NEW YORK - Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd will allow small US businesses to sell on Alibaba.com, the company said on Tuesday, as it seeks to tap into the business-to-business e-commerce market and fend off rivals like Amazon.com Inc.

The change will open up markets to US merchants in countries served by Alibaba, including India, Brazil and Canada. US merchants, previously able to only buy on Alibaba.com, can now also sell to other US-based businesses on the marketplace.

Roughly one-third of buyers on Alibaba.com are US-based. More than 95% of sellers come from China.

Alibaba’s pitch to US small businesses comes as the company faces lean e-commerce revenue growth, which has been further threatened by the US-China trade spat and a growing number of rivals such as recently listed Pinduoduo Inc.

Alibaba, which does not sell the inventory of its own, hopes to attract local US businesses as their marketplace platform of choice by offering small- and medium-sized businesses global selling power. Alibaba highlighted its interest in winning over manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors.

Last month, the company launched an English-language website for its Tmall Global marketplace aimed at merchants, in an attempt to double the number of international brands on the platform to 40,000 in the next three years.

Reuters