Sialkot comes at heart of Alibaba’s global expansion strategy
Sialkot located 15 kilometers from Pakistan’s border with India, is known for manufacturing surgical instruments, musical instruments, sporting goods, textiles and leather goods which are exported all over the world. In addition, it also contains military outposts and encampments, which is a surplus for Pakistan.
According to an ancient tradition, Alexander the Great conquered this great city. Currently, one of the largest online retail companies, Alibaba, has given Sialkot a chance after its expansion strategy. As this city caught the attention of Alibaba, 90% of Pakistani sellers on the platform belong to Sialkot.
During the pandemic, many people became entrepreneurs and started selling export quality Sialkot products on Alibaba.com, such as cricket kits, boxing gloves, medical products and more. Even those companies that weren’t startups signed up on Alibaba to sell their products.
Although the main reason behind multiple Sialkot suppliers on the platform is due to multiple industrial institutions in the city which have led to product diversity. Already in March of this year, Alibaba, the e-commerce giant, announced its intention to open a local office in Pakistan. Therefore, the company plans to make Pakistan a global “digital trading center”.
Nilesh Christopher, a renowned journalist, uploaded images of a Sialkot factory where two men work and these products are sold on Alibaba, with the caption “Inside the Pakistani city at the heart of the strategy of ‘Alibaba’s global expansion’. The reporter appreciated the efforts of Sialkot and Alibaba to reach this milestone.
Sialkot comes at heart of Alibaba’s global expansion strategy
Meanwhile, other photos uploaded by Nilesh show men making boxing gloves at a factory in Sialkot. In addition, Mubashir Bhatti is a partner of the new Pakistani channel of Alibaba, encouraging businesses to sell on this global website. He had recently hosted a meeting, in effect an export summit, on a sunny July day in the business and commercial center of Sialkot. Nearly two hundred entrepreneurs attended this meeting to meet Alibaba representatives.
In addition to the Mubashir Bhatti factory, there are Computer Xperts and nearly eleven other channel partner organizations in Sialkot alone. Some companies like Web Excels and Alpharex International are also present on Alibaba.com with major events like these in the Faisalabad and Lahore export hubs.
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— Alibaba Group (@AlibabaGroup) August 24, 2022
