It’s one of the fastest growing retailers in the country, yet most Australians have never heard of it. China’s Alibaba, often compared to America’s Amazon, has said Australia is now the firm’s third largest overseas market.

That it has grown so much Down Under should be a wakeup call to laggard Australian retailers failing to keep pace with their customers, one of the firm’s top local executives said. “When you look at retail experiences it’s clear China is a long way ahead of Australia,” said the company’s Australian head of marketing, James Hudson.

In its home market, Alibaba is rolling out vending machines that spit out cars, cash-free supermarkets wher your shopping can beat you home and “magic mirrors” wher you can virtually try on make-up. In Adelaide, shops still can’t open on a weekend later than 5pm.

Alibaba, founded by entrepreneur Jack Ma, is coming up with a range of shopping concepts it calls “new retail” which effectively merge the online and offline worlds. Some of these concepts will feature at upcoming Alibaba eCommerce expos in Sydney and Melbourne in September and October wher it hopes to sign up more Australian retailers — large and small — to its new platform.

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