Alibaba Opens Its Doors to U.S. Merchants to Widen Its Moat

Alibaba (NYSE: BABA), the top e-commerce player in China, recently invited smaller U.S. merchants to sell products to other businesses on its Alibaba.com B2B (business-to-business) platform. Alibaba previously only allowed U.S. companies to buy products from merchants on the platform.

U.S. companies will need to pay a flat membership fee of about $2,000 to launch their stores on Alibaba.com. Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), for comparison, charges third-party sellers monthly fees for each listed item. Let's take a look at why Alibaba wants to help smaller U.S. businesses tap into China and other markets.

Image source: Getty Images.

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