E-commerce platform Alibaba.com has unveiled AI Mode, a new agentic AI feature designed to automate major stages of a buyer’s journey across its B2B marketplace.
Announced at the company’s CoCreate Europe event in London, Alibaba said the launch marks a “pivotal moment” in its shift to becoming an agentic AI platform.
The move also comes amidst what the company said is strong momentum across Europe’s e-commerce market, with order volumes up 57% year over year and the number of active suppliers worldwide rising 50%.
That momentum, Alibaba.com said, has created the perfect entry point to put AI “at the core of the global trade experience.”
Set to roll out in December, AI Mode allows users to upload natural language queries or input documents for analysis. The AI model scans these materials, compares factors such as pricing, logistics and technical requirements, and provides tailored suggestions depending on its findings.
The system is powered by Accio, which uses multimodal understanding to interpret unstructured inputs and map them to relevant manufacturing capabilities.
AI Mode will integrate with Alibaba’s existing services such as secure payments and Trade Assurance, with the long-term aim of turning the site into an end-to-end automated platform.
“AI is no longer a supplementary tool at Alibaba.com, it’s evolving into the operating system of our platform,” Alibaba.com’s president Kuo Zhang said in a press release on the launch.
The news also follows the company’s September announcement that it will augment its traditional keyword-based search with “deep search,” powered by large language models. The launch of AI Mode is pitched as the next step in this augmentation, integrating agentic AI features directly into a user journey.
A Broader AI Push
The AI Mode announcement comes as part of a wider push for agentic AI, both within Alibaba.com itself and more broadly across Europe.
According to research from Forrester and McKinsey, 90% of B2B buyers now use AI tools in sourcing and evaluation, with AI driving more than half of all online searches.
Alibaba’s own research also found 90% of European SMEs say product innovation is critical to their growth strategy, while 62% are confident in using AI tools to drive innovation in design, sourcing and production.
With regulations around sustainability growing increasingly rigid, Alibaba said AI-enabled sourcing can help companies wanting to streamline compliance without jeopardizing production.
“As Alibaba.com deepens its commitment to European SMEs, AI Mode stands as both a technological milestone and a strategic enabler, empowering businesses to compete globally, innovate efficiently and source with greater intelligence,” the company said.
