The Miravia platform has arrived in the Spanish market with the ambitious plan to start competing against Amazon. The company has the resources to achieve it, or at least try, since behind the business is the Chinese giant Alibaba, the largest Asian e-commerce group.
Under the umbrella of Alibaba International Digital Commerce (AIDC), Miravia wants to conquer the Spanish consumer with a proposal similar to that of the electronic commerce giant, but with some differences. Miravia offers top brand products and attractive discounts, but dedicates a space to promoting brands and content creators. The CEO, Yann Fontaine, explains: "We want to bring together brands, consumers and content creators under one roof who report on the latest consumer trends and turn this platform into a place for shopping and entertainment." The manager adds that the platform also allows brands to create their own stores and customize the offer within the platform.
The service was launched at the end of November and after eight months in operation, the company is not open to sharing any balance sheet. Fontaine assures, however, that the service has had “a fantastic reception, especially among young women,” and that the platform has managed to collaborate with 4,000 local and international brands. The operation is managed through a warehouse in Madrid, where around 200 people work and where logistics is coordinated on a subcontracted basis through Cainiao, Correos or GLS.
With these figures, the fit of Miravia in Spain, the first European country where Alibaba has launched this service, is still unknown, because it ensures that digital habits are well established. Marc Sansó, professor at the EAE business school and founder of the technology consulting firm Elsebits, shows his doubts about the future of this platform. In his opinion, Miravia's proposal is “diffuse” because it differs practically nothing from Amazon. In fact, the professor emphasizes that the platform's offering is more limited because it focuses on fashion, electronics and beauty products.
“Alibaba has chosen Spain to carry out a pilot test and find out how consumers behave in Europe. The Asian group wants to study whether it is worth extending the service to other countries on the continent,” says Sansó, who recalls that Alibaba has a very popular service in China similar to Miravia's.
According to the professor, one of the aspects that can slow down the expansion of this platform in Europe is the quality of after-sales service and customer service. “In China this treatment is more neglected because for cultural reasons it is not valued as much. On the other hand, in Europe the consumer gives it a lot of importance. In fact, on the Internet you can already read many complaints from users about it,” he says.
Despite this, no one doubts that Asian platforms are making their way into Europe with the intention of stealing share from American firms. In Spain, the activity of the aforementioned Aliexpress and Miravia stands out, and also the low-cost platforms Shein and Temu. According to the consulting firm Fintonic, all of them grew in the first half of this year, especially Shein, which shot up sales by 40%, and Miravia, which multiplied revenue by four.
