Tmall, The Sky Cat: A Rocky Road Toward Bringing Buyers and Suppliers Together

This case study illuminates the rapidly evolving e-commerce market in China. It shows how Alibaba Group launched its new Taobao Mall B2C platform to raise standards for product quality and online customer shopping experience; how TMall launched as a virtual shopping mall offering internationally known brands and major retailers; how it responded to the widespread sale of counterfeit and substandard products; how its fee increases ignited massive online vendor protests; and how it has since rebranded the site to move beyond these events. Focusing on realistic e-commerce supply chain issues and challenges, this case study offers exceptional value to both students and practitioners. Authors: Jianli Hu, Woodbury University; Olivia Congbo Mao, Alibaba Group.