Dive Brief:
- Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang told an audience at Nielsen’s Consumer 360 Conference that the Chinese e-commerce behemoth is focused on collecting consumer data.
- He also promoted the company’s Tmall Global Platform as a way for U.S. businesses to reach consumers in China.
- Nielsen’s conference included packaged goods marketers and media industry staffers.
Dive Insight:
Speaking at Nielsen’s Washington, D.C. conference Tuesday, Zhang announced a focus on collecting consumer data saying, “data is oil in the new economy.” The concept is not lost on marketers, who especially in recent years have been urged to squeeze data to better target audiences.
“We accumulate tons of consumer data. We know who is the buyer; we know what is his home address; we know what [are] his favorite brands; and we know whether or not he has a kid," Zhang is quoted saying in a Wall Street Journal CMO Today post.
In the same presentation, Zhang also promoted Alibaba’s Tmall Global Platform as a “fast track into China” for U.S. business, citing Costco’s use of the platform to reach Chinese consumers. After its $25 billion IPO last September, Alibaba is working to monetize China’s hundreds of millions mobile phone users and it looks like data is one way it’s working to achieve that goal.
