Alibaba Teams Up with Local Company to Open First Showroom in Addis Ababa

Alibaba’s first showroom has opened its doors in Addis Ababa through a foundational partnership with local firm Echelon Groups. The showroom located on the ground floor of the Getu Commercial Building in Bole District was inaugurated late Wednesday, displaying a varied selection of electronics, textiles, and office equipment.

The showroom serves as a physical touchpoint, aiming to raise awareness, encourage adoption, and demonstrate use cases. Customers can explore a portfolio of products from AliExpress, a major online retail service owned by Alibaba Group, and either select available items or place orders for specific imports.

Alibaba’s director of African Operations, Geoffrey Jiang, Chinese diplomats, and several stakeholders from Ethiopia’s e-commerce industry attended the opening ceremony.

Michael Mamo, General Manager of Echelon Groups, hopes to seed the foundations for a revolution in Ethiopia’s e-commerce landscape. The Ethio-Canadian businessman manages a host of businesses under the Echelon brand, including business process outsourcing (BPO), logistics, agriculture, and manufacturing.

“We have enabled customers to purchase Alibaba’s products using Birr,” he told Shega.

Michael has already created partnerships with over 40 Ethiopian importers,  aiming to reduce the hassle of traveling to China to find products. He foresees the delivery of products taking no more than 15 days, depending on customs clearance procedures.

“We will handle the customs process and facilitate duty-free benefits for those with the appropriate documents,” Michael says.

As Alibaba looks to accelerate the rollout of its e-commerce business in Africa, partnerships with local companies are crucial for quick success.

Geoffrey Jiang expressed joy over finding partners that are willing to become an icebreaker for Alibaba’s targets in B2B (Business to Business) partnerships, wholesalers, and individual customers. He referred to the inability to use local currency as one of the most significant bottlenecks expressed by Ethiopian users of the AliExpress platform.

“We will begin supporting the local currency in November,” Geoffrey told Shega.

The director of Alibaba’s Africa operations also indicated the benefits of creating trust from customers by availing a showroom where they can physically inspect the samples. He indicated that the pace at which new showrooms open in Ethiopia will depend on the ease of current operations.

Alibaba also entered into a partnership with MKTY IT Services Plc back in August for expansive cooperation, including the establishment of a showroom around the Welo Sefer area.

Entry of the Chinese e-commerce giant has already created significant interest from Ethiopian consumers. Kidus Yohannes, a software engineer from Addis Ababa, is one such customer. Excited and curious by the development, he used a family member’s credit card to pay in dollars and order items. Kidus purchased a water bottle and a five-meter LED light strip for just two dollars—a fraction of the 3,000 birr these items would cost locally. 

Thanks to the first-time free delivery, he paid only 50 birr to Ethiopost when he picked up the items. “It is significantly cheaper than what you find from local sellers,” Kidus told Shega, impressed by the price difference.

The entry of AliExpress in Ethiopia is also bound to impact more than just consumers as businesses adjust to the e-commerce company’s massive size and capital.

Importers like Imran Muhedin, who have relied on imports from China for their electronics retail businesses, find themselves in a curious space with the company’s entry. He finds the avoidance of travel expenses, which cost him an average of 200k birr per trip, as lucrative despite fearing market share loss to the Chinese e-commerce behemoth.

“It is mostly scary for importers,” Imran told Shega.