---
title: "Jack Ma Speaks Again: The Term 'E-commerce' Will Be Eliminated! Alibaba Will Stop Using It from Next Year"
description: "At the Alibaba Cloud Computing Conference on October 13, Jack Ma stated that e-commerce has not impacted traditional commerce but is merely a ferry that will soon be obsolete. He announced that Alibaba will no longer use the term 'e-commerce' starting next year, and introduced five new trends: New Retail, New Manufacturing, New Finance, New Technology, and New Resources."
author: "马云"
publisher: "New Distribution"
email: "zhaobo258@gmail.com"
telephone: "+8615854817671"
published: "2016-10-13"
categories: "E-commerce & Instant Retail"
language: "en"
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# Jack Ma Speaks Again: The Term 'E-commerce' Will Be Eliminated! Alibaba Will Stop Using It from Next Year

> At the Alibaba Cloud Computing Conference on October 13, Jack Ma stated that e-commerce has not impacted traditional commerce but is merely a ferry that will soon be obsolete. He announced that Alibaba will no longer use the term 'e-commerce' starting next year, and introduced five new trends: New Retail, New Manufacturing, New Finance, New Technology, and New Resources.

30+ industry experts, 100+ B2B platform founders, 800+ manufacturer and distributor friends, gathering in Fuzhou to discuss the internet transformation path of the FMCG industry.
Editor's note: Teacher Jack Ma's speeches are always profound. For instance, his first lesson at Hupan University, "Clarifying Mission, Vision, and Values," or his proposal a year ago that the business world is transitioning from the IT era to the DT era, for which "Alibaba Pays 6 Billion for Ma's DT Dream" was not expensive. Of course, there were also remarks considered too pretentious, like "I haven't drawn a salary for about 20 years; I don't know how to spend money. It's because I don't love money that I have so many resources." Jack Ma's sharing always aims to astonish.
Today (October 13), Jack Ma appeared at the Alibaba Cloud Computing Conference, elaborating on the commercial revolution brought by technological revolution. Ma believes that e-commerce has not impacted traditional commerce, nor has it dealt a blow to it; e-commerce is merely a ferry that will be eliminated in the future. Ma proposed that Alibaba will stop using the term 'e-commerce' starting next year! He also advised entrepreneurs to embrace the 'future economy' with imagination, innovation, and transformation.
The following is the transcript of Jack Ma's speech (edited version):
Dear guests, entrepreneurs from around the world, welcome to Hangzhou for our Yunqi Conference.
Twenty years ago, in 1995, when I started my internet entrepreneurship, there were probably fewer than 50,000 internet users worldwide, and fewer than 50,000 internet practitioners. But today, at this Yunqi Conference, the number of attendees is close to 50,000.
Today, the number of internet users worldwide has exceeded 2 billion. Like more than a decade ago, when I was chatting with friends by West Lake, we said a new world would be born, a world that would be called the virtual world, a new continent where everyone would form connections online.
Today, we have truly given birth to a new world, a new economy, a powerful world with over 2 billion people, a new foundation for economic development. I believe this brings enormous space for everyone.
Three technological revolutions: the first released human physical strength, the second released human distance, and this one will release the human brain.
Each technological revolution takes about 50 years. The first 20 years are mainly competition among pure technology companies, while the next 30 years are about the application of technology, which will be applied to all aspects of society and all industries.
Recently, people have been asking me: Do internet companies have boundaries? Alibaba seems omnipresent, Tencent seems omnipresent, Facebook too. Do internet companies have boundaries?
I say the internet has no boundaries, just as electricity has no boundaries. Over 100 years ago, you couldn't say this industry can use electricity and that one cannot; electricity has no boundaries.
The internet is a technology, a thought, a future. Some say the internet economy or e-commerce is a virtual economy. I think it is not a virtual economy; it is a future economy.
Many say the internet is impacting various industries, and e-commerce is attacking, destroying, or impacting traditional commerce. I believe e-commerce has not impacted traditional commerce, nor has it dealt a blow to it. E-commerce merely grasps internet technology and internet thinking, and until the future economy, benefits are entirely based on the internet.
We seized internet technology and created a business model that adapts to the future, which is e-commerce. What truly impacts various industries, employment, traditional thinking, and traditional industries is our yesterday's thinking, our ignorance of the future, and our refusal to embrace it.
So I don't think everyone here needs to worry. What we should truly worry about is our fear of yesterday and our dependence on yesterday. The world's changes far exceed our imagination.
The next 30 years will be earth-shaking for human society. I want to remind everyone that from the government to enterprises to all industries, we have not realized how much impact this revolution, this technological revolution, will bring to humanity.
Many things we did well yesterday, many opportunities we consider the best for employment, will be overturned and changed. Humanity will lose many job opportunities, but also create many new ones.
In fact, the first technological revolution led to World War I, the second to World War II. This technological revolution is the liberation of human thought and the development of human wisdom.
What will the third world war be? If humanity does not have a common goal, then humanity will start wars on its own. The problems this technological revolution should solve are poverty, disease, and sustainable development of the environment.
Without such common goals, this technological revolution will still bring huge impacts. So I want to say that in this technological revolution, in the next 30 years, everyone has an opportunity.
The day before yesterday, I attended the ACD meeting in Thailand, where heads of 34 countries and regions in the Asia-Pacific were present. I called on countries to formulate unique policies for the next 30 years.
Germany's Industry 4.0, China Manufacturing 2025, and Thailand's Industry 4.0, which I heard about in Thailand, every country is preparing for the future 4.0.
Now every country is innovating for its young people and its future. The competition in the future world is competition in innovation and competition among young people. So this world of 2 billion people will grow larger.
We must inject innovative genes and DNA into this world. Only by injecting innovative DNA can we have a future. So I want to remind everyone that the next 30 years are an opportunity for everyone. Governments must formulate policies for innovation and future development for the next 30 years, and for their young people.
So I call on countries to formulate unique policies for young people under 30 and for small enterprises with fewer than 30 employees.
In the past decades, government policies have been made for large enterprises. If we can truly formulate policies for small enterprises, I believe the world will be better, and small enterprises will have more opportunities.
In the past, starting a business required money, resources, and various relationships. In the future, as long as you use technology, data, and innovation, everyone will have an opportunity.
In the past, the goal of large enterprises was to obtain more profits and resources. In the future, if large enterprises want to do better, they must take on social responsibility, create infrastructure, and provide resources for countless people.
Many large enterprises talk about ecological resources these days. What I hear is that they want to use ecological resources to make themselves stronger. But I believe future large enterprises must be ecological resource enterprises. An ecological environment is about helping others. The better the ecosystem, the better the large enterprises can thrive. So large enterprises must take responsibility for their ecosystem and truly help other enterprises in the ecosystem thrive.
So I want to say, it's not technology that impacts you, but traditional thinking, conservative thinking, and yesterday's concepts. It's not e-commerce that impacts traditional commerce, but your lack of grasp on the future that impacts your business.
Additionally, everyone knows Alibaba is an e-commerce enterprise. In fact, in Alibaba's current business, the most traditional part is called e-commerce. This term 'e-commerce' may soon be eliminated.
Starting next year, Alibaba will no longer mention e-commerce, because e-commerce is just a ferry, transporting from one side of the river to the other.
The Five 'New' Trends
We believe there are five new developments that will profoundly affect China, the world, and all of us in the future.
Why is e-commerce a traditional concept? Pure e-commerce will become a traditional concept.
More than 20 years ago, when we started working on the internet, we didn't start with Taobao, Tmall, or Alipay. It wasn't until 2003 that we realized future commerce would undergo earth-shaking changes. In 2004, we realized that if we continued, finance would undergo huge changes.
So in 2003 and 2004, I gave at least 200 speeches across China, communicating with countless entrepreneurs about future business models. I believed then that e-commerce would change many business forms, but I believe most enterprises didn't take it seriously. Today, e-commerce has developed, but the era of pure e-commerce will soon end.
New Retail
In the next 10 or 20 years, there will be no e-commerce, only New Retail. That is, online, offline, and logistics must be combined to give birth to true New Retail. Offline enterprises must go online, online enterprises must go offline, and together with modern logistics, they can truly create new retail.
The essence of logistics companies is not just about who is faster, but the future essence is to truly eliminate inventory, manage inventory better, and reduce enterprise inventory to zero. Only this goal can truly achieve the essence of all logistics.
So I call the first 'new' trend 'New Retail'.
Now many retail industries in cities, traditional retail, are facing huge impacts from e-commerce or the internet. I personally think they haven't grasped future technology, haven't looked to the future, only looked at yesterday. How to adapt to this new technology, cooperate with internet companies, cooperate with modern logistics, and utilize big data? They must create New Retail.
The original real estate model-based retail industry will not be impacted. Even if not impacted today, it won't survive long. The birth of New Retail will impact pure e-commerce and pure offline, so we propose New Retail first.
New Manufacturing
The second is 'New Manufacturing'. In the past 20-30 years, manufacturing emphasized scale and standardization. In the next 30 years, manufacturing will emphasize intelligence, personalization, and customization.
If you don't start with personalization and customization, any manufacturing industry will be destroyed. So after retail, the second huge technological revolution is the IOT revolution, the so-called artificial intelligence system.
In the future, machines won't eat electricity; they will use data. So I hope everyone pays high attention to all manufacturing industries. Due to changes in the retail industry, the original B2C manufacturing model will completely shift to C2B transformation, that is, made-to-order. The so-called supply-side reform is to reform yourself to adapt to the market and consumers.
So please pay attention to the IOT transformation. The impact of the birth of New Manufacturing on the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta regions, which originally focused on scale and standardized manufacturing, will far exceed everyone's imagination.
New Finance
Additionally, we propose the third transformation as New Finance. The birth of New Finance will accelerate the transformation of the entire society.
What is past finance? For 200 years, it supported the development of the industrial economy. The past 200 years followed the 80/20 theory: supporting 20% of large enterprises could drive 80% of world development. But future New Finance must support the 80/20 theory in reverse: how to support the personalized needs of 80% of small and medium enterprises.
For those innovators, entrepreneurs, and consumers, the original IT infrastructure and design thinking cannot accomplish this. But after internet finance, it can. Internet finance hopes to be fairer, more transparent, and support the 80% who were not supported yesterday. So the birth of New Finance will inevitably impact yesterday's financial institutions, but this opportunity is also for everyone.
I hope to see the true birth of internet finance, creating a true credit system based on data, enabling true inclusive finance worldwide. Everyone who needs money can get money, enough money, not too much, and not never getting it.
So the birth of New Finance brings immense benefits to all entrepreneurs, young people, and small enterprises. I believe in the next 10 years, we will see huge development. This is also the responsibility of Ant Financial.
We hope to turn credit into wealth, enable everyone to obtain financial support, and truly create a fair, transparent, and open inclusive financial system.
New Technology
Finally, I want to talk about the birth of 'New Technology'.
Our past technology emerged after mobile internet. Perhaps chips based on PC will become mobile chips, operating systems based on PC will become mobile operating systems, and original mechanical manufacturing will become artificial intelligence. So, will your original machines change?
In the future, machines will consume data. So new technologies based on the internet and big data will emerge endlessly, creating countless imagination and space for humanity.
New Resources
Then there are New Resources. Past development was based on oil and coal. Future technological development will be based on new energy, which is data.
Data is human. Dr. Wang Jian said data is the first time humanity created itself, created energy, created resources. Clothes worn by others are less valuable, but data becomes more valuable when used by others, and even more valuable after you use it. It's something that increases in value with use.
So I hope everyone remembers these five 'new' trends. They will impact many industries. We mention them today, so don't say in 20 years that we destroyed you. New Retail, New Manufacturing, New Finance, New Technology, and New Energy will have huge impacts on all industries. Those who grasp them will win; those who don't will perish.
So I hope you don't take this as alarmist warnings, but as opportunities to change yourselves, starting from the whole body, including government policies.
Similarly, we hope that in the future, government investment promotion will change from the traditional 'five connections and one leveling' to a new 'five connections and one leveling'. Are you connected to New Retail? Are you connected to New Manufacturing? Are you connected to New Finance? Are you connected to New Technology? Are you connected to New Energy? And the 'one leveling' is whether you can provide a fair environment for entrepreneurship and competition.
If the new 'five connections and one leveling' is what we used to call the traditional one, which relied on tax policies and land policies, I believe that's not fair. Why?
Future changes will far exceed our imagination. In the past, knowledge drove technological revolution. I think the future trend is not just knowledge-driven; future knowledge is wisdom-driven and data-driven. Remember, in the past 100 years, high-tech and technological development made human eyes look outward. We went to the moon, saw Mars, and always hoped to know what we want.
But in the next 30 years, we are wisdom-driven, which is inward-looking. Only when humanity learns to look inward can we understand what we don't want.
In the past 100 years, humanity knew what we want. In the next 100 years, we must learn what we don't want. So entrepreneurs here, only by knowing what you don't want can you understand what you must insist on.
I hope everyone grasps the future trend of the world, moving from knowledge-driven to wisdom-driven, from scale-driven to standardization-driven, to personalization, flexibility, and customization-driven. University education will also undergo earth-shaking changes. We know that in the past 20 or 30 years, we turned people into machines.
In the next 20 or 30 years, we will turn machines into people. When creating machines, we must understand a truth: humans created machines that are more powerful than humans. Almost no one challenges that. We created trains and airplanes, and we know humans can't compete with them in speed or distance.
Today, humans created computers. Computers are certainly smarter than humans because they don't get tired, have no emotions, and don't lose their temper. For them, with more data, they become smarter. But computers cannot rule humanity.
In the past, machines were human tools. In the future, machines will be human partners. We must learn to work with machines. We must understand that machines cannot have wisdom, missions, or values.
Nor can they have a good cultural system. So I hope everyone grasps that future world changes far exceed imagination.
But this imagination requires universities to reform their education systems. The original universities only taught knowledge and culture. Teaching is imparting knowledge; education is imparting culture; learning is acquiring knowledge; practice is acquiring wisdom. So we hope future universities focus more on cultivating creativity and imagination.
If it's purely knowledge, I believe our future college students will face increasing challenges. Because after the 21st century, the core words are innovation, imagination, and change.
So when future machines are smarter than you, don't be discouraged. What makes us stronger than machines is our grasp of culture, our thinking about vision, and our imagination. These are huge opportunities for humanity. Finally, I hope everyone knows that the future is not scary; as long as you grasp it, our fear comes from ignorance of the future.
A few days ago, someone told me an interesting topic: Hawking said humans should never communicate with aliens because it's very scary. So if internet e-commerce and big data are so scary, should we grasp them? Should we refuse to communicate with them? Because their impact is too great.
I personally don't acknowledge the existence of aliens. If there are aliens, it's because humans think too highly of themselves. There might be alien civilizations, but they don't look like humans. If you know nothing about an alien civilization, and it knows you, but you don't know it, that's scary.
That might be true, but for the future, for the third technological revolution driven by internet technology, humanity can succeed. Because internet civilization is not from aliens; it's a product of human civilization, born from human technological development. As long as you grasp it and learn it, no one can be eliminated. Who resists the future? Who doesn't grasp the future? Who doesn't change today? They will surely be eliminated by history.
I wish everyone a bright future in the next 30 years. I hope our young people and small enterprises seize opportunities to create the future. Of course, older people can enjoy the future. Thank you all.
Source: Huxiu
New Era · New Distribution
—— 2016 China 'FMCG + Internet' Summit Forum ——
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**Conference Agenda**
08:00-09:00 Registration
09:00-09:05 Host opening
09:05-09:35 2016 China FMCG Industry Trend Analysis Report - Zhao Bo
09:35-10:05 FMCG Enterprise Transformation Strategy and Path - Liu Chunxiong
10:05-10:35 Opportunities and Challenges Brought by FMCG Channel Transformation - Liu Zhao, CEO of Waiqin365
10:35-11:05 Reconstructing Distribution Channel System, Promoting Urban Retail Upgrade - Tian Yuan, General Manager of Alibaba Retail Link's Backend
11:05-11:25 Channel Efficiency in the Internet Era - Fu Xiaoyun, Vice President of Benlai Holdings
11:25-12:00 Roundtable Forum - Brand Transformation: Improvement vs. Reconstruction?
Guests: Liu Zhao, Liu Chunxiong, Fang Gang, Chen Feng, Shi Zhengchuan, Deng Xia
12:00-13:30 Lunch
13:30-13:50 Distributor Transformation: City Distribution Trend Development - Wang Qi, CEO of Weijie City Distribution
13:50-14:20 Roundtable Forum - Why Distributors Should Do Logistics in Transformation
Guests: Zhao Bo, Wang Qi, Liu Zhongmin, Tang Guangliang, Wang Cheng, Sheng Yan
14:20-14:40 How FMCG Enterprises Leverage the Internet to Take Off - Wang Hui, E-commerce Operations Director of Xijiu
14:40-15:00 Detailed Explanation of Zhongshang Huimin's 'One Machine, Two Wings' Strategy - Su Xiaoxin, Vice President of Zhongshang Huimin
15:00-15:20 Category Value and B2B E-commerce Development Strategy - Wang Chaocheng, CEO of Yijiupi
15:20-15:40 Supply Chain Finance as a Lubricant for B2B to Drive Traditional Business - Chen Xian, CEO of 51 Order
15:40-16:00 Zhanghe Cloud Factory Helps Upgrade FMCG Supply Chain - Yang Lixiang, CEO of Zhanghe Tianxia
16:00-16:30 Integrating Small and Micro Retail, Reconstructing Business Ecosystem - Miao Dong, Vice President of Quanshi
16:30-16:50 B2B Investment Principles and Ideas - Zhao Mingwei, Vice President of Legend Capital
17:00-17:30 Roundtable Forum - Who is the King in FMCG B2B Models?
Guests: Fu Xiaoyun, Zhuang Jianzhong, Jiang Tao, Zeng Weiqin
17:30-19:30 Dinner
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## Citation metadata

- Publisher: New Distribution
- Author: 马云
- Published: 2016-10-13
- Canonical: https://xinjignxiao.com/en/articles/jack-ma-speaks-again-the-term-e-commerce-will-be-eliminated-alibaba-will-5e13aa61/
- Original source: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/qQ_XwPCEP3yPNSIx_Ji5Dg

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