Alibaba, Chinese E-Commerce Giant, Taps Lyris for E-Mail Marketing (part 1)

The deal is symbolically important because of Alibaba’s size and its hold on the Chinese Internet market, where it also operates the former Yahoo China. Lyris is also in talks with several organizations in China about establishing re-seller relationships, according to Dave Dabbah, director of sales and marketing at Lyris.

Lyris Technologies said China-based Alibaba will use its e-mail marketing solution to handle messaging to both Chinese and international members who use the site to import and export goods.

Alibaba, the largest e-commerce company operating in China today, will use ListManager to manage its communications with members who live in 200 countries and territories around the world, according to Lyris. The e-commerce site gets a half-million visitors per day, many of them global merchants looking to find trading partners inside China.

Emeryville, Calif.-based Lyris said it would customize its solution to work in the Chinese marketplace as well as in the international markets that Alibaba also serves.

"We are one of the few companies in China that has addressed the unique challenges of managing customer relationships globally," said Devin Beringer, Alibaba’s Director of Customer Management. "By working with Lyris, we have been able to improve the deliverability of our messages and more importantly, transform how we communicate with our users."

ListManager manages and tracks a wide range of customized e-mail marketing programs to deliver timely, relevant and personalized messages to millions of users in both Chinese and English.

Using Lyris ListManager, Alibaba has the ability to personalize and send communications based on a combination of user segments and behavior and then track performance, from the time the e-mail is sent to conversion to sales back on the site.

To be continued..