of course come together to make a social strategy work, and that's the channel and the, and.the content strategy.
[00:19:50] We did in fact grow social media channels by our US-based social media channels by over 500%. But we're also very honored that we're allowed to manage the global [00:20:00] social media accounts that amount to over 70 million followers globally. So huge opportunity for us as the US team to, have that dialogue with our audience, and, as it realtes to the channel strategy, we take a very native channel approach to each individual platform, so we don't for the most part, copy, paste, content across the channels or really look at what does each channel do best. So for TikTok, that's, entertainment content, that's memes, that's trend driven pieces where we try to be more of a, just another social media participant rather than a brand pushing product.
[00:20:35] Instagram is a little more aesthetically storytelling focused, where you will see a little bit more stylized product posts while still trying to stay fun and, and, and lighthearted. X is fantastic, for, for culture driven one-liners where we can be part of the conversation. But I think what's, what's really fascinating for us and what has been kind of a sleeper success, is, is Pinterest which, I think, sometimes gets neglected a little
[00:20:58] Ricardo Belmar: it gets forgotten.
[00:20:59] Chris Carl: [00:21:00] And for us, it drives millions of clicks and views per month. It's, it's a platform where people really come with high intent and inspo driven search around, home goods, fashion. And so our content strategy as it relates to Pinterest is very much creating evergreen, very shoppable posts that, that inspire people, like I said, mainly in the home and fashion, fashion category.
[00:21:22] Leveraging Social Media for Brand Growth
[00:21:22] Chris Carl: Something else that's, that's always also really top of mind for us in the social space is community management. So it's not just what we post, but also what we say. We, we don't just talk at our audience. We try to be part of conversations that are relevant, that are relevant to culture and relevant to the zeitgeist that's going on in social.
[00:21:39] And so, constantly scanning all platforms for where can we, where can we contribute, where can we be funny? Where can we maybe, pick up some, some great visibility identifying posts that are about to go viral or are going, going viral and inserting ourselves in that conversation. It's always fun to then see people being like, what's Ali doing in here?
[00:21:58] Right?
[00:21:58] It's, it, [00:22:00] it's really cool.
[00:22:00] And our team does a great job at that, and that in itself gets us millions of impressions. Just being part of these conversations.
[00:22:08] And then, always being on top of what's going on in in the social media landscape in general. It's a very dynamic space here in We conversations about new social media platforms.
[00:22:18] How do we, how do we, foster those, or leverage those changes. How do we become a first mover which would give us a massive edge if we are able to capture audiences on new platforms that are emerging. So we're always trying to stay on top of what's happening and that's what's enabled us to grow so significantly.
[00:22:33] Casey Golden: Having the brands communicate in the comment section on TikTok has been one of like my favorite moments. I just so many air high fives. I'm like, yes, thank you. Participate, and it's, it is this huge fear it traditionally, for brands, to have a voice and to come down into the comment section and to engage with customers and the average consumer.
[00:22:59] So it's, it's, [00:23:00] I've really enjoyed it, especially having, these brands like going back and forth in the comment section. I just, I love seeing it. And I'm, I'm hoping that we'll, we'll see more brands not fear having those conversations and being part of the discussion. So I think it's really great.
[00:23:15] Chris Carl: Yeah, it's super fun and it humanizes the brand too,
[00:23:17] Ricardo Belmar: Mm-hmm.
[00:23:17] Casey Golden: a hundred
[00:23:18] Chris Carl: like I said, our goal is not just to be a storefront with a catalog on Instagram. It's really, Oh, cool, AliExpress is cool!
[00:23:25] Casey Golden: Yeah,
[00:23:26] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah.
[00:23:26] Chris Carl: They're talking, they're talking to us.
[00:23:27] Casey Golden: Adding that personality. For sure.
[00:23:30] Navigating the Shifting Digital Marketing Landscape
[00:23:30] Casey Golden: This, this landscape of digital marketing. Has been, is essentially on this massive shift. And we get asked all the time, what's the new playbook? For years we've had this predictable mix with the rise of e-comm, where it's email, Facebook, Google, Instagram where you didn't really even have to think about it too much.
[00:23:49] It's just like you're dividing your dollars. These are the platforms to drive engagement and conversions, but with. In my opinion, an aging Facebook audience, [00:24:00] more and more abandoned Instagram accounts and TikTok's uncertainty for its future. The landscape is anything but stable right now. With that, that kind of in mind, you've mentioned a lot of platforms that I didn't just mention, going out onto the edges, If e-commerce brands are chasing like the next big innovation or the next social channel or social selling aspect what do you think that looks like? Being part of one of the biggest companies, tech, how do you guys approach getting ahead of the next channels? Where do you think that this is going?
[00:24:38] Has the new, has a playbook really shifted for 2025 going forward? Where we kind have to take our, what we knew before and just put it, shelve it.
[00:24:48] Chris Carl: Yeah, I don't think we have to shelve it, but yeah, you're absolutely right. There's a lot going on. And and I think there are two components to this question. If we look at innovation and innovation in the social media space and [00:25:00] changing, changing strategies there. So let's start with social. I think as I just mentioned, I, for us, it's really important to always try to be on top of all channels that are out there and how to leverage them and really meet our audience where they're at, and they're experimenting too,, right? They are also experiencing this uncertainty on the platforms And, also they're, they want to explore new platforms all the time. So whether that's people migrating from one platform to the other or a new platform pops up and to totally changes the game. Our goal is to always be part of these conversations. And that will, as long as we know where our audience is, we, we know what, we know how to engage with them.
[00:25:40] And so whether that's one platform or the other, we'll just, we'll just adapt to whatever, whatever is happening in the social media landscape.
[00:25:46] The Future of Social Commerce and Live Shopping
[00:25:48] Chris Carl: But I think one, one fact that one, one development that I think we might see this year or next is, liveshopping. Right? I think,
[00:25:53] Ricardo Belmar: yeah,
[00:25:54] Chris Carl: TikTok is kind of like the 1.0 version of that where we see social commerce really taking off. But if you look [00:26:00] at Asia, more than half of consumers regularly use live shopping. Right? And, and so, we really think that that could be something that the US embraces in the near future. And so we of course, are also ready for, for that development.
[00:26:14] We've integrated a live feature into our app, which is basically ready to go whenever, whenever it really, really takes off here. But I think that's just the next iteration in, in social commerce, if you will. So I, I think there are gonna be some lot of, a lot of interesting interesting things happening there. And then as it relate,
[00:26:32] Ricardo Belmar: can I ask you on so we're big fans of the live, live shopping as well, and we've kind of proponents of that and expecting it to go bigger here as well. I'm, I'm curious, and do you view that as also being tied to your influencer strategy in a, in a big way, or is it or is that still maybe an unknown?
[00:26:49] Chris Carl: I mean, influencers would arguably be one of the biggest components of successful live shopping as they are the best advocate and the best host for those kind of that kind of [00:27:00] programming. So to have people authentically and in a very excited way talk about products, I mean, there's no, there's no better match for that.
[00:27:07] And, for them it's also usually an incentive to do a great job because. They get compensated if the programs are properly structured. So it's a win-win for everybody. You have influencers talking about products that they truly care about. They're, they participate in the success of the brand, of the, the marketplaces, and ultimately the consumers have a better, a better experience in looking for and finding products.
[00:27:31] Because let's face it, the, the abundance of choice and what you can buy these days is, is unlimited. And so having people, influencers cut through the clutter and show their favorites. Very, very valuable. And so, like I said, I think we're one step away from, from live shopping, we're almost there. The components are already, all there,
[00:27:48] Ricardo Belmar: Right.
[00:27:49] Chris Carl: It's just more of a consumer mindset shift.
[00:27:51] Um, and that sometimes can happen overnight.
[00:27:55] Casey Golden: That is very true.
[00:27:58] Mess with one channel and a lot of stuff [00:28:00] can happen overnight.
[00:28:01] Chris Carl: Yeah, exactly.
[00:28:03] Ricardo Belmar: yeah.
[00:28:04] Chris Carl: No idea what tomorrow's gonna look like.
[00:28:06] Ricardo Belmar: That's right.
[00:28:07] Casey Golden: My Mandarin took an uptick, heh, last month
[00:28:11] Chris Carl: Did you see those Duolingo ads earlier in the year?
[00:28:14] Ricardo Belmar: Oh yeah.
[00:28:15] Casey Golden: It was incredible.
[00:28:17] The Importance of Brand Personality and Humor
[00:28:28] Casey Golden: And I'm like, I really love the, the authenticity and the, the humor that some of these brands have taken. And it does humanize them and it does create advocates where it's, it, it makes it easier to switch. I'm somebody who would never switch brands, very hard to switch brands. I will pay extra. I pay extra for the label. I believe I'm, I'm a, I'm a very. Brand loyal consumer. Although I'm just loyal in general, I think I use my dry cleaner for that was like, ended up being like 15 miles away from me because I'm like, no, I'm, it's my dry cleaner.
[00:28:53] Chris Carl: Yeah,
[00:28:54] Casey Golden: going, I'm going the extra now even though I don't live there anymore.
[00:28:57] Chris Carl: no, there's a lot of comfort and convenience in [00:29:00] going to the same place I I.
[00:29:02] Casey Golden: Yeah, it's just, it takes something off my plate, right? I don't have to think about it. I don't have to worry about it. But it does now feel like so many brands are, when you see something like the Duolingo ads, and like Mr. Peanut, just like. Brain crushing. What is going on over there? These are brands that I haven't thought about, I don't have a preference.
[00:29:27] It's not a primary, but then it makes other brands feel stale and maybe too comfortable and feel like they're abandoning the customer or you, and you're like, gosh, you know what? They've never spoken to me. They've never engaged me, they've never tried to get me. Yeah, I'll switch. They're like in my daily conversations or I always say bring customers joy, and laughter is a joy and when brands can make you laugh, like there is an emotional pull there, um, there is a memory making moment.
[00:29:59] And it's [00:30:00] impactful. When you can laugh out loud at something there's not a lot that can really do that in general life, right? Like I think my first year in New York, I went to comedy shows 'cause I realized I hadn't laughed in eight months since I moved to New York. I'm like, I need to laugh. I like literally went to comedy shows by myself just to feel like more human and more natural. And I think that the brands taking on these personalities and really, really engaging in this, in video commerce, in this social community it is a new fabric. And there is a lot of traditional retail and a lot of, departments that are still very fearful of being that real.
[00:30:39] And not being so edited. So, hearing it from like an Ali Express that is able to get, half a billion impressions. It does force everyone else to get out of that mindset, that everything's a secret, and there's nothing to fear other than being left behind.
[00:30:57] Chris Carl: Yeah, absolutely. I fully agree. And I [00:31:00] mean, we had the great advantage of really starting clean slate here in the US when, when we started the team here, here two years ago. And humor and approachability and, becoming part of the conversation, part of a two-way conversation has worked really well for us.
[00:31:15] And it sets it apart from a lot of other, like you said, retailers and maybe more, more legacy brands in the space that are maybe not as comfortable with exploring those boundaries.
[00:31:25] Ricardo Belmar: Well, and, and it's, this is such a hyper competitive market in years, particularly around, around e eCommerce. And, and finding ways to stand out. Obviously you, you're doing amazing things to, to accomplish that now. These have all been great examples. Are, are there other things apart from, the, the social presence, the personality that the brand shows, influencers or other ways that you're exploring to stand out from all the other e-commerce brands out there?
[00:31:49] Chris Carl: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:31:50] AliExpress: A Unique Business Model
[00:31:56] Chris Carl: I think what really helps us stand out is the, pretty much the fundamentals of our business model. If we look at the principle that we were founded on, [00:32:00] it's, it was really connecting sellers from around the world with consumers. And when we set out to do that for the first time, there were, there were so many middlemen involved, distributors, all of that, making the process more expensive, more longer, and ultimately not really benefiting the customer.
[00:32:18] And so when we set out to do that, it really changed the game. And like I said, Ricardo, we were the OG in the cross-border
[00:32:24] Ricardo Belmar: yeah, that's right.
[00:32:25] Chris Carl: Space. And so, Alibaba as a group has had a very similar approach since its founding over 25 years ago.
[00:32:33] Really connecting sellers with buyers in the most seamless way. Leading to incredible product diversity across our platform. And so that model has been extremely successful. We now serve over a hundred million customers globally and over a hundred, over 200 countries. And so really this, this idea of offering the most product diversity possible at a very affordable price point [00:33:00] has really worked very, very well for us. So, most people probably know us for electronics or or beauty products or fashion items, but we've actually sold over 2000 excavators in the US over the, over the past couple of years.
[00:33:15] Ricardo Belmar: Wow.
[00:33:16] Chris Carl: Yeah. Dozens of tractors.
[00:33:18] We sell houses jet jet skis, jacuzzis you name it. So it's, yes, if you're coming to us for a makeup brush and an iPhone charger, awesome. But if you're here for heavy machinery, we, we got you too. So, that's, that's really something that, that sets us apart from a majority of the, of the, the eCommerce players. And, like I said earlier, we're celebrating our 15th birthday right now. In March 20, 2010 March, we were, we were founded. And so, just that fact alone, shows that, clearly, our business model is very successful, that it's working. But it also comes with a trust advantage. So when we, when we talk about the census wide study that we did earlier half of the respondents agree that [00:34:00]actually us being around for 15 years is a huge trust advantage. And so that I think also puts us in a really good spot compared to, let's say more newer newer e-commerce players.
[00:34:11] And I think many people don't fully realize that we have been around for 15 years, which is, Impressive.
[00:34:21] Casey Golden: I've, I've really been looking forward to having you on the show and talking about this because I am one of those people. I live on the bougie side of commerce.
[00:34:32] Chris Carl: That's okay.
[00:34:32] Casey Golden: I overspend on everything. and I don't explore a lot. And so as we go into this whole discovery opportunity with brands and with products it. The Ali Express has expanded its US presence. Having it around for 15 years. It is one of those things like, oh, I didn't realize. I don't have a problem giving you my money. You know, so I mean, lower, definitely a lower barrier there, but [00:35:00] I've. On the business side I don't talk to a lot of brands that are really taking advantage of this 'cause they didn't know that they could.
[00:35:09] Expanding AliExpress's US Presence
[00:35:09] Casey Golden: And so as you are expanding the, your US presence, what strategies are in place to bring on more sellers to the platform? And what types of brands and retail stand to benefit the most from participating? What does that look like for more brands to join?
[00:35:27] Chris Carl: No, great point. And it's something that we're really, really excited about. We, of course, our mission is always to offer our customers the best possible selection. Like I said, that that has been our core tenet from the, from the get go. And that means also bringing on the best of what, domestic markets have to offer.
[00:35:45] So onboarding US sellers is a huge focus for us. It is also a fantastic opportunities for, a fantastic opportunity for the sellers themselves. And so, actually just this week we launched the Ali Express local [00:36:00] marketplace platform, which is, a self-serve platform for usually larger sellers that already have substantial business operations here in the US.
[00:36:08] They can tap into the millions of customers that are on Ali Express and tap into that vast market. And we launched that this week alongside our Ali Express local direct program, which we launched in October of last year. And the direct program is more for smaller businesses that need more support as it relates to pricing and merchandising and marketing. And so, with these two programs, we really think that we can offer pretty much businesses of any size, a fantastic opportunity to tap in into all these millions of co consumers that are regularly shopping on All Express.
[00:36:43] And we've seen tremendous success since, since launching. We've onboarded and had a really, really significant number of local sellers come onto the platform. What we also recently launched is the All Express Local Open API, which ties directly into the [00:37:00] eCommerce automation softwares that these sellers are using.
[00:37:03] So Linnworks, for example which basically means that we're dramatically cutting down the onboarding time of these sellers. And then once onboarded, they can really, really seamlessly manage their pricing, inventory levels, all those things to really provide for a very, very easy and convenient solution of selling through, through AliExpress.
[00:37:20] So we think it's a great time for, for sellers for them to expand their omnichannel strategy here in the us. And we're excited to see see where this is going.
[00:37:29] Casey Golden: That's great. And, and you guys are pretty active in supporting these local partners with shipping and logistics?
[00:37:36] Chris Carl: Yes
[00:37:36] Casey Golden: Which I think for a lot of brands, cross border is still a, a big challenge for them. So you guys, I understand you guys can cut that down into a little bit more prescriptive.
[00:37:49] Chris Carl: Yeah, absolutely. We, we make it super easy for, for those sellers to not just onboard, but also get their ops started. We have one-on-one sessions with them where we walk them through, through the whole process. We have the first few [00:38:00] months free of charge where they can join platform and just really, really see how well it works for them.
[00:38:05] So it's really. Just like for the consumers, for the sellers, the, the goal is to really cut down on all the all the things that might be, might be a challenge for selling locally.
[00:38:14] Casey Golden: It's amazing.
[00:38:16] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. That's amazing. Really amazing to, in the same way that we always talk about reducing friction for consumers or really reducing the friction for the local sellers to really expand their e-commerce capability to out when and reach more customers. So let, let's, I. Look a little bit, maybe further down the road.
[00:38:30] I, I think it's safe to say cross-border shopping is growing across the board. And, and as you mentioned before, right, Alibaba from the beginning is at the OG in, in cross border. So you guys have a lot of experience to draw on that and to create these kinds of programs to help sellers.
[00:38:45] The Future of Cross-Border E-Commerce
[00:38:45] Ricardo Belmar: Where do you see this kind of future evolution going for, for global e-commerce?
[00:38:50] What role does a platform like Ali Express play in that and what, what does that next generation of online retail look like for you?
[00:38:57] Chris Carl: Great question. I, I mean the, [00:39:00] the core principle of Alibaba is to make it easy to do business everywhere, right? And, and that's kind of what we, what we embody both for local sellers and for for global sellers. So if we look at the cross border piece. I mean that, that has proven to be incredibly successful.
[00:39:16] Not just for the consumer, gives them more choice, more more affordable price points. But also for, for sellers, for small businesses to suddenly reach a ginormous audience, global audience. And so we think that cross border commerce is really something that enables businesses and consumers alike.
[00:39:33] But at the same time, as I mentioned, I think building out the local seller piece is just as important to kind of offer the consumers the best possible makes of both worlds, giving them the best of what global commerce has to offer. And so if you're asking about, what's that next iteration of cross border?
[00:39:49] I think we're already in this very new and very seamless way of cross border shopping. I think that been the biggest change to make cross border shopping [00:40:00] easy, convenient, and fast. Technology has been dramatically reducing friction and barriers to global commerce. The shopping experience has been dramatically improved through, logistics and AI supported search functionalities, customer service improvements. So it's really that that whole customer side of, of the equation and how they experience the process and how easy it has become, I think that'll just continue over the next couple of years and it'll, become more frictionless.
[00:40:32] But ultimately I think cross border will really want to, want to see how we can open up this ecosystem to as many stakeholders as possible and have them all benefit from it, whether that's global sellers, local sellers ultimately the consumer, of course. Yeah. So it's, it's an exciting time to be in cross border and it'll, it'll be great to see what, what how it evolves..
[00:40:51] vaults.
[00:40:51] Casey Golden: Yeah, definitely. It's a, it's a, it's a 2025 is just a very. Interesting time with a lot of different shifts. [00:41:00] you know, like we've been waiting for this for a long time to get with the program, with retail and technology and innovation and bring the consumers and, and the brands, try and get 'em all in the same space on the same page to move forward.
[00:41:14] Ricardo Belmar: Right,
[00:41:15] Casey Golden: And it sounds like you guys are really like leading the way and sharing that playbook with, with everyone that it is working. And these are the ways you can do it without some of that legacy fear that still, lingers.
[00:41:29] This conversation has been very enlightening, Chris. Really appreciate you sharing all of your thoughts and insights on e-commerce marketplaces, connecting with Gen Z. I hope everyone listening had their notebooks out. I know I took a handful of notes, Some incredible takeaways. So thank you so much for joining us.
[00:41:47] Chris Carl: Thank you, Casey. Thank you, Ricardo. Awesome speaking to you both!
[00:41:50] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. I mean, this has been really amazing. Just given all the results that you've achieved. Obviously a promising future ahead for, for the space and for your success and Ali [00:42:00] Express. I know like Casey said, my, my notebook is full of notes here from everything that we've talked about.
[00:42:05] So we we're really hoping can have you come back again, Chris, in the future, and see how things are going and share some of the next set of accomplishments you guys have.
[00:42:12] Chris Carl: Would love to. Absolutely!
[00:42:14] Casey Golden: Well, Ricardo, I think this episode is a wrap. Thank you, Chris!
[00:42:18] Chris Carl: Thank you for having me!
[00:42:20] Show Close
[00:42:26] Casey Golden: If you enjoyed our show, please consider giving us a five star rating and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Goodpods.
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[00:42:53] I'm your co-host, Casey Golden.
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[00:43:09] I'm your host, Ricardo Belmar.
[00:43:11] Casey Golden: Thanks for joining us.
[00:43:13] Ricardo Belmar: Until next time, keep cutting through the clutter and stay sharp.
[00:43:16] This is the Retail Razor Show.