Sell on Taobao: How To Open A Taobao Store?

Bottom line: opening a Taobao store is easy. Getting found and trusted on it is the real job, and that is won with Taobao SEO, paid traffic and a review strategy, not a pretty storefront.

Are you looking to enter the Chinese market even if you’re a beginner in this kind of business? Perhaps you’re a well-established manager or CEO wanting to sell your products in China. Luckily, Taobao is a great platform to get started in , it serves as China’s biggest network for all kinds of retail business and includes both C2C and B2C transactions. Read below how you can take advantage of this medium along with instructions on how to open and sell in China with a Taobao shop. 

I am Philip Chen, a digital marketing expert who has launched plenty of foreign brands in China. Let me be blunt about Taobao, because most guides are not. The store setup is the easy 10%. The other 90%, getting traffic, ranking and trust, is where brands stall. So this article focuses on the problems that actually stop you, and the fixes that work.

Taobao is China’s Biggest e-Commerce Platform

Launched back in 2003, Taobao has grown to become China’s largest eCommerce website. It was then acquired by another one of China’s giants, Alibaba, which allowed it to become an even bigger platform. Currently, the platform has over 8 million stores registered under its name. 

This includes everything from expensive Western brands such as Adidas and Nike to cheap, locally made products. However, it’s worth noting that Taobao is primarily used by customers who belong to the low to medium-price consumers category. 

Taobao has many product categories to chose from and it’s the go-to online store for the majority of Chinese internet users, with over 800 million monthly active users and more than 8 million stores. It’s one of the most popular online shopping platforms in the world, accounting for almost 60% of the total e-commerce sales in Mainland China.

Having your products on Alibaba’s Taobao platform will provide you access to hundreds of millions of potential customers at the tip of your fingers. Because China has one of the highest ratios of digital payment and e-Commerce users in the whole world.

Those who have a company that’s registered in China or those who have the chance to work with a Chinese-registered company can operate and sell their products on Taobao. These requirements are a bit more loose compared to the more high-end websites such as Tmall Global and JD Worldwide. 

Benefits of selling on Taobao

Although most foreign brands don’t consider to sell products on Taobao, it’s actually a great marketplace to access the biggest amount of online shoppers with the smallest investment (in comparison to Tmall and JD, which are usually the first choice). Why is it worth to sell your products on Taobao? Here are some of the main reasons:

• The users: Taobao is the biggest marketplace in China and it also has the greatest user engagement from all the available platforms. Alibaba Group designed a reviews system for Taobao where consumers are encouraged to leave reviews, to make shopping easier for others, in exchange for rewards.
• The products: Taobao is known for selling everything, from lingerie to plane tickets, making it the best entry platform for big and small businesses wanting to test the Chinese market.
• Quick delivery: Various delivery options are provided by Cainiao Network’s logistics partners, with online package tracking.
• Personalization: Taobao’s algorithm makes sure your products will be shown to those that might be interested in buying them, maximizing your chances of success.
• Payment methods: All the main mobile payment methods used in China are available on Taobao and all the payments are secured, making it easier for consumers and sellers

Taobao is a very simple-to-use platform and the go-to online marketplace for the majority of online shoppers in China. It won the hearts of the Chinese by providing a platform with all categories of products, a secure payment system, and fast deliveries, with products arriving sometimes even in just a few hours.

Here are just a few things you need to do to start selling on Taobao: 

• The first thing you need to do is to register your company or partner with a company that is already registered in China to gain access to Taobao. 
• You will also need a physical address , unfortunately, using a postbox company through a virtual office won’t be possible. 
• Prepare the most important documents you’ll need, such as your business license, passport copies, and office rental contract. 
• Having money prepared for registration purposes, which may cost around $3,000 to $5,000. This process may take around six months. 
• Taobao also requires sellers to have a Chinese bank account which needs to be connected to their Taobao store. Here are just a few popular options you can consider:
  • China Merchants Bank (CMB)
  • Bank of China (COB)
  • Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) 
• You will also need to import your products into China, which means you’ll need to register them with the China customs, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection, and Quarantine of the People’s Republic of China (AQSIQ), along with other authorities before importing. 

What is the Process to Open a Store on Taobao

To get started with your own Taobao store, here are a few steps to take: 

• Set up your account and register your business as a seller on Taobao
• Link your Alipay account to sell online
• Finalize the verification of your identity 
• Create your store and connect the plugins you need, and set up your Ali Wang Wang for your customer service needs 
• Design your store and make it look attractive 
• Upload your product, keeping in mind that your images and videos will make up a huge part of your store
• Market your products and promote your store to raise brand awareness
• Once you have a Chinese company or a partner to work with, you can set up your account and register as a seller

The Pros and Cons of Selling on Taobao

There are various reasons why sellers are happy to sell on Taobao. However, there are also cons to selling on this platform. Below are just a few examples of both. 

What are the Advantages of Selling through a Taobao Store?

It’s affordable to open a Taobao store

Taobao has relatively low prices, at least we can say it is far less expensive than selling on its sister app Tmall. Indeed, everyone can sell on Taobao by depositing thousands of dollars to just register a store online in China.

Low Operating Risk

Because there’s no inventory pressure, management risk, or space limitation when starting a business on Taobao, it makes for a great platform choice for all kinds of products. Selling on this platform eliminates the various risks associated with storage, rent, logistics, and personnel management. This significant advantage will naturally attract a large number of consumers quickly. 

Enormous Users Base 

China doesn’t just have the biggest online shopping market in the world, but it is also one of the fastest-growing and most sophisticated today. As a result, Chinese consumers are looking for more services and products from outside of China, and Taobao will continue to provide them with these needs, all at a fraction of the cost compared to international offerings.

Taobao has earned the reputation of being called “the everything store” because you can find essentially anything you need within this shopping platform also meaning you can sell anything, and thanks to the huge user base, even niche categories will have enough material to work with. Taobao carries the biggest assortment of all kinds of products, including: 

• Unique, creative, and crazy items 
• Usual home improvement products 
• Groceries and food items 
• Adorable accessories for pets 
• All kinds of giveaway products and trinkets 
• Rent-a-date services 
• And more! 

No matter what your needs are, you can count on Taobao to have it and you can expect them to have great prices for you to promote your brand.

Plenty of Marketing tools, Deals, Events, and Sales 

A great way to attract more customers to your Taobao store is to offer them all kinds of Taobao sales, deals, and events, where your shop can offer great prices. There are also huge discounts to be offered along with vouchers. Here are the top events and sales in Taobao: 

• Integrated Live streaming & social media app: Weitao
• Clearance Sales 
• Taobao Daily Sales 
• Singles Day/Double 11: Happens every November 11 each year, which is also called 11.11 
• Double 12: A huge end-of-year sale that happens every December 12 and is also called 12.12

Disadvantages of Taobao Selling

If you plan to sell via Taobao, a good thing about this platform is that it’s free to register and start your shop here. However, those without a Chinese ID or who are using a foreign passport will find the authentication process lacking in the ability to verify foreign identification numbers. As a result, only Chinese and Hong Kong IDs are accepted for registration. Because of that, the majority of products available on the platform are domestically produced apparel and items.

Another stumbling block that beginners may run into is the fact that Taobao doesn’t have an English website, so you’ll need to conduct every part of your business in Chinese. As such, your Chinese partner will need to be reliable and easily accessible, or you may need to have a few staff members who can respond to customers using the Ali Wang Wang chat support system that comes with Taobao. This system plays a vital role in the success of your Taobao store, helping you to fully understand the needs of your customers and to improve their shopping experience. 

You need a local presence to open a Taobao Store

Rather an inconvenience than a disadvantage but still can be an incredibly high barrier for some companies. While any Chinese individual could sell on Taobao, your company will need to have a business license (meaning the company is registered in China), be a joint venture with a Chinese company, or have a Chinese partner that will be the legal owner of the shop.

The Language Barrier 

Unfortunately for international sellers, Taobao can pose a bit of a challenge because the website is in Chinese. However, online transaction tools such as Google Translate can help out in this regard. But this also applies when it comes to payment since you’ll need to be integrated into Alipay which is itself connected to a Chinese bank account. (having a Chinese bank account is not an option when selling on Taobao).

Being able to speak the local language is important when it comes to your pricing and localization strategy but also for customer services. You’ll definitely need Chinese when your buyers have issues such as defective products, exchanges, returns, and other item needs.

No Cross-Border on Taobao

Unfortunately, you can’t open your own Taobao store if you’re a non-Chinese company. You can, however, open an online store in a few product categories provided that you registered a company in China (It is one of the major differences between Taobao and Tmall, check out this post to learn more). 

Taobao commission fees

The commission fees of Taobao are not fixed and will mainly depend on your industry. This will be negotiated during the initial registration and every year after. A trend we have been observing is the tendency Taobao has to inflate its commission fees every year for successful shops. We suspect it is to push successful Taobao merchants to move on to Tmall where initial fees are way higher than Taobao.

Want to open a Taobao Store?

With Alibaba partners and other agencies offering eCommerce services for China, setting up and opening a store in Taobao is now easier than ever, where you can avoid time resource-consuming processes to sell goods as quickly as possible in China. By having a Taobao store, you’ll have access to millions of potential shoppers online.

Furthermore, considering the low cost, low risks, and low maintenance that comes with its secure payments, there’s almost no reason why you shouldn’t try selling on Taobao. 

Leave us a comment or contact us, so that we can help you open a Taobao shop as soon as possible.

The real problems on Taobao, and how to fix them

Problem 1: zero visibility on day one. Fix it with Taobao SEO. Put your main keywords in the product title, fill every attribute, and use clear main images. Then seed early traffic with Zhitongche (Through Train) paid ads so the algorithm learns your listing converts.

Problem 2: no trust without reviews. Fix it with an early review and service plan. New stores have no ratings, so buyers hesitate. Prioritise fast replies, a high service score and genuine early reviews. Ratings move ranking and conversion at the same time.

Problem 3: foreign brand friction. Fix it with the right setup. A Chinese entity or a Taobao Partner (TP) removes the verification headaches. If you cannot set that up yet, start cross-border on Tmall Global, prove demand, then expand.

Philip’s take

Honestly, for most foreign brands Taobao is a testing ground, not a final home. Use it to prove Chinese buyers want your product, keep your costs low, then graduate to a Tmall flagship once the demand is real. Treating Taobao as the finish line is the mistake I see most often.

Taobao store essentials at a glance

Lever	What it does	Your move
Taobao SEO	Gets your listing found	Keywords in title, full attributes
Zhitongche ads	Seeds traffic and data	Fund early sales and reviews
Reviews and service	Build trust and ranking	Reply fast, earn ratings
Setup	Removes foreign friction	Use a TP or start cross-border

How we launch stores that actually sell

We are a small Shanghai team, and we built our name by making stores rank and convert, not just exist. One online retailer came to us with a store and no traffic. We rebuilt the listings for Taobao search, ran tight paid campaigns to seed sales and reviews, and fixed the service score. The same store went from invisible to a steady flow of orders. That is the work: traffic, trust and conversion, handled together. Get in touch through our contact form and we will tell you straight what your store needs. Friendly team, fair prices, real results.

FAQ

Can a foreign company open a Taobao store?

Taobao is built for individuals and Chinese entities. Most foreign brands use a Taobao Partner or a local entity, or start cross-border on Tmall Global instead.

Is Taobao or Tmall better for my brand?

Taobao is cheaper and lower-barrier for testing. Tmall is the trusted B2C flagship for established brands. Many start on Taobao, then move to Tmall.

How do I get traffic to a new Taobao store?

Combine Taobao SEO with Zhitongche paid ads to seed early sales and reviews, which then lifts your organic ranking.

How long until a Taobao store makes sales?

Paid ads can bring first sales within weeks. Steady organic sales build over two to three months as ranking, reviews and service score grow.

Philip Chen is a digital marketing expert with over 15 years helping foreign brands grow in China. Connect with Philip on LinkedIn.

Tmall posts its best Double 11 in four years, and what it means for you

The 2025 Double 11 was Tmall’s best growth in four years, counted after refunds, not the inflated version. Nearly 600 brands passed 100 million RMB in sales, and 34,091 brands at least doubled their sales versus last year. Third-party tracker Syntun put the whole-market Double 11 take at about 1.7 trillion RMB, up roughly 14% year on year, with Taobao and Tmall still holding the biggest share. For a foreign brand the read is simple: the buyers and the money are there, but they go to stores that show up in search and earn trust, so a quiet store still sells nothing. Alibaba Group.

What Chinese pros say on Zhihu

A popular Zhihu thread asks whether a new Taobao store can still live on organic traffic alone. The top answer is blunt about the reality.

Q: “Can a Taobao store still survive on organic traffic now?”

A (translated): “Today’s Taobao is not 2010. If you run a store now without some real operations work, 99% of stores end up dead. Traffic entry points are the icing, not the rescue. You have to first do the basics on the product itself: title, main image, details, promotions. For a brand new store I usually advise against rushing into paid ads, because you are burning real money, and without operating skill 90% of it is wasted. It is a slow climb from 0 to 1, then 1 to 10. There is no overnight shortcut, and faking sales or traffic just gets your store banned.”

That matches what we see daily: fix the listing first, then spend on traffic with a plan. Read the thread on Zhihu.

The opportunity, and how to take it

The demand is real and growing, but it only reaches stores that are found, trusted and run well, so a foreign brand that gets the operations right can win share that lazy competitors leave on the table. The way it pays off is a store built to rank and convert, paired with a B2B lead funnel that turns interest into orders and distributor talks. Our edge: we are a small Shanghai team, Chinese-native, focused on results not vanity metrics, with fair prices for smaller brands. Want a straight read on your store? Talk to us.