If you end up buying one of the items on this list of the 11 coolest things to buy on Alibaba, we certainly won’t blame you, because we had to stop ourselves from buying some of them as well.
The average American is more familiar with Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) when it comes to buying things online. However, one company has that same status in China and is now trying to enter the online shopping field in the U.S: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA). Considered the backbone of online commerce in China, Alibaba raked in $19.5 billion in revenue from its e-commerce websites during its most recent fiscal year ended March 2017, an increase of 45% compared to its prior fiscal year. By comparison, Amazon recorded retail sales of $91.4 billion in 2016, signifying only 18% year-over-year growth. The sheer amount of growth in Alibaba’s sales is nothing to sneeze at, especially considering that the revenue generated by Alibaba mainly came from the emerging Chinese economy, which itself still has plenty of growth left, even if that growth is slowing.
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The sheer volume of goods sold on Alibaba’s platforms is also something to behold. The gross merchandise volume (GMV), or the total worth of all goods sold through Alibaba’s online commerce platforms, reached $547 billion in its fiscal 2017. Yep, that’s over half-a-trillion dollars of goods flying off Alibaba’s virtual shelves. By comparison, eBay recorded total GMV of just $83.8 billion in 2016. What’s more astounding is the fact that Alibaba sold $17.8 billion worth of GMV in just one day, a record that was set during the company’s latest Singles Day event (China’s counterpart to Black Friday) on November 11, 2016.
In that vein, Insider Monkey previously discussed in detail just how influential Alibaba is in the online commerce space. Check out our list of the 10 best selling products on Alibaba for details.
Just to make things clear, when we say “things to buy on Alibaba,” we don’t exactly mean it that way, unless you want 100 units of that certain item sent to you. That’s because the main Alibaba website is for manufacturers, trading companies and people who order in bulk. For buying one unit of a certain item, you’re better off buying at AliExpress.
The objects listed in this coolest things to buy on Alibaba compilation are based on recommendations found on AliHolic, the foremost website that unearths noteworthy items for sale at Alibaba and AliExpress. From the recommendations that AliHolic gave between August 2015 and December 2016, we looked into each items’ AliExpress page and ranked them based on their product ratings (the site uses a 5-star system) and number of votes. The products that made it to this list have at least 500 votes, signifying that a lot of people find them cool, though we ultimately ranked them by their ratings rather than their votes (votes were used to break ratings ties).
To see how the 11 coolest things to buy on Alibaba fared in the rankings, head to the next page to begin the countdown. Please note that the images shown throughout the article do not necessarily correspond to the actual products they appear alongside.
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Average rating and number of votes: 4.2 with 1,264 votes
Price per item: $1.37
Vendor: Rand Technology
Description: Light up your cigarette with another (lighter shaped like a) cigarette. Pretty self-explanatory.
MeskPhotography/Shutterstock.com
Average rating and number of votes: 4.6 with 1,487 votes
Price per item: $4.97
Vendor: Loyuday
Description: It’s a cube that has switches, gears, and a small joystick that do nothing. It’s just there to help you fidget during restless and boring days at the office.
ADragan/Shutterstock.com
Average rating and number of votes: 4.8 with 530 votes
Price per item: $30.96
Vendor: Dream NS Store
Description: The store offers more than 20 designs you can choose from, including cute watermelons and whales.
Copyright: worldwidestock / 123RF Stock Photo
Average rating and number of votes: 4.8 with 600 votes
Price per item: $1.99
Vendor: Shop805977
Description: It’s a bottle opener shaped like the Millennium Falcon ship from the Star Wars franchise. Enough said.
Average rating and number of votes: 4.8 with 946 votes
Price per item: $0.71
Vendor: Simshion Store
Description: It’s the usual heart necklace, except the heart is shaped like a real human heart, with veins and all. Blood (thankfully) not included.
Average rating and number of votes: 4.8 with 1,460 votes
Price per item: $4.99
Vendor: E-Accessories Store
Description: It’s a charger that gives you the option to switch between USB- and iPhone-compatible ports, done via magnets.
Africa Studio/Shutterstock.com
Average rating and number of votes: 4.8 with 6,732 votes
Price per item: $12.98
Vendor: Gift USB Flash Drive Stores
Description: It’s a flash drive that folds into a case that looks like a credit card.
qvist/Shutterstock.com
The next four items on this list of the 11 coolest things to buy on Alibaba have ratings of at least 4.9, indicating near-universal acclaim for these products.
Average rating and number of votes: 4.9 with 590 votes
Price per item: $1.79
Vendor: Zooyoo Official Store
Description: A wall sticker shaped like the Death Star in Star Wars. Make that white wall look a bit more menacing.
TeeRoar / Shutterstock.com
Average rating and number of votes: 4.9 with 1,540 votes
Price per item: $2.69
Vendor: Better Buy for Beauty
Description: A pocket beauty mirror that has a laptop-shaped cover. Works better than a real laptop sometimes.
Kristin Chiasson/Shutterstock.com
Average rating and number of votes: 4.9 with 7,954 votes
Price per item: $1.10
Vendor: COTREAM Official
Description: Yes, bowties. You can’t have too many bowties, especially when nearly 8,000 people tell you so. Available in 20 designs with different colors.
Kiselev Andrey Valerevich/Shutterstock.com
Average rating and number of votes: 5.0 with 1,111 votes
Price per item: $0.18
Vendor: Janwa Lue’s Store
Description: Triangle-shaped pendant that is perhaps the cheapest way to show the world that you’re a Harry Potter fan. More than 1,000 people find the pendant perfect, putting it on top of this list of the 11 coolest things to buy on Alibaba (and how fitting that it had exactly 1,111 votes).
Disclosure: None
