Ma Yun expects Korean version of Taobao

Ma Yun, the founder of China's leading e-commerce company Alibaba, speaks at Seoul University in South Korea on Dec 10, 2013. He said that he expects a Korean version of the company's online shopping platform Taobao.com to attract more South Korean consumers in future. [Photo / icpress.cn]

SEOUL - Ma Yun, the founder of China's leading e-commerce company Alibaba, said Tuesday that he expects a Korean version of the company's online shopping platform Taobao.com to attract more South Korean consumers in future.

Ma Yun made the remarks during a speech at Seoul University in South Korea on Tuesday afternoon, on the sideline of the second China-South Korea Internet roundtable conference.

Asked whether Alibaba has a plan to enter the South Korean market, Ma suggested South Korean young people who are interested in e-commerce translate Taobao's homepage into Korean language and operate on their sides to make a success.

Ma said it is very difficult for Alibaba to send people to and hire people in South Korea at present, but he believed that if South Korean people make a Korean version of Taobao, they will spark more love from domestic market towards Taobao and achieve success.

Ma mentioned Taobao's Russian version, which was created by some Russian girls studying in Beijing and quite popular among the young generation in Russia. Goods ordered on Russian Taobao are shipped from Beijing to Moscow and distributed there.

"It takes six months for people in Moscow to receive the goods, but they still love it," said Ma, noting that only love can make a business success.

"We don't believe that if we come to South Korea, we can serve the South Korean people better than South Korea's local company," said Ma.