Alibaba to reportedly shutter online retail platform Tmall HK

Alibaba is set to shut down its online retail platform Tmall Hong Kong on 31 October this year, according to Chinese business and finance publication Caixin. The last order date for consumers is 21 August and the last delivery date for merchants set for 26 August, said Caixin.

The Chinese eCommerce giant cited the purpose of “business strategy adjustments” behind the change, however it didn’t elaborate further, Caixin said. Alibaba will continue to provide payment and delivery services in Hong Kong via its customer-to-customer arm Taobao Marketplace. MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to Alibaba for comment.

Separately, on the financial front, Alibaba Group has authorised the company's management to apply for a primary listing on the Main Board of Hong Kong Stock Exchange. After completion of the primary listing process, which is expected to occur prior to the end of 2022, Alibaba will become a dual-primary listed company on the New York Stock Exchange in the form of American Depositary Shares (ADSs) and on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in the form of ordinary shares, according to the press release issued on 26 July 2022.  

Alibaba currently maintains a secondary listing on the Main Board of Hong Kong Stock Exchange and will apply for a primary listing status pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

The company's ADSs listed in the United States and the shares listed in Hong Kong are fungible, and investors can continue to choose to hold their shares in the form of ADSs traded on the New York Stock Exchange or ordinary shares traded on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Alibaba Group chairman and CEO Daniel Zhang said: “We have received approval from the board to apply to add Hong Kong as another primary listing venue, in the hopes of fostering a wider and more diversified investor base to share in Alibaba's growth and future, especially from China and other markets in Asia,”

“Hong Kong and New York are both major global financial centres, with shared characteristics of openness and diversity. Hong Kong is also the launch pad for Alibaba’s globalisation strategy, and we are fully confident in China’s economy and future,” Zhang added.

Since the company's secondary listing in Hong Kong in November 2019, there has been a significant increase in its public float and transaction volume on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. In the first six months ended 30 June 2022, Alibaba’s average daily trading volume in Hong Kong was approximately US$0.7 billion, compared to an average daily trading volume of approximately US$3.2 billion in the US. Given the substantial presence of its business operations in Greater China, the company expects that a dual-primary listing status would allow it to broaden its investor base and facilitate incremental liquidity, in particular expand access to China- and other Asia-based investors.

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