The Government of Italy - through its Ministry of Economic Development - and Alibaba Group announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to foster greater trade opportunities for Italian businesses seeking to sell to the vast Chinese consumer market via Alibaba Group's Tmall.com and Tmall.hk online retail platforms (collectively, "Tmall") and other related Group businesses. During the three-year term under the MOU, Alibaba Group will, among other things, provide Italian enterprises with express enrolment support for Tmall and its dedicated services, and as well as online promotion and marketing support on the platforms. The Ministry of Economic Development of the Italian Republic will, among other things, work with Alibaba Group to help Italian companies understand the opportunities in China and its unique Chinese consumers by leveraging Tmall's experience and product category data. This collaboration will also provide Tmall with Italian retail trends and popularity guidance to make marketing campaigns more focused and effective for Chinese consumers.

Alibaba Group will also explore collaboration possibilities with Italian companies via its other business units such as business-to-business platform, Alibaba.com, as well as the related payment business Alipay and the affiliated logistics business China Smart Logistics.