Its sights set on expanding its position in Turkey, Chinese
online business-to-business commerce giant Alibaba.com has forged
an alliance with Turkish software developer and reseller LOGO Group
focused on assisting small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) boost
exports.

According to Alibaba, LOGO is Turkey’s market leader in enterprise
resource planning software solutions and has one million active
users, most of which are local SMEs.

Arthur Chang, Alibaba’s vice-president of global sales, explained
that while Turkey has a large manufacturing sector less than 10
percent of Turkey’s two million SMEs are exporters.

“We and our partner LOGO are looking forward to providing these
companies with the tools and instructions to help them reap the
proven benefits of e-commerce and cross-border trade,” she
said.

Alibaba’s initiative comes as Turkey’s exports – which totalled
$140 billion in 2008 – are under pressure. Indicatively, after
recording a CAGR of 22 percent over the past five years
manufacturing exports fell 28 percent in March 2009 compared with
March 2008.

“The economic downturn is forcing businesses to cut costs and
reduce traveling expenses and has shrunk the demand from developed
markets like Europe, meaning that Turkish SMEs, like their
counterparts around the world, are eager to find more
cost-efficient and easy-to-use platforms to reach new customers and
source goods,” Chang said.

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Under the agreement between LOGO and Alibaba, LOGO will build
awareness of Alibaba and provide active support for its members,
including training and customer service. LOGO also becomes reseller
of Alibaba’s paid membership package, Gold Supplier International,
in Turkey.

In July 2009, Alibaba will extend its Gold Supplier membership to
suppliers in Turkey, giving them the same opportunity to market to
its 8 million international registered users as its paying members
in China enjoy.

Alibaba it has some 200,000 registered users in Turkey, a total
that has grown by nearly 75 percent in the last 12 months.