UPS has formed an alliance with AliExpress, a new online wholesale marketplace launched by Alibaba.com, which allows customers to tailor orders to the needs of small businesses, offering smaller-quantity orders and instant online transactions.

"Through its alliance with UPS, AliExpress now offers users the key benefit of managing their shipping and tracking processes online via UPS shipping technology integrated into the AliExpress platform, including the ability to print UPS shipping labels and request pick up for their UPS packages all from within the AliExpress website," UPS said in a statement.

Said Alibaba.com CEO David Wei: "Our partnership with UPS is crucial to the success of AliExpress, as one of our main goals is to make international trade for our buyers and sellers, including the shipping of their products, as easy, safe and convenient as possible."

Many of the suppliers who sell on AliExpress are long-time members of Alibaba.com and have been working with overseas buyers for years through the site. The initial supplier base includes companies from mainland China but the platform eventually will be open to international suppliers as well, UPS said.

Source: schednet