AliExpress Unveils Three-Year Strategy: Brand Globalization Targets 'Double 50%' Growth

On October 19, the 2026 AliExpress Annual Summit and Double 11 Merchant Conference was held in Shenzhen. In the morning, AliExpress President Jing Shi shared the platform's comprehensive strategy for the future; AliExpress also jointly launched the 'China Brand Global Growth Plan' with Tmall.

'Compliance and tariffs are driving cross-border e-commerce into a completely new phase,' Jing Shi stated, adding that the next three years will also be the most uncertain period for China's cross-border e-commerce, with branding and localization emerging as two pivotal keywords.

In response to global shifts, the existing operational logic must be transformed, with compliance elevated to top priority on AliExpress. Jing Shi pointed out that the operational logic across China's cross-border e-commerce platforms has shifted from 'development first, profit and loss second, compliance third' to 'compliance first, profit and loss second, development third,' because 'compliance can pose a massive penalty risk at any time.' Specifically, AliExpress will build compliance capabilities around four dimensions: front-loading, category-specific approaches, country-specific adaptation, and de-AI-ification.

At the summit, AliExpress introduced its mission of 'Home Field Everywhere.' To achieve this, AliExpress will continuously strengthen localization in supply chain, traffic, and marketing capabilities.

On the supply chain front, AliExpress aims for next-day delivery in core cities and five-day delivery in non-core cities of key markets, driving localized fulfillment capabilities, while enhancing cross-border shipping efficiency to achieve ten-day delivery across major global markets. On the traffic side, AliExpress will deepen partnerships with major channels like Google, explore YouTube Shopping scenarios, and actively embrace new AI-driven traffic; additionally, it will integrate localized traffic channels in core countries, striving to become the most efficient commercial bridge between Chinese platforms and localized traffic. In marketing, AliExpress will shift from price-only promotions to integrated brand marketing across both online and offline channels throughout the entire journey, providing an efficient, actionable path from new products to bestsellers.

Jing Shi also underscored AI's importance: 'Rapidly adopting AI to build our operational model in this new era and under new norms will be our most critical strategy over the next three years.' AliExpress's AI strategy is equally clear: on the merchant workbench, it will reconstruct workflows and accelerate the rollout of Qwen Work for cross-border e-commerce; on the front end, an agent solution tailored to one person per country has already been implemented, with ongoing AI iteration to help merchants drive incremental growth.

Given significant differences in market environments across countries, AliExpress has moved from a globalized model to a country-specific model. Jing Shi summarized AliExpress's country segmentation: first, smaller countries should be driven decisively through AI-managed services; second, countries with high year-over-year e-commerce growth, like Russia, should seize growth opportunities; third, in financially stable short-term environments such as the U.S. and Brazil, intensify user investment; and fourth, in Europe, AliExpress aspires to become the largest Chinese cross-border e-commerce platform within two to three years.

Regarding brand development, the summit outlined goals to achieve 50% compound annual growth rates over three years: a 50% year-over-year compound growth in brand business scale, and a 50% compound annual growth in the number of brands exceeding $1 million in revenue. To this end, AliExpress will target new categories such as beauty, sports footwear and apparel, and cycling.

The 'China Brand Global Growth Plan' announced at the event focuses on top Tmall brands, factory brands, and AI hardware brands. In this plan, top brands are the priority, with both parties providing pathways linking domestic operations to overseas markets, offering wholly new growth for 500 leading brands. For the broader base of quality factory brands, a one-stop managed service will be provided to help 1,000 factory brands achieve doubled growth. For AI hardware, the platform will make angel investments in outstanding brands, supplemented by Brand and Tmall operational support, aiming to nurture 100 brands.

This article was first published on the official website of Ebrun.