Alibaba.com has introduced the Verified Supplier membership for global sellers this year, a programme that verifies the legitimacy of individual suppliers’ operations.

When it comes to B2B trade, especially cross-border B2B trade, trust is key between buyers and suppliers. Wholesale orders can cost thousands of dollars, so buyers need to be confident in where they are spending such large amounts of money.

Roger Lou, country manager Alibaba.com Vietnam, said: “Products from Vietnamese SMEs are always appreciated for the quality of finished products, exporting skills, and customer service. By introducing the Verified Supplier membership package we would like to emphasise Vietnamese SMEs production capability, product and service quality to global B2B buyers and create more business opportunities."

Verified Supplier is the membership tier for manufacturers on Alibaba.com. This exclusive designation is meant to create more trust among buyers.

The programme provides suppliers with on-site verification services from one of the world’s leading inspection companies, which is SGS. By using these third-party verification consultants, buyers can rest assured that the Verified Supplier status is not issued with any bias, and the findings can speak for themselves.

The Verified Seller verification process involves the review of up to 100 criteria falling into eight different categories, including after-sales guarantee, company profile, main products, management quality, production capabilities, research and development capabilities, service capabilities, and supply chain capabilities.

Verified Suppliers can be identified through the “Verified Supplier” tag on Alibaba.com. The tag is viewable to buyers in the platform’s search results, on product pages, and on suppliers’ company profiles.

Verified Suppliers Membership is not available for all markets at this time. Only suppliers located in China, Italy, South Korea, Viet Nam, India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Turkey can have the opportunity to become a Verified Supplier.

Hoang Thanh Tam, managing director of Indochina JSC, said: “We have been with Alibaba.com for seven years, and this allows us to expand our market not only domestically but worldwide. We recognise the weight of being a pioneer, in fact, there are two biggest concerns: Customer Trust, and Competitiveness."

"However, as a verified supplier, our capabilities have been verified by the world's leading independent assessment agency, this is a crucial factor to put our customers at ease to work with us. And being a verified supplier of Alibaba.com has helped us keep our leading position by connecting us with the highest quality customers six hours ahead of everyone. Our inquiries volume compared to the industry average is six times higher and our GMV has reached US$5 million since we become Verified Supplier.” — VNS