E-commerce innovation at the center of an economic and geopolitical challenge: Amazon vs. Alibaba

The study of innovation and its geographic conditions has seen a renewed interest since the crisis of 1970s. The first part of this thesis broadly examines the evolution of the concept of innovation, emphasizing the role of the individual entrepreneur. Innovation consists of bringing a pioneering, relevant, useful and even beneficial idea for the company to the decision-maker so that he can take the necessary measures to implement it. Therefore, without innovation, companies are condemned in the long term to die; innovation, whatever the size of the business, allow to differentiate a company from the competition, to ensure its sustainability, in a word: to survive.
The second part, describes the relationship between space and innovation from the east to the west of the world, in order to overcome notions of territorial limits and spatial hierarchy to favor the concepts of network and proximity. The way in which a company interfaces with the customer, can constitute a source of innovation. The oldest example is the mail order sales. The geographic dimension is a in fact a crucial component, because many business innovations aim to bring the service as close to the customer as possible: at home, on mobile, etc.
The third part, analyzes briefly the crucial phases in the history of commerce up to the development of e-commerce, and its economic weight in the world. The e-commerce is a trend that since its inception (late 90s) has continued to grow. A lot of very large companies have embarked on this way of sale. E-commerce has become a real source of profit for many companies, whether they are specialized in the sale of products or services. Even if it is possible to perceive this rapid growth, it is not necessarily easy to understand the ins and outs of this market evolution, if we consider that this sector of activity hides negative externalities: it leads to the destruction of many jobs linked to traditional trade. By comparing them, online sales use less staff. Indeed, the tasks attached to this field require specific qualifications, and this is connected to the robotization of work tools in warehouses. In addition, the development of this sector has an impact on the environment by increasing the number of journeys. This implies a strong use of packaging, whether for sending or for a possible return of the product.
The fourth and last part, which is the final goal of this thesis, observes and studies “Amazon” and “Alibaba” in the perspective of economic and geopolitical clash. Another area of the front of rivalry between the United States and China, as the economic representatives of the east and west of the world: the online mega-market of the capitalist states versus the online mega-market of communist China. Taking these two companies, how to understand which one is more effective, stronger, more promising?
Alibaba has become an e-commerce giant, the Chinese company founded by Jack Ma more than twenty years ago, is relatively unknown to western consumers, while the eastern ones knows Amazon much better. The duel between the two web giants has already been going on for more than 6 years.
And in the midst of a trade war between their respective countries, it does not seem ready to stop. On one side, Amazon, the war machine, the benchmark for e-commerce sites in the Western world; on the opposite side, Alibaba, the Chinese outsider, the only real competitor of the American war machine.
Could the Chinese group one day succeed in overtaking the “Californian master”? His weapon seemed to be appropriate: the AI. It must be said that in recent years, most e-commerce experts have liked to use this formula: “When you order a brush from Amazon, Amazon recommends that you order more. When you order a brush from Alibaba, Alibaba recommends art and painting lessons.”
It is true that the recommendations that can be found on AliExpress, Alibaba's wholesale site for the western general public, stick with what you would have been looking for on your own. A large portion of the pages viewed by internet users on Amazon, come from its algorithmic recommendations. Much like those of its challenger Alibaba, they are developed, thanks to machine learning, from the clues you leave online (the browsing behaviors), and what other customers, who like your same thing, have bought recently. But could AI allow Alibaba to overtake Amazon by boosting its activity in all directions, beyond the recommendations of e-commerce?