Official answer:

Many people mention 1688 but don’t know what 1688 does, nor do they know the relationship between 1688 and Alibaba. Here, the editor will give you some popular science~

The Alibaba that everyone often talks about actually refers to the Alibaba Group. Alibaba Group started with 2B business and now covers dozens of fields such as B2C, C2C, B2B, cloud computing, and new retail, including core business, cloud computing, digital media and entertainment, and innovative business. Taobao and Tmall are both sub-businesses of the Alibaba Group.

In addition, Alibaba’s non-consolidated related party Ant Financial provides payment and financial services to consumers and merchants on our platform. Around our platform and business, a digital economy covering consumers, merchants, brands, retailers, third-party service providers, strategic partners and other enterprises has been established.

Alibaba com refers to Alibaba International Station, which mainly operates cross-border B2B business, looking for overseas business opportunities for domestic manufacturers, and also provides B2B services to many overseas merchants.

1688 is a comprehensive e-commerce platform specializing in domestic B2B trade, with wholesale and procurement business as its core, covering dozens of major industries such as raw materials, industrial products, clothing and accessories, home furnishings, small commodities, etc., providing a full range of supply services.