AliExpress Business: A guide for UK businesses
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As a growing e-commerce business, chances are you’ve explored a fair amount of sourcing platforms. And if you’re researching AliExpress Business, you may wonder how to access such an exclusive marketplace.
Since there’s limited information online about how the platform actually works, here’s what you need to know: AliExpress Business is an invite-only B2B platform from Alibaba Group that’s designed for SMEs and e-commerce sellers. It’s a wholesale extension of the main AliExpress site, offering features like tax certifications and bulk order discounts to help you scale.
This guide will walk you through the basics of AliExpress Business. We’ll also show you how to access the platform with WorldFirst, a global payments platform that helps businesses simplify supplier payments.
Thanks to our partnership with Alibaba Group, WorldFirst customers can now skip the invite-only queue and get direct access to AliExpress Business via our fast-track sign-up.
In this guide:
- How is AliExpress Business different from the regular AliExpress?
- What type of business is AliExpress Business best for?
- How WorldFirst grants you exclusive access to AliExpress Business
- What else you can do with a World Account
Ready to access AliExpress Business through WorldFirst? Sign up for a World Account today and receive a US$100 voucher for your first order.
How is AliExpress Business different from the regular AliExpress?
The main distinction between the platforms is the users that they serve. While standard AliExpress is ideal for individuals, AliExpress Business is best for scaling businesses that have more demanding and complicated sourcing needs.
Here’s a more detailed breakdown:
- AliExpress caters to customers placing small orders, usually made up of individual or personal items. AliExpress doesn’t have minimum order quantity (MOQ) requirements, which makes it great for testing new products, but it can become expensive if you’re buying in bulk. It operates like a normal retail marketplace, and it offers fast shipping, standard buyer protections and fixed pricing.
- On the other hand, AliExpress Business is made for growing online businesses that want to place larger bulk orders. While it’s still a retail-style marketplace, it also allows you to do real-time product research with an AI trend analysis tool, manage your inventory and manufacture private-label items. It offers per-unit wholesale pricing, which means prices aren’t fixed, though you can also negotiate prices directly with your suppliers.
When you should use each platform depends on the situation. For instance, if you want to check the quality of a new supplier’s products without having to order more than one unit, then AliExpress is right for you.
But if you wanted to order a sizeable batch of customised stock, then using AliExpress Business would allow you to benefit from bulk discounts (without having to order 100+ units).
How is AliExpress Business different from Alibaba?
Alibaba.com is another wholesale B2B marketplace that’s owned by Alibaba Group, the same parent company that owns AliExpress.
Alibaba is primarily for enterprise-level businesses that want to place large customised orders directly with manufacturers. Suppliers often require high MOQs (100+ units), which makes Alibaba suitable for cheaply manufacturing private-labelled items or sourcing raw materials.
On the other hand, AliExpress Business is built for SMEs and dropshipping stores that require a simple sourcing process. It generally supports lower MOQs compared to Alibaba, though some suppliers might have minimums depending on the product (and whether you’re placing custom orders).
Read more: How to pay Alibaba suppliers safely (while avoiding unnecessary costs)
What features does AliExpress Business have?
AliExpress Business builds on standard AliExpress features like buyer protection and low minimum order quantities. Whether you’re a dropshipping store, buying wholesale or developing a branded product line, you’ll benefit from:
- A catalogue of 180+ million product listings across 20+ product categories
- Faster manufacturing for custom orders. While exact production times vary depending on the supplier and product, some products can be created within days1
- Faster fulfilment through the Supply Chain Suite delivery network, allowing some EU/UK orders to be delivered in as little as five to 10 days
- Various shipping options, depending on your preferences for delivery times, shipping costs or ecosystem-friendly shipping methods
- Thorough supplier verification to help you find reliable suppliers and reduce the risk of buying from a new seller
- Support for highly customised or private-label products, which makes it easier for dropshippers and entrepreneurs to create a brand around their online store
- Sourcing managers so that you can always access fast customer support
- Bulk pricing and volume discounts to make sourcing large amounts of stock cost-effective
- Request for Quotation (RFQ) tools for custom or high-volume orders
- AI tools to help you research winning products with high profit margin potential, including a sourcing centre that tracks down AliExpress products from URLs or images1
- Automatic invoices and tax documentation
- Per-piece wholesale pricing, with low minimum order quantities (MOQ) compared to Alibaba
What type of business is AliExpress Business best for?
AliExpress Business was primarily built for small-to-medium-sized importers, e-commerce stores and dropshipping businesses.
While using AliExpress is best for making smaller purchases, it’s beneficial to switch to AliExpress Business when you’re:
- Sourcing high volumes and looking to negotiate on price: Standard AliExpress is more geared towards personal purchases, and it can get expensive if you’re buying in bulk. With AliExpress Business, you can benefit from bulk order pricing, and you can even negotiate directly with your AliExpress supplier to help you lower costs. Since you’re ordering higher volumes, you’ll have more leverage when negotiating discounts.
- Diversifying your product range: AliExpress Business lets you access 180 million+ wholesale products with low minimum order quantities. This allows you to test new stock before committing to buying in bulk, which is especially important for customised orders since you’re often unable to return custom goods.
- Trying to streamline your sourcing process: Business users have access to a ‘Supply Chain Suite’, which allows you to research product trends, message suppliers and even create marketing materials without leaving the site.
- Worried about the trustworthiness of suppliers: On AliExpress, many sellers are either unverified or simply rated by buyer reviews. While they do offer buyer protection, the dispute process for product quality issues can be time-consuming.
It’s different on AliExpress Business, where sellers must submit IDs, business verification documents and VAT numbers if they want to get verified. You’ll also have access to a sourcing manager to make sure that you’re always able to access fast customer support in case something goes wrong with a supplier.
Read more: How to set up your AliExpress dropshipping business
How WorldFirst grants you exclusive access to AliExpress Business
Normally, access to AliExpress Business is restricted: sellers wait to be selected, apply, then wait to be approved. But with WorldFirst’s multi-currency World Account, you can skip the queue and integrate with AliExpress Business (and 130+ other marketplaces) within minutes.
WorldFirst is a digital payments platform that helps cross-border businesses hold, send and receive payments from overseas. Since 2004, we’ve been trusted by over 1.5 million businesses to handle $500+ billion in total transaction value.
We can fast-track your AliExpress Business onboarding because we’re partnered with Alibaba Group (the parent company of AliExpress). As a result, our World Accounts are already trusted and pre-verified, which allows you to integrate with Alibaba Group’s subsidiary brands without the usual wait period.
To obtain our fast-track signup link, you’ll first need to sign up for a World Account. It’s free to open, and we also don’t charge any ongoing account or maintenance fees.
Here’s how to sign up, step-by-step:
- Head to our World Account signup portal and enter your personal details
- Fill in your account information and verify your identity with a passport or drivers licence
- Upload your business documents, including your certificate of incorporation, proof of address and director/shareholder ID for KYC verification
- Once you click ‘Submit’, you’ll receive an acceptance email (usually within 48 hours)
Then, to register for AliExpress Business:
- Either contact your account manager, or customer service if you don’t have one, and ask to be invited to AliExpress Business
- Once you receive the link, click it and sign in with your AliExpress account (or create one)
- Since you’re signing up through WorldFirst’s verified partner channel, you’ll be automatically approved
If you’re a new AliExpress Business user, you’ll also receive a US$100 voucher to use on your first qualifying order over US$500 to help you get started.
What else can you do with a World Account?
Aside from giving you direct access to AliExpress Business, WorldFirst gives you several other ways to source from Chinese marketplaces while keeping costs low.
Here’s what else you can do with a World Account:
Hold 20+ currencies in your World Account and pay zero conversion fees
With a World Account, you can hold and receive funds in over 20 currencies, and pay suppliers in more than 150. Since there’s no fees when spending from a balance you already hold, you can save on costs by avoiding unnecessary conversion fees.
For example, if you sell to a customer in Europe and receive EUR, you can hold that balance in your account and use it to pay an AliExpress seller in EUR. Your payment would draw from your existing currency balance and bypass currency conversion entirely.
Even if you do face conversion fees, our FX margin is capped at 0.5% for major currencies, and will never exceed 0.75% for all other currencies. Plus, you’ll always see the live rate before confirming a transfer.
If you’d like to save on costs further, you could avoid potential price markups in foreign currencies by paying suppliers directly in CNH (China’s international currency). You can do this easily by opening a CNH sub-account from within your World Account.
Read more: How to open a local currency account online
Integrate with 130+ other marketplaces to streamline your global payouts
WorldFirst allows you to directly integrate your World Account with 130+ marketplace platforms, including Amazon, WooCommerce, Shopify and PayPal, amongst others.
By using a single multi-currency business account, all of your marketplace payouts flow into the same account you use to purchase goods, giving you a holistic view of all your funds. Every payment is tracked end-to-end, and all of your transaction details can be exported or synced automatically with Xero or QuickBooks, so you won’t need to manually reconcile multiple accounts.
WorldFirst also supports a direct integration with 1688, another Chinese sourcing platform. 1688 offers much cheaper wholesale pricing than AliExpress Business since it was intended to supply Mainland Chinese customers only. You can access these wholesale prices by using our integrated 1688 payment solution: World Pay. It lets you pay suppliers directly, removing the need for sourcing agents and giving you access to low, competitive conversion rates.
Read more: How to source wholesale by using 1688.com outside of China
Create up to 20 virtual cards and protect yourself when buying from new platforms
Data security is always a valid concern when you’re paying international suppliers, and you might be worried that your card data will be stolen or leaked.
That’s why WorldFirst lets you create up to 20 virtual cards, each with unique payment details (separate from your World Account) that you can use when sourcing from new or foreign platforms. After you’ve made your purchase, you’re able to freeze or completely delete your card, ensuring all your funds stay safe from third-party data breaches.
On our side, WorldFirst is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK, and your World Account is protected by advanced security measures like 3DS protection.
Read more: What is a virtual card? A guide to smarter payments
Get exclusive access to AliExpress Business with WorldFirst
AliExpress Business is a great sourcing option if you require more customised and flexible ordering than the main AliExpress platform is able to provide. And thanks to WorldFirst’s exclusive partnership with Alibaba Group, the easiest way to register for AliExpress Business is to sign up for a World Account.
With a World Account, you can integrate directly with 130+ major marketplace platforms, including other Chinese sourcing platforms such as 1688.com, Tmall and Temu. You can use virtual cards to keep your funds secure when buying from new platforms, and you can manage all your funds from your World Account. Additionally, you can save on FX costs by paying in 15 major currencies with no FX fees.
Ready to get started with WorldFirst and AliExpress Business? Sign up for a World Account today and receive a US$100 voucher for your first order.
FAQs
What is AliExpress Business?
AliExpress Business is a wholesale extension of the main AliExpress platform. It’s an invite-only service created specifically for SMEs and sellers on e-commerce platforms that have advanced sourcing needs, such as: Request for Quotations (RFQs), bulk order pricing, supplier verification, no minimum order quantities and private-label manufacturing, among other benefits.
Is AliExpress Business the right sourcing platform for my business?
If you require more customisation and flexibility with your orders than the regular AliExpress platform can provide, then AliExpress business is likely the right sourcing platform for you. SMEs and online stores that use AliExpress Business can benefit from private-label manufacturing and test new stock without being restricted by minimum order quantities.
You’ll also benefit from bulk order discounts, and when you sign up for AliExpress Business through a WorldFirst Account, you’ll receive a US$100 voucher on your first qualifying order.
How do I register for AliExpress Business with WorldFirst?
While AliExpress Business is normally invite-only, WorldFirst customers can access it instantly through our exclusive sign-up link. Once you’ve signed up for a World Account, here’s how you can obtain the link:
- Contact your Account Manager. You can reach out to them directly via email or phone, and they’ll send the link straight to your World Account.
- If you don’t have an account manager, then you can reach out to our customer support team by emailing [email protected].
How do I sign up for a World Account?
To open a World Account for free, follow these steps:
- Navigate to our online signup portal and fill in your account details
- Provide the necessary business verification documents and ID
- Wait for an approval email (you’ll likely receive this within 48 hours)
Lawrence Bennett is UK Country Manager at WorldFirst. He brings 15+ years of experience across fintech, ventures and e-commerce.
Lawrence Bennett
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