Alibaba Group Holding, through its Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group, has teamed up with Mastercard Inc and Cardless to introduce a co-branded credit card specifically designed to attract businesses for cross-border and domestic sourcing. This new card, dubbed the ‘Alibaba.com Business Edge Credit Card,’ marks Alibaba.com’s first co-branded U.S. credit card aimed at small business owners.
The card offers enticing benefits to incentivize businesses to utilize Alibaba.com’s platform. Cardholders can choose between two reward options: 3% cashback on all Alibaba.com purchases or 60-day interest-free payment terms on purchases up to $40,000 per year. After exceeding this limit, they continue to earn 1% cashback on Alibaba.com purchases.
Furthermore, the card offers rewards for purchases made outside of the platform: 2% cashback on other business expenses such as advertising and dining, and 1% on all other purchases where Mastercard is accepted.
Alibaba’s move comes as the company reported a 4% year-on-year revenue increase in its fiscal first quarter of 2024, reaching $33.47 billion. However, this fell short of analysts’ expectations of $34.81 billion. Despite the slight miss, Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group’s revenue saw a significant 32% jump to $4.03 billion.
Alibaba’s stock, which has faced a 13% decline in the past year, is actively involved in various initiatives to recover from challenges such as domestic regulatory scrutiny, a sluggish domestic economy, fierce competition in the domestic e-commerce landscape, and US semiconductor sanctions on China. These initiatives include opening up its platforms to accept WeChat payments and establishing Hangzhou Taobao and Tmall Digital Technology Co., a company focused on import/export and other services.
Investors interested in Alibaba can consider John Hancock Multifactor Emerging Markets ETF (JHEM) and Trust for Professional Managers ActivePassive International Equity ETF (APIE).
Alibaba’s BABA stock is down 0.75% at $81.82 in premarket trading as of Friday morning.
