Alibaba Group representatives have rebutted the “partnership” with the Shopping App Lolli just some days after the US retail startup’s announcement, which touted by Lolli CEO Alex Adelman for Singles Day.
According to the blog post on Nov. 11, Lolli has announced a partnership with the Chinese global shopping giant, Alibaba whereby Lolli users can earn up to 5% bitcoin back and stack sats when shopping thousands of items online when shopping with Alibaba online.
An Alibaba spokesperson characterized its relationship with Lolli as an “affiliate marketing program” brokered by a subcontractor of one of its contractors without the company’s knowledge.
“Our contractor is terminating the relationship with the subcontractor who was working with Lolli, and Lolli never had the right to claim a partnership with Alibaba.com or imply one with Alibaba Group, the parent of Alibaba.com”, the spokesperson added.
However, CEO Adelman responded that it has to be an integration for us to send sales to someone’s site
However, inflated the promotion of this Singles Day campaign may haven’t been completely off-base. Contractual agreements seem appeared to permit the usage of “Alibaba related keywords” in online materials.
What the Lolli team saw as expanding on an existing client relationship during a mainstream holiday campaign by the flagship brand, Alibaba Group viewed as a private and “transactional” deal mediated by third parties, according to the spokesperson. From Alibaba’s perspective, this was not an official partnership.
Blockchain companies often claim to have “partnerships” with brands when they really have an indirect affiliate contract or are merely working on a proof-of-concept (PoC). This also underscores the challenge of defining what a “partnership” really means at the intersection of e-commerce and crypto.
Blockchain ambition of Alibaba
Alibaba has embraced the development trend of technology and started focusing on blockchain. In March 2019, China’s most prestigious multinational operating in more than 200 countries announced that the two blockchain subsidiaries would now operate under the company.
Two blockchain subsidiaries include Ant Blockchain Technology and Ant Double Chain Technology. Ant Blockchain Technology will focus on software development while Ant Double Chain Technology will explore how blockchain can be applied to supply chain technologies and financial information services.
The giant has long been interested in blockchain and in fact, they own more than 10% of all blockchain patents. The company’s ambition with blockchain is no secret. Jack Ma, the founder of the Alibaba Group, and one of the world’s most famous entrepreneurs and philanthropists, has publicly praised blockchain, claimed that “the impact of blockchain on the future of human beings has beyond our imagination”.
Annie