Kaola
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
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Sections to complete：02 · 05
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Kaola (NetEase Kaola, 考拉海购) was a Chinese cross-border import e-commerce platform founded by NetEase in 2015, selling imported mother-and-baby products, beauty and personal care, health supplements, home goods, digital products and apparel. It was a rival of Alibaba's Tmall Global, holding about 25% of China's cross-border e-commerce market. In September 2019 Alibaba acquired Kaola from NetEase for about $2 billion, and Kaola continued to operate under its own brand within the Alibaba ecosystem.
02 / FAILURE REASONS
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03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Product or service closed
The Kaola Haigou app was removed from app stores in March 2025, marking the withdrawal of the standalone service within Alibaba.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
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Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN / AFTERMATH
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