Jack Ma visits second-hand marketplace Xianyu as Alibaba’s AI grabs attention

Alibaba has been using the online flea market as a testing ground for its rapidly improving AI technologies

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Alibaba founder Jack Ma (fifth from left) visits the offices of second-hand goods platform Xianyu in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province, on Tuesday. Photo: Handout

Published: 12:30pm, 11 Feb 2025Updated: 4:11pm, 11 Feb 2025

Alibaba Group Holding founder Jack Ma on Tuesday visited the Hangzhou offices of Xianyu, China’s largest online marketplace for second-hand goods, as the technology giant advances its artificial intelligence (AI) agenda.

Photos and video clips shared by Xianyu employees showed Ma, 60, sporting a vest emblazoned with the Alibaba logo and smiling broadly. The company’s young staff members were seen jostling for a selfie with the retired entrepreneur, who remains widely regarded as the spiritual leader of the business empire he created in 1999 and the face of China’s private sector.

Ma has resigned from all corporate roles at Alibaba, but remains a key shareholder.

Alibaba, owner of the South China Morning Post, established Xianyu in 2014 with the aim of creating an entertaining way for Chinese consumers to buy online. Shoppers under the age of 30 made up nearly half of the 178 million monthly active users in China’s second-hand e-commerce market last year, according to data from analytic firm QuestMobile.

Xianyu employees pose for a selfie with Ma. Photo: Handout

Last November, Alibaba consolidated its e-commerce operations into a single group comprising its domestic platforms Taobao and Tmall, international online shopping business, online wholesale market 1688 and Xianyu. The combined entity is led by Jiang Fan, one of Alibaba’s youngest partners.