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B2B Breakthrough Podcast
AI-Driven E-Commerce: Kuo Zhang on Alibaba.com’s Vision
00:40:49
In this special episode of B2B Breakthrough, host Ciara Cristo sits down with Kuo Zhang, President of Alibaba.com, to explore how AI is revolutionizing global trade for small businesses. They discuss Alibaba’s AI-powered sourcing engine, Accio, and its role in enhancing search, communication, and business research. Kuo also shares insights on AI-generated content, strategic logistics partnerships, and Alibaba’s commitment to democratizing trade. Whether you're scaling internationally or optimizing sourcing, this episode delivers valuable takeaways for SMBs navigating global commerce.
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- [00:03]
Kuo Jiang
But we know that SMEs face significant hurdles. They have the ideas, the drive, but often lack of the resources to navigate the complexity of the international commerce. Last year we took a major step forward by introducing AI to solve practical challenges in global trade. AI is a game changer. It's about making things easier and smarter. We are using it to match business with the right suppliers, providing insights on pricing and trending and even predicting the demand. This empowers me to plan strategically and scale their business. We are actively redesigning our platform to streamline sourcing, build trust.
- [00:47]
Sierra Christo
Welcome to the B2B Breakthrough Podcast. We're here to bring you all the best knowledge, insights and strategies from e commerce experts, successful business owners and the team@alibaba.com that you'll need to grow your business and achieve your next big breakthrough. I'm your host, Sierra Christo.
- [01:06]
Host/Interviewer
All right, small business owners, especially those in E commerce, are you ready to unlock the secrets to global success? Today, we're diving deep with a true titan of the e commerce world, the president of Alibaba.com, kuo Jiang. Forget complicated jargon, we're getting straight to the insights that you can use to grow your business. Right now, he's not just about cutting edge AI and globalization strategies. He's about helping you win big on the global stage. He's a key driver behind the digital revolution in global trade and frankly, Alibaba.com wouldn't be the powerhouse it is without him. So settle in, grab your headphones and get ready to learn from the big boss himself. Kuo Jung, the president of Alibaba.com Hey Kuo, thank you so much for joining us.
- [01:46]
Kuo Jiang
Thank you.
- [01:47]
Host/Interviewer
So, one thing I want to start us off with, the world of small and medium sized businesses faces a lot of challenges. What are you hearing directly from small business owners about their biggest pain points when trying to scale globally through e commerce? And specifically, how is Alibaba.com adapting to directly address these frustrations and support their growth?
- [02:11]
Kuo Jiang
I think during my work time I spend at least half of my time visiting all the kind of SMBs globally. And for many SMBs, especially those just starting out on audible.com, diving into global e commerce can feel like a daunting task. One of the most significant challenges they face is funding trustworthy suppliers. So when you're dealing with someone on the other of the world, it's very tough to get trust and understand the quality of their products and whether they will deliver on time. Unlike local suppliers, you can't Just pop over on the factory or just do a phone call. Then there's the logistics side of things like shipping, customs, tariffs. It's a complex web to navigate, particularly for those who are new to it. At high level is not only complicated, but also expensive, which adds to the financial pressures to our buyers are already facing. So speaking of finances, many small business operate on tight budgets. Global sourcing often requires paying upfront for large orders or covering a big amount of shipping cost before you even make a sale. This can create significant cash flow challenges, something we are actively working to help our business owners manage more efficiently. So despite these hurdles, the potential rewards are huge. Successfully navigating these challenges means you can scale your business, manage your large orders, maintain quality and keep your supply chain running smoothly. For those who can figure out the payoff, access to the global markets and the unique products can be truly transformative.
- [03:56]
Host/Interviewer
Yeah, it's, there's so much that you can gain from access to these products and it's really just about improving your literacy to know how to use them better. So part of that is the big evolution that we've been seeing in the last couple years, even within Alibaba.com so can, can you talk to us a little bit about how Alibaba.com has evolved over the years to enable these global buyers or business owners and sellers, meaning the manufacturers through digital advancements.
- [04:24]
Kuo Jiang
So I first joined Alibaba.com was kind of essentially a directory and we envisioned something much more a truly integrated global trading platform. We transformed Alibaba.com into a one stop digital hub, connecting 50 million SMBs worldwide. Imagine a farmer in Kenya connecting directly with a manufacturer in Germany. This is the power of digitization and this is what we work to enable. Global trade even today holds incredible potential. It estimates to US$33 trillion industry. But we know that SMEs face significant hurdles. They have the ideas, the drive, but often lack of the resources to navigate the complexity of the international commerce. Last year we took a major step forward by introducing AI to solve practical challenges in global trade. AI is a game changer. It's about making things easier and smarter. We are using it to match business with the right suppliers, providing insights on pricing and trending and even predicting the demand. This empowers me to plan strategically and scale their business. We are actively redesigning our platform to streamline sourcing, build trust and ensure our users feel protected through every transaction. Ultimately, we want to empower them to succeed in the global marketplace.
- [05:53]
Host/Interviewer
I want to talk more about AI. It's A big buzzword right now, and you mentioned it a couple times. It's changing everything. And we've witnessed the transition from the digitization era in the early aughts to the AI era of the last five to 10 years, where it became more accessible to the average consumer and the average business owner. So for, for the busy small business owners who may be a little bit intimidated by AI, can you break down the AI sourcing tools on Alibaba.com in a way that makes it easy to understand specifically what is the quick win or most immediate benefit that they can experience by using these tools, even if they're just starting to dabble with AI?
- [06:33]
Kuo Jiang
Okay, so AI actually evolves very fast. So in the beginning actually we heard a lot about the big models, the large language models. So every kind of company is competing on whose model is the size, is bigger, is smarter, and the competition is still going on. So our kind of focus on the AI is using AI to solve the B2B problems who are building applications on top of different models. So in the B2B area, actually it's like in many other areas as well. So we divided the AI into three paradigms. The first one is about aigc. The AIGC tools on top of your mind can be the tools that help you into ready writing, emails, generate pictures. So we are using the AIGC tools for our suppliers to manage their products, to manage their inventories. So think about the kind of a new business owner they started to get online and they want to kind of upload or digitize their products. So previously they need to fill in the blankets with tens or hundreds of kind of food, taking pictures, beautify them. Now using the AIGC tool, so we can help you to kind of generate all these products, contents, videos, pictures, just by click. The second part is about the chatbot. So think about the buyers and the suppliers have the time difference and the language barriers and they need to understand each other. It can help to answer the buyer's questions more frequently and more precisely. And third, but not the least is the search engine. So we see a lot of kind of search engine evolving in this search industry as well. So we launched a kind of a new search engine we called Axial, which is a kind of a reasoning based search engine. It can help the buyers, especially help the buyers to explore their ideas from the inspirational ideas or to understand the trending of the certain kind of industry and to get RFQs with detailed requirements, all these kind of requirements previously, it's very hard to kind of fulfilled by a traditional Keywords based search engine. Now it can empower the buyers to kind of reach to all these kind of ideas. And also we are linked to the world biggest industry and the product and the supplier base. So we're not only giving them ideas, we are giving them kind of real solutions as well.
- [09:09]
Host/Interviewer
So let's take a moment to zoom in on Axio. You know, I think this is a product that has been out for a little bit now and it's constantly evolving. Like you mentioned, the AI is always moving quickly and evolving across the board. So can you give us an overview of how Axio works specifically?
- [09:26]
Kuo Jiang
Sure. So Axio actually is a significant leap forward for B2B sourcing. We introduced it at the web summit. It's truly the world's first AI powered sourcing agent. The name itself, Axio comes from Latin meaning summon. And that's precisely what it does. It's like having a powerful tool that allows you to summon expertise, manufacturers and products, everything you need instantly. What makes axial so transformative for business owners? So first it is driven by AI that understand the nuances of sourcing. It is built on 25 years of industry expertise through sourcing of product categories and especially learning what makes good supplier. This means what is to take weeks of reaction or research now happen in seconds. And it's not just fast, it's reliable. We have incorporated AI cross validation, a credit scoring system and an intelligent copilot ensuring you get verified real time information. This empowers you to make confident decisions knowing you are working with trusted data. And one more thing, what I found most exciting is the breadth of Axios network. It pulls products from the most popular advanced marketplace in the world like audible.com, 1688 com, Alexpress and many other kind of websites. Axio is about to democratizing global trade to lower the barrier for sourcing, make it faster, smarter and more accessible for everyone.
- [11:10]
Host/Interviewer
You mentioned earlier a couple main tenets of the AI capabilities that we're seeing on Axio being the aigc, the generated content, chatbots and search. So beginning with search, I think that is the most foundational element here for us to look at. For many small business owners, the first step of doing that deep product or industry research feels really overwhelming. They're spending a lot of time on this and it's taking away from the time that they can dedicate to other elements of their business and really get into the visionary elements that we know are sometimes more exciting to them. So knowing what products are trending and understanding the market demand, really digging into the specifics before you start sourcing. All of that's super time consuming. So how is Axio supporting these small business owners at that stage in the game?
- [11:59]
Kuo Jiang
Axio automates the heavy lifting. In fact, we surveyed over 4,000 procurement professionals across Europe and the US and they told us the most in demand solution is an AI powered market summary. This is exactly what Axio can deliver. Automated market research, trend analysis, opportunity spotting and even business plan generation. What makes Axial stand out is access to vast industry and product data allows it to provide hyper accurate, actionable insights. Whether you are a seasoned entrepreneur or just starting out, actually equip you with the tools to turn ideas into reality with confidence. It's your shortcut to a well informed, effective business strategy. We can give you many examples. So one example that we gave you before actually at the vast summit, now it's come to reality. You can try it out. So it's like imagine you want to build a ski result in the desert with a 5 million US dollar budget. With Axiom you can simply ask and it will kick out the process by browsing dozens of credible sources and analysis the key elements. The feasibility of indoor ski resorts in desert environment, including energy cost implications in a hot dry climate, the most suitable slow machines for those conditions and their cost, a detailed breakdown of your budget requirements, a list of suppliers who can meet your needs and successful examples of similar reports for inspirations. All of that analysis is automated and structured into a comprehensive business plan for your review, revise and act on. In a nutshell, axio doesn't help SMEs find products. It helped them validate ideas quickly and create actionable plans without guesswork. It's about empowering business to innovate and grow with confidence.
- [14:09]
Host/Interviewer
This example always makes me laugh because it's so extravagant, but I think it's, it's such a testament to how advanced this technology is and there is no limit to that. But dialing it back to other kinds of products that small business owners can create. I was playing with Axio myself and I was looking at how to create a Montessori toy just to see how it would work. And I don't know anything about Montessori principles and I was blown away by the, the breadth of information that it was able to share with me. So I mean it can be something as extravagant as a ski resort in the desert and it's equally as impressive when you're talking about creating learning tools and toys for children. So there really is no limit to the kind of product that you can create and the kind of information that you can gather to figure out what your next step needs to be. Is that what you're finding in in your conversations as well you see a.
- [15:00]
Kuo Jiang
Lot of kind of real research problems that through by the kind of users like what motivates consumers to buy earbud headphones in US market and how is a precise designs or how can I start a kind of luxury docs bar with a kind of US$10,000. All these kind of questions through to the Axial engine and all gave a kind of a very good response.
- [15:25]
Host/Interviewer
Yeah, there's no limits. It's got it all in there. And so you know, once you've tackled some of the baseline biz research to get a feel for the category, the type of information you need for the market, you need to tackle the how of it all. What kind of solutions does Deep Search offer to help that entrepreneur feel more comfortable actually developing this product with their partner?
- [15:52]
Kuo Jiang
Sure. So when you look into kind of the real business world, when the people are looking for kind of the real products. Axio Deep Search automates a process simulating how a buyer thinks when tackling this complex demands. Instead of hours of days, Axio delivers an accurate shortlist in just one to two minutes. I can give you an example and go through the step by step. For example, imagine a buyer searching for a specific fabric. It's kind of like I need a fabric to satisfy the polyester and cotton and spandex 245 to 260gsm. Nitpick. So this is a kind of compact demand traditional search engine met miss the key details. But Axiom runs multiple rounds of optimized inquiries, validating results with industry knowledge. It then evaluates suppliers manufacturing capabilities for customization options even before the user realizes it's a requirement a critical factor in fabrics and performs final checks on the certifications, lead times and more. In short, Axial reduces need for deep industry expertise and save time, empowering users to make confident informed decisions quickly. It is not just a tool, it's a partner in your sourcing journey.
- [17:20]
Host/Interviewer
Yeah, absolutely. It's your technical partner. It's someone who's able to really deeply understand the pieces that, that you're still learning. So I think it's, it's an incredibly useful tool to have in your arsenal. And as we talk about implementing AI in your day to day practices, I think one thing that may cause some apprehension for users is this concept of hallucinations. And I have only very recently learned about hallucinations in the context of AI. So Just to give a little bit of background to our listeners. Hallucinations in this context means that that gap in knowledge by the LLM to kind of fill in those spaces and sometimes that information may not be 100% accurate. So when we look at, you know, using AI in our day to day practices as a business owner, it's a little bit more important, right than than drafting an email to a colleague and using AI for that. You want it to be as precise as possible. So how does Axio ensure that accuracy for B2B procurement where other search engines may not be as supportive?
- [18:28]
Kuo Jiang
So to avoid kind of hallucination, the one way that we we figured is increase the density of the knowledge in the B2B area since we have the most kind of density of data so we have the majority of answers to majority of the questions. So in this way we can try to reduce the hallucination as much as possible. And the more that we get aligned to see whether this result is right or wrong, we can still keep continuing to train this model to be accurate as possible.
- [19:00]
Host/Interviewer
That's great. And another thing that I want to talk about with Axio's application here, as long as we're dealing with the most up to date information and we've got all of these great resources coming our way with the help of the density of information that it's working with, we also need to apply that to our day to day transactions and processes on Alibaba.com so how are we integrating this technology and these experiences and utilizing them on Alibaba.com directly?
- [19:31]
Kuo Jiang
That's a great question. So first of all, we already integrated AI into Alibaba.com search like in the manufacturer sections. And by the end of March we are taking it further by adding the product deep search and business research capabilities into the kind of search engine of Alibaba.com which can provide our customers more kind of business insights. And with more kind of information we are going to heavily investing on the multimodality capabilities. So the people are not only using the keyword based search, but also use the image search. You can search for anything and also you can upload even an Excel file, for example, a file with a product list of 100 different products. So previously you need to do it one by one and now you can upload it once and we can help you to go through all the list and give you suggestions. So what type of the products can be supplied by which suppliers and we can provide integrated logistical services for you. So this is what I'm going to do for the Alibaba.com so it's really.
- [20:43]
Host/Interviewer
Bringing all of the pieces together into one place to ultimately streamline the experience for the user.
- [20:50]
Kuo Jiang
Exactly.
- [20:51]
Host/Interviewer
Nice. And you know, you mentioned earlier, you know, the global impact of having to coordinate with suppliers on the other side of the globe in a language you don't know and trying to make that process simpler as well. So I want to bring us into the chatbot conversation because, you know, we've already seen the live translation tools being used by our buyers worldwide to simplify that process. How are the new chatbot enhancements making it even easier to negotiate in different languages?
- [21:21]
Kuo Jiang
Sure. So first of all, we are not kind of using chatbot to replace human. So in the kind of the first principle. So from the buyer's perspective, what they need is a more professional service. So by using the AI agent or the AI chatbot, we are helping the suppliers to better understand the requirement from the buyers. Like when the buyer is asking for what's the price for 15 units? The AI can kind of kind of translating that question. So if the store, let's say MOQ is 100 units, the AI can recognize a buyer isn't really is not ready for bulk purchases, but it can proactively suggest the samples instead and explain why this aligns to their needs. So it is not only about efficiency in the B2B world, it's also about creating smarter and more intuitive interactions that empowers the buyers and sellers alike. And by leveraging AI, we are breaking down the virus for the language buyers, for the time difference buyers, and making global trade more seamless and accessible for everyone.
- [22:34]
Host/Interviewer
So when it comes to developing a new product and generating new content, how, how are the AIGC tools helping to level the playing field for small businesses as well when they're trying to compete in global e commerce?
- [22:49]
Kuo Jiang
I think when we see many of these suppliers have great products, but they don't know how to describe them, how to describe them in different languages, or how to use kind of great pictures to disrupt their product. So AIGC products now can come along the way. So now you can uplift a few of product information materials like either is image or a kind of a description of your product in short sentences. We can help you to enrich the product description by creating more kind of more precise images, generating videos, generating kind of descriptions using different languages. And when we understand what your product is and when we see what the kind of demands are, we can automatically alter the description of your product to meet their needs. So this is What AIGC can help for the both the buyer side and the seller side.
- [23:51]
Host/Interviewer
Now there are a lot of resources that we want to cover today as well. So I want to wrap up the AI portion by talking about how we are able to fully streamline and integrate these services for our small business owners and procurement specialists. So you mentioned a lot of compelling use cases already. So how is this going to look moving forward? What will procurement look like in the near future with the support of AI?
- [24:18]
Kuo Jiang
Our mission is to make it easy to do business anywhere. And nowadays when you see the trade actually now domestic trade still is a bigger portion. I think others in US or in Europe, more than 60% of the trade is domestic trade. Why is that? Because this is easy for people to trust and to buy something from their neighbors. So it's very hard for them to first to trust and then to kind of build connections to do transactions with kind of a partner which hundreds thousands of miles away. So leveraging all those tools by AI and by the digitization and by the networks that we build out, we want to make the global trading as easy as kind of internal trading, as easy as online shopping. So using AI, I think three things that's going to change, we think the change of the paradigm. The first is the data. So now you can access more and more kind of industry specific information, expertise information, the product information in a more easy way. The second part is about the interaction model. So you will interact with this kind of sourcing engine just like you are interacting with a kind of human agent and can streamline all the process. And the third and not least actually we can create a lot of value by leveraging AI to help you to automate, save you a lot of time. And it it also help you to kind of explore more opportunities. By adding all these three together I think it will change the global trading dramatically.
- [26:06]
Sierra Christo
Is the complexity of sourcing holding you back? Are you getting overwhelmed by information in an endless search? Now sourcing for your business has never been easier. Meet Axio, the world's first AI sourcing engine that helps you source like a pro. With five key features you'll get product inspiration that leverages real time market data from comprehensive web insights, social media trends and B2B knowledge. Generate detailed requirements to find the perfect match from AI verified products and suppliers through Axio's multimodal search. Use supercomparison to easily discover and compare millions of products from leading suppliers focusing.
- [26:40]
Host/Interviewer
On the best selling and most competitive options.
- [26:42]
Sierra Christo
With Axio page you'll get AI generated encyclopedia pages that compare compile verified product information for each SKU and finally leverage Axio Agent to streamline negotiations with conversation, guidance, real time summaries and direct answers about products and suppliers without having to browse detail pages. Head over to Axio AI today. That's Accio AI to try Axio for free and start sourcing like a pro.
- [27:11]
Host/Interviewer
So one of the biggest pain points that we see US Buyers facing is how long it takes for products to arrive from overseas. So with so many local e commerce players focusing on faster shipments, have we explored strategies like leveraging local warehousing or partnerships to speed up delivery times? How do you see this approach impacting the buyer experience on Alibaba.com for any.
- [27:37]
Kuo Jiang
E commerce platform, the breadth of selection is critical for success. This is why we are expanding our US Local stock selections to create better experiences for our buyers and unlock more business opportunities. Our goal is to add close to 1 million local stock products to our catalog and this will benefit our buyers in two key ways. First, we are offering a more diversified and competitive selection to meet the varied needs of our buyers. We're expanding our local product offerings to include more U.S. suppliers, distributors and wholesalers, whether they are offering white label product, major household brands or emerging brands from passionate entrepreneurs looking to grow their distribution network. This ensures buyers have access to the product they need when they need them. Second, by partnering with U.S. carriers and sellers who have strong domestic fulfillment capabilities, we are introducing the guaranteed five day shipping for local inventory. This means narrower delivery windows allowing buyers to capture previously lost opportunities, ensure faster replenishment, reduce out of stock situations and ultimately grow their business. In short, this expansion isn't just about adding more products. It's about creating a seamless, efficient and competitive experience for our buyers. It's about empowering them to thrive in a fast paced, ever changing market.
- [29:13]
Host/Interviewer
So with so many buyers now purchasing in bulk, sometimes even full container loads, logistics can get really complicated and it's always been a complicated subject matter to navigate. So so how are we equipped to help simplify bulk shipping and make it easier for our buyers to manage these large orders? Are there any partnerships or offerings that are in development or actively available to buyers to help them solve some of these challenges?
- [29:40]
Kuo Jiang
We talk about the kind of bulk shipping and cargoes. I'm very proud to announce that the strategic partnership we have been doing with Maersk so previously actually only the big ones, the kind of the big players can access to a very competitive shipping rates and can get the kind of real time support. So now we are working Maersk not only for the kind of competitive prices for the SMBs, but also we seamlessly integrated the product together. So now if you are in us, you can try to see when you go through a kind of a product, let's see if you want to buy furniture. So not only that you can make transactions for that products. You can also see there's a kind of access point for the Maersk shipment services. Their team is online 247 to help you to big shipments and help you to track your cargoes in real time. So you can order in bulk, but also you can buy in a half a container. They can provide all kinds of solutions to you. This initiative is not just about convenience. It's about empowering SMBs to compete in a global scale with the same tools and opportunities as larger players. It's about leveling the playing field and helping SMEs to thrive.
- [31:04]
Host/Interviewer
All right, so with these updates and innovations, what could the future of trade look like for for us small businesses in terms of trade origins and where they are going to rely on manufacturing and product sourcing?
- [31:18]
Kuo Jiang
So the first quarter of this year we see the new buyers. On Alibaba.com, the growth rate is over 70%. So which means there's more and more SMBs actually joining the digital world to do the global trade. This is incredibly exciting. We are witnessing a profound shift how business operate. Where once the vast majority of trade was domestic, now we are seeing a growing appetite for global sourcing. With updates and innovations we are introducing like AI powered sourcing and streamlined logistics payments. We are making it easier than ever for us and SMEs to connect with root apple suppliers worldwide. This shift is not only about accessing the cost effective products. It's about unlocking unique opportunities, diversifying supply chains and building resilience. Small business can now compete on a global scale, bring innovative products into our customers while maintaining agility and competitiveness. At Alibaba.com, our goal is to empower us SMBs to seize this moment by lowering the barriers to global trade. We are helping them not just survive, but thrive in this new era of interconnected commerce. The future is about breaking down borders. We are here to make the future accessible to everyone.
- [32:51]
Host/Interviewer
Cool. So I mean the future looks bright. We are well connected, we have a lot of resources at our fingertips and there's so many ways to continue to grow and find new opportunities through this platform and you know, really taking advantage of these technological innovations that are truly leveling the playing field. As we've said So I think it's really exciting for small business owners to take this opportunity and start something new from scratch.
- [33:16]
Kuo Jiang
Thank you.
- [33:17]
Host/Interviewer
So I want to shift gears a little bit and get to know you a little bit better. The man behind Alibaba.com, you've got a lot on your plate you're dealing with. You know, you've got a lot of responsibilities to not only this company and everyone within it, but all of the people that we serve. So how are you able to find work, life balance in that and really take care of yourself in the process? I know a lot of small business owners struggle with finding that balance themselves. So if you have any words of advice, we would love to share that with them.
- [33:50]
Kuo Jiang
So it's hard. Especially even a kind of a startup or entrepreneur actually is a kind of a mix of work and life. I think the, if the only one kind of stress can give is that you need to love your work. So because work is a part of your life. So if your work is just kind of a pressure and if you go to work, you kind of, you feel hesitance or you kind of have a question about your value of work, then you really need to stop to think about how should you better kind of contribute or kind of design your kind of time spending. If the other way that you like work you think is create enough value, I think it bring a lot of kind of pleasure to your life as well. So that is how I see it. Not sure it's a kind of good answer, but that is, I think it's.
- [34:44]
Host/Interviewer
Funny we see that part of it the, the before side for a lot of small business owners. I think we see a lot of people who say they were, they were working for someone else and hustling at a company that they didn't, they didn't value or didn't see that sense of fulfillment as, as you're saying, you know, they didn't love their work and so that's why they create small businesses. That's why they create new products. And so I think that's, that's, that is helping people integrate a little bit of joy back into their lives by creating a business that they're passionate about. So frankly, as someone who works for you, I'm happy to hear that you love it so much. This is great.
- [35:22]
Kuo Jiang
Yeah, to that I said I think all the technology, so all the kind of tools that we're providing is a kind of bring the kind of humans to more like a human. All this kind of repetitive works can be done by AIs but still the creativity ones like what, what are you going to bring? What's the value you're going to add? So what are products that you're going to build to the world? So this part you need to still kind of focusing and put all your thought in. So when I see, when I say that if you like your work so actually you can think in any scenarios, in any remote kind of environment, you don't just need to sit in the office to think about this great ide ideas. Actually the great ideas will come to you.
- [36:09]
Host/Interviewer
Yes. When you're feeling inspired, those great ideas find their way.
- [36:13]
Kuo Jiang
Exactly.
- [36:14]
Host/Interviewer
Now, is there anything in your history professionally, in your school years or were there any inspirational figures for you who left you with a piece of advice or a quote or something that really inspired you to pursue greatness?
- [36:29]
Kuo Jiang
Okay, I think there's a lot. There are a lot of great leaders in the world. I think in us for example, I think Steve Jobs is many of kind of the entrepreneurs kind of leading models so your product can present itself. So it's a kind of truly integration of the product, the marketing, the technology, the innovations all together. And it reinvent a lot of product and reinvent a lot of ways to sell the product. I think that is kind of a truly inspirational. And like in China, I think Jack Ma is many of the kind of young talents role model is he in the day. One that this company is built up to help the SMEs is not to help the large ones because there are a lot of kind of partners who's helping the large ones. But this really, really help you to think that you connect to the world. You are building something kind of greater than yourself. I think all this are very inspirational to me.
- [37:33]
Host/Interviewer
Yeah, it helps connect you to the work that you're doing to feel like it is impactful. I am doing something that is adding value to the world. The flip side of that is failure. Failure is an essential part of the human experience and something that we all face from time to time professionally. As much as we wish that wasn't the case. So in your life and your experiences, how, how do you react to failure and how do you recommend growing from it?
- [38:05]
Kuo Jiang
First of all, I think we probably fail 70% of the chances every day. So we do the calculation every quarter. For example, ari hundred features we launched each quarter, only 30% of them exceed our expectations. If you kind of make a successful 100% of all your features, probably you did not try too hard. So you need to try as much kind of idea as possible to see what kind of really work, what was not. And the failure actually is a part of your job if you never fail, meaning you just try too less. So that's a. That's kind of the balance.
- [38:48]
Host/Interviewer
Interesting. So without knowing what doesn't work, you'll never see the full potential of what of what you're trying to achieve. I have one last question for you. If you have one piece of advice. What would you advise a small business owner starting out in e commerce today?
- [39:04]
Kuo Jiang
So start action. I think that is suggested not only for SMBs but also for the big ones as well. So now the world is changing faster. So just talking about the AIs. So we see at least three or four big innovations in AI world just in the beginning of this calendar year and many of them that no one can anticipate in last year. No one can anticipate what's going on. So you just need to first be aware of what changes and the second is to kind of welcome it and see how you can leverage them the best. And this going to give you kind of a leverage to take a step ahead. So don't afraid to using all this kind of advanced tools to kind of try this new ideas. I think this year there's going to be a lot of change and what you can do to catch up to trend is to do immediately. So this is my suggestion.
- [40:07]
Host/Interviewer
I like it. Take action and embrace change.
- [40:10]
Kuo Jiang
That's right.
- [40:11]
Host/Interviewer
Well, you are awesome. This has been a really great conversation. Thank you Kuo. You are a rock star.
- [40:17]
Kuo Jiang
All that is mine.
- [40:18]
Host/Interviewer
Ciara, thank you very much.
- [40:23]
Sierra Christo
B2B Breakthrough is produced by Alibaba.com to find out how Alibaba.com is empowering its customers with the tools, services and resources they need to grow their business. Visit Alibaba.com and then make sure to search for B2B Breakthrough on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you find your podcasts.
- [40:40]
Host/Interviewer
Make sure to follow us so you.
- [40:41]
Sierra Christo
Don'T miss future episodes. On behalf of the team here@alibaba.com, thanks for listening.