David Beckham has signed on as the global brand ambassador for AliExpress, Alibaba’s international e-commerce platform. This partnership was announced on Monday, marking AliExpress’s biggest global ambassador deal to date.
Beckham’s new role with AliExpress comes at a time when the platform faces growing competition from other China-based e-commerce giants like PDD Holdings’ Temu and fashion startup Shein, both of which are rapidly expanding globally. Temu even advertised during the Super Bowl to attract U.S. customers.
AliExpress is one of several Chinese companies sponsoring the UEFA European soccer championship, which begins in mid-June. Beckham highlighted that AliExpress is making the UEFA EURO 2024™ experience more exciting for fans by offering great prizes and engagement opportunities during the games.
“AliExpress is helping fans get even closer to UEFA EURO 2024™ this summer, by offering them great prizes as the action takes place on the pitch,” Beckham said.
AliExpress is investing millions of euros in discounts, deals, and other engagements as part of its promotional efforts. These promotions include allowing AliExpress app users to win tickets to UEFA EURO 2024™ games.
AliExpress’s move to sign Beckham and sponsor UEFA EURO 2024™ reflects a broader strategy by Chinese companies to expand their global presence. Alibaba’s international digital commerce unit, which includes AliExpress, reported a 45% year-on-year sales increase in the first quarter of 2024, reaching 27.45 billion yuan ($3.79 billion). However, the unit also saw its losses increase to 4.1 billion yuan from 2.2 billion yuan a year earlier.
The company has been aggressively investing in the Middle East and other emerging markets. For example, in 2022, AliExpress spent around $7 million in South Korea to attract local consumers with lower product prices and signed actor Don Lee as its first brand ambassador in the country.
Other Chinese companies have also ramped up their international marketing efforts amid slower growth in the domestic market. Chinese sponsors of UEFA Euro 2024 include Alibaba-affiliate Alipay, electric car company BYD, home appliance brand Hisense, and smartphone company Vivo. Hisense became the first Chinese sponsor for the European championship in 2016, and three other Chinese businesses followed suit for the 2020 games.
This new deal with David Beckham is part of AliExpress’s ongoing efforts to strengthen its brand and attract more global customers through high-profile endorsements and strategic sponsorships.