Alibaba Group’s wholesale site Alibaba.com will create a co-branded online store with American office supply retail chain Office Depot, according to a report by The Associated Press published on Monday. Alibaba will be able to access Office Depot’s 10 million customers and 1,800 sales agents, while Office Depot will be able to tap Alibaba’s 150,000 suppliers from around the world.
This marks Alibaba.com’s first partnership with a major offline US retailer. At home, Office Depot’s business has been affected by the popularity of Amazon.
Over time, the two companies intend to provide a channel for small businesses in the US to sell their products around the world.