Las Vegas – Online marketplace company Alibaba.com has rolled out its latest artificial intelligence (AI)-powered sourcing agent, alongside enhanced financial and logistics solutions. This strategic launch will assist small and medium enterprises in accelerating their sourcing efficiency and help them navigate cross-border trade easily.
As the firm’s new AI sourcing agent, this streamlines the B2B sourcing process by offering more accurate search results for global supplier and product searches. It also assists new businesses and entrepreneurs to better understand the global sourcing landscape and find the right supplier more efficiently.
One of its core functions includes a conversational search, where SMEs can use natural language queries in their searches on Alibaba.com.
A proactive sourcing-need interpretations and recommendations feature is also present, providing SMEs the ability to utilise the agent’s suggestions for decision-making in real time.
Beyond these functions, the solution offers intelligent comparison with details on each supplier and their quotations, helping SMEs make an informed decision.
On the other hand, Alibaba.com has launched various financial solutions to help them fulfil their souring needs and logistics solutions to provide additional confidence in supply chains. This solution is co-branded with Mastercard and powered by Cardless, which gives consumers the option of either 3% cashback or 60-day interest-free payment terms, subject to a total spend limit of up to US$40,000 per year.
Additionally, a Buy-Now-Pay-Later program is also implemented, enabling entrepreneurs to split payments into three or four instalments over six weeks using Afterpay, PayPal, or Klarna.
Kuo Zhang, president at Alibaba.com, said, “Solutions like our AI Sourcing Agent are paramount as we continue building a global network of diversified suppliers and making global sourcing simpler.”
He further noted, “We’re always pushing to help level the playing field for SMEs, giving them greater access to suppliers and products, as well as industry insights that will further their business goals. With the help of AI, we are able to do just that on an even greater scale.”
