Alibaba helps China SMEs turn to e-commerce

BEIJING, CHINA: Alisoft, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alibaba Group, will offer free Internet-based management software to all 42 million small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in China as part of the Group's ongoing effort to make it easy for SMEs to do business using e-commerce.

The software, called ''Shopkeeper" comprises an accounting and finance module in the initial edition launched recently; an inventory management and a customer relations management module will both be available in May 2009.

Shopkeeper will be free to SME users for at least three years. Apart from the free software license, Alisoft will provide free upgrades, training and customer support for all users. Shopkeeper, a simple-to-use software targeted at key decision makers in SMEs, addresses the need of small business owners who desire to keep track of their money, inventory and customers.

To make Shopkeeper and other business software widely available to the market, Alisoft will invest up to RMB1 billion over the next three years to cultivate the SME-focused software industry, and further drive usage of Internet-based software, or "software-as-a-service", as a new paradigm of how businesses use technology to manage their operations.

"We are confident that this offering will bring a revolutionary change to how small businesses manage their operations in the coming years. While other traditional software companies have contributed to the market development in the past 20 years, we are hoping to see more new and innovative software companies join hands with us in nurturing the high-potential SME-focused software industry. The free offer signifies an important step we are taking from "Meet at Alibaba" to "Work at Alibaba". Alisoft, together with our parent Alibaba Group, will further forge ahead to build the best e-commerce infrastructure and ecosystem for businesses around the world," said Oliver Wang, president of Alisoft.

According to a report issued by the Center for Informatization Study of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in 2007, just under five percent of SMEs in China are using enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, which demonstrates the tremendous potential for the business management software industry. The ERP software includes a variety of basic, indispensable functions, including accounting, inventory and customer relations management. However, most enterprise management software available in the market is usually designed for large enterprises and is not cost effective for SMEs.

Shopkeeper is specially designed for business owners, serving as a tool to monitor the business operations and financial status of the business in a way understandable to business owners who do not have technical financial backgrounds. In addition to its accounting and cash flow management functions, the Internet-based software is also enabled via mobile access and allows SMEs to make online payments via Alipay, the online payment solution leader in China and a wholly owned subsidiary of Alibaba Group.

Subscribers of Shopkeeper can also apply for loans under "Ali-Loan", the SME loan- assistance program initiated by Alibaba.com, which is supported by eight major banks in China.