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In the year2000 it was predicted that B2B e-commerce would be a trillion dollar market. However, what actually happened was underwhelming compared to the predictions previously made as the market only made about $559 billion. Surprisingly, most businesses still buy and sell products the "old fashioned" way using fax, paper invoices and paper checks. The big question is, why aren't the large e-commerce companies, including Ebay and Amazon, banking in on this market? Amazon has been testing a wholesale site called AmazonSupply for about two years. However, much like Ebay, Amazon specializes in selling consumer-facing goods. There is one e-commerce company who is dominating the market. Alibaba is a Chinese retail giant that is leading the B2B e-commerce world. Alibaba has succeeded by opening up the world of international suppliers to companies without having to form a relationship with the manufacturer before purchasing supplies. By using Alibaba as a mediator between businesses and suppliers, businesses can buy products in bulk without actually having to travel to China to do it. Alibaba has given businesses access to many manufacturers that they most likely otherwise would not have access to.

In the year2000 it was predicted that B2B e-commerce would be a trillion dollar market. However, what actually happened was underwhelming compared to the predictions previously made as the market only made about $559 billion. Surprisingly, most businesses still buy and sell products the "old fashioned" way using fax, paper invoices and paper checks. The big question is, why aren't the large e-commerce companies, including Ebay and Amazon, banking in on this market? Amazon has been testing a wholesale site called AmazonSupply for about two years. However, much like Ebay, Amazon specializes in selling consumer-facing goods. There is one e-commerce company who is dominating the market. Alibaba is a Chinese retail giant that is leading the B2B e-commerce world. Alibaba has succeeded by opening up the world of international suppliers to companies without having to form a relationship with the manufacturer before purchasing supplies. By using Alibaba as a mediator between businesses and suppliers, businesses can buy products in bulk without actually having to travel to China to do it. Alibaba has given businesses access to many manufacturers that they most likely otherwise would not have access to.

For an individual shopper, Alibaba has also created Ali Express, which gives an individual access to the same staggering number of products at near wholesale prices. They do indeed appear to have broken the code on B2B sales while still providing availability to the consumer. Win-win.

The Alibaba hotel in China has incorporated several e-business components that decrease the hotel's cost of human labor drastically. The traditional front desk check-in process is replaced by podiums that scan guests face as well as documents. To check-out, a button is pressed on an app which locks the room and automatically charges the guest through an online wallet. Apart from hotels, Alibaba has also launched projects for grocery stores and book stores.

I'm now used to seeing a lot of partnerships among hospitality companies -- making it a worldwide trend. The partnership of hotel company, Marriott, and e-commerce conglomerate, Alibaba, resulted in expanding the online travel footprint of both companies. As a result, Chinese travelers find it easier to book hotel rooms across all the brands managed by Marriott. In addition, travelers are able to use Alibaba's mobile payment platform during their stays at Marriott-branded hotels. It's a win-win situation! This partnerships broadens the level of services available to consumers. It comes to show that Marriott and Alibaba have used the proper e-business strategies to succeed in our digital economy.

It is interesting to see how the hospitality industry is also globalizing their business in order to tap into new markets. Marriott has successfully expanded thanks to its Starwood acquisition. Its partnership with Alibaba will create a stronger presence in China. They have forecasted that their customer base will grow to 2 billion customers in the next 20 years and will tap into Alibaba's loyal customer platform. According to Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson, "What we want to do is make sure that a Chinese traveler has what they most want when they show up at our hotels". I think they will be able to achieve this with the inclusion of Alipay, Alibaba's wallet-free travel program which is commonly used. Understanding what customers' preferences and needs are will surely attract and possibly lead to more room for expansion.

This article emphasizes the fact that Chinese consumers is thriving in outbound travel. The number of people in China traveling is expected to increase from the current number of 150 million trips to 700 millions trips in the upcoming five years. With its significant growth, Marriott is taking extra measures to capture the eye of the interest of Chinese travelers. The Chinese e-commerce giant, Alibaba Group and Marriott declared a joint venture with their main purpose of building guest loyalty and uplifting the traveling experience for the Chinese market. With the increased income for the average Chinese middle class, traveling to the United States and Europe has become popular. Therefore, enabling "Alipay" through Fliggy (which is Alibaba's travel service platform) assists Chinese consumers to conveniently access digital pay for their trips. This particular venture was a huge stepping stone in forming the relationship with the known e-commerce company. Particular information pertaining to Chinese travelers, such as favored promotions, programs, and content also became more accessible to Marriott as this venture launched. Marriott's owners as well as franchisees are expecting to grasp these information to seize an ever growing Chinese travel market. Although Alipay is only available in certain Asia-Pacific hotels, it is expected to expand to the U.S. markets as well as the European market. Easy to use technology will aid in all steps of the booking process, starting from planning, booking, to paying and even managing a particular trip. Additionally, for Chinese consumers, Alipay, as mentioned above, is the main method of payment for Alibaba. 80% of e-commerce is made in Alibaba. Finally, this joint venture also enhances a crossover loyalty program feature. Through Marriott and Alibaba's loyalty program, point will be exchangeable and redeemable to further enhance consumer satisfaction.

Alibaba is a well-known e-commerce company and the largest stockholder of Shiji. It added investment in this dominating PMS software company in China. Shiji is not only expanding its PMS software business in China, but also seeking chances to expand their business to Europe and America. It has the goal of being a well-known company worldwide and has a long way to go according to some business analysts.

In 2017, Marriott entered into an e-commerce partnership with Alibaba...China's number 1 recognizable name in e-commerce. By installing Alipay and broadening their guest amenities, Marriott is hoping to increase the number of Chinese travelers to their hotels all over the world. Globally, China is expected to have the largest population growth and Marriott is banking on them to travel to their hotels.

This article tells us about 10 new innovations in the hospitality world. Mostly it is talking about some innovations in the hotel industry such as face recognition at the registrations, voice-controlled rooms, and smart amenities.

This article outlines the advance of Facial recognition capabilities and technology in the Hospitality Industry. The amazing advance of combining a persons visual image and being able to tie it to data on the back end and come up with the means to truly personalize the product and provide efficiencies to the guest is truly remarkable. The 30s check in claim that the adopting company Shijin was touting truly seems possible. This technology could be extrapolated to Hotel security systems for rooms, marketing, especially proximity marketing that be recognized in all of the hotel venues and of course simple customer recognition by staff. I do however see a privacy issue related to the retention of this data and of course consumers may vote no with their feet in the North American or European markets, but for hoteliers it does offer a tantalizing breath of options to innovate.

While Airbnb is still one of the larger competitors the hotel industry is up against, at the NYU Hospitality Conference, a new possible disruptor was brought into question. Speakers began to discuss the possible disruption that online services like Google and Amazon to name a few. The advantages that these companies have, should they dive into the realm of hospitality, is the sheer amount of information that these sites contain about the consumer. Although they have this extensive data, they are lacking in interpersonal experience as these companies don't deal with the consumer physically. The hotel industry however, leads far ahead of these companies in this regard, as it's what they've been known for. However, for the hotel industry to ultimately come out on top, they will need to partner with these companies and work together, rather than be taken down. 

E-commerce has been going through a faster, sustainable and overwhelming developing era, particularly in China. Within over 450 million of people using internet to communicate, China has been potential to lead the development of E-commerce and E-business. This article talks about 3 proven strategies helping China to well improve the E-commerce industry which are to build our own networks, outsource to third-party providers and form partnerships or acquire existing firms. i do believe these kind of methods will boost a brand new ending for our E-commerce development.

This is a very interesting article. As a Chinese teenager, I can experience all the changes and development of Taobao and how it won Chinese market that the author mentioned in this article. eBay can be successful in an international market, while failed rapidly in Chinese market. Firstly we can see how competitive the online market is. After this we also want to ask why eBay was beaten in China? The author of this article listed four reasons: 1) Compared with eBay, Taobao has better marketing strategies in dealing with local market. At the beginning, Taobao promoted itself through TV ads and later used short messages, which were more popular than Internet in China. 2) Taobao has less limitations on buyers and sellers through the whole process. For instance Taobao charges no listing and transaction fees on its sellers and it's free to register as a user in Taobao 3) Products made in China gives Taobao more chances to sell goods in competitive price. 3)Taobao has better terms for its customers, which helps it o to earn a good reputation and also makes Taobao more flexible in customer service. 4) The way that Taobao lists its items are more customer centric and adaptable to Chinese customers' tastes. E-commerce can bring unlimited chances and is full of adventures. As for me, marketing skills, excellent customer service and high-tech are the same important for a company if it wants to increase the share of market and makes profit. Taobao can be set as a good example in e-commerce history.  

This article discusses the risks and disadvantages with cloud computing. Some people love using the cloud and they find it the best way to save their information. Others prefer the use of an external hard drive. While there are pros and cons to both companies should not only rely on cloud computing. As you can find in this article there are some definite disadvantages that need to be worked out before this becomes our only tool for saving information.

Nothing ground breaking from what we have already heard. But the lack of response from the majority of the industry to implement is astonishing.

Rapid Check-in, Easy & secure payments, Personalized Guest Experience, Quick Payment all sounds really good but there's other uses, tracking employees.

This article talks about the biometrics in hotels. For example, In China, there is facial recognition to check into the hotel. Facial recognition can also be used as a "room key" as well.