Chinese tech giant Alibaba enters Pakistan, purchases Daraz

KARACHI: China’s biggest and well known Alibaba Group, has finally made its way into the Pakistani e-commerce Market, acquiring Daraz Group.

In a press release, Daraz official said “With the acquisition, Daraz will be able to leverage Alibaba’s leadership and experience in technology, online commerce, mobile payment, and logistics to drive further growth in the five South Asian markets that have a combined population of over 460 million, 60% of which are under the age of 35.”

The press release also stated that Daraz will continue to operate under the same brand.

Founded in Pakistan in 2012, Daraz has since expanded in Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Nepal.

Daraz Co-CEOs Bjarke Mikkelsen and Jonathan Doerr said that there is still a long way to go on the e-commerce journey. “We have still only scratched the surface of the potential,” they said.

Daniel Zhang, CEO of Alibaba Group In a statement said: “Together with Daraz, we can now empower entrepreneurs to better serve consumers in the region through our technology and expertise. In Daraz, we found a great team that espouses our values and believes that a technology-enabled commerce ecosystem will play a critical role in driving the long-term economic development in South Asia.”

In May 2017, Pakistan had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Alibaba Group Holdings Limited to promote the country’s exports by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) through e-commerce.

The Alibaba group had been in talks with Daraz for quite some time trying to enter the Pakistani market. As last year, they signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Commerce.