PWhat path led you to become General Manager of Alibaba France?
Since the end of my studies, my career has been linked to digital technologies, for French or foreign companies. [Devoteam, Capgemini, Microsoft, NDLR]. I like innovation when it has concrete applications in our lives that provide and create value. In my very business-oriented course, I have always sought to put innovation at the service of customer problems, to develop creative responses. This is probably why Alibaba approached me when I was at Microsoft.
Paul de Billy has led Alibaba's activities in France since 2019
What did you know about this Chinese group before joining it?
Like everyone else, not much. I delved into the subject and asked myself how I could participate in the internationalization of this company while contributing, humbly, to the development of French companies and the influence of France.
Since 2019, has this been your mission at the head of Alibaba?
Yes, make all of the technologies offered by Alibaba available to French economic players so that they can trade. We do not buy or resell anything, we are a commercial and technological interface.
A door to China, above all.
No, not only that, because in terms of e-commerce, we have three tools, three different brands: AliExpress, a marketplace for Chinese products to France; Tmall, which allows international, and therefore French, products to be sold in China, and Alibaba.com, the international commerce marketplace whose mission is also to connect companies from around the world, and therefore French ones, directly with other companies around the world.
“French brands sell as much as German, Italian and Spanish brands combined on Alibaba! »
To date, what does Alibaba bring in for French companies?
To date, 5,000 French references are present on Tmall. This represents nearly 300 companies and 12.6 billion euros in annual transactions [chiffre 2022, NDLR]. To give you an idea, it's as much as the activity of German, Italian and Spanish brands combined on Alibaba! This performance is partly explained by the fact that the Alibaba group is particularly strong in three commercial sectors for which France is a reference: clothing, cosmetics, wines and spirits – a major sector for the economy of New Aquitaine. The commercial opportunities are great for French people wishing to export to China or elsewhere.
Despite trade tensions between Europe and China?
It is certain that customs duties have an impact on trade… But that does not prevent us from establishing strong partnerships with French business players, like our membership in the Business France environment or the partnership concluded with Business France which led to a space dedicated to “made in France” and French brands on Alibaba.com. For the moment, this “pavilion” has 150 products, but the objective is to highlight 200 French companies. We remain an open door to China and to export for businesses.
“There has never been any question, until now, of creating logistics warehouses in France”
When you know the giant Alibaba, you are surprised by the fact that in France you only occupy one floor in a Parisian building…
Here, we correspond to the culture of Alibaba, which operates in start-up mode with great agility while the group has more than 100,000 employees and, in the last quarter, achieved more than 33 billion euros in turnover. business…
In France, how many employees does Alibaba have?
Between the French headquarters and our sorting center near Charles-de-Gaulle airport, that is, to be precise, 96 people to date, and we are not looking to hire massively. We have been doing this for the last few years because, when I arrived at the end of 2019, there were barely 20 of us.
There are few of you and therefore you do not have a warehouse in France.
No, we only have three large logistics warehouses in the world, in Macau, Hong Kong and Liège in Belgium. Until now, there was never any question of creating logistics warehouses in France.
For tax reasons?
No, not tax, it just corresponds to our deployment strategy, our organization. Again, we only have three major logistics centers in the world…
So you are not a big tax contributor in France?
I don't know if we are a big tax contributor, but we did a study in partnership with Bocconi [université privée de Milan spécialisée dans les sciences économiques, NDLR]. It shows that, out of the 12 billion euros of transactions carried out on our marketplace by French companies, the indirect and direct impact for the territory represents more than 6 billion in taxes collected by France. This is explained by the fact that the categories of French merchandise that perform very well on Alibaba are essentially designed and produced in France. Germany, for example, works very well on exports with industrial products that are only assembled in Germany. In fact, their impact in terms of employment and taxes on their territory is less strong.
We know that lasting business is based on trust. We implement solutions to guarantee financial exchanges between seller and buyer, and efficient supply chains. We must protect consumers in terms of what they buy, and protect brands and their rights holders. We have implemented technologies that scan all ads for offers “at risk” of being fraudulent.
With what results?
On average, 96% of fraudulent listings are detected and removed before the first sale. We also monitor consumer notifications. On AliExpress, 99% of fraudulent ads reported by notification are removed before twenty-four hours. We work with the police and customs to fight against highly organized criminal organizations. We have shut down more than 200 counterfeiting businesses in China.
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