Chinese shoppers eye overseas sales

Compared with previous overseas shopping modes, which require shoppers to find transit companies for international goods delivery, Alipay's "direct purchase" offers one-stop service from payment to logistics.

The Alibaba company also announced on Nov 25, its plan to set up a subsidiary company in Sydney and support cross-border e-commerce between China and Australia.

Merchants who work with Alipay on the company's first Black Friday promotion include Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale's, Macy's, iHerb, Gilt, Ashford, Ann Taylor, American Apparel and Aeropostale.

"Alipay is delighted to partner with Borderfree and Shoprunner to help leading US retailers introduce Black Friday to China and reach out to eager new customers through well-managed localized promotions, direct marketing and social media campaigns," said Rebecca Lui, director of marketing and public relations for Alipay US.

Bloomberg Business news also reported that Alibaba is interested in working with EBay's Paypal to expand payment options. PayPal China declined to comment on this issue.

"Market standardization and the normalization of cross-border e-commerce market mark the biggest change in this year," said Jiang Jialin, senior market analyst of IDC China. According to Jiang, because of the implement of free trade agreements and other open-up policies in China market, the previous overseas purchasing market has transformed into a formal business model.

Jiang said that whether it be Amazon's model of direct overseas purchases or Alibaba's introduction of overseas suppliers, both companies have helped the market move towards standardization.

"Currently, the market is gradually moving towards the standardization process, Amazon who has kept experience and global service capabilities, secures a more obvious competitive advantage in mature markets," said Jiang. "However, e-commerce platform such as Alibaba, with the establishment of broader partnerships may have an advantage."

According to Jiang, future development of China's cross-border e-commerce is to be seen a fiercely competitive market.