Alibaba Group Holding Ltd founder Jack Ma arrives at the New York Stock Exchange for his company's initial public offering (IPO) under the ticker "BABA" in New York Sept 19, 2014. [Photo / Agencies]

 

BEIJING --As Christmas shopping adapts to the internet age, Chinese e-commerce sites are grasping the opportunity to play Santa Claus for the whole world.

In Russia, 29-year-old Eva is waiting for her son's new coat to arrive from China. A Christmas gift for her seven year old, she bought it using AliExpress, an overseas online shopping platform under Chinese e-commerce giant the Alibaba Group.

The platform, launched in 2010, has expanded its business to 220 countries and regions worldwide. Jiang Dongjian, director of Alibaba's international department, said, during this Christmas season, the platform has been providing discounts for various products including garments, beauty products and electronics.

He said Russia is a major market for Aliexpress. The website once organized a painting activity named "Santa Claus in my heart", with Russian children participating.

"One of the children even painted a Santa sitting on a Chinese dragon, and another kid's Santa was a giant panda in Santa's clothes," he said.

In recent years, China's booming e-commerce sector has been increasing expansion abroad.

Statistics from the Ministry of Commerce show cross-border e-commerce companies in China recorded a foreign trade volume of about 3.1 trillion yuan ($497.1 billion) in 2013, up by about 31.3 percent from 2012. The ministry predicted the volume will grow to 6.5 trillion yuan in 2016.

The LightinTheBox Holding Co., Ltd., another Chinese online retailer serving global consumers, has been offering discounts of up to 80 percent during this Christmas buying season.

On Black Friday, which is considered to be the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season, the company set a one-day sales record of 2.65 million U.S. dollars, a growth of 65.6 percent from last Black Friday, according to a report by the company.

China's manufacturers are also benefiting from the development of cross-border e-commerce.

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