ALIBABA Group Holding Ltd. will introduce a service on its wholesale website 1688.com that allows merchants in China to source global brand names.

    The service, which will begin May 18, will initially offer brands from Spain, according to a statement from the company yesterday. The website will add products from Portugal, Italy and South Korea in the future as it seeks to build it into the largest sourcing platform for imports, the company said.

    Cross border e-commerce represents the next battle front for Chinese Internet companies including Alibaba and shopping sites backed by Tencent Holdings Ltd.

    As China eases policies and sets up test zones that make it cheaper and faster to import overseas goods, companies are rushing to introduce U.S. and European brands to tap demand from an expanding middle class that could reach 600 million in the next decade.

    “As China’s middle class’ demand for high quality foreign brand names increases, it would help Alibaba ride the next wave of growth,” said Liu Ligang, chief economist for greater China at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. in Hong Kong. “China has just started opening up more free trade zones” making it easier to import goods, he said. (SD-Agencies)